Don't settle on floodplains!

[UWHabs]

Post bio especially, you can farm sugar for more food than the plantation gives you. Keep a few for trading around, but excess can be paved over.

 

[DaveMcW]

Farming or cottaging resources is a cute trick on low levels, but on higher levels you get more from selling the resource.

 

[CivCorpse]

On the topic of green faces from flood plains. I honestly don't make a serious effort to get a high floodplain city healthy. I just focus on green faces from population. The green faces from the flood plains themselves are worth the extra food from the floodplains. Even with 20 floodplains you are losing 8 food to green faces but getting 20 from the tile. The problem is getting your population high enough to work enough tiles to offset that. Riverside helps as do resources. It is slow going at first but then you really start to take off.

 

[ParadigmShifter]

Farming or cottaging resources is a cute trick on low levels, but on higher levels you get more from selling the resource.

Even if the resource is in your candidate legendary city and you need commerce in that city?

 

[helemaalnicks]

nevermind. I would never farm over it. Use the extra gold from trade, notch up slider. Always better then 1 food imo.

If you can work tiles that are 3 food or bigger, unhappiness is all you deal with, because the 3F tiles offset unhealthyness. So even in a farm, you grow and grow till you're out of foodtiles. It'll also improve trade routes as a bonus.

 

[CivCorpse]

Farming or cottaging resources is a cute trick on low levels, but on higher levels you get more from selling the resource.

IF you can find a buyer. Assuming a standard size map with standard number of AI. You would need to control the only 7 resources of that type. Then you would have to be willing to trade with everyone and get diplomatic hits from worst enemies. That is assuming no civ has been wiped out. Who do you sell the excess resources to? Pre-astronomy you have even fewer trading options. Another AI with 4-5 dye/sugar may be supplying a couple AI already. That limits your trading options even further.
Reread my post....the 3rd sentence in particular.

so after I have enough for trading and one for myself I may consider cottaging them.

 

[blitzkrieg1980]

assuming a lot of stuff makes the solution work... but only in its own niche.

Settling on the resource gives it to you and opens a BFC tile for better improvements for specialization. Not always... assuming that things make it work better