Founding city - what's the rule for yields being added?

[Sherlock]

I can't figure it out. If I have two yields on a tile and found a city there sometimes I end up with three yields. And sometimes four.

If there's one food and one production I usually get two food and one production after founding. Sometimes I get two food and two production. One time I had two food on the tile and when I settled I got two production on top of the two food. (Which made that a real good spot).

I'm guessing it depends on the type of tile you're settling on.

Any comments welcome....

 

[Grendeldef]

Sounds like a hill vs flatland issue.

 

[rickyvaughn]

I believe you get the unimproved yield of the tile if it is greater than the 2 food 1 hammer city tile. So, settling on a hill gives 2f2h because a hill gives 2 hammers. Settling a flood plains wheat or grassland cocoa tile gives 3f1h (and 1 gold for the cocoa) because the tile unimproved tile gives 3 food. That make sense?

 

[Tiberiu]

You can get a different outcome than 2 f 1 p (flatland) or 2 f 2 p (hill), depending on the resource you settle on. For example settling on Cattle gives you 3 f 1 p and you can still get stable later. You can settle on marble for instant +15% bonus for wonders even if you don't have Masonry. and some other quirks. There might be a list somewhere but you can test for yourself in some maps with the in game editor.

 

[aieeegrunt]

Woods, jungles, and I believe bonus resources get outright deleted when you settle for some stupid reason, because God Forbid this game be consistent

 

[rickyvaughn]

Yes, forest and jungles are removed, but bonus resources remain. Like above, if you settle on grass cattle, the city will give 3f.

 

[4eeee]

As part of calculating the yields for the plot on which the city sits, the food is set to the minimum of 2 and production to the minimum of 1. This happens after trade routes (food or hammers being sent via caravan/ships), riverside bonuses (hydro plant), features (e.g. flood plains in desert giving +2 food), terrain (grassland/plains/tundra etc), resources are considered; but before city bonuses from policies (Liberty +1 production per city, Exploration +3 production per coastal city, Tradition's +2 food in capital) or player traits (civ abilities, don't recall any city-based ones though) are considered.

One thing to take away from this is that ideally you want to minimize overlap between the 2 food/1 production the city gives by default and the yields of the tile you settle on. Which is why hills are so good since you get free 2 food and only waste 1 hammer. If you only have very few workable tiles and have a flat desert, settling on it is probably good to bring it up to 3 yields.

At the same time, seems like you might lose those extra yields later because additional yields from e.g. caravan will partially replace the minimal city yields.

As for the part where you got 2 production, that's not because of the city being settled but because of jungle being removed. Some features add yields (flood plains +2 food) while some features replace yields (jungle turns hill's 2 production into 2 food).

 

[reddishrecue]

If you settle on plain hills with forest you will get 2f and 2h for sure. They have to be plains hills not grass hills to be able to get that extra hammer. It really adds up a little in the long run if you move your settler over to a plains hill tile before you settle the city.

 

[rickyvaughn]

Grass hills get 2 hammers in city as well