My city has no food !!

[CalGal]

Mayday! One of my cities has no food (zero apples)! All the tiles are worked, I have no way to produce more food. I've tried buying from other cities but they don't seem to have food, only resources. (Or is a resource considered food?) I have alot of gold so I'm willing to pay. How do I raise the food quotient??

 

[reddishrecue]

Farming for lands and lighthouses for the sea..

 

[Atinuviel]

There are three ways of getting food:
1. Direct output from city: from working tiles (farm, jungle, fishes...etc)and from buildings (Water Mill, Granaries..etc)
2. Trade Caravans from between you cities with a granary.
3. Befriending Maritime City-States. Friend gives capital +2 Food, Ally gives capital +3 Food and every other city +1 Food.

From what it sounds like your city settled in a relatively food-poor area and simply does not have anymore food to grow. To grow a city at a good clip you want lots of Farm (early on, preferably on Rivers) and as many of the factors I just mentioned. (So Granaries, Water Mill when you can, and Trade Caravan/Cargo Ships from your other cities)

 

[Humantorch]

Go to citizen management and select food focus. It won't solve your problem but it should keep citizens from dying.

 

[CalGal]

How do I build a Trade Caravan? Have never seen that option. Is that what the little "trade route" icon under the name of a city means?

 

[Slotharoo]

How do I build a Trade Caravan? Have never seen that option. Is that what the little "trade route" icon under the name of a city means?

I think you're playing the Gods and Kings or Vanilla version, so you won't be able to produce a caravan. If you're playing BNW, it should've come available at animal husbandry.
Where did you settle your city? Does it have an ample amount of grassland/plains tiles around it?
And no, the symbol underneath the city indicates it's connected to the capital via a road or a harbor


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[CalGal]

I think I'm playing Vanilla, I don't know how to tell . Brand new at CIV games. I have six interconnected cities with lots of plains etc, which I have farmed out. My other cities seem okay on food, but one is at zero. All my cities are interconnected. I'll keep looking around for more apple opportunities. Thanks !

 

[TractorBoy]

You could purchase a tile or two.

 

[Acken]

Try to provide screenshot for better help.

 

[TractorBoy]

If this City is closely connected to others maybe you could free up some food tiles by unassigning worked areas then reassigning them to your non food City.

 

[digitCruncher]

One thing that no-one seems to have mentioned so far is this:

Each citizen consumes 2 food (apples)

So if your city has 5 population, and is working 4 farmed plains, and one desert with a trading post, your city will be making:

2 food and 1 production from each of the plains = 10 food and 5 production
1 gold from the desert (I think... vanilla Civ V might produce more gold)

Meaning your city makes 10 food, 5 production, and 1 gold, plus whatever you get for the city tile (which is free). HOWEVER, each citizen also eats two food, so the city is eating 10 food, so (in this hypothetical example where the city tile is not producing ANY food, which never will come up) the city will be displayed as producing 5 production, 1 gold, and NO FOOD.

This is not a huge problem, as it just means that your city will not grow, so long as it has no food. However, a small city produces less resources, and less science, than a large city, so you want a large city.

 

[Socratatus]

Make a road from that city to other cities of yours?

 

[beetle]

I have six interconnected cities with lots of plains etc, which I have farmed out.

It took me an embarrassingly long time to figure out, but plains are poor tiles until you research fertilizer (mid game), because they don’t let a city grow. Also, it is better to farm grasslands rather than put trading posts on them. Even though a farmed grassland (without water, pre-fertilizer) is only 3 food (no gold, no production, seems very weak), it can be important to work for a city that otherwise won’t grow.

I want to suggest that you stick to four cities, the idea being to develop play habits that let you keep increasing the challenges you give yourself. Also, the national wonders are fun, and the more cities you have, the harder those are to pick up.

 

[Senseless]

My other cities seem okay on food, but one is at zero.

Are you building a Settler there?

 

[Sagax]

Make a road from that city to other cities of yours?

Looks like OP is playing Vanilla/G&K, so trade routes are not an option.

A screenshot or save would really help. So far my only guess is poor location.

 

[CalGal]

I think I solved the issue. I replaced a couple of trading posts with farms and food went up. Thanks for your suggestions !

 

[beetle]

Thanks for posting back CalGal. Often the OP goes silent after the first decent answer, leaving the thread hanging.

 

[beetle]

Sorry for missing this bit before...

I've tried buying from other cities civs but they don't seem to have food, only resources. I have alot of gold so I'm willing to pay.

Save up that money until you have 500 or 1000 to afford an alliance with a Maritime CS. That alliance will provide extra food to all your cities. (Friend status only feeds your capital).

 

[danaphanous]

This has happened to me in plains before. You get an extra +2 from the base city and +4 for with granary and +6 for water mill+ granary. So as long as you keep working ONLY farms it will slowly keep growing. Keep an eye out for buildings that boost food, and in the future, be hesitant about founding a city in plains with no extra food resources (deer, wheat, bananas...) which, incidentally, the granary boosts even further, so it's even more food then you think.

If you have a river, rushing Civil Service is a great boost as plains farm food by the riverside will go up, being +3 food and +1 production.

 

[Mahasona]

A granary is an important early building. It automatically gives 2 food, plus each wheat, banana and deer that has one of your citizens on it will produce one extra.