Alternative City Placement

[Legendre]

I was wondering if people could post interesting city placements they use - generally ones that do not have their capital founded on the spot. Squatting counts, but Anotherpacifist already has a thread dedicated to that! Some ideas:

Rome:
I moved my settler to the hill tile SE of Rome to found this city with a name beginning with a C (can't recall it at the moment), Milan flipped and became my capital, and I used one of my other settlers to found the city below the sheep in Sardinia. I liked having less overlap with my cities and Milan became a powerhouse, the other two cities proved to be a bit lackluster. I may try it again though.

Greece:
I'm currently trying to decide a good pair of spots with founding my capital in Asia minor to avoid Turkish flip and thus making my civ the Ionian greeks! The trouble is getting to a good spot in time to still get workers. Byzantion is such an awesome city location though - it is hard to resist the temptation to found a city there.

That's my input for now, any and all ideas welcome

 

[Akhera]

When I play as Russia I always found Moskva one tile south. This way it gets the wheat and iron and makes more room for Vologda

 

[AnotherPacifist]

I'm just going to comment on capitals. (Egypt/Germany/Spain/France/Ethiopia have already been covered extensively in other threads)

Russia: Found Rjazan (one south of Moscow) which will allows you to access iron and all the farm animals. Much more productive.

Greece: Found Sogut (I forgot what it's called, but I think it's Ephesus) yourself. Prevents Turkish flip and has access to marble. Instead of Byzantion found a city in the Balkans to complete the historical Greece to get copper there (Epidamnos). I usually do it other way round and move my capital to Ephesus later (to beat the Romans to the copper).

China: Beijing 1 SE (discussed before)

Mali: Wagadugu (2 SE of start) gets all the flood plains but 2 cities using all flood plains may be better to get to goal quicker (and have less damage when plague hits).

Portugal: if you're lucky enough to found 2 cities in Portugal (Oporto and Lisboa) it will be much more productive than just Lisboa, but unfortunately Spain often founds a city right outside your flip zone.

Aztec: I hate Tenochtitlan (doesn't not grow big and little trade). Tlaxcala on the coast is much better.

India: Lahore is good for early growth but you miss out some of the defensive capabilities of Takshashila.

 

[blizzrd]

India: I found on the Sugar to the 2 tiles to the west of the start location instead of next to all that jungle.

Spain: I found Lisbon instead of Madrid. There's a whole thread about this one already: (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=260814)

Vikings: I found Sundsvaal (I think that was what it was called) one tile SE and then one tile E of the start location - on the Baltic coast rather than Nidaros on the Norwegian Sea coast.

Mongols: I found on the horses rather than the start tile to get Keshik production online as fast as possible.

Persia: I found on the coast in reach of the clam rather than inland on the start location. This way you can build the Great Lighthouse in your capital.

Inca: I found on the coast SW of the start location.

 

[AnotherPacifist]

One thing that hopefully Civ5 will correct is the maddening advantage of coastal cities (harbors, lighthouses, dykes, more trade/health, etc). I think cities founded one block away from coast should be allowed the option of building a special cottage that will serve as a lighthouse and harbor and provide more trade. E.g. Piraeus (Athens)

 

[blizzrd]

Greece:
I'm currently trying to decide a good pair of spots with founding my capital in Asia minor to avoid Turkish flip and thus making my civ the Ionian greeks! The trouble is getting to a good spot in time to still get workers. Byzantion is such an awesome city location though - it is hard to resist the temptation to found a city there.

To still get your workers but be the Ionian Greeks:

Found your capital in reach of the coastal food resources in the Aegean Sea, and walk down to Corinth (one SW of the start) to found in mainland Greece.

 

[chococid]

AP: The idea behind that is that coastal cities have the disadvantage of not having many hammers. Granted, the earth map (either the stock one or Rhye's) with lots of good hammer resources usually placed near historical coastal cities overrides that, but they balance for the normal game.