Balancing between irrigation and cottages

[grafikm_fr]

Hi guys,

I'm wondering how you guys are balancing things between cottages and irrigation???

(I'm playing in a "techie" way meaning I'm not a big fan of aggression and that I prefer building out some tech advantage before starting a fight.)

What are your general guidelines while choosing between one or another?

Thanks,
Graf.

 

[rabottens]

When I play Peacenik I try to balance my irrigation to my cottages the following way:

always irrigate bonused spots like corn wheat rice etc.
always place cottages where they will be worked.
I have found just plopping cottages don't guarantee you the workers will work those tiles. I only cottage productive tiles and I remember to cottage the best ones first. Put the best improvement on the best tile and you can not do better than that. Rush chop but save some forests for lumbermills. Mine some hills and save some for windmills. Balance is the key remember it and you will outshine your opponents every time. Too much of anything is EXCESS.

 

[Proteus]

Most of the times it depends on 2 things for me:
1. How much food is produced by the tile? (if it is 1 I´d prefer irrigation over cottages, if it is 2 or more I´d rather build cottages)
2. Is it necessary to build irrigation at this tile so that the irrigation can be carried over to another tile?

There might be circumstances where I deviate from these rules (for example if there are many hills and I therefore prefer irrigation over cottages to build an industrial city with many mines [which needs enough food to have the necessary population in the city to work them]), but most of the times these are the rules of the thump I use.

 

[LawLessOne]

I always farm all the river squares because they provide one gold anyways. I cottage everything else to get the gold/commerce. Latter on it the game, if a city isnt doing too well, I might change some cottages for farms or visa versa. Dont forget that just because you have build one thing doesnt mean you cant change latter. It doesnt cost you anything to change the terrain. The exception to that is forests. If you cut them all down you cant get them back. I try to leave some forest for every city.

A second point I am finding very useful is; dont build roads everywhere. The temptation is to road every tile but that isnt necessary, doesnt provide you anything, and wastes the time of your workers. Build roads to go between cities or for fast travel to somewhere.

 

[Finite Monkey]

I always farm all the river squares because they provide one gold anyways. I cottage everything else to get the gold/commerce.

The only reason I point this out is to add my 2 cents. If playing a financial Civ those river tiles will produce additional commerce with that Hamlet/Village/Town. (More commerce then it would for other civs.)

That aside I don't like to subscribe to a hard fast rule. Each city in Civ 4 seems to really need its own set of improvements and sticking with a preconceived distribution is dangerous. I try to look at what I want to get out of a city then build accordingly.

Production: Typically I build mines and farms (to allow more mines to be worked)
Commerce: Cottages on any tile that will pay out extra for a Fin Civ, and depending upon my food situation other tiles as well.
GP Production: Farms (for those specialists)

Those are my basics, I hope this helped.

 

[automator]

I always farm all the river squares because they provide one gold anyways.

I watermill most rivers. A +2 on gold and production is nice.

But early game I'll usually farm the freshwater (only half the freshwaters if they're floodplain) and cottage the other tiles. I'll always leave a could forests for the health and to later put down a woodshop.

 

[LawLessOne]

The only reason I point this out is to add my 2 cents. If playing a financial Civ those river tiles will produce additional commerce with that Hamlet/Village/Town. (More commerce then it would for other civs.)

Take back a penny, you overpaid.

As far as I can tell, they dont produce 'extra' commerce. Just what a river tile produces for your civ. Doesnt matter what you build on that tile, you get the same commerce from the river.

I just like to get some commerce from every tile. Helps the city finance its own improvements.

 

[LawLessOne]

I watermill most rivers. A +2 on gold and production is nice.

Watermills come latter. If a city is growing nicely, replacing a farm with a watermill is not a problem. Replacing a Town or Village with a watermill is very painful.

 

[Draetor24]

If you're Financial and place a cottage on tile adjacent to a river, you automatically start with 3 commerce there, as opposed to placing a cottage on a tile away from the river, it starts with 1 commerce, and if worked 10 turns, it will go to 3.

For my commerce powerhouse cities, I like putting cottages everywhere possible that can be worked. If the city is lacking food, I farm enough to be able to get the food to work the cottages.

For production cities, farms/mines, or windmills if it has enough production and you would like to squeeze out more commerce too.

I like having some productive/balanced cities near rivers, and I go all out on farms/watermills. I get enough food/production to make units and the additional commerce is nice.

 

[nerbuth]

I think specializing cities based on the terrain can also help guide you. It isn't possible for each city to be good at everything. Particularly at higher levels of difficulty, it isn't possible to build every improvement everywhere.

If you have a lot of hills around, you'll probably need to farm every possible food-producing tile to allow you to make a production powerhouse. Build a barracks, a forge, and the usual culture-producing buildings and load up on military units.

If you have a lot of river or coastline, farm enough to maintain a food surplus for growth, and cottage what else you can. Build income and science enhancing buildings to take advantage of all the commerce.

 

[Padmewan]

Do folks go out of their way to make sure that farmed bonus resources are irrigated when possible? I do, but I think it comes more of anal-retentive need to maximize each tile rather than strategic calculation. Sometimes you have to lay down quite a line of farms to get fresh water to that corn field sitting in the middle of nowhere.

 

[LawLessOne]

Do folks go out of their way to make sure that farmed bonus resources are irrigated when possible? I do, but I think it comes more of anal-retentive need to maximize each tile rather than strategic calculation. Sometimes you have to lay down quite a line of farms to get fresh water to that corn field sitting in the middle of nowhere.

I do too but I sometimes wonder why I bothered. It just isnt always necessary or wise to get that one 'extra' bread.

 

[LawLessOne]

If you're Financial and place a cottage on tile adjacent to a river, you automatically start with 3 commerce there, as opposed to placing a cottage on a tile away from the river, it starts with 1 commerce, and if worked 10 turns, it will go to 3.

Actually you dont. You get a 50% increase to commerce for being financial. A cottage on a river gives you 1 commerce from the cottage, 1 commerce from the river and a 50% increase. It seems like your getting more but it works out to the same. Two cottages will also produce 3 commerce not on a river.

 

[pytheian]

I find that in the early game, I don't want my cities to get too large until I have the technology and food resources to make them healthy and happy. So, usually when I have tiles that would produce 2+ food anyway, I will build a cottage so that my city will get it up to Town level as soon as possible. I also find that If I don't build copious amounts of cottages, I end up broke and fall behind the tech curve, putting me outside of the club when it comes to trading for the latest and greatest.

My exceptions are building a farm on resources - rice/wheat - that require it (a no-brainer), building a farm on grassland/flood plains to provide food for my citizens working on mines, and to chain irrigation out in the mid/late game. Keep in mind that in a city with flood-plains, you have a catch-22 of alot of growth potential against high unhealthiness, so don't let your eyes light up until you get it under control.

What separates this game from the previous Civs, IMO, is that it forces you to make real tradeoffs, particularly in improving your tiles. So I always prefer to have a bird in hand in the form of developed towns (5 commerce is hard to beat) early on, then turn them into farms later when they cap my town's growth, and when I can better afford to pass up the commerce. I found I did better with this general strategy even when pursuing aggressive military strategies.

 

[Eimon Gnome]

I used to think in terms of "best use" per square, mapping out the ideal end city. I've come to another point of view on this.

Now, I look for flexibility. I like to see city tiles that allow me to switch the city production around. The key is to have tiles with a range of food production - 0,1,2,and 3 - so I can combine them efficiently when I stop city growth. Producing food to create an idle citizen because of health/happiness seems a waste. Why not get higher trade/hammer with the city size I have?

So I look to make the best use of the citizens, in a flex way. Most of my cities have a normal mode and a production mode, for when a new tech means there's a buidling I want. Libraries or markets for commerce cities, forges for production cities, and courthouses for everyone. Once the improvement is built, its back to the citiy's function. I even like work to give the GP city the option to switch on some hammers.

For instance:
City has a farmed plains (3 food) and mined grassland hill (1 food, 3 hammers).
Those two citizenss can be swapped out with 2 coastal/lighthouse tiles 2food, 2 commerce each) with no change in food supply. I get to choose whether the city gets trade or production.

Seeing this, I end up using workshops on the plains squares whenever there is a companion square to provide the food. I can always replace that workshop with a farm when I want the growth. But for a while, that +hammer square is a nice toggle. I can use it for production, or I can drag the guy off and turn it into a specialist. These are nice tiles to have. Sort of two way options.

Just a different slant, I guess. I love to micro manage.

 

[DaveMcW]

I try to get +5 food in every city. Ideally a bonus food tile will do that, but if not I will build 3 grassland farms.

 

[cleverhandle]

Do folks go out of their way to make sure that farmed bonus resources are irrigated when possible?

I'd certainly lay down one extra farm to keep up an irrigation chain - an extra +1 fpt makes a noticeable difference in growth rate.

Actually you dont. You get a 50% increase to commerce for being financial.

Um... no. Draetor24 was correct. Financial gives you +1 commerce on any plot already making 2 commerce or more. Thus, working river cottages and coast tiles are easy ways to get a bonus gold early on in the game.

I try to get +5 food in every city. Ideally a bonus food tile will do that, but if not I will build 3 grassland farms.

Yowza. I always feel like +4 is plenty and that even +3 is acceptable. Knowing that you play on reasonably high levels, I don't see how you can keep up with health/happiness buildings and terrain improvements. How many workers do you run per city?

 

[Finite Monkey]

Actually you dont. You get a 50% increase to commerce for being financial. A cottage on a river gives you 1 commerce from the cottage, 1 commerce from the river and a 50% increase. It seems like your getting more but it works out to the same. Two cottages will also produce 3 commerce not on a river.

For the sake of knowledge please explain. As far as I know it is as Draetor and CleverHandle explained.

If it was a 50% increase to commerce then Financial would be ridiculously overpowered and you would indeed put Towns everywhere.

From the Manual: Financial: +1 gold on plots with 2 gold. Double production speed of bank.

In conclusion I think my 2 cents were worth it.

 

[Rad Chris]

There is no hard and fast rule. The way I work it is...

Its all based on Food. If you have a bunch of wheat/fish etc then cottage that place up, you can work the resources and still grow to use your cottages. Calculate how much food you can get from and plan accordingly.

So if you have a bunch of plains or hills then food the goal so you get more hammers. If you have a grass and rivers then cottage.


Oh yeah, and the guy who said financial gives you 50% more commerce. You are wrong. RTFM

 

[DaveMcW]

I don't maintain +5 forever, just when the city is starting up. By the time it reaches the health/happy limit I am working some hills or other low-food terrain which reduces the surplus.

If I need improvements, +5 food is +5 hammers while building workers.