Best tile for city site?

[Civilicious]

Whats the ultimate for city location?

I normally put it wherever I deem best based on the resources, water access, etc., but I am of the opinion that a plains/hill on river is the best geography for a city site? 2 food 2 shields plus the defense bonus.

Anyone have an opinion on this? I am trying to improve my game so I can play harder difficulties and multiplayer but I have never been one to learn all the 'tricks' and ways to optimize your performance.

 

[Vizzini]

Plains Hill ocean coastal tile alongside a river = Yummy.

 

[Heroes]

Certainly plan hill coastal riverside is great. Another good tile is desert, since you turn a futile tile to fertile.

 

[Ranos]

Plains hill next to a river is of course the best tile to build a city on for its defense and production bonus but as far as placing cities go, it depends on what my current needs are. Early on, its acquisition of resources, then sites that will yield maximum production, then filling in the gaps. I first try to build on rivers if I can, then lakes. I try not to overlap the cities radius with another city.

 

[meowsqueak]

I think the thread Visual/Photo guide to terrain somewhere on these forums explains the city-tile production for each terrain type. I think they are all the same except for one...

 

[KAuss]

Dessert... Once I had a site with a lot of plains and hills around... Then one patch of dessert in the middle... Plopped my city right on that sucker and not only did I make the dessert workable because the city was on it, I also made the fat cross fully workable...

Obviously this was a special case heh...

I don't like hills because you take one more turn to plop down the settler...

Next to river I like to take plains because you can save yourself a flood plain which is always impotant...

 

[walkerjks]

My favorite starting locations are within reach of gold, silver, or gems (if they are in the open, rather than buried in jungle). The impact of a couple of these tiles on your early research is huge.

 

[remconius]

Some resources also give bonuses to your city square production. Also it secures the resource, but you dont get the regular power yield from improving the resource.

 

[RoddyVR]

i like sitting donw early cities on bananas. extra food in the city tile makes for faster early growth, and the banana itself wouldnt get used for a while till i get calendar anyway.
later on when i already have a few good cities, i prefer setting down somewhere with a lot of forests. because chopping those down will catch the city up nicely.
cities that are at the same time on a coast, but also a fresh water lake, can build lighthouses (cause of the coast) and get hte fresh water tiles to be 3f, 2c (or 3f 3c if you're financial). i had once game start where my settler started betwen two lakes, had a grand total of 5 land tiles in its radius. was a nice city. got to over 25 population. had production problems, ofcorse, but still.

 

[Gufnork]

A city can get a huge advantage from being coastal if you manage to grab the lighthouse. With a few open borders treaties you can get huge sums of commerce from trade routes, especially with Harbor.

 

[Astax]

Plains Hill ocean coastal tile alongside a river = Yummy.

If Im on the coast a plains hill will probably be my best hammer tile, so I dont know if that's the route I'd take. Altough 2 grassland hills are better than 2 plains hills unless you are totally swimming in food.

 

[Astax]

Best place to put a city is probably near a river. I wonder if placing a city on flood plains would negate the floodpain health penalty :/ Other good places are desert or the arctic regions

 

[Vizzini]

Some resources also give bonuses to your city square production. Also it secures the resource, but you dont get the regular power yield from improving the resource.

Unless it's a Plains tile the above is not correct. 2 food, 1 hammer, 1 commerce no matter what you settle on or what strategic resources it has.

Plains tile: 2 food, 2 hammer, 1 commerce.
Plains hill tile + strategic resource: 2 food, 3 hammer, 1 commerce

i like sitting donw early cities on bananas. extra food in the city tile makes for faster early growth

Only if it's a grassland tile.

Any tile other than grassland/plains w/Food resource: 2 food 1 hammer 1 commerce (just like any other city)
Grassland tile w/food resource: 3 food, 1 hammer, 1 commerce

Reference: Photo Guide to terrain improvements