can any vedt explain the whole fat cross thing to a noob?

[pkp]

Ok, I have read up on this, read the manual, read the faq's and I still am clueless. Maybe somebody out there can help?

really don't understand the deal with how citizens "work" a tile. I read that you only need 20 food in your fat cross, so only build enough farms to make that happen and then focus on either commerce or production. Ok, that's all well and good but some things don't make sense.

First, if you don't have enough citizens to work every tile in your fat cross, do you still get any benefit from those tiles that do not have a white ring around them in the city screen? If so, what's the difference from those and the regular ones?
Second, what about the tiles that are in your cultural boundarys but outside of your fat cross, what good do they do?
Third, what happens if two cities overlap production a little bit?
And last (for now) if farms outside of your fat cross do some good then why do you have to make exactly 20 food inside it? can't some on the outslide do it? and a similar question, is there any reason whatsoever to put a cottage outside of the cities fat cross?

 

[cabert]

first, welcome to the forums
second, there is a thread in the general discussions for newbie questions, you get answers really fast there (no need to read the 200+ pages! just post your questions and you'll get answers)

Ok, I have read up on this, read the manual, read the faq's and I still am clueless. Maybe somebody out there can help?

I'll try

really don't understand the deal with how citizens "work" a tile. I read that you only need 20 food in your fat cross, so only build enough farms to make that happen and then focus on either commerce or production. Ok, that's all well and good but some things don't make sense.

20 food? that's not true.
If you want to work all the tiles in your fat cross, you need 20 pop. This means 40 food.
If you have deserts, peaks (or tundra / ocean tiles) in the fat cross, you can substract 2 food for every tile you don't expect to work.
OTOH, if you want to run loads of specialists, you need as much food as possible.

Example : a wanabee commerce city with 15 grassland and 5 plains will require 40 food.
2 will come from the city center
30 will come from grassland
5 will come from plains
That's 37.
So you cannot work 20 cottages, you need 3 farms (2 post biology) to work all the tiles. The best move is often to build those 3 farms on grassland to get fast growth, but if you have a low happiness cap, it better to simply work cottages until size 15 and to farm the plains in the end.

First, if you don't have enough citizens to work every tile in your fat cross, do you still get any benefit from those tiles that do not have a white ring around them in the city screen? If so, what's the difference from those and the regular ones?

no, you don't get food/commerce/hammers from tiles you don't work (= no white ring)
BUT
you can change the worked tiles according to your needs (fast growth or max commerce...). SO in the fat cross, it good to have most tiles improved. It's obvioulsy better to improve tiles in cities where you are working unimproved tiles first.
Other possible benefits :
- connecting resources (you need to improve the tile according to the special resource and to connect it to the trade network = roads and rivers)
- chain irrigation (you work the corn, but it's not on a river and you have discovered Civil Service : if you build farms from a fresh water source to you corn tile, you will have a better output)

Second, what about the tiles that are in your cultural boundarys but outside of your fat cross, what good do they do?

none except connecting resources and chain irrigation
You can (given enough workers) prepare tiles for a city to come too, but that never happened to me .

Third, what happens if two cities overlap production a little bit?

it's very simple. At a given time, only 1 city can work a tile.
So shared tiles are worked by the city of your choice, and the other city has one less tile to work. It often isn't a big deal. In fact it can be a good thing!

And last (for now) if farms outside of your fat cross do some good then why do you have to make exactly 20 food inside it?

they don't, and it's not 20

can't some on the outslide do it?

no

and a similar question, is there any reason whatsoever to put a cottage outside of the cities fat cross?

no (only good for slowing down barbs and AIs : they will pillage it)

 

[br_casino]

Example : a wanabee commerce city with 15 grassland and 5 plains will require 40 food.
2 will come from the city center
30 will come from grassland
5 will come from plains
That's 37.
So you cannot work 20 cottages, you need 3 farms (2 post biology) to work all the tiles. The best move is often to build those 3 farms on grassland to get fast growth, but if you have a low happiness cap, it better to simply work cottages until size 15 and to farm the plains in the end.

You shouldn't count the City Center's 2 food because the City Center is not part of the 20 tiles surrounding the city. If you include the City Center you would have to add an additional tile giving a total of 42 required food instead of 40.

In the above example you would need to 5 farms (pre-biology)

 

[Elandal]

City center provides 2 food and takes no population to work, so yes - it should be counted.

 

[br_casino]

Oops...Looks like I've been over farming