Can somebody explain the city limits/borders for me

[Leathaface]

I thought that the city limits/border was counting 3 hexagons away from the city center and that was that.

But I was watching a video from Quill18 and he had an ivory resource 4 hexagons away from the city center, and it was available to purchase in "buy a tile". So I assume the ivory is in the city limits? Also I think his cimity limits to the south was only 2 hexagons down?

I'm so confused!

 

[joncnunn]

I think the VEM & GEM mods both allow purchasing tiles at 4th ring.
4th ring tiles still can't be worked by the city in the mod, but the main point is getting Ivory in the empire.

You might have seen the next tile the city will culturally expand into though. G&K greatly increased priority for cultural expansion into 4th ring tiles with resources.

 

[VladTepes]

In my current G&K game I saw my capital Amsterdam pull in a 4th ring horse. It counted in the resources but Amsterdam could not work the tile nor could it build a circus. I developed and used the tile to help a new city get off the ground (it was in the new city's 3rd ring.)

 

[regeneration64]

Without mods I believe things are relatively simple:

* Workable tiles (i.e. citizens can be assigned to them) are within a 3-tile radius of the city
* A city can expand up to a 5-tile radius but in the 4th and 5th ring it is pointless sending a worker out unless you are improving a resource

Presuming you have no cities nearby, there is no need to improve a tile outside the 3rd ring. Sometimes I get bored and will build a fort or citadel which can be useful