CE: What goes on plains?

[AThousandYoung]

I put cottages on them now, but is this the best idea?

 

[Roxlimn]

It depends. Early in the game, I usually farm the plains if they have access to fresh water. You can always cottage the tiles that don't have access to fresh water.

Besides which, a Cottaged Plains is effectively one less food towards growth - a net food deficit. I wouldn't work that tile until 500 BC at least.

I could see working a Plains Cottage, but only if I'm swamped with food already, and I have no better way to get at hammers, or if I'm financial and it's next to a river and I have no other grassland cottages to work.

 

[InvisibleStalke]

Count up the surplus food that the city has. If it has enough surplus food then definitely cottage the plains - thats a great tile - great research and some production too.

Otherwise I would probably do nothing with it until biology when I would farm every second plains tile and cottage the other one. The farmed tile gives you the food to support the cottage.

Before biology the population working a farmed plains tile gives you one hammer. Thats pretty poor production - I'd rather convert that pop into an instant 30 hammers with slavery.

 

[Alternator]

Unless they have forests on them, I generally avoid working plains tiles until one of three things happen:

1) I have State Property, which makes Watermills turn the tile self-sufficient and Workshops not remove all food. This is good for a production city, and the Watermills even give some production to a commerce city in urgent need of it (say, if you've had to shift to Emancipation).

2) I've already worked all the grassland and flood plains tiles, and all the food resources, and I want to spam cottages for a commerce focused city. I only do this when I have plenty of extra food elsewhere in the fat cross, however, otherwise I'd wait for Biology and then alternate farms and cottages.

3) I have Biology making a 3/1/0 or 3/1/1 tile practical for a food starved city. I'd still wait until the better food tiles are all worked, however.

 

[Carnage04]

I'll usually cottage them for the future if my workers are running out of things to do. I try to cottage better food tiles to get the population up and some cottages started on their journey to being a town. I figure that any city you drop should have at least four tiles that are better than a plains tile. It won't be until at least pop 6 before you have use for them. If you are probably whipping, it should take awhile before those tiles are significant.

 

[OTAKUjbski]

I usually farm them and forget them. There is a very small window for me between Printing Press, Democracy and Biology when I would consider cottaging over the farms, so I tend to keep them there for the boost.

 

[DaveMcW]

It depends on the city.

Cottage city = cottage them until food runs out.
Production city = farm or workshop.

Cities with enough food to support 10 cottages pre-biology become cottage cities. All others become production cities.