Changing the Minimum Distance between Cities?

[Marshall Thomas]

How can I make the minimum distance between cities one hex more? The AI is building all of it's cities just three hexes away from each other. This means the AI cities will never grow large. I'm building my cities about 4 or 5 hexes apart; so the AI and I are really playing different games. For instance, when the size of my territory is about the same as the AIs, I still only have about half the cities as it does because of the city spacing.

So I want to increase the minimum distance by one (and go from playing on a large map to a huge one, to compensate). Before I make this change (assuming I can), I'd like to ask if there are any unforseen negative consequences to this that I haven't considered.

Thanks in advance

edit: is it "MIN_CITY_RANGE"? change it from 2 to 3?

 

[chrome-rome]

<GameData>
<Defines>
<Update>
<Where Name="MIN_CITY_RANGE"/>
<Set Value="x"/>
</Update>
</Defines>
</Gamedata>

Where x is the number of hexes you want in between. I would advise against 5 or more because the ai doesn't place cities optimally, meaning many hexes would be unusable. I personally play with four hexes in between. Also, I don't think this will solve your problem because the ai has a tendency to overuse specialist in cities, so they won't "work the land" anyways. It does make war easier though, as you don't have to capture soo many cities.

 

[Marshall Thomas]

<GameData>
<Defines>
<Update>
<Where Name="MIN_CITY_RANGE"/>
<Set Value="x"/>
</Update>
</Defines>
</Gamedata>

Where x is the number of hexes you want in between. I would advise against 5 or more because the ai doesn't place cities optimally, meaning many hexes would be unusable. I personally play with four hexes in between. Also, I don't think this will solve your problem because the ai has a tendency to overuse specialist in cities, so they won't "work the land" anyways. It does make war easier though, as you don't have to capture soo many cities.

Thanks for your reply. I switched it from 2 hexes to 3. I hope this change makes things better. In my first campaign since the patch, the AI almost always built cities with only two hexes seperating them. This would mean that everyone of his cities would have to be a specialist city by about size 9 or 10. It would also prevent the AI from having any really big cities; especially since the new patch allows for more vertical growth.

I really wonder why the designers didn't make it 3 minimum hexes instead of just 2. Any thoughts as to why they made it just 2 instead of 3? Thanks in advance

 

[HedBanger]

I have been trying to figure out how to do the same thing for the past hour. In my last game I had a war with Mongolia and I noticed that about 70% of their cities were only two hexes away from each other which bothered the hell out of me. It just doesn't make sense to me that two cities I am not even aiming for can fully bombard my units when I am trying to take out a third city. Not very realistic to me.

 

[chrome-rome]

The only thing I can think of is to offensively place cities next to your opponents. I think that the devs thought that the happiness restrictions would limit the number of times you do this, as placing cities that close is "expensive" in happiness terms. Still, thats not very satisfactory to me.

 

[HedBanger]

Im sorry but where exactly do you make the change?

 

[JohnnyW]

I thought cities had to be 3 apart? I guess it's 2.... Been seeing the AI do this and I thought it was a glitch. I didn't bother to test it out because I was to in the zone playing and didn't want to reload, lol.

 

[Marshall Thomas]

I thought cities had to be 3 apart? I guess it's 2.... Been seeing the AI do this and I thought it was a glitch. I didn't bother to test it out because I was to in the zone playing and didn't want to reload, lol.

Yes they do need to be 3 hexes apart; but the in the XML file it means how many hexes are actually in between the cities, not counting the 3rd hex as the actually city hex.

So, for modding purposes, if you can see two hexes between two cities, they are 2 hexes apart and not 3. even though the two cities are really 3 hexes apart from each other.

 

[JohnnyW]

Yes they do need to be 3 hexes apart; but the in the XML file it means how many hexes are actually in between the cities, not counting the 3rd hex as the actually city hex.

So, for modding purposes, if you can see two hexes between two cities, they are 2 hexes apart and not 3. even though the two cities are really 3 hexes apart from each other.

I have definitely seen cities 2 hexes apart. Attaching SS.

 

[digitalAngst]

I have definitely seen cities 2 hexes apart. Attaching SS.

These are on the ocean. On the seas all rules are null and void.

°dA

 

[JohnnyW]

These are on the ocean. On the seas all rules are null and void.

°dA

Really? That's interesting to find out. So how is that determined exactly? What I mean is, how does the AI determine what constitues a city on the ocean as opposed to a coast?

Does it mean cities on the same landmass cannot be within 2 hexes? If so, what if 2 large islands are seperated by 1 hex of coast - can I build a city on each side puttign them within 2 hexes of each other on different continents?

 

[digitalAngst]

Don't know how and why the evaluation routine breaks when calculating city distances across the sea, and if it breaks at all. I only know it's happened since at least Civ4.

°dA

 

[Tatran]

Maybe someone can tell us the code for city distance/range across water.
I really would like to know, because I hate this new way of city spamming by the AI.

Spoiler :