city growth question - from a beginner

[temic]

hi,

just got this civ4 game yesterday, afttr playing civ1, 2, 3 for many years.

i have a problem though - just started a new random game in "Beyond The Sword" and when i want to grow a city, all the food surplus is converted into production, while i would rather want it to go into growth of the city itself. how u can change this?

thanks

 

[TyrionLannister]

U can't, but this only happens when u build worker or settler, otherwise the city grows normally.

 

[no-genius]

That's why I like to build a few warriors/ archers, or a barracks before I build my first settler. Same for workers in new cities, although I guess the worker could build up the tiles, so that doesn't really make sense.

 

[JujuLautre]

you whouls first build a worker while teching to animal husbandry to improve your cows; would be a much better move imho

 

[no-genius]

I didn't have any cows!
I tend to build an archer, maybe another warrior (or spearman if I've got bronze working yet), and then build a settler and a worker.

 

[JujuLautre]

I didn't have any cows!

Then what are the things on the two plains tiles just west of your city? It doesn't look like pigs or sheep

 

[mipe]

... no-genius is talking about different game, not that one.. its temic who has that game.

 

[JujuLautre]

Yep, right; for my defense, he did not notice I did not speak to him but to the OP

 

[MGee]

@temic: in the producion bar the blue one represents the true production, the orange one the food/growht converted into production. This will occur when you build settlers or workers, otherwise your city will grow.

BTW: 2 cow, jumbo and wine in the city's fat cross. Quite decent start, isn't it?

 

[oyzar]

not enough food...

 

[Morgrad]

In previous versions of Civ, it cost you 1 population to build a worker and 2 to build a settler - so a size 4 city would be come size 3 or 2 respectively.

In Civ IV, it sorta still costs population, but differently - while building a worker or settler, all excess food is converted into hammers, so the city stops growing, but the worker/settler is built faster than it would with just hammers alone.

The only way to grow a city is to generate surplus food and let the population climb as the food bar fills up. A granary will help your city grow much faster - so build/whip these in every city ASAP!

Well... there is one other way, but it's a one-time increase of 1 population per city which is only a tertiary benefit of the Hanging Gardens - I only truly care about the health bonus, so I prefer to wrest them from the cold dead hands of a rival in lieu of building them.

 

[xanadux]

The early game in Civ4 needs to be played much differently than the earlier Civ games. Usually start with a worker so you can improve tiles. After that, generally build military (sometimes chop forests for a second worker if there will be enough work for 2 workers), and then grow the capital to at least size 3, or as big as 5 or 6 before starting on settlers.

If you want to go for an earlier settler, it is usually best to get Bronze Working early so you can chop forests, use your first worker to chop a second worker, then use both to chop a settler.