city layout

[farting bob]

hi all.
when you start out with large amounts of land, what kind of layout will you most likely do?

ICS - (infinate city sprawl) as many cities 1 tile gap from each other

OCP - (optimum city placement) each city with a 4 tile gap in a grid format

3^ 2> - when you go 3 out from the city, then 2 left or right. repeated 4 times round each city (think of the nazi flag. the 4 prongs are the path the setler takes, the middle is the first city and the end of the prong is the new city.

dependng on terrain - you can have large gaps or almsot no gap ebtween cities, tryign to get as many good tiles worked or resouces in a city radius. also for thigns liek coast and rivers.

mix of OCP and terrain - self explanitary

other - please specify

i personally chose the 3^ 2> nazi system (that sounds abit wrong doesnt it...)

 

[Leha]

Hey , where's RCP , my favourite ? I voted other .

 

[Strider]

A mix of OCP+Terrian controls me... Voted OCP though

 

[MadScot]

'Other'

RCP, but tailored to the terrain. So not every city conforms.

And I like a dense buiuld, too, so the radii will be relatively small too. The first ring will often be 3 tiles from the centre.

 

[Bacon King]

A mix of OCP and terrain, I'll go OCP unless theres a resourse that I need right away, but wont be in city borders untill 3rd city expansion or something like that.

I dislike RCP, as it is based on a bug in the corruption program, and is an exploit.

 

[amirsan]

Terrain totally controls me! I have to have max. food and max. shields and at least a river next to the city.

 

[dvandyke]

I have no set rules or patterns but I avoid overlapping city tiles as much as possible and like a very large land mass.

Cramping citys together is good in the short term but limits growth later on.

I try to gain control strategic and luxury over resorces early on and a large land mass increases chances of gaining later resorses.

I don't usualy empand beyond my continent until the late game.

 

[Kan' Sharuminar]

Mix of terrain and OCP. I usually try to stick to OCP, but then there's some resource/luxury/terrain I NEED to be next to.

What does RCP stand for?

 

[MadScot]

RCP=Ring City Placement

There was an article in the Strategy & Tips forum IIRC

Basically, since the corruption algorithm uses distance to the capital/FP as part of the calculation, if you put a bunch of cities all the exact same distance away they get better average corruption than if you scattered them randomly.

 

[Kan' Sharuminar]

Originally posted by MadScot
RCP=Ring City Placement

There was an article in the Strategy & Tips forum IIRC

Basically, since the corruption algorithm uses distance to the capital/FP as part of the calculation, if you put a bunch of cities all the exact same distance away they get better average corruption than if you scattered them randomly.

Ah, makes sense in a rather logical way. Thanks for the info

 

[Piltdown_Fan]

Voted mix of OCP and terrain. I like to find and claim good tiles, but I also like cities close-ish to each other for defense and anti-corruption reasons.

 

[farting bob]

oh ya, i forgot RCP, damn.
ive tried it a few times, but you can either have a sced out one, much liek OCP, or a tight bunch with low corruption but will suffer due to lack of space later on in game.

 

[Gainy]

I voted OCP. I dont mind overlapping a few tiles, but it just feels nicer to me knowing that each city...well... doesnt overlap

 

[toothpaste100]

Is there any advantage to the ICS system besides low corruption (I assume)?

 

[MadScot]

ICS doesn't give low corruption. Since the cities are packed as tight as possible the "number of cities" corruption becomes huge. You reach the 95% corrupt city point much closer (in tiles) to the capital than any other system

What you gain is a huge number of cities - which means enormous unit support for Monarchy, for example - and each city is quite small. So happiness is rarely an issue, and you often don't need any aqueducts or other happiness buildings.

It's difficult to get a high shields/turn total from your cities, so it hurts when you need getting on for 100 shields per unit. But in ancient times, when 30 shields is the most you need to worry about, a bunch of cities all in the 5-10 spt range is perfectly fine.

It is a bit wasteful of population, since each settler effectively kills one pop point. But you get the city centre square worked for free, so you don't really lose production.

 

[toothpaste100]

I want to start making RCP layouts, I've read up the subject all day. Could anyone recommend a very effective layout of RCP?

 

[farting bob]

i recommend havign a first ring of 8, start with 3 or 4 sqyures from center, and have then going in each direction of tiles. so , youd go 4 tiles NW, N, NE, E, SE, S, SW, W.
this gives a even layout, enough space, and means you have 9 core cities with very low corruption. youll ave to get help on second / third ring layout, ive never gone that far , but this core 9 cities will be a good start.

 

[MadScot]

FB

That's not RCP.

You need to count distance exactly the same way as the computer. Diagonals count as 1.5, sides as 1.0

So that would actually give 2 rings - 4 cities at distance "4" (the NW, SW, NE, SE ones) and 4 at distance "6" - the N, S, E and W ones.

Either push the NE, SW, etc ones out 2 more tiles, bring the others in a bit, or both

edit: attached shows 3 RCP rings at distance 3, 4.5 and 6, for anyone struggling to visualise it. Obviously you wouldn't build all three of these in one place. The filled in blob is the capital of FP. The black blob is and error and should be ignored

 

[Leha]

Well , I can't tell you I'm a pro , I'm playing regent level .
RCP is my faforite , so I will be glad if my experience will help .
So , basic idea is this : place your first ring like this

c---c---c
iiiiiiiii
iiiiiiiii
iiiiiiiii
c---C---c
iiiiiiiii
iiiiiiiii
iiiiiiiii
c---c---c

where C is capital , c is city of the first circle and "-" is tile .
This way your cities have overlap of 1-3 tiles only . Of course sometimes there is mountain breaking the scheme , or temptation to grab resource but basically the rule is simple :
you have to rings feeding city ---> try to avoid much overlapping of adjustent cities rings .

Edit : damn "i"'s should connect "c"'s

 

[toothpaste100]

Your diagram made me brain hurt at first leha, though I do see your system . I know the system though, all I want is the data . Which radius is truly the most efficient IYHO.