City Placement Opinions

[varus]

I have here some screenshots of the terrain around my capital.
I've noticed that in many of the various gameplay challenges on these boards (ALC, EMC, LHC) the participants in the thread almost invariably have different views of where cities should go.

I got curious, so I was wondering where some of you would place your cities given the surroundings here:

http://forums.civfanatics.com/uploads/67282/Civ4Warlords_2007-05-31_13-50-00-72.jpg
This is my capital, and a little of the western area

http://forums.civfanatics.com/uploads/67282/Civ4Warlords_2007-05-31_13-50-06-78.jpg
To the north

http://forums.civfanatics.com/uploads/67282/Civ4Warlords_2007-05-31_13-50-28-93.jpg
North, moving east

http://forums.civfanatics.com/uploads/67282/Civ4Warlords_2007-05-31_13-50-11-96.jpg
East

http://forums.civfanatics.com/uploads/67282/Civ4Warlords_2007-05-31_13-50-17-60.jpg
East and south


I've labeled two spots that I like, but I'd like to see what some folks here think.

 

[Hero]

Sorry. I usually let AI civs place my future cities for me.

 

[Greeneyedzombie]

I would put your cottage city above the copper. On its current spot it doesn't have enough food to cottage everything.
A city near the marble to the east, directly above the silk, I think is a good spot.
Other cities up north, you should aim for some production. There are many good places there to make good commerce cities.

 

[Spammurabi]

I definitely agree- the city 1N of the copper has a much better food supply, captures copper, lots of river tiles, including 2 flood plains.

I would agree with production city's placement, however I wouldn't found that first as you need the copper.

I also really like the spot 1W of the horses. Build that as your 3rd or 4th city (5th at the latest)

 

[Greeneyedzombie]

I would put the horse city 2N of the horses. So it will have a hill for production. Plenty of food to run some extra specialists and good cottage land.

 

[futurehermit]

Where are the other civilizations? Always a good idea to build toward them. I would let that dictate where you put your cities. The land immediately around your capital kinda blows (mountains, desert, tundra). So, if it was me, I would plan to expand toward the closest AI with a mind to move my capital toward them to handle maintenance and with a mind to get the forbidden palace built in a timely manner to allow backfilling of the terrain around your capital to close in the gaps.

Without knowing where the AIs are, it is hard to recommend anything at this point. But if you stretch too far from your capital in the short-term you are going to hurt your economy. That copper-cottage city is a stretch imo.

I would say research archery for barb defense and settle on the northern silk and one left of the horses for your first two cities. Cottages along that river should keep you afloat. You could take a couple border cities of the closest AI with chariots as long as they don't have spears (which they usually don't). Then plan to mop them up with catapults if you don't land any iron in your empire or conquered copper/iron. I see a spot of elephants which you could claim and combine with catapults to go on a rampage.

my 2 cents.