city placement priorities
- Thread starter oscar.kz
- Start date
Memoryjar
Emperor
Desert hill river next to a mountain.
Teproc
King
When possible, always settle on a hill.
Settling on a river is especially important for a coastal city because of cargo ships, hence if you have a coastal city, your other cities don't need to be ON rivers. Having river tiles is good for Growth though, because of Civil Service.
Settling next to a mountain is nice, although less good in Pangea games because you'll research Astronomy later.
Overall I think the biggest advice I'd give on city placement is to pay close attention to the 1st ring. You need to look at all 3 rings of course, but if your 1st ring sucks, maybe you should sacrifice that extra non-unique lux on the 3rd ring to get your city going faster.
As for your choice, I'd probably settle on the hill if the city is non-coastal either way. But if you really want a good answer you should post a screenshot.
Settling on a river is especially important for a coastal city because of cargo ships, hence if you have a coastal city, your other cities don't need to be ON rivers. Having river tiles is good for Growth though, because of Civil Service.
Settling next to a mountain is nice, although less good in Pangea games because you'll research Astronomy later.
Overall I think the biggest advice I'd give on city placement is to pay close attention to the 1st ring. You need to look at all 3 rings of course, but if your 1st ring sucks, maybe you should sacrifice that extra non-unique lux on the 3rd ring to get your city going faster.
As for your choice, I'd probably settle on the hill if the city is non-coastal either way. But if you really want a good answer you should post a screenshot.
I think what he's saying is in terms of trade routes, if you have a coastal city you're likely to prefer sea based over land based routes, and your other cities won't need the TR boost from rivers. That said, I consider the watermill and garden to be more important than the TR boost and would still settle on rivers for the mill alone.
Consider the empire as a whole and place accordingly. Otherwise you'll lock yourself out of a key tile such as a unique luxury.
That said, being on a river has a huge advantage to not:
1. Ability to build a Watermill what amounts to a second granary + a small hammer boost
2. Several tiles with fresh water : Farms providing more food for most of the game than otherwise
3. Additional bonus of being able to build the Garden. (This is significant if its your capital; minor otherwise)
Being on a hill also has a couple advantages to flat:
1. More production when you most care about it.
2. Better defense
Planting on a Calendar based luxury is also advantageous:
1. No need to spend worker turns connecting the luxury;
2. These tend to be poor food sources for most of the game otherwise, so being in the city ensures you'll be able to work the tile for gold.
Being next to a Mountain has a big advantage:
1. Ability to build the Observatory.
2. In addition, there are a couple of World Wonders that require a mountain to be within two tiles of the city.
That said, being on a river has a huge advantage to not:
1. Ability to build a Watermill what amounts to a second granary + a small hammer boost
2. Several tiles with fresh water : Farms providing more food for most of the game than otherwise
3. Additional bonus of being able to build the Garden. (This is significant if its your capital; minor otherwise)
Being on a hill also has a couple advantages to flat:
1. More production when you most care about it.
2. Better defense
Planting on a Calendar based luxury is also advantageous:
1. No need to spend worker turns connecting the luxury;
2. These tend to be poor food sources for most of the game otherwise, so being in the city ensures you'll be able to work the tile for gold.
Being next to a Mountain has a big advantage:
1. Ability to build the Observatory.
2. In addition, there are a couple of World Wonders that require a mountain to be within two tiles of the city.
I was looking for information about city placing as well and wasn't very successfull with the forum search. Thanks for the info as well. The tip about planting on a calender ressource is much welcome.
Do those field yield faith and culture as well, if you have the pantheon for it?
Do those field yield faith and culture as well, if you have the pantheon for it?
budweiser
King of the Beers
You should consider trade routes when deciding when and where to place cities. Especially when you develop water trade capability, you want to reach back to the home cities and also hit the juicy targets far way. The second city location can allow the AI to reach you where before they could not.
Pantheon specific. The ones that don't require an improvement will give the bonus even with your city planted on top of it. (Goddess of Festival and Oral Tradition do; but Stone Circles does not as that one requires a quarry.)
adwcta
King
I think the bigger question (and one I often struggle with), is whether to build next to a mountain or next to a river if you can't have both (same # of workable river-adjacent tiles; non-capital).
I don't think a hill is the priority. It gives extra hammer and better defences but the defence is usually not useful against AI and only border cities really need that defence. The extra hammer is huge, but it depends on first ring resources. If you have a deer or plains wheat first ring you can get the extra hammer that way. River is top priority for me for any city. Don't forget about the hydrodam. Its a hammer for every river tile. Capital should also be river for the garden or else you will have to build guilds in another city.
Nick Carpathia
Unleash the HAARP
Yeah, rivers are valuable, but I don't care that much about settling directly next to a river. Watermills are a terrible building, costing a ton of maintenance. Compare with granaries, which offer a minimum of +2 food, but also give you food routes. Plus, every riverside tile you don't settle on is yet another wet tile you can farm that can get boosted by civil service.
Though a coastal city that is positioned at a nexus near foreign cities is often good to put riverside, for the bonus trade route gold.
Though a coastal city that is positioned at a nexus near foreign cities is often good to put riverside, for the bonus trade route gold.
kintzshianye
Chieftain
- Joined
- Dec 20, 2013
- Messages
- 4
Little confused by what you're saying about rivers. 
I've played Civ since the beginning, but I'm just now getting into Civ5 -- hated vanilla but they finally turned it into a good game. Anyway, my feel for city placement is still stuck in Civ4 mode, so I've been paying attention to this thread. I just rolled this game and can't decide which is better: hill on the coast or a river tile inland?
Spoiler :
TheGrumpyBuddha
King
- Joined
- Aug 8, 2013
- Messages
- 834
I've played Civ since the beginning, but I'm just now getting into Civ5 -- hated vanilla but they finally turned it into a good game. Anyway, my feel for city placement is still stuck in Civ4 mode, so I've been paying attention to this thread. I just rolled this game and can't decide which is better: hill on the coast or a river tile inland?
Spoiler :
I vote hill-on-the-coast easily. It's a hill. And it's on the coast. Coast is awesome for those trade routes and food ships. Hill-on-river or hill-on-coast would be closer.
