I have noticed in my games (usually prince level) that my citys tend to be much less densely packed than the AI, so my question is does it work better to have ideally placed cities (fat cross but some tiles in between fat crosses)as much as possible or to make potentially less ideal cities but more of them (1 fat cross each)?
city placement question
- Thread starter MaxPowers
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It depends, but usually only make cities that have enough food to support their growth. Although you may pack cities and borrow a 5-6 food tile to grow the second city.
Quality over quantity.
9 cities is enough to win any victory condition on just about any level.
Quality over quantity.
9 cities is enough to win any victory condition on just about any level.
futurehermit
Deity
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Well you'll never win domination with only 9 cities 
The key really is resources and good tiles. If there are numerous resources (especially FOOD) and good tiles then build your cities more tightly packed to take advantage. If the land is crappy though, the only reason to build cities tightly packed would be if you were boxed in by a difficult opponent and are planning to bust out post-drafting.
The key really is resources and good tiles. If there are numerous resources (especially FOOD) and good tiles then build your cities more tightly packed to take advantage. If the land is crappy though, the only reason to build cities tightly packed would be if you were boxed in by a difficult opponent and are planning to bust out post-drafting.
Gliese 581
Your average civ junkie
It is generally better to have some overlap.
Ten 15 tiles cities > Seven 20 tiles cities.
But if you can expand at leisure and the land is of good quality there's no reason to crowd excessively.
Ten 15 tiles cities > Seven 20 tiles cities.
But if you can expand at leisure and the land is of good quality there's no reason to crowd excessively.
Shurdus
Am I Napoleon?
On duel mapsize those 9 cities just might do it.Well you'll never win domination with only 9 cities
I think that in general you want to look at the quality of the land. Each city should have enough food to grow and quality tiles to work. The overlap becomes relevant if your cities become large enough that both of them want to workshared tiles. Before that moment arrives it matters not if there is little overlap.
It can be even a good idea to get some overlap. Sometimes I want to let my capital work high production tiles and surrounding cities work cottages, so that the capital can reclaim the much improved cottage tiles once bureaucracy is in.
The question in the OP is a bit flawed I think, because in the end you will always want ideal cities. The most accurate answer imo would be to say you will want to claim the good city spots and claim as much land as you can, then you want to fill the empty spaces you left behind with cities as long as you can still fit in 'decent enough' cities. If a city can still grow to size 6 or 7 or so with mediocre land it is still worth it since that city can still build wealth and net you a positive result in total.
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