Dot mapping clarification

[TwoShedsJackson]

As I've just reached the difficulty level where dot mapping becomes useful I wondered if someone could clarify something for me:

the value of a square is counted as it's difference from two food either way, right? So grassland is even, as are coasts and ocean once you have a lighthouse, hills are -1 with grassland and -2 if plains, deserts and peaks are ignored. Resource tiles are counted as what they produce above 2 once improved.

First off, do you include the square the city itself is on when counting, i.e. is it counted as a 0 because it produces two food, or is +2 added to the total as this is a 'free' square that isn't using a population point to work it?

Also, as you disregard peaks and deserts, is the final figure you come up with for a city that contains some of these, the total farms needed to reach the maximum size less these tiles? i.e. if there were three peaks in the cross, does the final number you come out with in this instance indicate the farms needed to reach size 17 as opposed to size 20?

 

[njorls]

Do you, in fact, have two sheds?

Anyways, to answer your questions, the city itself is +2 free food.

Don't count peaks, if there's 3 ice/desert/peaks since you'll never be able to work them. Any other food surplus you get you can hire specialists to even out the difference.

There's a nice guide here: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=144029

 

[Jet]

You work the city tile for free. Each point of population either works a tile or runs a specialist. Ctrl+Y and shows you the yield of each tile. Unworked tiles yield nothing. Each point of population consumes 2 food. Total food income and consumption is shown at the top of the city screen.

 

[Alsn]

In my opinion just making sure it adds up to 20 is in my book a bit flawed as for example 2x 5+ food tiles and a bunch of 1 food tiles is better than 20 2 food tiles even though it would realistically both bring you all the way up, this is because you can whip effectively and even if you dont want to or arent running slavery youll grow up to worthwhile sizes that much quicker.

(this is also why overlapping a couple of high food tiles like river corn/wheat, pigs or seafood is nice if you have lots of grassland since you can switch the food tiles around to whichever city needs to grow).

 

[DaveMcW]

Dot mapping is all about resources and getting them inside your border.

You can make pretty much any land productive with enough farms and windmills.

If a site is self-sufficient without any farms, you should cottage spam it.

 

[OTAKUjbski]

Dot mapping is all about resources and getting them inside your border.

You can make pretty much any land productive with enough farms and windmills.

If a site is self-sufficient without any farms, you should cottage spam it.

Not so much agree with this one ...

... cottage spamming is only one of the great many things you can do with a self-sufficient plot of land.

You could also turn it into a GP farm, production city (Watermills & Workshops), National Park ... just about anything.

 

[DaveMcW]

... cottage spamming is only one of the great many things you can do with a self-sufficient plot of land.

Of course, but the reverse is not true. Self-sufficient cites are the ONLY ones you can cottage spam, and therefore the most efficient places to do so.

I do reserve my best 3 cities for the multiplier wonders: National Epic, Iron Works, Oxford University.