early extra food vs early extra cogs

[Ye_Olde_Civver]

I'd like to know what you guys choose for the first tiles to work.

Imagine you had the following tiles:

• 2 x 3 food
• 2 x 2 food 1 cog
• 2 x 2 food 2 cogs

What would the first tile you work be? and the second? third?

I ask because I thought: food is king, the faster you grow, the faster you can use more tiles, but... quite soon I hit my housing cap and even if I go for the hammers now, I produce 5-10 food that go nowhere because of the -100% modifier.

 

[ExemplarVoss]

The two 2-2 tiles, followed by the 3f tiles. I'd also murder AIs for such an absurdly good starting location.

Getting out the early units and builder matters more. Once you've got military, builders and settlers out into the world, then its time to fiddle with growth.

 

[Ye_Olde_Civver]

OK, thank you for your reply. Let's imagine the 2 food 2 cog tiles were a fata morgana, would you work the 3 food tiles before the 2 food 1 cog tiles?

 

[MyOtherName]

There's a simple heuristic: envision your city at some future point in time so that we are ignoring future growth beyond that. The difference between the production now and the production then is how much production you're "losing" per turn by being small. In order to maximize the total production you get overall, your goal is to "lose" the least amount of production.

How to pick the right size is something of an art -- e.g. you might pick size 2 or size 3 as the aim because you want to get your initial units out quickly. Or maybe size 5 as the target because you're looking longer term.

Suppose you considered size 3, at which point your citizens would produce 5 cogs per turn if you're maximizing cogs. At size 1, your choices are:

• Work the 3 food tile: you are losing 5 cogs per turn, but you grow in 5 turns, so you lose 25 cogs overall
• Work the 2 food 2 cog tile: you are losing 3 cogs per turn, but you grow in 7 turns. You lose 21 cogs overall

Thus, working the 2 food 2 cog tile is the thing to do at size 1.

 

[Qoce]

If you are hitting the -100% modifier that means you are several pop above your population cap. Not only is your food being wasted right now, but its as being wasted for at least the last ~5 pop growths, because of the -75% and -50% modifiers that occur earlier. Much better to do a more balanced build, making sure to have good housing and amenities to support your new population. I'd go for the 2-2 tiles first for sure.
Tip: If you are above your population cap and don't have any easy way to improve your housing, consider building settlers.

 

[Martin Alvito]

The 2-2 tile is ideal.

Work a 4/5 Food tile, sure. 3 Food tile, no (unless it comes with production).

 

[Ye_Olde_Civver]

Thank you for all the answers. I will think more in my second game

 

[ExemplarVoss]

OK, thank you for your reply. Let's imagine the 2 food 2 cog tiles were a fata morgana, would you work the 3 food tiles before the 2 food 1 cog tiles?

The first one, maybe- if there weren't pressing needs to get units out as fast as possible, for example.
But growth at the expense of production just doesn't work that well. There are too many demands to get up and running. A food only city basically isn't contributing at all.