For a newb, what are some important keys to city placement?

[MBison]

When placing my FIRST city, what are some of the important keys.. seems like along a river is the best placement with some hills for mining. Other resoruces would be icing.

What about future cities? I know it depends, but are there some general do's and don'ts?

 

[Shizelbs]

When you are controlling your Settler, little icons will pop up for the amount of production that the surrounding tiles will give to that city. The more the better generally.

In general, you don't want to place a city in the woods, grasslands are good, I always like to place my cities near some body of water or river, and if you can get resources within your border, good for you. Also don't move the city too far out from another city, and remember that your border will grow with more culture coming from that city.

But most of all, learn for yourself You'll learn what works for you.

 

[DisruptiveIdiot]

It really depends on the map. I prefer to get a growth city first, and then capture resource points with subsequent settlements. In general, I like to minimize city overlap (the 21-tile cross that a city uses for work) but it's not that big of an issue. Plan your cities far in advance, you'll be stuck with their positions for thousands of years. Maximize bonuses, build on hills and next to rivers, and try to grab as many bonus resources as you can.

Fringe settlements will require more defensible positions than your interior if you're militaristic or your neighbors are particularly aggressive. Don't fret if you can't optimally place your border cities, just make sure they're on hills or on the friendly side of a river!

Don't make cities for the sake of filling up space, do make cities if they'll be profitable from resources. Coastal cities are almost always beneficial because they are guaranteed food and commerce. Avoid deserts at all costs, they are useless. Open ground should be a lower priority than ground near a river or on a hill. Bonus resources have to be factored in but they're very variable. The best spot for a city would be on a hill, surrounded by a river on two or more sides, and next to at least two resources. Don't forget to consider its distance from your other cities! You want to be able to protect it in case of aggression.

 

[killaer]

1. Food. If you find a good food resource (Pigs, Cow, Sheep, Rice, Wheat, Corn and all that good stuff) I usually build arround there and make a farm on that tile. Eventually It will bring you in A nice 5 or more food later on
2. Water. A river is always a plus for a few reasons. First, It gives your city a boost of health, and second is that it gies your city a defensive bonus. If someone tries to attack you across a river, theyre at a dissadvantage
3. Mountains. The more mountains, the more mines, the more production, the more speed
Anyway thats all I can think of for now...

 

[gabbar]

A related question from another newb.. do you ppl wait and look around before founding the first city or just found it wherever it started? In one game I tried looking around for a few turns, and as a result, managed to lose out on both Buddhism and Hinduism.. not sure how much it mattered, but I had to make the extra effort of researching Monotheism to get Judaism.

 

[KMadCandy]

i pretty much make my first city within 2 turns of start, if you delay too long you just miss out on so much. if it's not an ideal spot you can always re-buld your capital elsewhere later, but you can't ever get 4 turns back if you wandered around looking for the perfect spot. if i can see a river i do try to get it but that's about it.

 

[Big J Money]

This is not must-know advice, but keep it in mind: search for any possible locations where you can control entry to your borders through natural chokepoints. If you can manage to get just one or two of those, early defense will be a walk in the park, but you have to deny open borders to anyone who has map knowledge of the enclosed area, which can make relations more difficult.

=$= Big J Money =$=

 

[KCCrusader]

3. Mountains. The more mountains, the more mines, the more production, the more speed
Anyway thats all I can think of for now...

Mountains are impassible in Civ 4

Hills are good for production, and FORESTS are majorly underrated. Once you get lumbermills, forests can be great for production.

 

[homegrown]

Mountains are impassible in Civ 4

Hills are good for production, and FORESTS are majorly underrated. Once you get lumbermills, forests can be great for production.

/me takes a moment and hugs all the trees!

 

[Shakes]

A related question from another newb.. do you ppl wait and look around before founding the first city or just found it wherever it started? In one game I tried looking around for a few turns, and as a result, managed to lose out on both Buddhism and Hinduism.. not sure how much it mattered, but I had to make the extra effort of researching Monotheism to get Judaism.

Unless you have a very good reason to burn a turn on moving (ie can see a better square), don't do it would be my advice. Remember your settler has 2 moves, so you can move through one non hill/forest square and still settle on the same turn. Anything more than that and you're handing everyone else a turn head start, for uncertain benefit since you can't be sure you'll quickly find a better position.

 

[michaelfraviby]

never build a city one square away from the ocean-coast, that is the only thing I can think of at the moment, but when I get the game tomorrow

 

[PekkaM]

On the coast, next to a river going through some desert squares (=flood plains) with some hills (preferably forested) would be my pick. Some resources would be noce too.

 

[cursif]

Mountains are impassible in Civ 4

Hills are good for production, and FORESTS are majorly underrated. Once you get lumbermills, forests can be great for production.

Forests are even better when combined with the [admittedly late game] civic Environmentalism! I never get rid of all my forests.

 

[ToadFaerie]

The game I'm playing right now has probably the best starting location for a city I've seen.

River for 10 tiles. Mostly grassland, 4 hills, with some forest, and the following resources:
2 ivory (on grassland and river, great food, production, and commerce)
3 gems (2 on grassland, 1 on hills; all 3 on river. The grassland gems are uber, with a mine they yield 2 food, 1 production, 7 commerce).
1 corn on grassland.
1 horse on grassland.

That city has lots of food, very good production, and superb commerce.

The only thing missing was an ocean tile. A coastal city benefits tremendously on maps where there's other nations early in the game that cities connected by coast. Your religion spreads to them faster, you get more gold from trading with their old cities, and there's later improvements to trade and food for ocean cities.

That same game, my 2nd, 4th, and 5th cities were founded on the coast, each with at least 1 or more resource, and good mix of grassland and hills.

 

[Good Omens]

I will always build my first city the first turn, unless it's in an incredibly bad location (surrounded by desert or tundra, basically). Even if it's an imperfect spot, it's more important to start research and production. The game seems pretty good at making starting locations.

Another tip for newbies; when you select your settler, blue circles will appear at spots that the game feels are good locations. Though they aren't always ideal, they do tend to be pretty good, at least in the early game. A problem, though, is that they seem to like putting cities close together, which may not be the best idea given the new city maintenance system.

Also, keep in mind that a city on a river is automatically connected to all other cities on that river, without needing vulnerable roads. A nice way to get early resource sharing going, both within your civ and with others nearby.

 

[DarkSchneider]

Let's see, the best starting environment would probably include forests, floodplains, iron and horses. Of course, you wouldn't know whether you had iron ight from the start. I generally pick the first spot the settler starts in, as it is virtually always the best spot within 3 moves, and over 3 moves is too long to wait.

Make sure you have at least some special resources that will help you with food, and make food your priority from the beginning, your first town is going to need to build a settler fairly early on. You can chop down forests to help speed this along.

 

[ReusableGore]

Forests are great. My opening expansion strategy depends on them. I create a worker, research Bronze Working, and crank out the settlers via production from clearing forests.

It allows me to expand very quickly.

 

[KizilKar]

You do know of course you're losing the forest's production bonus and health benefits at the end of the game. (A lumbermilled forest is even better than a mined hill =production but more commerce)

 

[Padmewan]

OK, here's a Civ3 -> Civ4 question: in Civ3 it was crucial to build your city ON a space adjacent to a river or lake in order to obviate the need for an aqueduct. Is this still true in Civ4?

 

[jar2574]

You do know of course you're losing the forest's production bonus and health benefits at the end of the game. (A lumbermilled forest is even better than a mined hill =production but more commerce)

But hopefully by that point in the game you've built an insurmountable lead.

I don't cut down all my forests, but if I have 5-6 tiles of forest next to my capitol then I cut 2-3 to boost intitial production. It really helps crank out workers and settlers, allowing for an almost civ III like expansion strategy.