Having played some more Civ on some okay, and some truly bad starts (few grassland or plains river tiles, mountains, deserts, 1 Maritime, 6 luxuries in-continent) I have to say that the new Granaries have grown on me a lot more.
I don't build them everywhere - not by a long shot, but the very fact that they're not a no-brainer building means that the decision to build one is often a strategic choice rather than a forgone conclusion.
On food-poor, usually production rich sites, Granaries are a must if you want to get that city up and running, especially if you have few Maritimes around. Even when you have Maritimes around, they don't become powerful enough to support food-poor sites by themselves until Industrial Era, and then only in multiples of 3. Getting a Granary in such a site is a vital aid. The city can build it quickly, too, since it is on a production-rich site.
Using Granaries and Watermills, you can work a bunch of Gold/Silver tiles quickly and still maintain city growth. In this situation, the Granary and Water Mill quickly pay for themselves, because they're allowing you to working very money-rich sites quickly, maintain fantastic productivity, and still be relevant when you finally get Maritimes online.
Of course, a city on a lake or in the middle of flat terrain with river probably won't need Granary since the food is going to be fantastic there, and even if it isn't, you can use TP and the extra river income to snag the Maritimes faster. I'm guessing that this is what's happening with most people.
I don't build them everywhere - not by a long shot, but the very fact that they're not a no-brainer building means that the decision to build one is often a strategic choice rather than a forgone conclusion.
On food-poor, usually production rich sites, Granaries are a must if you want to get that city up and running, especially if you have few Maritimes around. Even when you have Maritimes around, they don't become powerful enough to support food-poor sites by themselves until Industrial Era, and then only in multiples of 3. Getting a Granary in such a site is a vital aid. The city can build it quickly, too, since it is on a production-rich site.
Using Granaries and Watermills, you can work a bunch of Gold/Silver tiles quickly and still maintain city growth. In this situation, the Granary and Water Mill quickly pay for themselves, because they're allowing you to working very money-rich sites quickly, maintain fantastic productivity, and still be relevant when you finally get Maritimes online.
Of course, a city on a lake or in the middle of flat terrain with river probably won't need Granary since the food is going to be fantastic there, and even if it isn't, you can use TP and the extra river income to snag the Maritimes faster. I'm guessing that this is what's happening with most people.
