Growing versus production - question.

[hanterp]

One thing I always find difficult is to make full use of the production of my cities. Take Amsterdam ( see attachment ): There I have lots of mines which I very much like to use, but as soon as I let a citizen grow ( to produce a new circle ) I am unable to use that circle for production, because the new citizen costs food and thus I have to put the circle on a food-square
I have the strong feeling that I do something wrong; tell me, what is it?

 

[Polobo]

Plains Hills are really hard to work in the early game. You are working 2 which is about par for the course. Once you hit civil service you will get a +1 food to the rice which will help. Without a couple of +5 or better food source working more than a few plains hills is almost impossible. Once you hit biology you should be able to work the entire fat-cross with those mines.

That said, early-mid game you probably be better placing windmills on 2 (maybe 3) of those plains hills (you will need machinery for this). Also, machinery enables watermills which you can place on 3 tiles (4 if you give up the floodplain farm - which is doable after civil service and the rice going to 5). Toss in some cottages on the non-riverside grassland and the tile 1N of the city itself and you have a really great commerce city that will have decent production once you get the population up. Add in bureaucracy (also civil service - make this a priority technology, machinery after) and multiplier buildings and this city can carry a large part of you empire early and late.

 

[hanterp]

Thank you for your advice. I will do that and upload a new picture overhere after I have developed the city somewhat more