How do you grow cities?

[Harry Haller]

I've played through about a dozen games so far, and I have noticed that the computer players consistently produce cities much larger than I can produce. While I might have a couple of cities of size 10 to 12, they all have 4 or 5 cities of size 14 to 16 or larger. I've tried automating my settlers, and I've tried farming everything manually, but I never seem to achieve these city sizes. How do you do this?

Also, do automated settlers generally make good choices about tile improvement? It's tedious to manage them by hand, but if I turn them loose I notice that they make a lot of cottages and windmills, rather than farms and mines. It seems to me that the production bonus of a mine is better than the small trade bonus of windmills, but maybe I'm missing something there.

 

[Dagoth Ur]

Well, depending on what level you play at, AI cities will grow faster than yours because they require less food to gain a pop point.

 

[Sol_star]

I've only gone through one full game on a fairly easy lvl and I had no problem getting large cities (20+) later in the game. Even if your game isn't set at an easy lvl make sure you pay attention to your populations health and happiness. Heathly cities grow faster, keep track of how many unhealthy people your city has and take steps to fix those problems. Also unhappy people don't work, they are just a little waste of space, keep them ammused so you have the full effect of the larger cities (more shields produced so you build that much faster).
I know that the above help is kind of basic (keep in mind I just stated playing Civ 4 and posting here) but I hope it does help!
~Sol

 

[Harry Haller]

Thanks. I have been playing on "noble," which I thought evenly balances the player against the computer players, but maybe they do require less food to grow.

I think I do an adequate job with health and happiness, but it's probably worth looking at more closely next time.

 

[RoddyVR]

i've had no problem getting to size 20+ on noble.

maybe its the way you place your cities. this game seems to be much less about "fill in the space you can with as many cities as you can" and much more about "find great spots for your cities and plop them down then."

if your city has atleast 2 food resourses (cows, wheat, corn....) and a good number of grasslands, then you shouldnt have problems growing fast.

there are a few things that can stop a cities growth:
1. not enough food producing tiles. (too many hills, plains or forests)
2. not enough improved tiles (like not having a lighthouse in a coastal city)
3. no fresh water around for farms. even the farms on resourses (rice, wheat, corn) gain an extra food if there is a fresh water sourse next to them. so rivers are REALY good (health bonus for city, commerce bonus for tiles on river, food bonus for farms on river). once you get to civil cervice, make sure to get a water line (via farms) to your farmed resourses.
4. too much letting the computer pick where your citizens work. if you want your city to grow, try pressing the "priorotize food" button below the "rush" buttons. it will make your city governor try to get as much food as possible from the terrain. i've noticed a lot of time that the default governor settings seem to like placing people into the specialist categories too early (those guys eat food, but dont make any, so your city growth slows down). and it also likes working mined plain/hills that dont provide any food, again, slowing down your growth (though provinding a lot of shields).
5. unhappy citizens. these buggers eat food, but do nothing. so if you have any unhappy people, get more happiness bonuses or build more happy buildings. growing your city when you have unhappy citizens is pointless.
6. unhealthy city. if you've got more unheathyness then healthyness then you'll start loosing food to the deseases. and your city will slow down a lot. connect more food resourses, and build more of the "+to health buildings" like granary, harbor, grocer and aqueduct.