how to get cities producing units rapidly

levi Limestone

Chieftain
Joined
Dec 16, 2006
Messages
25
Location
Kent, England
Basic question: what combination of improvements in the city or around it would work best to get the city taking fewer turns to create a unit.
Granaries grow cities but are mines or roads or irrigation round the city better for increasing productivity?
 
Mines add an extra shield to the production box.
Roads add an extra piece of gold to income.
Irrigation add an extra sack of grain to the bin.
 
Mines... check the civilopedia. You can chop forests too. Once you have engineering you can plant forests and then chop them also.
 
shield production...
factories, mines, power plants and more people building more tiles (shields) will speed up production.
 
Basic question:

Ask a basic question, get a bunch of basic answers, huh? :p I'll put it together for you. Here's something a little more solid.

It's generally a three step process to get your cities cranking out units like mad. Growth, achieving raw shield production, and building improvements.

1) Growth. Its common around the forums to see the expression: "Food is key". You can have all the shield producing terrain you want, but without citizens to work it, it is the proverbial 'diamond in the rough'. So what you can do is get your cities big. "Big" has a different definition depending on the age you're in, since early stuff costs fewer shields and keeping everyone happy and productive in the AA can be tough, especially on higher levels. In the later game, again, keeping people happy can be tough but there are more options by then to keep them happy. Since stuff costs more shields to make, you need the people to get the shields. Early ancient era, 6 pop is big enough in most cases. Middle ages, 12; late IA, 15+, etc.

Also, it stands to reason that more cities simply produce more (duh, right?), so more growth = more settlers = more cities. Best for growth: grasslands, floodplains (kinda... if desease isn't rampant), and food bonuses. Get them connected, get the bonuses watered in despotism, and re-work them later to produce the best combo of food/shields in late game. Lots of plains and hills slow growth, and tundra/jungle/mountains/deserts (as well as non-food-bonus water) are detrimental, although most eventually will have their use so don't count them out. While your cities are small, you can strategically chop forests for production boosts on early improvements like barracks and granaries.

2) Achieving raw production. You need workers. A major n00b problem is simply lack of workers. One worker or fewer per city is abysmal. 2/city is ideal for industrial tribes, 2.5 for the rest. Capturing slaves can be a real boost, especially on lower difficulty levels where the AI is incontinent. Improve the terrain, generally mine green, irrigate brown. Focus on bonus resources and tiles next to water for the commerce boost. Once your cities grow some, get at least the hills mined. Try and balance growth and production by going to the city view and choosing which workers work which tiles.

Management is a huge here. At minimum you need to select which tiles your citizens work to maximize production early in the game. Serious micromanagers will even go to the city screen one turn before a unit is produced and switch citizens around so minimum shields are wasted to over-production, and food is maximized to add to the food box to contribute to the "growth" portion of the formula. If there is a draw between which tiles you wish to put a citizen on, use the amount of gold produced to help decide. After all, more gold means you can buy stuff from the AI, research faster, and under some governments, rush production. The tough part here is on higher levels where keeping cities from rioting requires an eagle eye and some serious concentration until you get used to it.

Lastly, your Golden Age will increase raw production like crazy mad. Each tile producing at least one shield produces an extra one. Your best bet is to get a GA after you leave despotism, but its not a game-ender if you don't. However, as an example of a well-placed GA, I managed to get my GA while I was under republic, mid-way through the IA, after I had factories and most of my territory was railed. Most of my core cities were producing 85+ shields, and I had a city next to my capital with an Iron Works that was cranking out a rediculous 130 shields per turn! I was going a peaceful
route that game and launched ahead in science (diplo victory in 1762AD, although I was originally planning on space race and was 4 turns from a launch), but if I wasn't I could've easily crushed my rivals with cavalry instead.

3) Improvements. This one is easy, but bears some explanation. We have two types: corruption reduction, and shield-multiplyers. The most important are the former -- a well placed palace and forbidden palace are key. In general, keep them central to begin with and move the palace later for a larger empire. Build up a core of high-production cities around them. Secondary corruption reduction buildings are courthouses and police stations, both of which are only really useful if: A) the city is producing about a dozen shields, and B) those cities are only losing between 30% and 70% shields to corruption. <30%, usually not an issue. More than 60%, you're better turning it into a farm.

Now, shield-multiplyers are factories, manufacturing plants, and power plants. There are articles on these, but in general, put them in the least corrupt cities, since they only work to multiply the uncorrupt shields. Otherwise they just cost you money.

Aside from all that, you can use upgrades to your advantage, too. As an example, since horsemen only take 4 or 5 turns for a decent size city to build, build lots of those and extra cash while you are waiting for chivalry. Then upgrade them and go on a knight rush (also highlights how gold/commerce is part of the equasion). Use your conquerings to fund more research, gain more luxs/resources, and expand turf for growth. Its cyclical!

Also: here's a good article on the ol' despot dash of destruction.
 
Back
Top Bottom