I have no clue where to build Cottages/Windmils/Lumber Yards... workshops

[CapnKill]

I can build farms.. I know where.. for the most part... but cottages.. windmils.. the other stuff, no clue, is there a guide somewhere that talks about this in more detail? does anyone build workshops? They don't seem so special.

 

[12thScout]

cottages - Grassland + flood plains are best for cottage spamming if the city has enough food to sustain it
windmills - Mostly useless. Use only if that city needs one more point of food for something and there are no better food plots. (ex. for a specialist farm)
Lumber Yards - Raise production and are built in forests. Also gets and a +1 hammer bonus if a railroad runs through it. Fairly ideal for a hammer city as theres no negatives and any forests you have left there will also be providing a health bonus. However, by the time you get the ablity to build it, you shouldn't have many forests left.
Workshops - Raise production by up to...+3 I belive... It depletes 1 food from the tile (-1 food) which can be remedied with state property. Ideally built on grassland so it is self sustaining
Watermill - Similar to workshops. Provides less hammers but more food/commerce. Gets +1 food from State property. No negatives without it.
Forts - Never build...EVER - exept POSSIBLY in team multiplayer games on the border with good defensive ground. (Ex. behind rivers...on hills...)

 

[svv]

Generally, you ought to build such things where working the tile will also give you food - hopefully enough to feed the citizen on the tile, ideally even more. So, flood plains are always my first choice to build these things. After that, usually grassland.

Remember also that a square next to a river gives you a +1 commerce if you're working it; +2 if you're financial. So, other things being equal it's usually better to improve tiles near a river.

I usually don't build workshops either.

 

[ParadigmShifter]

Workshops start out duff but steadily get better as new techs are discovered (e.g. Guilds, and Chemistry I think). They are great for a space race production push late game. Early game, nahh.

 

[Sjaramei]

cottages - grassland + flood plains if the city has enough food to sustain it
windmills - mostly useless. Use only if that city needs one more point of food for something and there are no better food plots. (ex. for a specialist farm)
Lumber Yards - Raise production and are built in forests. Fairly ideal for a hammer city as theres no negatives and any forests you ahve left will also be providing a health bonus.
Workshops - Raise production and get a +1 hammer bonus if a railroad runs through it. It depletes 1 food from the tile (-1 food) which can be remedied with state property. Ideally built on grassland so it is self sustaining
Watermill - Similar to workshops. Provides less hammers but more food/commerce. Gets +1 food from State property. No negatives without.
Forts - Never build =)

I've never gotten 5 hammers from plains workshop(i get 4 without RR) so i don't think this is true. Hills get one more hammer though.

Back to original topic:
There is no "true" recipe for this. Specialize your city:
- Lots Grasslands/Floodplains: Cottage it up Commerce city! (Lots of rivers is
awesome for this as well, don't be afraid to cottage up plains river)
- Good food +lots of hills: Production city! Mine/farm and put workshops if you get overflow.(Pop 20+ usually or run engineers)
Plains make good workshops placement for this. (4 hammers with guilds and chemistry? i think.. )
- Rest should be hybrid cities: Focused on commerce mostly. Farm them to get the proper size if needed.
(Usually you don't need more than a couple production cities (+ capital) so don't go nuts on those )

Watermill/Lumbermill can be avoided totally, not very important. Only times i get lumber/watermills is late game tundra forests and ice rivers. So almost never

 

[InvisibleStalke]

Windmills are very useful for cities that have green hills and not a lot of food available. With mines or cottages you might be able to only work 2-3 hills. With windmills you can work them all. This might be the difference between a small city with high production (mines) and a large city working a lot more tiles and getting more total production and commerce even though each tile contributes less.

Green forests with lumbermills and railroads are pretty good too. They make great ironworks cities if you can resist the temptation to chop all the forest early since they generate health as well as production. Also forests on hills with railroads and lumbermills generate the same production as a mine on the hill but generate health too.

 

[CapnKill]

Thanks guys, this is what I was looking for. Micromanagement can be a pain, but fun at the same time.. in a weird sick and twisted type of way.

 

[Elkad]

Actually, Forts are useful. Just not inside your fat cross generally, unless you have a dud desert tile or something.

Especially on maps with lots of mountains, you can often get a tile that the enemy either has to go thru, or spend another dozen turns walking around to another route. Stick it on a hill and plop a couple guerilla promoted archers in it and they will chew up whole stacks.

Naval invasion. Since the AI likes to land its troops in the same spot with every wave, once you know where that spot is, its often worth it to sacrifice a couple workable coast tiles to build forts and stick troops in them. The AI will spend troops on a hopeless amphib assault against fortified troops inside a fort rather than move a few tiles down the coast.