Lake vs Ocean

[Yamato]

How does the game determine whether a body of water is fresh or ocean?
When I make a map, I can't figure out why certain inland bodies of water are fresh (and can therefore irrigate off of them) and others are treated like ocean squares.

I just make a map with a continent with a pile of lakes that are 3-6 squares in size with rivers connecting them. Some are regarded as fresh and others not,.

Any idea on how to make a lake fresh water?

(If there is a thread on this subject already existing, my apologies)

 

[lymond]

edit: 9 or less tiles

 

[Dr.Null]

9 or less tiles

This. Too many water tiles = not fresh.

Also note that if you have a 9-tile square, so the center is ocean, the whole lake becomes not fresh.

Also: no seafood. A one-tile lake with a fish in it becomes salt water (... probably due to fish pee, ewww).

 

[CocoIsKing28]

I hate this about civ. I wish they had a separate lake tile so I could make navigable rivers.

 

[The_J]

Oh, then you might maybe want to check out this mod .

 

[CocoIsKing28]

Thanks a lot, The J!

 

[Ambidexter]

If a body of water is entirely coastal, then it's a fresh water lake. If there is even one deep ocean tile, then it's a saltwater ocean. You could have a long, two-tile wide lake with more than nine tiles which would still be fresh water, providing irrigation to farms built next to it.

 

[nfw]

Spoiler :

It's not a lake, but if I close the gap west of Bremen, they turn into 2 fresh water lakes.

Another weird thing is lake gives 2 food unless worked by a city with a lighthouse, but oasis, a presumably much smaller lake, gives 3.

 

[damerell]

An oasis has the right land/water ratio. A lake doesn't.

 

[shlks]

I've got a semi on-topic question. If I have the great lighthouse does the game consider landlocked fresh or salt water lakes coastal cities? A thread from 2006 seems to says yes... But I think it's logical to think that the great lighthouse bonus would only go to cities that can legally construct harbors and lighthouses. This particular lake is 10 tiles of saltwater but no ocean squares.

I'm about to find out soon enough...

 

[Merovech]

I've got a semi on-topic question. If I have the great lighthouse does the game consider landlocked fresh or salt water lakes coastal cities? A thread from 2006 seems to says yes... But I think it's logical to think that the great lighthouse bonus would only go to cities that can legally construct harbors and lighthouses. This particular lake is 10 tiles of saltwater but no ocean squares.

I'm about to find out soon enough...

If it's saltwater, then it's a sea and you can build harbors and lighthouses and recieve the bonus from TGL there.