Not enough health bonuses to maintain growth

[Longpot]

Hi again,

My second question on here

I've got 3 / 4 pretty decent sized cities (over 10) but they always get to a point where the green face pops up next to the name and my growth rate effectively halts - I'm still running in Slavery (probably wrongly) and using it to whip out various buildings (Something I only yesterday realised decreases your score), but all have aquaducts, clams, pasture, rice etc now and I can't find any other sources of health bonuses...

Any got any tips?

 

[MrCynical]

Granaries, harbours and grocers boost the health bonus given by some types of resources, so have you got these? Otherwise I'd say, trade for any more health resources you can get from other civs, and clear out any jungle in your cities radii.

 

[Thealmighty]

-1 Health will only mean minus 1 food. Try managing each city's tile placements yourself or if that doesnt work. Try putting down some more farms (or maybe windmills) instead of other improvements. Civil Service is a handy tech to get because it allows you to spread farms from fresh water sources. Of cause later techs will allow more improvements which will make your cities grow bigger.

 

[Longpot]

I'll have a look - but the problem I have is with coastal cities where I'm already using the clams etc. I can't do anything else with the other squares except work them for the 2 food and 3 gold.

Maybe I need to wait til I get medicine.

How many shields is a good production for a city then? I've got a lot of gold coming in, but shield production is not great (15 or so) and not likely to improve if the city won't grow...

 

[MrCynical]

Not all your cities are going to have high production, particularly coastal ones. Just have them stick to the research and gold boosting improvements and they'll still be very useful. It's hard to say whether 15 hammers is good without knowing where you are research wise. Your best 2 or 3 cities will probably need more than this if you want a shot at the wonders,

 

[Thealmighty]

Leave them cities as money makers, building all the science and money making city improvements. 15 shields is enough for a city to build city improvements fast enough, so I wouldnt worry about trying to increase that too much. Then use inland cities with lots of hills nearby for spitting out units. Also make sure you also build forges and factories asap (adds to the health problem ). But well worth it and engineer specialists are handy. Once you have a forge up make sure u have a specialist up. Swaping one of the 2 food and 3 gold for 2 shields and some great people engineer points. This might make you lose some pop but if you need the extra shields it can be well worth it.

 

[NuWorld]

How many shields is a good production for a city then? I've got a lot of gold coming in, but shield production is not great (15 or so) and not likely to improve if the city won't grow...

Few of your largest cities over 20 in size (non-coastal), if well developed (forges, factories, etc.) should reach 100 hammers/turn.

 

[Longpot]

I think I've got production problems then - most I'm turning out is 15 hammers / turn - Year is 1640 AD I guess I should be further on than that then :s

I got a good supply of gold though, which is funding research well.

Guess its time to expand / attack and grab a decent plot for hammer production...

 

[NuWorld]

I ususally tend not to specialize cities. Coastal cities with 3 or 4 fish/crab will probably be turned into GP generators, but non-coastal cities will have mines, cottages and enough farms to grow to a size of about 25, rarely build lumbermills and windmills unless I'm replacing previous improvements with one of those. With forges & factories, toss in few specialists, even a super specialist, you should get close to 100 without much trouble. Also, look out for a city that has both coal & iron within city radius and build Ironworks there, it's worth it, even if completely rebuilding tile improvements (eg. killing farms on river tiles for watermills, cottages for workshops, etc.).

 

[automator]

I have is with coastal cities where I'm already using the clams etc.

???

You do have a work boat turned into a fishing boat on that clam tile, right? If you do, the clams will be distributed among your intracity trade network just like any other resource. That's a +1 health to all cities, and another +1 to any cities with a harbor. You can't use clams, you just work 'em.