Number of Cities.... is happiness the only limiting factor?

[Sherlock]

I'm on a small map and have 3 cities and 8 happiness.

I'm thinking of founding another city, mostly to deny another civ some prime territory.

I'm trying to unlearn my old Civ IV habits and I think this might be one of them.

If you've got the happiness should you go for it?

 

[PhilBowles]

I'm on a small map and have 3 cities and 8 happiness.

I'm thinking of founding another city, mostly to deny another civ some prime territory.

I'm trying to unlearn my old Civ IV habits and I think this might be one of them.

If you've got the happiness should you go for it?

Depends on your strategy - Civ 5 takes a trade-off approach where Civ V took a 'build as many cities as you can afford as soon as you can afford them' approach. In the long run, more cities are still usually better than fewer, however you have to balance that against the quicker and more numerous Golden Ages from having excess happiness, as well as the impacts on social policy development from having more cities (you don't want to found a city if you're close to getting a new policy, for instance). If that is prime territory, might you cause friction with the civ that wants it? If so, you'll need to have enough of an army to hold it - even former allies can turn on you if you've claimed iron or other valuable resources they want. And I had one game where everyone piled on the Ottomans in an effort to capture Edirne, which was a very well-placed commerce city with access to 3 silk and a coast.

 

[joncnunn]

Happiness is the biggest limiting factor.

Other factors are social cost increase along with the national wonders require the improvement in all cities you have to build.

Also, surplus happiness goes towards golden ages.

I normally go for 2 city National College and 4/5 city Circus Maximus.

 

[apocalypse105]

The key is to keep growing because as the game progresses you're technologies become more expansive so you need more population and libraries,universities to keep up...

If you have a lot of cities you growth will stop .


my advice :
Only go for a 4th citie if you want to go piety and pick up +1 happiness for mument and temple

this will let you have more happiness in general and keep on growing;

If you want rationalisme stay with 3 and keep growing

 

[chazzycat]

if you're not going for a culture victory, then always expand if happiness permits

but plan ahead to keep more happiness rolling in. For instance if building this city would take you down to 3 happy, and you have 4 cities about to grow, you'll be in negative happy really quick. So you would want to have your next happiness boost planned out to avoid stalling growth.

 

[PhilBowles]

The key is to keep growing because as the game progresses you're technologies become more expansive so you need more population and libraries,universities to keep up...

Every point of population produces the same amount of science, whether in a 20 pop city or a 2 pop city. All else being equal, a larger number of cities will mean more overall population than a smaller number, since each city is growing. Similarly, you get the same bonus from libraries if you have one in a 20 pop city or ten in ten 2 pop cities - but you obviously have higher maintenance costs in the latter case, so fewer cities are more efficient. Larger empires ultimately tend to have higher incomes than smaller ones, but this can take a while to develop.

 

[Teagen]

Happiness, Social Policies, and National Wonders are the three biggest things to consider when building more cities.