Oasis can't be settled!

[King Kalmah]

I tried to build a city on the Oasis,I also wanted to build on the Oasis to get the cow pasturized,but no dice.I think maybe the cow could be the best spot.I want a commerce driven city,but I want to use the near by hills for production.




What is the best spot for my future city?

 

[sydhe]

You might consider one south so you can get production from both the cattle and the plains hill. Do you need horses?

 

[TheWilltoAct]

Desert incense is kind of a bad tile, since it eats up all your food.

How about 1 West?

 

[King Kalmah]

I like both answers alot.

I like the 1west idea due to the fact I can keep the horse.I could use it for an early chariot rush on England or Persia.

I also like the idea to move south because it gives a good amount of early production and it keeps the incense...

I have a happy cap issue due to lack of happy resources,,,I am also trying to build a good commerce core with these early cities since I plan on rushing Persia and England...

Anyway I hate to change the topic,but how come you can't build a city on an oasis?

Las Vegas was built on an Oasis an I know other cities in Africa are as well...

 

[TheWilltoAct]

Settle on the cow and get a bit of everything!

My guess is that the game designers treat oasis like an inland lake almost, preventing you from settling on it might help you remember that it's a source of fresh water. I don't know.

 

[Lone Wolf]

How about 1 West?

It's a blue circle. As Attacko once noted, never settle on the blue circles, that way you confuse the computer who is forced to calculate and display the circle while you're settling somewhere else. Also, always send your Great Generals to their deaths. That forces the computer to use memory to display the "general has died!" message.

 

[azzaman333]

I'd either go 1NW or 2W1N

 

[jordiflor]

I'd either go 1NW or 2W1N

If you don't have horses catch them in your first cultural ring ASAP before Darius, 2W1N or even 2W2N to secure that corn.
Then I see another city 1S of the oasis, cottage all these FPs and you will have enough food to work hills and incenses. You will have some desert tiles, but a good 12-pop commerce city with decent production and it will put you on the way to another city on the east coast.
Remember that settling on a desert tile gives you an out-of-nowhere 2 1 1 in the city tile.

 

[Bostock]

Desert incense is kind of a bad tile, since it eats up all your food.

Yeah, I'm always on the fence about desert incense, even in the long term. If trade were beakers and GPP didn't exist, it would beat a Rep scientist and leave an HR scientist in the dust, but trade isn't beakers. Often GPP "don't exist" though. (That is, the given city isn't an efficient choice for popping a GP.)

 

[Agent327]

Anyway I hate to change the topic,but how come you can't build a city on an oasis?

Las Vegas was built on an Oasis an I know other cities in Africa are as well...

Yes, well in standard Civ 4 you can´t build anything on top of an oasis square. (And ofcourse, cities aren´t built on top, but next to oases. The town may spread around it, but that doesn´t imply it´s built on top of its main water supply; you also don´t build a city in a river, but next to it.)

But... you could use Worldbuilder to place a city (or whatever improvement) on top of an Oasis square.

 

[AJ11]

Actually, an oasis in Civ4 is in the same "slot" as forests and flood plains. If you settle on it, it goes bye-bye. Which is probably why they blocked all improvements on it (not just cities, you can't build ANY improvement on it other than roads and rails, IIRC).

 

[strijder20]

Yeah, I'm always on the fence about desert incense, even in the long term. If trade were beakers and GPP didn't exist, it would beat a Rep scientist and leave an HR scientist in the dust, but trade isn't beakers. Often GPP "don't exist" though. (That is, the given city isn't an efficient choice for popping a GP.)

On the long-term, a grassland cottage is better though Although there are situations where you only have the choice between the incense and specialists.

 

[Bostock]

Short of weird map scripts, that desert incense is usually in the middle of white and brown land though! Of course FP cottage is better even than grassland cottage, but often a FP city is more suited to being built around farm-and-specialist anyway...

 

[gorf37]

2W1N has my vote! It can work the sheep from turn 1, which is nice.

As others have mentioned, the desert area has potential for another city. Personally, I would use that city to grow the capital's cottages unit the cap is big enough to take them over. The other 3 FPs can be cottaged, or even better be farmed to make up for low production (the cow goes to the 2W1N city), then farm some great people once you're into representation (about the same time you'll have no other infrastruture needed and the capital can take-over all its cottages.

 

[joanne]

I don't think that's the capital; rather it's cologne the 4th german city (you know you've been playing too much CIV when ... )

However I do agree on the consensus on 2W1N; just ignore the oasis for now, then later settle a marginal city there or settle a gift city somewhere on the resourceless brown area to the NE right on darius' borders for diplo. Oasis tiles aren't that great anyway: their yield can never be improved and are often surrounded by even more useless desert. The only times I can think of where they could be somewhat useful are in the very early game working capitol bfc oasis while building the initial worker, or for facilitating chain irrigation - other than that they suck