oh i do like to be beside the seaside....or do i..?

[thomson_2001]

just wondering,

what are your thoughts towards settling a city bythe coast as compared to inland by a river? do you find the 3-5 sea tiles less useful over time (2 food, 3 gold i think as non financial civ and non improvable) vs the trade route money? i have generally just settled by coast in past, especialy early. although a nice ballance of inland (for the hills etc) and coastal prob the best...what would be better for the big 3 cities (capital and next two)?

 

[Olleus]

Its 2 food plus 2 gold for costal - and only 1 gold for other sea tiles. Add to that the collosus (+1 gold for sea tiles), financial, the Protugese UB, the dike or Maoi Statues and there's a fair few things you can do to improve sea tiles.

In general however, I don't think that sea tiles are worth working unless you've cottaged all possible grassland tiles and windmilled all possible hills. Having one of the wonders above does change things though. The trade routes, as well as the extra health from habours and the possibility and building ships does make it worthwhile to build costal cities. I almost always try to avoid building cities that are just 1 tile off the coast as being rather useless.

 

[Roxlimn]

Coastal Cities are the bomb. I try to settle by the coast if I can, but the coast being limited, you just can't have that many of them in good spots with decent tile specials. In the early game, Coastal Cities don't get a minus for not working water tiles because they'll generally have too little population to work everything anyway. They won't need to work water tiles. Once they get into the mid to late game, the Trade Route boost is just incredible, well worth the loss of Commerce from tiles compared to a Cottage City.

 

[hecubus]

The reason I like a coastal start with a couple clam/crab/fish resources is that you can build a work boat off the bat (if you start with Fishing). Your city will grow as you build the necessary unit to improve the tiles, unlike building a worker first.

 

[Wodan]

Roxlimn has it right... sea trade routes are huge compared to land trade routes. Plus, you can build harbor (etc.) which gives you even more commerce and (probably more importantly) health etc.

That said, you're right thomson that sea tiles are pretty much less desirable than land tiles (except for the obvious tundra, desert, mountain, etc.)

So, ideally, you would probably want all coastal cities with the minimum of "coast"... 1-3 tiles only.

Wodan

 

[Roxlimn]

Well, if you want to be "ideal" about it, then I'd say that I only want 3 sea tiles maximum, all of which feature Clams and Fish!

Sea Resources definitely cut down on the undesireability of working a lot of water tiles. Dikes, too.

 

[thomson_2001]

guess sea/coastal not so bad if financial. the ability to link cities without roads if pretty useful early game. also the foreign trade routes.still find my best large cities/capitals are inland on river. to a degree are safer also as protected from sea attack.

 

[DigitalBoy]

Another thing. The health you lose by not settling next to a river further inland can be made up for with harbors, provided you don't get a bunch of a single seafood resource.

 

[bonafide11]

Indeed, the trade route bonuses from coastal cities makes it definitely worth it, in my opinion.

 

[Diamondeye]

A city with 4-5 water tiles, even 10, can be excellent. Not really good without some serious in the other squares or Moai/Dike, though... And a coastal city can be riverside aswell... That's a nice

 

[Roxlimn]

In the late game, even a City with only 3 land tiles to its name can be useful. If you put a Mining Inc Corporation in it, it can produce its own buildings well enough, and it's a useful base for naval operations. The trade route premiums will help out with the maintenance, and it's probably the only avenue of expansion left in the late game.

 

[sydhe]

I tend to found quite a few coastal cities for the commerce and buildings. What you want to avoid is an inland city with a lot of sea tiles in its fat cross. The computer loves to found on a hill one square away from the ocean.

I particularly like a coastal city with lake squares in its fat cross. Build a lighthouse and you have three food per lake square.

 

[eewallace]

Playing financial leaders, I love coastal cities as long as they don't have too many ocean tiles. They can really rake in the money fairly early with the right improvements and wonders.

 

[Frostyboy]

I love starting at the coast (at a river of course) - provided I get 2-3 specials. Ok, it's not so good in the long while, but you can neglect workers in a higher degree. Yes Financial Organized at Archipelago is a good one. Darius with the Dutch is pretty powerful