Possible to ship food from 1 city to another?

[TLF]

One of my cities is in starvation.
I don't see any way to increase the food. Any way I move the people around would give me even less food. I can't get irrigation to the only square that would add more food if it was irrigated.

So, I am hoping that I can ship some food in.
I don't see any way to do that either.

I also am not certain how the food is being used in my cities.
Would eliminating some units help? Who uses the food?

 

[ParadigmShifter]

You can't do that.

Each population point requires 2 food (3 if over the unhealthiness limit).

The only way to add food to a city is to build a supermarket (+1 food) or settle a Great Merchant there (+1 food + 6 gold). A baray (Khmer UB) also adds 1 food. Some events also give food to a city (stable quest I think adds 1 food to stables).

Short answer: always found cities where they have enough food to support the tiles you want to work.

Replacing a mine with a watermill gives an extra food as well (as does running state property which increases food from workshops and watermills).

 

[Casi]

Units don't use food, only the growth itself (2 per) and certain buildings like a forge do.
All you can do is change some tiles, or as the poster above wrote build certain buildings.
Oh and late in the game there is Biology which adds 1 food to all farms, but i rarely take that tech as there are many more important at that time. Also note that with Civil Service you can start speading the irrigation, so if there is a ressource field like Rice without it, it can make sense to connect to it.

 

[TLF]

I don't yet have the tech for things that increase food and I don't know that I really nead to increase food all that much right now because most of my cities are already working all of their squares.

I think that if I let the starvation reduce the population I can then take a worker off of a hammer square and put it on a food square and the food should balance out.

 

[Siran]

Why can't you put the worker of the hammer square to the food square before the population is reduced?

 

[TLF]

Why can't you put the worker of the hammer square to the food square before the population is reduced?

There is currently no empty food square.
If the pop gets reduced then I will have 1 less worked square and I will be using 2 less food. If I then take a worker off a hammer square with no food and put it on a food square I will be ahead food. Though I guess I really can't let the pop increase again until I get a higher food tech, so I should probably just let the city starve to a lower pop and keep the current hammer production.

I am new to Civ 4. In Civ 2 you can ship in food from another city to keep a starving city going until it gets on its feet and is self sustaining. You do it with a trade caravan.

 

[stefista]

If you have a city that is in starvation without a good reason (eg running specialists during golden age for GPP), you are probably doing something wrong.

If you have a city unexpectedly starving, you may:

Lost a food resource tile to AI culture...solution is obtain more culture.

Have angry citizens who produce nothing, but eat 2 food. Starve or whip them away, or obtain more happiness.

Be losing food to unhealthiness. You lose food (1/2 food I believe) for each unhealthy face in excess of the number of red crosses. This can become a temporary problem if the AI has poisoned your water via espionage. (I am assuming you play BTS). Are you next to Sitting Bull by any chance? If it's espionage, just wait, and strengthen your espionage spending. If not, then obtain more health (from resources/buildings) or reduce unhealth by chopping jungle. You also get health from forests in the BFC, so leave those standing if you have health problems.

So to recap, starvation (unless you go there on purpose) comes from losing food tiles, having angry citizens, or too much unhealthiness. Figure out which, and fix it.

Another rule, if you have too much pop in a city, it is much better to whip it away and get hammets for it than to let it starve and get nothing for it.

And finally, this wasn't mentined above: in BTS you can spread food with the Sid's Sushi and Cereal Mills corporations, which sort-of simulate modern-day shipping of food to places that could not orfinarily support human settlement.

 

[babar]

This most often happens if a city grows on +1 food without any more food tiles to work. Unless you can build windmills over mines, the only ways around it are those ParadigmShifter mentioned, and most of those aren't usually viable.

 

[Supervisor84]

Oh, someone DID mention Sid's Sushi Co and Cereal Mills -_- Well, what can I add here.. a Great merchant can found them, provided that noone else already has. (If founded it's best to start it in your commerce/gold city with a Wall Street)

 

[AutomatedTeller]

switch to slavery and whip something

 

[TLF]

Is it possible to get food from a square that is not in the city radius but IS in your culture boarder?
If I build a road to a food square in the culture boarder, but outside the city radius, will I get the food?

 

[Supervisor84]

Only a health bonus if it's your first resource of that kind, since it's not within the workable squares of the city's BFC, with a connected improvement on the square in question.
(Though possibly a slight food bonus, if the resource is part of a Corporation present in your city and you recently hooked up that resource).

Is it possible to get food from a square that is not in the city radius but IS in your culture boarder?
If I build a road to a food square in the culture boarder, but outside the city radius, will I get the food?

 

[Jarlaxe Baenre]

Is it possible to get food from a square that is not in the city radius but IS in your culture boarder?
If I build a road to a food square in the culture boarder, but outside the city radius, will I get the food?

You only get food from tiles that you work.

 

[TLF]

I was wondering about food tiles (not special resources) because the AI was suggesting that I move a worker to a square that was not in any city radius and suggesting that I improve that tile.
It had no special resource and it already had a road.

But then the AI makes a lot of strange suggestions like constantly telling me to improve already improved tiles and I can't see how changing the improvements already there for other ones would be of any benefit.

 

[Jarlaxe Baenre]

Don't listen to the game suggestions. It can't beat settler by itself.