Qs on Health and Overpopulation

[Dr. Pain]

hello, im a begginer in Civs never played the games before... so a lot of stuff i dont know what is going on!

like the over population thing, its such a pain in the ass man, what can i do about this, build cottages around my city?

this also greatly effects health problems, and they also get sick from "food plains" what is that?

ok thanks.

 

[OTAKUjbski]

First off .. welcome to the CivFanatics Forums.

The basic concept is that based on a city's immediate environment, population and infrastructure, there will be a certain amount of and per city.

When possible, should equal or exceed , because for every point of over , your city will lose -1.

Check out the links in my signature, especially 'Ways Into Health' for more detailed information about important aspects of CivIV.

And finally, read the CivIV manual. I've been playing Civ since DOS days, and I still found the manual to be extremely helpful and insightful on many of the game mechanics of CivIV.


Hope this helps ...

 

[LlamaCat]

Dr. Pain, I suspect your first question is asking the same thing I've seen asked on these forums several times by beginners, which is how to elimate the unhappy face icon that says "It's too overcrowded!" ... if that is indeed what you ask, the answer -- which is not made very clear in the manual, or really anywhere else for that matter -- is that you simply cannot get rid of that. Building cottages is not for increasing places for more people to live. Everyone "lives" inside your main city. The cottages and other improvements "around" your city are for special purposes only. It's a weird concept that you just have to get used to.

The "overcrowded" unhappy face number is based on the difficulty setting of the game - the easier settings have a smaller number and vice versa. This is a built-in feature of the game that only exists to keep your city growth in check. I don't think it was very clearly thought-out -- people complaining about it be "too crowded" already in a city size 1 doesn't really translate into anything that makes sense for a player who thinks he has not done anything "wrong" with the city yet. If your city is at the lowest population, why would people complain that it's too crowded? It's also shown on the screen in a way that implies you can get rid of it, the way you can get rid of other types of unhappiness. But you can't -- ever. Except in one special case:

if you build the Golbe Theater wonder in a city, it will be gone completely in that one city only. Again, not logical with the rest of the game, but there it is.

 

[Dr. Pain]

ok, so basically the unhappy faces in over-population will allways rise and keep rising no matter what?

and another question this is probobly even more important...

how do you know when to stop building farms?

does bulding too much farms actually damage you?

thanks for the patiance.

 

[bardolph]

hello, im a begginer in Civs never played the games before... so a lot of stuff i dont know what is going on!

like the over population thing, its such a pain in the ass man, what can i do about this, build cottages around my city?

this also greatly effects health problems, and they also get sick from "food plains" what is that?

ok thanks.

That's "Flood Plains." These are desert squares adjoining a river. They provide lots of food, but also give you unhealthiness.

Overpopulation cannot be cured, except by shrinking your cities. It can, however, be managed, by increasing and in your cities.

 

[bardolph]

ok, so basically the unhappy faces in over-population will allways rise and keep rising no matter what?

and another question this is probobly even more important...

how do you know when to stop building farms?

does bulding too much farms actually damage you?

thanks for the patiance.

No, building too many farms will not damage you, but if you grow your cities too large, you will have unhappy (and unproductive) citizens.

Your city view will show you which tiles are actually being worked by your citizens. Generally, you don't need to improve tiles when there are not enough citizens to work them.

When it comes to choosing which improvements to build, there are many different strategies to choose from. Here are some basic rules of thumb to get you started:

1) Always improve resources (such as wheat and cows) first.
2) After your resources are improved, improve floodplains, then grasslands, then plains. In the early game, you will improve flatland with cottages and farms. Cottages are generally better than farms, but you will need farms if your city doesn't have any food resources or floodplains.
3) Hills should be mined once you've secured your food. A food resource (or farmed floodplain) will usually "buy" you the right to mine two grassland hills, or one plains hill.
4) When a city is at its population limit, hammers are generally more important than food. This is when you take citizens off their farms and put them to work in your mines.
5) All of these "rules" have exceptions, which you will learn as you become more familiar with the game.

Later on, you will also be able to build workshops, windmills, watermills, and lumbermills. Each of these improvements have their own advantages and disadvantages, but don't worry much about them until after you've mastered farms/cottages/mines.

 

[Sisiutil]

ok, so basically the unhappy faces in over-population will allways rise and keep rising no matter what?

and another question this is probobly even more important...

how do you know when to stop building farms?

does bulding too much farms actually damage you?

thanks for the patiance.

Yes, unhappiness grows as the city grows and gets more crowded. There are several ways to compensate for that, however: civics (such as Hereditary Rule, where military units in a city will increase happiness), resources (such as gold, wine, silk, and so on), buildings (such as temples, theatres, etc.). The same goes for health.

As for building farms... if that's all you're building and you're a beginner, stop right there. In Civ IV, it's all about the economy, and that means cottages. You need some farms, yes, but you need more cottages than farms. As citizens work the cottages, the amount of gold yielded by the cottage will grow. Try this: farm resources (like rice, wheat, and corn) that need farms; put cottages on grassland (green) tiles; put additional farms on plains (tan) tiles.

Once you get pretty comfortable and advanced with the game you can try out economic strategies that rely on farming more than cottages, but as a beginner, cottage spam is the way to go.

 

[OTAKUjbski]

ok, so basically the unhappy faces in over-population will allways rise and keep rising no matter what?

and another question this is probobly even more important...

how do you know when to stop building farms?

does bulding too much farms actually damage you?

thanks for the patiance.

This article on Getting the Most From Your Cities: A guide to Industry and Economy contains a wealth of excellent information you should find very helpful in addressing those questions.

And since & go hand-in-hand with population increase, check out Ways into Health and http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=189559 also.

 

[Dr. Pain]

thanks for all the hints!

now i got another problem all these barbarians are raping me annally! and im only on WarLord lv. its like WTH?

do they ever stop coming? i though it was ust one or two waves but they just keep on coming!!!

 

[Sisiutil]

thanks for all the hints!

now i got another problem all these barbarians are raping me annally! and im only on WarLord lv. its like WTH?

do they ever stop coming? i though it was ust one or two waves but they just keep on coming!!!

Ah, yes, the barbarian hordes. They get worse as you go up through the levels. If you think they're bad at Warlord level, just wait.

Speaking of Warlords--if you are playing with the Warlords expansion pack you can build the Great Wall world wonder, which keeps all barbs out of your cultural territory. It will eventually generate a Great Engineer, too. Snazzy.

Without the GW, though, you'll need military units--barb-busters and fog-busters.

Barb-busters are the protective units you keep within your own territory to protect your cities and tile improvements from barbs. Axemen and Chariots (in Warlords, where they get a bonus versus Axemen) are best for this duty, so you need either copper or horses.

Fog-busters are units you position outside your territory to remove the "fog of war" (black or semi-dark tiles) where barbs spawn. The less fog there is, the fewer barbs will appear. Most people like using guerrilla-promoted Archers on hills for this duty, but I like giving the job to Flanking I/Sentry Chariots, myself, since no hills are required to extend their view.

 

[OTAKUjbski]

Ah, yes, the barbarian hordes. They get worse as you go up through the levels. If you think they're bad at Warlord level, just wait.

I still feel like the Barbarians were worse at Warlord/Noble than at Prince/Monarch. Either that or I just didn't know how to properly deal with 'em back then.

 

[Dr. Pain]

wow awsome!! great wall here i come!