Seeding: opening strategies

[3of5]

An early desert tile with a Vivarium and a farm (assuming it can get a farm) will produce 2 food 1 energy.

2 food tiles don't help you grow (the growth from that tile is 2-2=0)..... However if you get a 10% food bonus, that 2 food tile becomes a 2.2 food tile... that gives you 0.2 growth where before you had none.

That would still not be very attractive by itself. But there ARE flood plains in BE and combined with farms and the vivarium they could allow a city to grow quite fast, grab a lot of special resources scattered around the desert, mine some hills, and if there is still surplus population the normal desert tiles could yield a bit of additional energy too. Later techs even seem to upgrade farms further. It is a bit dependend on a river flowing through and/or some algae or tuber tiles, but desert cities could be quite effective in the long run.

 

[KrikkitTwo]

That would still not be very attractive by itself. But there ARE flood plains in BE and combined with farms and the vivarium they could allow a city to grow quite fast, grab a lot of special resources scattered around the desert, mine some hills, and if there is still surplus population the normal desert tiles could yield a bit of additional energy too. Later techs even seem to upgrade farms further. It is a bit dependend on a river flowing through and/or some algae or tuber tiles, but desert cities could be quite effective in the long run.

And an extra 10% growth (or food) reduces that to short run or medium run usefulness.

 

[3of5]

And an extra 10% growth (or food) reduces that to short run or medium run usefulness.

I don't really get your point here. Why would a growth bonus reduce a desert city's usefulness? If anything it would enhance its viability slightly. And since i think that health will be the main growth limiter (no luxury ressources) it makes playing even easier if a city only grows to work all the useful tiles and then stagnates (in size). I think i'd rather build generators on that non-river, non-hill desert tiles to increase city specialization and adaptability.

 

[KrikkitTwo]

I don't really get your point here. Why would a growth bonus reduce a desert city's usefulness? If anything it would enhance its viability slightly. And since i think that health will be the main growth limiter (no luxury ressources) it makes playing even easier if a city only grows to work all the useful tiles and then stagnates (in size). I think i'd rather build generators on that non-river, non-hill desert tiles to increase city specialization and adaptability.

Reducing Long run to Short run... ie More useful because the time span is reduced for reward.

 

[3of5]

Reducing Long run to Short run... ie More useful because the time span is reduced for reward.

ah, ok, thanks for clarifying.