Siberia

[Mordraken]

I'm just starting out in a game, and have settled five cities quite quickly. Each city has at least 2 special resources (and many have 3), but I have no metal.

To the north of my "country", there is tundra and then snow, with some ocean above. However, there is a spot that I can settle which would have 2 tundra squares, 2 ocean squares and Gold, Iron and Stone (of which I have none in any of my cities) (note - the remaining squares are all Snow). There are no rivers that I can make farms, and I'm not sure I can make a lighthouse since the city wouldn't be on the coast... So at best I'm looking at 4 food for the city - plus the 3 (?) from the city itself (I think).

Can this city survive? It is something I would grow so that it's getting food & the 3 special resources (city size 8... is it even possible?) and then ensure it never grows again...

 

[Crighton]

I'd found the city and just use it as an old fashioned colony for the strategic resources, grow it as much as possible then turn on the avoid growth button, more likely I'd found the city for the resources then just write it off after building one or two improvements

 

[Dueck]

Count the food that you CAN work. The city will always survive, because the city square always gives 2 food, 1 (or 2) production, 1 commerce, even if it's built on desert or snow. However, in order to grow, you need food on tiles that the city can work. Each population point requires 2 food to support, and then any extra will go into growth.

If your city won't be bringing in more than 5 commerce, and doesn't hold territory on a strategic resource, it's not worth having. That being said, any coastal city can grow into a respectable commerce centre with a lighthouse.

 

[TCGTRF]

I'm just starting out in a game, and have settled five cities quite quickly. Each city has at least 2 special resources (and many have 3), but I have no metal.

To the north of my "country", there is tundra and then snow, with some ocean above. However, there is a spot that I can settle which would have 2 tundra squares, 2 ocean squares and Gold, Iron and Stone (of which I have none in any of my cities) (note - the remaining squares are all Snow). There are no rivers that I can make farms, and I'm not sure I can make a lighthouse since the city wouldn't be on the coast... So at best I'm looking at 4 food for the city - plus the 3 (?) from the city itself (I think).

Can this city survive? It is something I would grow so that it's getting food & the 3 special resources (city size 8... is it even possible?) and then ensure it never grows again...

You might consider moving your city one tile closer, so that it is on the coast and then building a culture-creating improvement along with the lighthouse and eventual harbor. If they'd be all within your city radius at your first spot, then once you expanded once or twice in culture, you'd be able to mine them all.

The problem is that if you build it too far away from the ocean, your city will never grow enough to make the necessary improvements to expand your fat cross large enough to be able to work all of the tiles that you want (unless they're directly adjacent to the tile that you want to put your city on or if you're a creative civ, in which cases, I say go for it right there.)

In addition, without the extra commerce from the ocean, odds are your city will be a drain on your economy (depending on difficulty level and civics) until the time comes when you can mine those resources and/or work the tile.) You will need at least one non-ocean food source in order to ever grow large enough to work those tiles, however.

I'll give you an extreme example. Let's say you have a three-tile desert island with iron, desert and gold on it and no ocean resources and no land nearby. You build a city on the desert tile. The city will never work more than one of the resource tiles, ever. The city will stay at size 1 until you build a lighthouse, then grow in size until every sea tile is worked.

Once you reach a high enough population, you can manually start working both of the resource tiles and get some production and watch your city vanish in population turn by turn. In the long run, it would be better not to worry about whether or not you can work the resources. Just mine them and send the goods back home.

Tom

 

[Mordraken]

The problem is that if you build it too far away from the ocean, your city will never grow enough to make the necessary improvements to expand

Yeah, that's what I'm worried about. I may have to do a coastal city to get 2 of the resources, and another one further south so I can get some grasslands for the other resource.... Oh well...

 

[Andrei_V]

Is there a spot that 1) coastal and 2) gold mine is in the fat cross? If so, I'd build the city there, then cultural improvements to expand, then set the city (of size 1) to work on the gold mine.

This way it can help to cover the maintenance. I'd ignore iron and stone as production tiles, just wait until they are inside the cultural borders and grab them.

Later in the game I'd consider building a lighthouse and growing the city, if possible. With just a few sea 2F 3C tiles and the gold mine, the city would become quite profitable.

 

[MyOtherName]

If your city won't be bringing in more than 5 commerce, and doesn't hold territory on a strategic resource, it's not worth having. That being said, any coastal city can grow into a respectable commerce centre with a lighthouse.

But it will be making 8 commerce: given that description, I would keep the city at size 1 and work the gold tile.

 

[banffBug]

if this city has 3 resources you need, even if the city loses you money it benifets every city w/ gold, iron, and stone.

 

[rewster1]

It sounds worth it to just plonk a settler and work the goldmine from now til eternity. The city will just get by, pay for itself, and contribute a tiny bit of production to making a unit or two... but more importantly you get all three resources.
I don't see how you'd get a city size of eight... you said the tundra can't be farmed, and you won't be on the coast. If the tundra could be farmed, then way later on with bio you can support ONE extra pop from the two tundra, for a pop of 4. If you could find a way to make it coastal, then you could gain 1 pop for each water tile after building a lighthouse.
Food resources never pop, so there's absolutely no chance of further growth from some random resource appearance.

 

[thordk]

like rewster1 said: just plant the city, and work the mined gold. the city will pay for itself and that's all that matters. it's just another form of colony to get those resources. in the early game this city is productive enough for some troops. in the later game switch it to produce commerce and forget it

 

[Matthevv]

I agree with the idea of settling the city, working the gold, and linking up iron and stone. However, I think it would be best to set it to building stuff that increases its gold and science output, rather than units.

 

[Mordraken]

Thanks for all the input. I took the advice to settle closer to the coast so I could grow the city to more than 1 or 2. The location I picked gives me about 9 ocean tiles and still access two special resources. I needed to focus on the Iron early since I have no Iron or copper to build miltiary. I'll build a second city (also on the coast) to go after the gold & other resource (I think it's copper, not stone).

I decided to do this since the added benefit of being able to work half-a-dozen water tiles (with commerce, food and +1 gold thanks to the Colosus) outweighed the savings of having only one city which could access all 3 important resources but would struggle to support itself.

 

[emills]

I would settle the location because if you don't, the AI WILL settle the location for the resources. Not only do you get the resources yourself, you also prevent the AI opponent from getting the resources and a city location next to you.