Strategic advantages to settling on resources?

[Syndrome Zed]

OK, it's been awhile since I played vanilla Civ4, but the last few games with Warlords patched, I've noticed that when it comes to city placement, the Computer players (or Artificial Semi-intelligences ) don't just occasionally plant their cities on strategic/happy resources, they seem to go out of their way to make sure the city's on top of it.

So is there any kind of advantage to the Comp to do this? Or is this just a quirk of the new city-planting algorithm the patch used to improve the planting? It's rather annoying attempting to deny a Civ a strategic resource like Iron only to find that one of the more distant cities is planted on top of the stuff. Not to mention having to raze potentially-lucrative cities more often to take advantage of the resource (mostly in cases of happiness or health resources rather than strategics).

 

[BigEd420]

You dont have to raze the cities.As long as you've researched the tech for the resource you get it even by settling on it.What you don't get is the extra hammers or food that you normaly would buy hooking up resources.
I found cities on resources if means I end up with a better city.For example if a city has say 3 elephants or maybe 3 silk.I'll settle on one,especialy if it means I can pull another resource into the fat cross. Bottom line;I want the best city location.If it means settling on a resource I do it.I dont like settling on food resources tho, since I get extra food by hooking it up.Most of my cities can always use more food.
This is coming from a noble level player (I think I'm ready to move up a level tho.).Some higher level players may disagree

 

[Mutineer]

Most of the time settling on resources is not the best idea, with some exeptions:

1) It's only avalible ties to include other resources in fat cross
2) Settling capital in some rare cases you might consider settling on some resources for additional food or production. Thought you can get additional production by settling on plain hill.
3) IN multiplayer settling on strategic resources prevent opponents from pillage them.

 

[Howitzah]

It's only really helped me once; it kept a massive swarm of Raging Barbarians from pillaging my copper, as I hunkered down in my two cities.

You lose the benefits of a resource improvement by building on the resource, so theres not much good to be said about it.

 

[Sisiutil]

I've noticed the improved AI seems averse to settling on top of a food resource--which makes sense, because otherwise it's a big waste--but is not averse to settling on other resources.

It does surprise me that the AI now seems to like settling on strategic resources like iron or copper, since that wastes most of the extra hammers they can provide for production. But it certainly protects the resource and makes it pillage-proof. I myself would rather get the hammers--provided I have enough food to work that tile, of course.

 

[mutax2003]

Settling on copper/iron is a very common practice in MP games. Maybe AI is learning to do this to prevent pillaging by aggressive human warmongers.

 

[automator]

3) IN multiplayer settling on strategic resources prevent opponents from pillage them.

Prevents pillaging in single player an multiplayer. I don't know 'bout the rest of you, but I hate it when a game is going great until an AI stack cuts off my only Iron or Copper. Man, that stinks.

 

[civ4legs]

It's rather annoying attempting to deny a Civ a strategic resource like Iron only to find that one of the more distant cities is planted on top of the stuff.

Didn't you just answer your own question right there?

Now if only one could found a city on an oil patch out in the ocean!!

 

[Karhu]

Founding your Capitol on top of a commerce resource can help you grab a few extra early techs. This should only be done if you strategy calls for quick early teching. Such as trying to grab all three early religions.

 

[Syndrome Zed]

Didn't you just answer your own question right there?

Heh, sort of but not exactly. The extra hammer had slipped my mind, and I could only see the anti-pillage aspect. But when you've got 3 of them next to each other, give or take a tile, I couldn't figure out why you'd want to plant on one, so I thought maybe I was missing something. And the degree to which the AI was doing it was downright staggering.

So thanks for all the answers everyone, at least I'm not as clueless as I thought I was .

PS I also thought it suspicious that the AI just "happened to" plant his city on 2 of the 3 hills with Aluminum in its entire territory....

 

[Sisiutil]

PS I also thought it suspicious that the AI just "happened to" plant his city on 2 of the 3 hills with Aluminum in its entire territory....

Supposedly the AI no longer "knows" where the hidden resources are. Nonetheless, some of the AI capital placements are pretty suspicious.

 

[uberfish]

I think the code that stopped AI from settling on top of resources was just removed, and now they will settle on top of a resource if it means they get a better fat cross overall. I don't think they go out of their way to do so. Although I haven't played much since the patch.

 

[Monkeyfinger]

There've been times when I just wasn't willing to take the time to improve a resource tile; I needed the resource NOW. That's the most common circumstance under which I will plonk a city on a resource. The most common occurence of this is when there's stone on a desert tile and some decent land around it. The yields provided by quarried stone on desert are dogshit of the highest order, and stone tends to be an "every turn you have this hooked up counts a lot" resource. No reason not to put a city there, with that being the case.

 

[Paeanblack]

It's a good move to settle on a resource if it's not a tile the city would actually be working much of the time. You save worker-turns in connecting the resources and you get a small boost to your city's own tile, which will always be worked.

Incense generally falls into this category. 0/0/6 is not a spectacular tile. If you settle on it, you get immediate access and +1 commerce.

 

[futurehermit]

agreed, stone is a good candidate for settling on it, esp if it is on the desert. any res that is on a desert is a good candidate imo as long as there is a decent fatcross around it. incense is a great candidate here.

also, as others have mentioned, sometimes it is a good idea to build on top of a military resource, *especially* in multiplayer.

 

[Sisiutil]

Good points, bowever, the tricky part about settling on a desert tile is that usually most of the other tiles in the fat cross will also be desert, since the map generator likes to include broad swaths of those useless off-white tiles. In those circumstances, I prefer to claim a desert-based resource with the city's 3rd ring (2nd border pop).

 

[Syndrome Zed]

Good points, bowever, the tricky part about settling on a desert tile is that usually most of the other tiles in the fat cross will also be desert, since the map generator likes to include broad swaths of those useless off-white tiles. In those circumstances, I prefer to claim a desert-based resource with the city's 3rd ring (2nd border pop).

Yeah, that's been my experience too - desert breeds desert. I looked at one of my old saves just for kicks, and while I could find a couple city sites I might have settled on top of resources, most of the desert-related potential sites on the map would have left me with half a fat cross of desert.

 

[WilliamOfOrange]

Not to give anyway trade secrets, but if you want a wonder faster like in a quickest finish type-thing, settling on the stone or marble can help out provided you have discovered masonry

 

[Sisiutil]

Not to give anyway trade secrets, but if you want a wonder faster like in a quickest finish type-thing, settling on the stone or marble can help out provided you have discovered masonry

A good point and tactic, but as with most other resources, I would settle based primarily on the long-term viability of the city site. Stone tiles usually suck, so I have fewer qualms about settling on top of it if there are other production tiles nearby. Marble, however, is usually in a better location--on plains tiles in most of my games for 1 food. And remember that a railroad, as of Warlords 2.08, will boost a quarry's hammers by 1!

 

[WilliamOfOrange]

True that. I would never settle on a resource that provides the railway bonus. I thought the addition of it to the Quarries was one of the best things in the patch. I also agree about the marble tiles; I have not yet settled on one. In fact I have regenerated maps with many resources about, ie. two corn, two marble and something else just because I would hae to settle on one of them.