Super Production Cities

[Chieftess]

(I'm sure this has been discussed years ago - but hey, I'm more of a builder, and I just "discovered" it..)

Anyone terraform their game to have an optimal city size (20 or 21, I think), with 2/3 hills and 1/3 grasslands? I've gotten 150 shields per turn out of that! Back when I used to play Civ2 more often, I used to terraform everything (EVERYTHING) to grasslands. Of course, I only got maybe, 8-13 sheilds per turn. (no wonder I did so poorly! ).

If only we could terraform in Civ3... (that + Iron Works. wow..)

 

[Adler]

in late game , I transform everything to grassland under democracy. This makes my ppl happy and creates no pollution.
Also I love big cites ~ 30-42.
My bordercities are left in a grassland mountain/hill combo to achieve new forces from there.
All units are built there but supported by the other cities.

 

[Dark Ascendant]

I love big production cities, my current one is pumping out +95 shields a turn, and I haven't even put a manufactoring center in yet.

 

[Lucky]

Usually you don´t need more than 5 or 6 really productive cities. The rest are packed tight together and also terraformed to grassland to avoid having to deal with both types of pollution. I usually try to plan the rest of the cities to only reach size 12 to avoid building extra happiness buildings, the sewer system and the mass transit. A few settlers more are much cheaper than that and you have more cities to trade with = more income!

 

[duke o' york]

In my current game I'm at 1860 something, my spaceship is complete and I've got Madrid trapped between four of my cities and unable to do a lot (researching Construction ). I'm at FT 80 something and just don't need to produce anything in most of my cities. An army of engineers are terraforming the globe and ensuring that I have just enough shields to build freights to be airlifted into Berlin and surrounding cities to keep the science rate up. More production would just be wasted on Capitalisation.
Earlier in the game however, this mass production city can be very important indeed if you pair it with Shakespeare's Theatre and use it to churn out battleships and bombers. You can base an enormous attack force from this one city (best with coastal access for the BBs) and never get Democracy unhappiness problems. In the Civ 2 demo game we are planning to have such a city with an iron resource we found in a 4-special spot.

 

[AnarchyBoy]

I like using King Richard's Crusade early in the game to make a super Wonder City. I've had as many as 14 wonders in one city this way. After King Richard's, I buid an aqueduct, a sewer system and a harbor so my city grows to around 20 or 21, then I use it exclusively to build wonders until Industrialization forces me to build a factory.
This is the big downer about King Richard: it expires too quickly.

 

[funxus]

I enjoy having really productive cities, I usually try to get a few with a production over 80. These are nice stealth fighter/ Armor generators I was more in to this before I discovered the possibilities with trade, but still like to have a few of them to produce units.

 

[Smash]

I used to but now I mainly use a gold=sheilds philosophy.I use my economic might to outright buy sheilds.

 

[Duke of Marlbrough]

Originally posted by Smash
I used to but now I mainly use a gold=sheilds philosophy.I use my economic might to outright buy sheilds.

Yep. It's quicker to build (buy) a freight and deliver it for gold and buy the production in other cities.

By the time you can get to terraforming, you should be well on your way to a gold production civilization. I have to warn you though, it gets kinda tiring to rush build the production in every city and still have cash left over. Your civ just keeps growing and growing and growing....

 

[Father Time]

I love these cities.
I try to AIM for a super city in general *Food, Shields, Trade* but shield cities are my second thing if I can't do that.
I love building King Richard's crusade in an already shield rich city and putting as many wonders as possible in there. Plus, it's handy for building expensive units faster. I am a proponet of these cities. ^_^

 

[Ace]

I'll take food and trade over shields everytime. I used to love big production cities, but once I realized the value of trade, these cities became a burden. 50 is the max shield requirement (to build a freight plus a few extra for unit support). anything over that is unnecessary. One of the most frustrating things in civ2 is having to produce a low cost item in a "super" city with 90+ shields..your only option for that size city is to put it on capitalization or waste shields.

I agree with Smash and the DoM, coins are the best way to go. Even SS modules are quicker to produce that way, and you do not have the support burden of solar plants or recycling centers and mfg plants.