To hill or not to hill

[Victoria]

So I played my points system for quite a few games now and it seems to be fairly sound with a few adjustments.

I settle then look at the two rings only for food and production. I remove the rirst two of these starting with food (so a tile with 2 food and 1 cog will count as 1 cog) I then add up the points in each and am looking for around 4 food and 8 cogs ideally with 2 power tiles.
Without the power tiles things are slower but with the power tiles its a fantastic start. Naturally you need to push the food first if there are no food power tiles as the AI does like to prioritise production a bit.

 

[WiseGreen]

A different, but related question:

Do you folks move to settle into a flood plains tile to have one more tile you can use early-ish for districts and/or unique improvements, or because it's on an inconvenient location for triangle farming? (Except with Egypt ofc)

 

[Victoria]

Food is very important, most wonders are not normally. Districts yes but flood plain is uncommon so not really bothered.
That triangle is vital, especially if with plenty of hills. Grow fast them produce, the essence of a good start.

 

[c4c6]

settle into a flood plains tile

Problem is, that this is terrain: desert + feature: flood plains. On settling features are removed (without compensation).
FilthyRobot settled once in one of his LetsPlays on flood plains & sugar (5-0-0) and was quite frustrated ending with (2-1-0) from the city center.

I remove the rirst two of these starting with food (so a tile with 2 food and 1 cog will count as 1 cog) I then add up the points in each and am looking for around 4 food and 8 cogs ideally with 2 power tiles.

Concerning food I count in deficit and surplus tiles ... e.g. plainsHills is deficit, grasslandsMarsh is surplus (Completely: double-deficit, deficit, par, surplus, double-surplus, triple-surplus)
"For every surplus tile you can work a deficit tile and the city center provides 2 food extra for growth ." (civ1 cooking receipt)

I suppose, flood plains is incompatible with hills and horse is incompatible with (marsh, rain forest & woods) and/or hills. So the maximum 'food + cog per tile' is probably
2 from terrain (grasslands, plains) + 1 from hills + 1 from features (marsh, rain forest, woods) + 2 from bonus (citrus, spices, sugar) = 6.

 

[ShinigamiKenji]

I think the max food you can have without improving tiles is 5 (grasslands marsh with Rice/Sugar). For production, I've never seen unimproved tiles with more than 3 cogs (until you discover strategic resources)

The best unimproved tile for me is coastal Oil while suzerain of Auckland (1f-7p-1g). I'd be willing to settle on tundra + snow if I spotted 2 in the range.

 

[c4c6]

Yes, the max food you can work without improvement is 5 (desertFloodplainsSugar, grasslandsMarshSugar, Rice is 1). But this are (5-0-0) tiles and Floodplains & Marsh deny Hills.
So I think, the best initial worked tile could be (5-1-0), grasslandsHillsRainforestCitrus or Spices.

The best initial settled tiles are (3-1-0), grasslandsCattle or Rice and (2-3-0), plainsHillsIvory or Gypsum.
[The lost effects of Pasture & Farm, respectively Camp & Quarry are compensated by the subvention of Minimum (2-1-0) on city centers.
Though Ivory & Gypsum loose one copy of a luxury resource; Cattle & Rice have no corresponding meaning as there is e.g. no 'Health' (as in civ4).]