What are the blue and white circles?

[warbean]

I notice that some tiles have blue or white circles around the whole tile. Upon closer inspection, I can not find anything different between them and any other tile. Anyone have any idea what they mean?

 

[Gargantutron]

white is where the AI suggest you improve terrain with your worker.
blue is where the AI suggest you settle your settler.

 

[warbean]

Ok cool that was easy- thanks! Do you find that these suggestions are generally helpful or is there a way to turn them off?

-W

 

[Brota]

It's 50/50. The spots they suggest usually produce more food. But it might not be the optimal point.

 

[Galumphus]

I find the spots they pick are usually short sighted. That is if you were looking JUST at that square it might be a good spot. But once you consider the surroundings (the "fat cross"), there are often better spots.

 

[azurefx]

I think the AI recommends the improvements that will go to make an "all round" city. This usually involves filling the city radius with cottages. As it seems Firaxis's favourite phrase in Civ4 seems to be "city specialisation", the recommendations oft arn't optimal for your empire. Go with the recommendations and you'll produce a lot of cash and a good bit of food, but hardly any shields.

 

[warpstorm]

The worker circles only look at the nearest city. There could be a tile one space away that is obviously bette and it won't get the highlight.

 

[Swiss Bezerker]

Im not sure about this. I have seen blue circles apearing 2 squares away from my cities

 

[Galumphus]

Im not sure about this. I have seen blue circles apearing 2 squares away from my cities

It's where hey reocmmend you send workers

 

[crazybeard]

IIRC, white circle are those tiles already worked by your pop, and blue circles are the game's suggestion for the active unit (tile to imporve for Worker, tile to found city for Settlers).

Then again, I'm reading the rules for two different games and playing a third, so I could be dead wrong.