What makes a good city great? (location wise)

[White Out]

So this will be a newb question but really I've only played Civ V for a couple weeks. What makes city plots great? Is it balance? Grassy hills? Access to rivers and plains? All the above?

I guess I want to know is there a consensus priority when selecting a city.
-Ocean
-Grassland
-Plains
-Luxury resources
-Strategic resources
-Lack of tundra
-Lack of ice
-Lack of desert

etc etc.

Also... this is a huge one for me but what am I not seeing about Ocean? What makes ocean cities so much better? Empirically speaking that is... is it just hard numbers that add up to more hammers and food? Thanks in advance for any opinions!

 

[VicRatlhead5199]

For me it really comes down to resources in the area more than the terrain it's on. I've had some awesome cities in the tundra because of fish and deer and I've had terrible grassland cities due to lack of resources. I like to look for clusters of similar resources. 4 sea resources mean a light house adds betw. 4 and 8 (depending on whether it's all fish or not) and 4 a huge boost for one city. Same can be said for similar buildings like the Granary, stable, forge, etc. On the other hand if there's only one resource improved by a building it's hard to justify building its building.

 

[chazzycat]

for me the first thing is luxury resource. If they don't have one (unique), it's not worth an early expansion.

a really good city would have lots of food (usually from riverside tiles) as well as good number of hills. Flood plain, grassland, and plains can all be good. If plains, you want some wheat/deer so you can build a granary, otherwise growth pre-civil service will be very slow.

A GREAT city would have all this and also be next to a mountain and/or coast. Mountain is probably better if you have to choose. But coastal is good too (for trade routes). Both would be the jackpot, but is rare.

But the absolute best cities usually involve Petra or terrace farms (or both).

remember to also weigh the city locations by what's in the 1st ring, 2nd ring, etc. Good resources in the 3rd ring aren't worth nearly as much as in the 1st ring. Unless you are Shoshone or America you want to get most resources in your 1st or 2nd ring.

 

[spafey]

Salt and wheat on plains. City on a desert hill tile adjacent to a river and coast. Lots of desert hills, desert sheep and oasis around. Ridiculous food, production and faith potential in that city... even without the Petra.

 

[Jampine]

Lux's are definitely a good start for early cities, but late in the game, strategic resources are also worth building a city to get.

 

[White Out]

So why's an ocean city better than land locked?

Also I'm getting the sense there's no real one solid answer, seems like everyone is suggesting balance tho

 

[reddishrecue]

Abundant bonus, strategic and luxurious resources nearby. Having a city next to a river and or being on top of a hill.

 

[vivalamexico]

Mountain is always the cherry on top

Also, coastal cities are nice because cargo ships are so much better than caravans

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[Mr. Grieves]

I just rolled a start so good, it feels cheaty. Salt, plenty of farmland and hills. On top of that, two culture ruins, Calendar, Hoplite upgrade, First to meet Vatican City, population ruin and 60 faith ruin.

 

[BenitoChavez]

So why's an ocean city better than land locked?

Oceans cities are great for trade routes. Cargo ships give so much more gold, food, and hammers than caravans. It also makes for good defense against armies as they can really only attack from 1 direction, or get slaughtered by the city. Also a handful of wonders can only be build by coastal cities.

 

[mrwho]

So why's an ocean city better than land locked?

It's only really that good in BNW. This is because cargo ships are so, so much better than caravans. An internal food trade route to a coastal city is pretty damn powerful. It more than makes up for the weaker sea tiles. Coastal resources like fish are also excellent tiles to work. Also, generally speaking, you'll usually want a coastal city anyway to have access to the sea, although that's more of an empire benefit than a city one.

It goes without saying that a good city placement needs food and production. That means grassy hills are good, as you said. Beyond that, one of the best things to have is a nearby mountain. This allows you to build observatories, which give you +50% science. An extremely powerful building - science should never be underestimated. River starts are of course also very good. Settling adjacent to a river allows you to build a garden and a watermill. A watermill gives +2 food and +1 production, great in the early game, and a garden boost great person generation by 25%, also useful. More important is the extra food from flood plains, and generally farms adjacent to fresh water. Luxuries are also extremely important, so that you city can sustain itself and allow your empire to continue to grow. And of course, any other nearby resources are good too. Be aware of pantheons and the benefits they get from tile yields.

So your perfect city would be coastal, next to a river, next to a mountain, with a good mix of hills and food resources, probably mostly on grassland. It'd have some luxuries and some bonus resources thrown in, too. A desert start can also be insanely powerful combined with petra and desert folklore.

 

[reddishrecue]

Having a couple of NWs nearby could also make a great city location. I had the Fountain of Youth near my capital in one of my random starts.