What's the optimal distance between cities?

[sabo]

So they dont have to share resources, would you say from city center to city center 5 tiles N,S,E,W, and 3 diagonal?

 

[amadeus]

Whatever keeps features from overlapping.

 

[Lt. 'Killer' M.]

Slight overlap (so that you don't loose any tiles) usually works best for me. But I have to adjust this to terrain, i.e. mountains and so on, and I try to skip deserts since in my mod they give 1 prod when mined, nothing else

 

[punkbass2000]

2 squares of empty space inbetween is typically best, though it depends on the terrain. In a lot of grassland, sometimes 1.

 

[Creepster]

It depends on what your goal is. Early in the game tight cites are the best because you only use a few squares for production. This is counterproductive later in the game when you can build larger cities though. I vary it depending upon terrain. I like to make sure I leave no productive square not producing, but if I am trying to win a quick culture game I pack them in a tigh as possible.