When to stop making settlers.

[insaneweasel]

I usually stop producing settlers when all of the available land is claimed.

On continents and pan, I usually don't need settlers after around 1400.

The thing is, my cities usually range in size from 7 to 25, and they work a lot of land. I could probably fit in a lot more cities, but they would be smaller and take a lot of time to grow.

So what's better? Big cities, or more, smaller ones?

 

[Sian]

first out of land in 1400ad? ... thats very late

but honestly ... we'd have tobe able to see the land before we can say why its that late ... well ...and settings

 

[Framesticker]

In a typical, 10+- city empire with a decent chunk of land for itself (with decent land, too) I like to 5-6 core cities, which produce most of the GNP and MFG of the empire. The other ones are either 1) cities I conquered and decided to keep for war defense/healing purposes or 2) 1-2 resource cities that usually pay for their maintenance and a little more, probably more so the AI don't settle there and create an annoying pain the back.

 

[NihilZero]

Something I've started doing, which I learned from the AI, is to make one extra settler and keep him in reserve. When you discover an interesting island or otherwise unclaimed spot, or you raze a badly placed rival civ or barb city with the intention of resettling the land more intelligently, or even when you decide the time has come to backfill one of those spots which was never going to be good until certain later game techs come in, it really pays off to have a settler ready. Later in the game it's easy to forget settlers after the initial land grab is over. Having an extra one on hand can pay dividends.

 

[mirthadir]

I actually have been doing a lot of settling later in the game these days. Razing out open land to drop a settler allows you to rushbuy key things like an airport and new units without having to wait through city revolts. Also you can pop borders really quick late game, just working a generic mine or cottage can get the first border pop in 2 turns with everything heading to culture; Sushi can allow for massive borders quick and you can come across the dom land threshold that much sooner.

I second the spare settler idea within limits. Often if I do a lib -> astro shot (such that I don't have much caravel action going on) I will often send out two galleons with a settler, defender, and worker/missionary (depending on if I have music, am running caste or have missionaries on caravels) during exploration. Getting new resources online quick can be huge. Trading for a map can allow these blind settlers to reach islands close the AI long before the AI will settle nearby (in some cases you can even settle and culture swarm the barb cities).

If I haven't fully settled by 1000 AD. Normally I've either been chasing some massive wonderfest or have had quite a few wars. Generally, few things pay back sooner than properly growing new cities.

 

[Framesticker]

Something I've started doing, which I learned from the AI, is to make one extra settler and keep him in reserve. When you discover an interesting island or otherwise unclaimed spot, or you raze a badly placed rival civ or barb city with the intention of resettling the land more intelligently, or even when you decide the time has come to backfill one of those spots which was never going to be good until certain later game techs come in, it really pays off to have a settler ready. Later in the game it's easy to forget settlers after the initial land grab is over. Having an extra one on hand can pay dividends.

That extra settler idea looks awesome, I've never thought of doing something like that. Will definitely try this.

 

[AutomatedTeller]

well, not producing settlers when there is no land left is a pretty good idea

Do also look to see if you have empty spaces and good land in the middle of your civ. In some games, I've placed cities pretty late on land with no resources with 6 tiles I wasn't able to use.. and they ended up being a net bonus to the civ.