which squares irrigate which mine???

[noni]

hi there,

for optimal city improvement and growthment, which spuares should be irrigated and which better be mined. Heard to much different opinions.

Is irrigation better than mining, i know that mountans must be mined but what is the best way????

thanks for answering
noni

 

[slothman]

I usuall mine hills( I changed it so they can be irrigated) and irrigate plains and grassland. Eventually when my city starts producing specialists I mine any remaining tiles to bring growth to zero. I just value shields over specialists. So most of my cities of 20 or so.

 

[solarjetman]

Depends on the situation. Of course you always mine hills and mountains, but as for grassland, plains and desert, the nice thing about civ3 is how customizeable it is. Mining instead of irrigating gets you 1 shield in exchange for 1 food (2 for 2 with railroads), so you can basically decide exactly how fast you want the city to grow. I find that building mostly mines with a few irrigation is the way to go -- otherwise I end up with a lot of size 12 cities long before I can build Hospitals. But once you've got the hospitals, it's like, do I want a size 18-22 city getting trade out of all its tiles sooner, or do I want more production for a big military sooner? Depends on whether you've got a lot of improvements to build or AI units to kill.

But when you're in Despotism, ALWAYS mine grasslands, since irrigating them will do you no good unless they have wheat/cattle.

 

[KindLE]

Well, I think there's some different factors here. Assuming that you're playing with the default rules, you have to mine mountains and hills. As for grasslands and plains, it depends on what your goals are and where you are in the game. Usually in the beginning of the game I only have people working grassland or plains squares. What I usually do is irrigate plains and mine grasslands so each worked tile will make the city grow but also produce shields. I like to get my cities up to their maximum population as soon as possible and then switch the "worked squares" so that there is no population growth. Then after I build an aqueduct or a hospital, I might switch tiles or re-irrigate some grasslands. The point is, I maximize population growth and production until the city can grow no more, and then I max. production.

If you're going for a high score, then you will want to eventually irrigate every tile that can be irrigated so you have more citizens, which are a major factor in the end score. If you want to conquer everything quickly, or go for a cultural or space-race victory, you will want cities that produce lots of shields, and so you will want to have exactly 21 pop. (if possible) in all your cities with no growth and max. mining. Maybe in reality, though, you will need 24 per city for entertainers to keep citizens happy. Hope this helps!