as i continue to play civilization iv, i am learning more and more about some of the basic strategies when it comes to producing an empire that can stand the test of time. one of these strategies that has proved itself to be extremely important, is that of premeditated city placement. whether it is to provide your empire with protection, or to fully utilize the available resources, i am convinced that it is imperative to make intelligent decisions while placing a city.
in terms of resources, you must first understand where different resources are located. obviously, it is beneficial to have a city on the coast, because a fishing industry is an excellent source of food for your empire. another example is having a city near forests is important as well so that you can enjoy the benefits of excess lumber.
aside from building cities near resources, i feel that it is also a good move to build your city so that you are protected by the natural surroundings. even if this means searching for the right spot for your capital when the game begins, it might prove to be worth the extra time. in my current campaign, my capital is placed right in the middle of a peninsula, restricting the number of ways that the city can be attacked. if you can take advantage of the natural boarders, you can base your military defense off of that, and be stronger than you ever would be if you were defending yourself in the open.
to me, it seems like this theory has held up throughout history. until the spanish came to the new world, the mayans were tucked away in the mountains of peru. they were protected from other peoples by the mountains, and remained hidden from anyone and everyone.
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4 comments:
I agree with your anaylsis of the placement of the empire being a very potent problem. For my civilization iv empire I located all of my agricultural inhabitants near a river therefore it will allow them to grow as global warming comes into affect and dry season in certain parts of the country. The resources found near a body of water are essential for the survival of certain empires and there specific productions. Producing a large agricultural setting near a body of water will allow the empire to prosper and continue to amke the empire stronger and allow it to move forward in a more positive way. Agriculture building will also allow the empire to output agricultural products.
I found your analysis of city placement interesting, as I had not thought of it before and had lost many cities due to bad placement. It makes sense to use natural resources and boundaries as a means of selecting where to put a city, and seems like it would be very beneficial. I randomly chose where to place my cities and therefore received less of a benefit from them than I may have if I placed them near natural resources or made them harder for enemies to capture. Since reading your blog I will take these new ideas into consideration when deciding where to build my next cities.
Interesting assessment of the importance of city placement. I wrote about placement of empires last week, but placement of cities is something I haven't really thought about. For me, expansion is key, so I set down cities as quickly as I possibly can. As long as I've had the military resources to have a warrior or two accompany my settlers, I haven't had too many problems. However, after reading your post I will definitely consider more sophisticate methods of city placement than simply random choice.
location location location...thats very important to the sucess of a country, for me near a river for irrigation and fresh fish, and near forests and hills for mines. I have CIV 3, so it isnt a map of the earth but landmasses with the facilities of earth...your doing a good job and making good analysis. Chooseing to place cities near important and needed natural resources is extremly smart.
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