Finding uses for small cities

[star mouse]

Most cities you build in CIV3 will eventually grow to be huge metropolises that you can use for all manner of purposes. Even a desert or jungle city will eventually reach a respectable size in the late game when all the squares are irrigated with a railroad. But there's often a few cities that will never prosper because of the inhospitable terrain surrounding them. You have probably built the city there to claim territory or a resource. But what do you do with a city that won't ever grow past size 3 or 4?

I have found that the best use for such cities is not to bother building most improvements, but only build the essential ones; this will allow the city to make a small net income each turn if it is not too corrupt. A temple will allow that city's culture to expand to claim territory, barracks will make veteran military units, and if you have the Trading Company, you can build a marketplace and a bank to generate a few gold a turn. After that point, improvements are unnecessary, so don't bother with them. Then, I order these cities to churn out military units, and the occasional worker.

One such city in my current game is a tundra city near my capital. I founded it there to claim a Furs luxury resource that was nearby. It is a size 3 city that can only generate 6 food a turn, so it's never going to grow larger than size 3. However, the 4 worked tiles generate 6 or 7 shields a turn, so this city has become a small but useful producer of military units.

What sort of uses do you find for these cities?

[Nym]

Almost the same usage: claiming ressources. Then building temple to claim territory and eventually barracks (if needed). Sometimes those cities only produce wealth if production is too low.

[star mouse]

Meet the city of Asyut ... In hindsight, I should have placed it on the coast so it could get reasonably large. But it's doing fine as it is.

(The Game and Fur resources have both been modified. In my mod, the Game resource produces +1 food, and the Fur resource produces +1 shield and +1 commerce.)

The city produces 10 shields, and after Communist corruption I get 7. With wartime mobilisation, it produces Infantry in 13 turns. It's a great little city.

[Solver]

Ahh... small cities... they always can do something for me. Maybe I'll get a MarketPlace, a Bank and convert people to Taxmen.

But usually, those serve two purposes for me. Increasing overall culture value, and getting some gold for income.

However... put Barracks there and you can use them either as strategic fortresses, or just to produce a cheaper unit.

[BillChin]

A bit off the original question, but a tip is to limit outlying cities to pop six to get an easy We-Love-the-King-Day. WLTKD plus a courthouse is usually enough to get a totally corrupt city at least to two shields, allowing a player to build a few buildings.

Small cities with no food are good for claiming key resources, or strategic locations. Otherwise, best to move a tile or two and get some grassland or plains. Desert can eventually yield two food, but that is after railroads and sometimes electricity.

[rmsharpe]

Generally, I just use smaller cities to protect vital resources. Hills may not be that great to plant a city on, but give it some wines and aluminum, it's pretty good for a few extra bucks in trade.