The lone and level sands stretch far away

Rufus T. Firefly · November 26, 2002, 08:46

In my current game, I've inherited a city via culture-flip whose workable squares consist of the city square, a plains square, and 19 (!) desert squares. Obviously, even with irrigation, this city is fated never to need an aqueduct. The question is, what to do with a city like this? I'm currently using it as a worker farm, but is there some better use for it? Or perhaps some way to make it grow that I don't know about? TIA.

yxhuvud · November 26, 2002, 08:51

Use it as a worker farm until you get railroads. then the desert will produce 2 food, allowing growth

aaglo · November 26, 2002, 08:57

Yep. keep the city. It'll grow with railroads (irrigate every tile). And some required resources can be found on deserts (salpeter, oil).

Alex · November 26, 2002, 09:19

What the others said.

ruby_maser · November 26, 2002, 09:54

if you need something to do 'til then, name it "Ozymandias"

MrWhereItsAt · November 26, 2002, 11:10

Quote:

Originally posted by Alexnm
What the others said.

You bothered to post that?

+1, I guess.

Worthingtons · November 26, 2002, 12:24

Railroads seem to make ANY city big, and you may get some strategic resources on there...

Alex · November 26, 2002, 12:25

Quote:

Originally posted by MrWhereItsAt

You bothered to post that?

+1, I guess.

Yep.

Ozymandias... a nice poetic touch.

Alex · November 26, 2002, 12:26

About railroads... it is nice that they can make any city viable, but their effect is too overpowered, imo.

Rufus T. Firefly · November 27, 2002, 01:44

Thanks all; I figured the solution might lie in RR, but wasn't sure. And kudos to all the Shelley scsholars!

The Pioneer · November 27, 2002, 04:16

Well a city in the desert is not necessarily a bad thing in Civ 3. You never know what kind of resources may pop up, I would keep the city. Depending on its location it could be an outpost of sorts from where you can base some military action(s)

So long...

fittstim · November 27, 2002, 07:14

On the other hand, the choice to keep the city depends on other factors as well.

1. Are you playing on a huge map where city limitations (max 512) might come into play? If so, you'll want to abandon it eventually.

2. If you got the city through a culture flip, you probably have lots of other cities in the same general area. So ask yourself if you really need this city or would your resources be better used elsewhere?

3. If you like to have a high score or to be #1 in the stats, then your total population is a key factor. Cities in the desert, even with irrigated RR squares, aren't likely to get very high. Whereas a city surrounded by jungle (which is eventually converted to grasslands) can hope to grow to size 40 or so.

My advice is to use it as a worker and settler farm but never have any workers improve anything other than build a single track RR so that you can get your workers and settlers out of the desert ASAP.

TheStinger · November 27, 2002, 09:17

I quite like desrt cities rubbish until railroads and then they boom(relativley) bit like LA i suppose

Mad Bomber · November 27, 2002, 10:16

Fitstim:

A city with one plains and 19 desert squares can reach a population of 21 with a shield production of at least 21 w/o city improvements. if everything is irrigated and has RR improvement, so this city has more potential than you suggest.

djafrot · December 3, 2002, 18:49

would it be worth it, if one had this "desert" city early on, to build cultural improvements for the long term? I usually just set them to "wealth", although worker-farm is a good idea too.

Mad Bomber · December 3, 2002, 19:34

I would enhance the city as every other normal city. Keep in mind that you do not want to build wonders here, but you can certainly get this city to come into full production once you get RR's. You just need to give this city a little jumpstart every so often with a rushed improvement. Of course no need to build Aqueducts, or hospitals until you discover steampower. I would build Cathedrals and Colluseums however because you need to build them before getting RR's to get the 1000 yr bonus in culture. Keep in mind that each worker you produce you have to pay support for and wealth gives you very little return with under 20 shields of production, best to build a unit if you do not want to build an improvement.

eisey~ · December 5, 2002, 02:10

i've had a city like that, surrounded in desert, ended up being a 25, bigger than some of my plains/hill country cities.. its whack yo. hmm.

Datajack Franit · December 8, 2002, 19:14

It will have a loooooow shield production

Datajack Franit · December 9, 2002, 00:34

Just hope AI won't nuke it or the city could just disappear within 10 turns

star mouse · December 9, 2002, 03:09

I would put a Temple (or Library) in the city to expand the culture borders, a Barracks, a Granary, then have it produce veteran military units as well as the settlers and workers. Your city will reach size 4 before railroads, so it's not a complete loss at this time. Such a city producing military units every 20 turns or so is still productive.

Ozymandias · December 10, 2002, 22:58

Quote:

Originally posted by Alexnm

Yep.

Ozymandias... a nice poetic touch.

Thank you! I can only agree

-Oz

Brizey · December 10, 2002, 23:03

One more thing...don't waste much time and effort on improvements that are magnified by population or produce unnecessary happiness. They won't be worth the upkeep. Just crank out units until you get RR.

star mouse · December 10, 2002, 23:38

Quote:

Originally posted by Brizey
One more thing...don't waste much time and effort on improvements that are magnified by population or produce unnecessary happiness. They won't be worth the upkeep. Just crank out units until you get RR.

Yep, although one culture improvement is necessary to allow the borders to expand. The single plains square is unlikely to be next to the city so culture expansion is probably required. If you have the Trading Company wonder, you can also build a marketplace and a bank in the city because these become improvements with no upkeep cost.

While we all love those monster productive size-25 cities, it is finding uses for the small cities that is the real challenge of CIV. For a good game, try playing 3 billion / arid / cold worlds.