production vs food.

[Brodou]

Is it just me or is production much better than food as a construct? because when I try to focus a part by producing food it takes me forever to build but when I focus on production everything is built faster, marvel, units.

I have a hard game when i go food, but when i go production i rape the floor with the ai.

What u think ?

[brunocarvalhopaula]

I agree with you and in the unmodded game production is the way to go.

[path2power]

Depends on the Era. Food is more important in the Ancient/Classical era when you need a high population to pump out soldiers, and still have enough left over for money/science. It falls off in the medival era because your new cities starting with all the infrastructure give you enough food as long as you settle near a river.
Once food is solved however, yeah going all in on production can give you a full army in one turn.

[jonnin]

this is highly subjective to your choices early game.
Its a mix of 4 major ideas:
- your culture, which could be food or production heavy, or something else.
- your terrain around the first city, which hopefully is balanced but if its too heavy on food or production tiles, you go with what makes sense.
- your choice of +1 production per population vs anything else. If you have this, growing population also grows production, and about as efficiently as making a maker's.
- your # of scouts in the ancient. One of the most overlooked but critical nomadic tribe things is a big # of scouts which you disband and turn into population as fast as your food supply will support them. Keep a couple to claim territories, but you don't need 10 guys for that.

Depending on the above choices, you should be able to spot which to make first. The good news is that everything snowballs anyway... each maker's quarters makes the next one faster, and the next farmers is faster too... but if its not obvious, if you have population = production buff AND a 10+ farmer's tile, develop that first and kill scouts to fill up your population faster. If you don't have this and DO have a 10+ maker's guild tile, make that first instead, as it will speed up the FQ when you start making those.

With that in mind, production is your first major goal and culture, population to production, well selected terrain to build potent maker's quarters, mix of terrains to support the infrastructure buildings that add more are huge choices and luck of the draw stuff that you work around. But if you can get your production up rapidly, everything follows that faster and faster and you get way, way ahead of the AI. The question is just whether on your map and choices, population growth is more production than maker's in the first 5 or so districts you build.

I didn't mention it but luck and map and all matter here too. If you have 3 angry neighbors, you need both because population = troops and production gets them out faster. If you control a giant swath and no one is in sight (then you basically are in for an ensured win and a boring game) you don't need as much military and can have a lower population gain. Once you can grow population faster than you can make troops, its irrelevant.

[Ansive]

Food is very good at filling your specialist slots and training units. A great food income will allow you to fill all the specials slots (minus farmers) and still grow every several turns. Just never run farmers, they're undertuned. All my cities will have a few farms, some makers and then specialize into merchant or research districts. (and all the possible hamlets of course)

[Dynamo Rex (mrrexplorer)]

Originally posted by Ansive:

Food is very good at filling your specialist slots and training units. A great food income will allow you to fill all the specials slots (minus farmers) and still grow every several turns. Just never run farmers, they're undertuned. All my cities will have a few farms, some makers and then specialize into merchant or research districts. (and all the possible hamlets of course)

In resume is food is for Huns Spammers and Military Civilization, Production is for Buildings Civilizations, Religion and Culture are for Tecnical/Spy Civilization who can generate units with religion and absorb more quickly terrain with culture. For Economics Civilizations the better is get money and change the culture for money. Is kinda broken when you have the private property because you can absorb and buy new cities with money and get out to the windows the stupids culture.