A bit further than you might think, I'd say. Because cities grow to cover a pretty big territory over time, and it's annoying to box yourself in by putting them too close together.

Ideally, I try for 7 areas away with the 6 areas in between the two cities divided between them.

But you won't always have ideal situations. Just remember a city can expand beyond 3 areas from city center with an added claim cost.

Ensure you find a spot with 3-4 surrounding areas for food.

Also, more distance between cities means more travel time for your military units.

Note, you control the growth and size of your cities. Not every city needs to expand to full size.

In short, a bunch to consider.

GL

It also depends on who is near, if you spread to far the ai will get inbetween.

7 areas between 2 cities seem to be too much for me, I wound count for 4

Originally posted by VDmitry:

7 areas between 2 cities seem to be too much for me, I wound count for 4

With 4 that means 1 of your cities can only expands to 1 ring away in the direction of the other city and the other city 2 rings away. And if you plant a lot of cities 4 tiles from each other you will get some cities with only 12-15 levels of land to claim.

I think cruicially though, you can easily win with cities like that. It just means you limited the potential for your first 5-6 cities leaving your last 2 cities to slowly become the big ones.

Originally posted by Cryten:

Originally posted by VDmitry:

7 areas between 2 cities seem to be too much for me, I wound count for 4

With 4 that means 1 of your cities can only expands to 1 ring away in the direction of the other city and the other city 2 rings away. And if you plant a lot of cities 4 tiles from each other you will get some cities with only 12-15 levels of land to claim.

I think cruicially though, you can easily win with cities like that. It just means you limited the potential for your first 5-6 cities leaving your last 2 cities to slowly become the big ones.

I meant 4 = 2 + 2, so each city has 2 rings.

look what resources are here and what you want early ... coast not far is not bad

Thanks Guys!

Originally posted by vivas:

It also depends on who is near, if you spread to far the ai will get inbetween.

That is really a problem. AI is sometimes settling very stupid between your cities. I had a case where it was settling between my three bigger cities. At this point he could at max capture five regions between my land. Since I picked then the next the regions in his direction he ended up with a 3 region city in the middle of my land. In an other case I had to declare war 3 times to destroy such a city founded in the middle of my land.

Yeah, but if you're lucky and are fast enough you can at least block them by settling in a bottleneck region and closing your borders. and with the size of the continents and how common mountain ranges are, chances are there's a suitable bottleneck not too far away.

Originally posted by VDmitry:

7 areas between 2 cities seem to be too much for me, I wound count for 4

Yes, that is the ideal distance.

Closing this thread for now! If anything else comes up feel free to start a new thread!