Early settler spam? How many cities?

[social]

Hey.
I've been wandering, how many cities you usually go for, and at what time span?
Do you spam settlers at the early game?
I just fooled around with the game files and changed the spawn distance of other civs to around 20 tiles, like someone suggested on the forums, which gives me space to pretty safely spam like 6 cities pretty early, and I like the idea of spreading in the early game, and then build my cities and concentrate on other things.

[Cyprus Hillbilly]

It depends on many factors

[Strifeboy]

I just get stomped by barbs when i try a set

[Alex]

I have a question too.
When it is better to make first settler? Before 50% discount policy or after.
Who tried both ways?

[Lawrencium103]

I tend to settle 2-3 cities during 50-100 turn time frame, more later depending on situation.

I prefer to build settler after building about 10 military units, a holy site(If I want religion), 2 builders. That's usually about turn 50 by the time I'm done.

[Prism]

I feel content settling up to 4 cities if I have a single luxury resource. If I get a second copy of that luxury, and two copies of another luxury, then I go for 8.

[Shane]

I just find civilization map generation awful, and its twice as frustrating in this version, no matter what size map i choose, regardless of parameters I am always literally next door to everything.

I opt for duel map 1civ it gives me 3/4 City states, its a duel map have you seen the size of the bloodying thing it almost fits on the screen with zero scrolling and they put 3/4 city states on it along with two civilizations.

so....

We restart, change it up to small map, but only use two of the civilization slots (3inc myself) and what does it do, it increases the city state amounts to create the exact same bloody scenario and problem as the first attempt.

Given the fact that this version builds like it does, the map generation for me is outta whack with that principle. The only way i can get a satifactory distance is playing huge map with just 2/3 civilizations, but that makes the early stages of the game suffer

i just cant seem to find my happy-medium !!

[The Met4l God]

Originally posted by Shane:

I just find civilization map generation awful, and its twice as frustrating in this version, no matter what size map i choose, regardless of parameters I am always literally next door to everything.

I opt for duel map 1civ it gives me 3/4 City states, its a duel map have you seen the size of the bloodying thing it almost fits on the screen with zero scrolling and they put 3/4 city states on it along with two civilizations.

so....

We restart, change it up to small map, but only use two of the civilization slots (3inc myself) and what does it do, it increases the city state amounts to create the exact same bloody scenario and problem as the first attempt.

Given the fact that this version builds like it does, the map generation for me is outta whack with that principle. The only way i can get a satifactory distance is playing huge map with just 2/3 civilizations, but that makes the early stages of the game suffer

i just cant seem to find my happy-medium !!

I'm not sure if this post is really relevant to the discussion. It's on settler timings, not map issues.

[social]

yep, I changed the parameters so I get at least 20 tile radius of free space, and only like 12 city-states on huge maps.
I have started to just spam settlers and slingers/warriors instantly, which seems to keep barbarians in check (I have only played on Prince-diff.). Settler from my capital, then slinger or warrior from the new settled city, and so on...

[wusch]

I do go for 2-3 cities the first settler is build as soon as I have a Monument and builder (sometimes after the scout) and the second settler whenever It fits, usually during the classical era. But once as late as renissance.

[Shane]

well i tried several different approaches (all on duel map) @ settler level with standard game speed...

if I spam the cities fast and aim to put a 6tile gap between each city i take over the land..
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=789322468

but i take my time, say try and move on each time i have at least a religous district to help fight the awful religion mechanic better, the opposite happens and the single AI player literally has the owned when im on the 2nd/3rd city

the problem is mostly down to river locations, its not worth building anywhere but on a river in this version (agree?)

side note:
I would actually like to play the game at a slower rate of expansion with cities, but im finding if you do you pay heavily for it, the best method is to spam them as quick as you can and grab all the river spots

[The Met4l God]

Originally posted by Shane:

well i tried several different approaches (all on duel map) @ settler level with standard game speed...

if I spam the cities fast and aim to put a 6tile gap between each city i take over the land..
-- edit with screenshot

but i take my time, say try and move on each time i have at least a religous district to help fight the awful religion mechanic better, the opposite happens and the single AI player literally has the owned when im on the 2nd/3rd city

the problem is mostly down to river locations, its not worth building anywhere but on a river in this version (agree?)

Rivers are ideal, but you can build elsewhere. Just requires more housing development. Settling on rivers does allow for production boosts like the water wheel.

[social]

well, usually I try to settle near rivers, but I mostly prioritize resources, and then fresh water, like a tile away from a lake or river at least so I can build an aqueduct...

[Matthew]

Yep, Koskenbleu is correct, just got to be 1 tile away from fresh water. Though you need to make sure you have ways to get one up easily (internal trade routes for example) since your housing will be low until you can build it.

Also, if you have a mostly empty 3 rings for a city, then spamming farms can work well. One of my strongest cities was like that... no fresh water or aqueduct, but I was able to build like 14 farms on one half, then a few districts and lumbermills on the other half.

Coastal cities can be decent too, once you factor in harbor district and improvements.

So really you do have a lot of options to get housing in this game, you just need to call it as it comes. If there is a city spot with no fresh water but you know you will be able to spam a lot of farms, you can still make it work.

Also remember you can build aqueducts next to a mountain tile as well.