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Confused about how cities work

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Confused about how cities work

from Elemental Forums

I am a little confused about how cities work. The tutorial is pretty lacking on that point. When you hover over the "settle" button it shows the grain and materials production of each tile...but does you city only ever get to work the tile it's build on? That's how it seems, but that doesn't really make any sense...like at all.

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Reply #26 from Elemental Forums Top

There are no tiles with 1 in either grain or material anywhere on the map. There are 2/2 (and some times 2/3 or 3/2) tiles out by themselves in the middle of nowhere surrounded by zero yield tiles. So 2/2 has to be the base, and any aggregate has to be very small and terrain specific because otherwise most river tiles would be 6/6 for example. Every single tile along every river is at least 4/2, so every tile along that river has a base yield of some sort, yet 4/2 with a 2/2 base means they are not getting any material aggregate from neighboring river tiles. This is why I find an aggregate system hard to believe, or at the very least not noticeable enough to be warranted.

Reply #27 from Elemental Forums Top

Oh. You are defining zero tiles incorrectly. If it doesn't have a yield on it, it simply means that you cannot build a settlement there. I would say every tiles yields something. 

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Reply #28 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting Sanati, reply 26
There are no tiles with 1 in either grain or material anywhere on the map. There are 2/2 (and some times 2/3 or 3/2) tiles out by themselves in the middle of nowhere surrounded by zero yield tiles. So 2/2 has to be the base, and any aggregate has to be very small and terrain specific because otherwise most river tiles would be 6/6 for example. Every single tile along every river is at least 4/2, so every tile along that river has a base yield of some sort, yet 4/2 with a 2/2 base means they are not getting any material aggregate from neighboring river tiles. This is why I find an aggregate system hard to believe, or at the very least not noticeable enough to be warranted.

 

Perhaps the aggregate from all the surrounding tiles must be at least 2/2 or the system does not consider that tile capable of supporting a city? Thus 2/2 is not a base amount provided. But the base amount needed to be visible as settlable.

Reply #29 from Elemental Forums Top

Most tiles on a map have no yields, that is straight from Brad in another thread somewhere.

 

Edit: https://forums.elementalgame.com/415319

Reply #30 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting Kestral2040, reply 16

Quoting Heavenfall, reply 12If a tile says 4 grain 5 materials, you'll get 4 grain 5 materials in your city. And those are TECHNICALLY gathered from that tile and the 8 around it.

yes, this is how it works...  I would think of it as two different things, each tile has an individual yield that if based on the terrain (or resource) in that tile. In addition the tile has an aggregate yield that is the sum of the individual yields from the 8 tiles surrounding it. This aggregate yield (the sum of the tiles around the one you found on) is what is displayed and dictates your city yields.

You shouldn't need to worry about the actual individual yields of any particular tile as the aggregate number displayed is what will matter from your city, however, know that it is the data of all the tiles around it that is causing it to have the numbers it has. It saves the player from having to do a bunch of math in their heads but still allows for more variation in yields based on that 'perfect' city location. 

Lemme know if you need/want further explanation.

The big thing to keep in mind while thinking about it if you want to understand the minutiae of it is that the yields you are seeing are what you would get if you put a city there. Not that tile's individual yields. Thus you can run into situations where a tile will not have a visible yield but still be contributing to that of a nearby tile.  A great example of this are tiles that you cannot build a city on legally (say it's too close to another city). It will still contribute to other yields but because you cant build a city there you wont see aggregate yields on it.

 

Great explanation, and a great idea as well, getting rid of tallying up all the individual tiles.

Reply #31 from Elemental Forums Top

Now that I have a better explanation I like how this works. The tutorial could stand to be tweaked to explain this better.

Quick question about prestige. Is the growth distributed even to cities that can't grow anymore? aka, does the game "waste" prestige by allocating some of it to cities that are at their max capacity (based on food)? If so, that could stand to be changed.

-I still think it would be a cool idea to allow players to select a "city specialty" when the found a city that would work similar to heroes "path" selection.

Reply #32 from Elemental Forums Top

He meant what I said. Most tiles will show no yields. 

Reply #33 from Elemental Forums Top

I've been looking into what exactly produces yields, and there are many factors. Numbers are also rounded all over the place. It absolutely reaches a point where the information is useless. All we need to know is what we see in the game - exactly what tile will produce the most yield.

For using the spells that turn barren land into places we can establish cities in, this advice is what I can give. Rivers are the best, but you can't build on them so they should be at the edge. Forest tiles produce materials. All plains produce food. Avoid if you can all other types of terrain, like deserts, swamps, hills, wildlands.