Newb: One Primary Aspect I Don't Understand (re: cities)

from Elemental Forums


I love the game having bought it 3 days ago and already clocking 30 hours or so....  I feel I understand most things except this:

 

I don't get how/why the places you can settle a new city appear?  They seem random? 

 

The AI will have a chain of cities much closer than I am allowed to place mine.  I often will settle my first 3-5 and then there will be a huge gulf of fertile land and desert that never has the #/#/# appear on it?  Yet I'm pretty sure I've seen the AI then settle it?  (and I do understand difference between outposts and cities).

 

So is there a way to make the grain/production/essence markers appear?  or is it different for the player?

 

Can someone explain this to me?  Thank you.

13,900 views 7 replies
Reply #1 from Elemental Forums Top


Later in the game there is a spell that revitalizes the land. I'm new to the game so I don't know if it really changes non-habitable terrain into spots where you can place a city - but it sounds so from the description. Perhaps the AI uses that.

IMHO it's a more likely explanation you got unlucky (or using pre-made maps) and the AI got city terrain close together and your spots got more spread out. And adding to randomness, in the few games I've played the AI don't care much where to place cities, whereas I try to find city spots with at least 1 essence.

Lastly when I played the only Legendary Hero scenario, I think I saw some new fertile spots appear after a while. But by then I was so far behind that I decided to restart on another map, learning from my mistakes in the first game.

Reply #2 from Elemental Forums Top

Any time your influence border expands (whether due to city growth, city improvements, new outposts, or High Tower outpost upgrades), there is a chance that new land will become fertile, as long as it is a tile-type that will support cities (so no fertile deserts, swamps, or mountains). In order to see this happen, though, the tile(s) must be at least the minimum distance from all other cities on the map.

Additionally, there is a spell available through research in the magic tree (Bloom of Twilight for Empires, Birth of Summer for Kingdoms) gives a chance of creating a settle-able tile on the target location. It won't always work, though.

Siege of Centauri
Reply #3 from Elemental Forums Top


I've never used the bloom of twlight/summer spells.   I find I have too many cities by the point in the game that it becomes available and don't need to find land to start yet another one from scratch

Reply #4 from Elemental Forums Top

Thanks for the explanation on how land newly included in borders can /randomly/ become fertile.

I found a far spot with a good 3/3/2 and settled it - even though it was far away from my capital AND had a monster camp right next to it. I was ready to reload if I awoke the monster but nothing happened. Then many turns later, the lizards finally understood they lived next to a yummie humie-town and ate them.

 

This made the tile go from 3/3/2 to 0/0/0. X(   I knew I was taking a risk and I learned from it. Still I would like the tile to go back to original when razed.

Reply #5 from Elemental Forums Top

The tile does go back to normal if you use the Birth of Summer/Bloom of Twilight spell on it.

Reply #6 from Elemental Forums Top


Thank you for the comprehensive answer - I appreciate it!  As a type 'a' it was driving me nuts not understanding the dynamic behind it....

Reply #7 from Elemental Forums Top


Thanks Phazonfreak

(And yes, rememberring many old games brings warmth to my mind - as I saw your comment in another post. I liked Master of Orion 1 and 2 a lot, Civ 1, Master of Magic. Battletech and Spacehulk for the Amiga. And I just remembered an early version of HoMM where if you got hold of a ghost, it was insta-win as it ate peasants & low-lvl-mobs and turned them into ghosts as well, 20 times stronger, hehe. And don't get me started on all MMOs I've enjoyed. :grin: ).