What's the limit for city territorial expansion?

[Belanos]

I was presuming this game worked like the Civ games, where you have control of the inner squares around your city at first, then when your border expands you get the second tier as well. But no further than that. But I've noticed in my current game that my initial city is controlling tiles as far out as the third tier. Is there a limit as to how far how a city can control territory? And if so, what is it?

[boulugre]

You already discovered it, 3 tiles max.

[Belanos]

I see. That makes for a pretty big city. I guess I'll have to rethink my city locations. I can see why some people have been recommending just sticking to a single city until after the alien hordes have been dealt with.

[boulugre]

Yup, plus tile are only used by miners and farmers, a least half your pop will be workers and researchers so do not require tiles. In this game it's not about quantity of tiles, but quality of tiles.

[Tac2i]

I would not agree with maintaining only one city until the alien hordes have been dealt with. This could leave you behind the other factions in development. That said I've noticed that on a single continent map (v1.20 beta), the factions have difficulty dealing with the horde. Usually one or two of them are wiped out.

I see. That makes for a pretty big city. I guess I'll have to rethink my city locations. I can see why some people have been recommending just sticking to a single city until after the alien hordes have been dealt with.

[Belanos]

I would not agree with maintaining only one city until the alien hordes have been dealt with. This could leave you behind the other factions in development. That said I've noticed that on a single continent map (v1.20 beta), the factions have difficulty dealing with the horde. Usually one or two of them are wiped out.

I was trying to get up to three cities going before the onslaught but I can see now the advantage of waiting it out. First of all you can build all the units you'll need to build several cities right away as soon as things die down, and do a better job of defending against them. Plus then you'll get a better indication of what territory your main city is going to use up so you don't end up competing with it. As for the AI's, so far most of them have gotten wiped out in my games. Once there were only two of us left. me and the "green team". In my last game there were only 3 of us. That kind of sucks really as in both cases I could easily have over run them, but I was more concerned on finding out about all the different techs in the game and learning how to run my empire.

[BlueTemplar]

Sticking with one city is fine as long as :
- You have not reached habitation limits.
- You have enough 3 mineral and 3 food tiles.

[Belanos]

I had a couple of people suggest that I only build one city at first without even building a Former so I tried it. It didn't really work very well, I was doing better overall when I was trying to get at least 3 cities up before the onslaught. I was getting lots of things built and a good defensive force. But with my population growing and nowhere for them to go, my Morale ended up tanking and it was looking like I was going to run out of food very quickly. Next time I'll try for 2 cities using the Colonist Fervour Accomplishment. That should alleviate some of the population pressure at least. And also build a Former, even though any improvement it makes will most likely get wiped out by the aliens. But at least it will let me build up a bit of a surplus until then.

[ErissN6]

I was doing better overall when I was trying to get at least 3 cities up before the onslaught.

That's what I do: 3 cities, max 4, with max defense walls, with each at least 3 defense units and a builder before the big aggression, then 2 more units to help defense town and working builder (if getting out of town is not too dangerous).
I try not to attack aliens, as they become part of my coutryside defense , I never destroy hives before my units have reach max experience...

[Belanos]

That's what I do: 3 cities, max 4, with max defense walls, with each at least 3 defense units and a builder before the big aggression, then 2 more units to help defense town and working builder (if getting out of town is not too dangerous).
I try not to attack aliens, as they become part of my coutryside defense , I never destroy hives before my units have reach max experience...

My line up has been 2 defensive Hellfire troopers, one offensive. Then 1 Avenger Tank and a Long Tom tank. Lately I've been tossing in a Headhunter trooper as well. They don't do a lot of damage but they're great for softening up the targets so the main offensive units don't take as much damage. Orbital Bombardment comes in really handy too. I learned my lesson about taking out hives a couple of games back. I had cleared out my continent, then along comes a faction to set up shop. I realized I had just made it easy for them. Now I just take out the ones that are interfering with my colonies or blocking locations that I want to expand into.

[BlueTemplar]

More cities isn't necessarily going to help from the economic point of view, considering how population growth works...

[Belanos]

More cities isn't necessarily going to help from the economic point of view, considering how population growth works...

I do notice a difference. If I start with more than one city, there's opportunity for migration so the population pressures don't build up as much in my first location. With just a single city they have no place to go, and my Morale ends up tanking my economy after awhile.

[BlueTemplar]

Before you reach habitation limits, obviously...

[Belanos]

Sorry, but I don't have a clue what your point is.

[YaroslavUSSR]

You already discovered it, 3 tiles max.

Sorry for necroposting but how to increase city territory radius up to 6 or 9 tiles for example? I want to limit the number of colonies by 2 per faction (1-initial colonizer, 2-colonization fervor tech) but increase the territory of a city.

[Xilmi]

I'm pretty sure that stuff like this is hardcoded and not modable.

[YaroslavUSSR]

I'm pretty sure that stuff like this is hardcoded and not modable.

It's a pity. I'm very annoyed with AI city spamming even on archipelage maps.