Settling New Cities Help

(Sorry if this is the wrong place, wasn't intuitive from forum page where questions should be asked).

Since i started playing the game i have had a difficult time settling cities. This is because i have to search far and wide to find settable tiles. This wouldn't too bad but the AI seems to be able to settle anywhere. It is something that has started to annoy me about this game. I wanted to play a medium map with 12 players, which would allow for a more crowded/rush feel. So i hurry pioneers at beginning of the game but cant find anywhere to settle. There are nice areas with green grass, forests, and rivers that are not in the immediate vicinity of my capitol- yet i still cant build there because the resource icons never show up.

These screenshots show the AI settling an area that i couldn't (note the red outpost since there was no where for me to place a city. Also note that i do have the option turned on).

Screenshot showing the map and no settleable areas.

Screenshot showing AI creating a city.

Screenshot showing options page.

So questions.

- How can the AI settle areas i cant?
- How to make finding an area for a second/third city easier?
- In longer games tiles will randomly become "settleable". No spells were used on them, these are usually tiles in between two of my cities. How/Why did they change?

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The AI often cheats in a variety of ways. This is one of them.

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BlackSmokeDMax

Join Date 03/2006

+60

Seems more likely a bugged game. I have a lot of hours in this game and have never seen the AI do that. I have seen them beat me to a spot by one turn. All too often!

There are also a couple of other possibilities off the top of my head:

1. The AI cast the spell that improves the land.

2. There was a city too close on your turn that the AI razed, which would allow the AI to see new buildable spots. (You don't see tile yields when there is a city too close to that spot)

3. Seems the land slowly improves once inside either player or AI territory. Possibly the land improved after your turn ended.

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You can't build outpost too close from each other.

Once a city is settled, the land around it improves as the last poster said. That spawns new tiles including settleable ones.

TIP: At the start of the game, do CTRL + U to show the whole map. That's how the AI plays anyways.

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Get the spells that allow you to rejuv the land... and find good sites. I think I have best luck with land near crystal outcroppings?

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