Ludopolis

City Placement

Using the interface to place a new city

The slickest way to place a new city is to click your gems (upper-right corner of the map) and then click the "create a new city" button. A map will open up, showing available new city spots. Bigger circles generally represent better starting spots. Very close spots are also marked with an amethyst (see below).

Or you can click on the map where you want to place the new city and click on one of the New City buttons on the landinfo panel:

Green Found City Green Found City costs 2 emeralds (6 turns), but only works if your pawn is on one of your cities. It uses 10,000 people from your city.

Yellow Found City calls in outside settlers from off the game board Yellow Found City costs 4 emeralds (12 turns), but can be used from any city and does not use people from that city.

Reasons to place cities far away

  • It gives you more room for expanding the city later.
  • It can help you explore the game board faster and colonise good areas before other countries do.

Reasons to place cities close together

  • If cities are close enough (within 4 spaces) it will cost only amethyst 1/4 of an action point to move your pawn (see Moving Your Pawn for more information)
  • It can help prevent other countries from placing cities between them.

Other considerations for city placement

  • Is there grassland and forest?
  • Is open land nearby for building?
  • Is there open water nearby to build trading ships?
  • If the city is in the middle of a lot of cities, it may become a preferred base for trading companies.

Constraints on city placement

  • Cities can't be placed in any of the 8 spaces adjacent to an existing city centre.
  • Of the 8 spaces surrounding a potential new city site, 4 or less of them can belong to an existing city.
  • Cities can't be placed on immutable terrain.
  • Although it's usually not a good idea, cities can be placed on water.