Food will help cities grow while production will help build units and structures that are vital for expansion.Īnother excellent thing for players to look for is a nearby luxury. While gold, food, and production all contribute to the total, in the early game production and food are by far the most important. In general, the basic strategy for locating good starting tiles is finding ones that give a combined total of at least four resources, with at least one tile that can produce five. New players should consider which tiles will be available after their first and second ring expansions occur as their capital grows, as these will be the tiles that provide resources for the capital. Plains hills tiles give the largest production and food bonuses for cities and are often located near other productive tiles. Hands down, the best tiles that players can find for their first city are plains hills tiles.