City Placement and Expansion

20:01 In Civilization 3, the Complete manual (pp. 70-73) tells you to found each city where it gets food, shields and commerce, near natural resources and fresh water, on the coast where you want ships, and with as little overlap between city radii as possible, since a square can be worked by only one city at a time. The other half of the decision is distance: corruption and waste grow with a city's distance from your capital and with the number of cities you hold, so a sprawling empire loses more of its far cities' output than a compact one. Soren Johnson, Civ 3's co-designer, wrote that this corruption was turned up on purpose to end "Infinite City Sprawl", the old strategy of founding as many cities as possible. This guide covers what makes a good site, spacing, the distance rule, how many cities to found and how to hold the land you claim.

Quick facts

Source: Civilization III Complete manual, pp. 36-39, 75, 131, 135-136; Civilization III manual (2001), p. 128; Prima's Official Strategy Guide, pp. 60, 120-123, 134-137.

What makes a good site

4:42 A good site offers all three resources and a mix of terrain. The Complete manual (pp. 70-72) asks for "food for population growth, raw materials for production, decent income, and natural resources", notes that cities near fresh water can irrigate and cities near mineral outcroppings can mine, and warns that desert or mountains all around handicap a city. Prima's guide (p. 30) adds a test for the city square itself: it should produce at least one food, one shield and one commerce once its automatic improvements are counted, and shield-rich Hills and Forests should be balanced by Grassland or Flood Plains.

0:55 The city square is irrigated, mined and roaded automatically when the city is founded, so its terrain matters more than any other square's. Prima (pp. 22-25) rates the terrain types:

Source: Prima's Official Strategy Guide, pp. 21-25 (2001); Mountains from the Complete manual, p. 36.

Rivers, coasts and resources

Rivers are worth building beside. They run along the edges of squares and give each bordering square +1 commerce, fresh water for irrigation, and a 50% defense bonus to a defender attacked across them; a river in the radius also allows a Hydro Plant, a Nuclear Plant and the Hoover Dam, according to Prima (p. 28), which calls Grassland and Plains beside a river "excellent city sites". Engineering later removes the river's break in road movement (Complete manual, p. 83).

3:41 Some cities belong on the coast. The Complete manual (p. 73) notes that only coastal cities launch ships to explore and carry units overseas, and only they build Harbors, which extend your trade network to other continents; a Harbor also adds one food to every water square it works (Prima, p. 120). The Colossus, the Great Lighthouse and Magellan's Voyage can be built only in cities on Sea squares, not inland seas (Prima, p. 137). Fish and Whales in the radius make coastal cities grow fast.

Resources decide many sites. Wheat, Cattle, Fish and Whales add food, Gold and Gems add commerce, luxuries add happiness and strategic resources gate units. Strategic resources appear only after the advance that reveals them, so Prima (pp. 26-28) suggests planning sites by the terrain where each can occur: Iron on Hills and Mountains, Saltpeter on Desert, Hills, Mountains and Tundra, Oil on Desert, Plains and Tundra. A resource you do not want inside a radius can still be used with a road and a Worker-built colony on it (p. 23). Every resource's yield is on Resources and Trade.

Spacing and overlap

2:28 The manual's spacing rule is about overlap, not a fixed distance: "you want to minimize the chance that one city's radius overlaps another's", because a square can be worked by only one city at a time, and you should "explore nearby lands as soon as possible to begin planning the placement of future cities" (Complete manual, p. 72). The manuals give no recommended number of squares between cities; Suede's tutorial counts one to four squares between them as valid.

Two rules mean that early cities use less than their full radius. A new city works only the 8 squares next to it until its culture grows (Complete manual, p. 39); GameSpot's 2001 preview put the jump to the full radius at 10 culture points. And without an Aqueduct (or, per Prima, fresh water in its radius) a city stops at size 6, so in the early game a city uses fewer squares than its full radius holds. How cities grow and what they build is on Cities.

Corruption and the distance rule

7:40 Corruption takes commerce and waste takes shields, and the Complete manual (pp. 135-136) ties both to your government and to each city's distance from the capital. Prima (pp. 59-60) adds the number of cities: "The more cities you have, the worse it gets." The capital itself has none, and the governments rank from least to most corrupt as Democracy, Republic, Communism, Monarchy, Despotism. Under Communism the rate is the same in every city, whatever the distance (2001 manual, p. 130). Corruption also rises with the difficulty level (Prima, p. 15). No source read gives the formula.

10:10 The tools against it are buildings, a second Palace and government. A Courthouse halves corruption and waste in its city (Prima, p. 60); the Forbidden Palace "lowers corruption as if it were a second capital" (Complete manual, p. 131) and needs 8 cities, and Prima (p. 138) says to build it in the city that suffers most; Commercial civilizations suffer less; and a city celebrating We Love the King Day loses a little less. Prima's long-term answer (p. 126) is a better government. The full rules are on Corruption and Waste.

Johnson explained the design in the Civilization 4 manual's afterword (Civ 4 manual, p. 177): the best strategy in earlier Civ games had "always been to build as many cities as possible", and Civ 3 turned corruption up "significantly" to stop it. He also wrote that corruption "was also the number one complaint" about the game, because founding a city that could "only ever produce one shield per turn" was no fun. Jeff Briggs, the lead designer, told PC Gamer in 2020: "I wish I had removed it from Civ III altogether."

How many cities

No official source gives an ideal number of cities for Civilization 3. The sources mark a few thresholds instead. The Forbidden Palace needs 8 cities, and Prima (p. 138) calls it "an excellent way to patch" corruption in an empire that reaches eight or more cities early. Prima (p. 75) advises holding back a golden age until you have 10 or more cities, since every square produces more during it. An empire may field one Army for every four cities (p. 172).

Far cities still count for something even when corruption takes most of their output. Each one claims land, works its own tiles for food, and adds to your territory, which is what the domination victory and the score measure (2001 manual, pp. 154, 163). Courthouses in the far ring and a well-placed Forbidden Palace raise what they keep; Prima (p. 125) recommends Courthouses for anyone who spreads "far and wide early in the game". The order in which to found them is on Early Game Strategy.

Claiming and holding land

Borders hold land as much as cities do. Inside your borders all terrain is visible, resources need no colony, and foreign units cannot use your roads without a right of passage (Complete manual, p. 147). Prima (pp. 62-63) suggests two border tricks: found a couple of cities close to a rival's city and build up their culture to box it in, and build roads along a shared border, since rivals cannot move on them in peacetime.

6:42 Gaps invite rival Settlers. During a right of passage, Prima (pp. 179-180) says to watch for a neighbor's Settler inside your territory, block the roads to the site it is heading for with fortified units, or rush your own Settler there first. GameSpot's 2001 preview warned of the opposite mistake: a city founded far from the rest forms an "island" that enemy units can surround inside your territory.

Cities on a border with a stronger culture can change sides. A rival city near your borders may defect when "your culture vastly outranks theirs", and the same can happen to your weak border cities, per the Complete manual (p. 73); the setup option "Allow for Cultural Conversions" (p. 33) is on by default and is the only switch. A celebrating city is less likely to defect (p. 151). That is why Prima (p. 62) advises building up culture in the cities nearest a rival. See Culture Flipping and Culture and Borders.

Frequently asked questions

How far apart should cities be in Civ 3? The Civilization 3 Complete manual gives no number of squares; it says to minimize overlap between city radii, because each square is worked by only one city. A new city works only its 8 nearest squares until its culture grows, and stops at size 6 without an Aqueduct, so early cities use less than their full radius.

Where should I build my capital in Civ 3? On a square that, once automatically improved, produces at least one food, one shield and one commerce, says Prima's official Civilization 3 guide. Plains or Grassland beside a river are its best sites; never Desert, Jungle or Tundra.

How many cities should I have in Civ 3? No official Civilization 3 source gives a number. Corruption rises with distance and with the number of cities, the Forbidden Palace needs 8 cities, and Prima's guide advises waiting for 10 or more cities before triggering a golden age.

Should I build cities on the coast in Civ 3? Some of them: in Civilization 3 only coastal cities build ships and Harbors, and Harbors connect your trade network to other continents and add one food to water squares. The Colossus and the Great Lighthouse need a city on a Sea square.

Is infinite city sprawl good in Civ 3? Civilization 3 was designed against it: Soren Johnson wrote that corruption was turned up significantly to stop the old build-as-many-cities strategy. Far cities lose most of their output to corruption and waste unless you add Courthouses and the Forbidden Palace.

How do I stop corruption in far cities in Civ 3? In Civilization 3, build Courthouses (half the corruption and waste, per Prima), the Forbidden Palace as a second capital, and move to a government with less corruption: Democracy has the least and Despotism the most.

Sources

• Sid Meier's Civilization III Complete manual, 2K Games and Firaxis Games, 2005 (read Oct 22, 2026)
• Civilization III manual, First Edition, Infogrames and Firaxis Games, Sep 2001 (read Oct 22, 2026)
• Sid Meier's Civilization III: Prima's Official Strategy Guide (David Ellis), Prima Games, 2001 (read Oct 22, 2026)
• Civilization III Updated Preview (Bruce Grey), GameSpot, Oct 18, 2001
• Sid Meier's Civilization IV manual, "Afterwords by Soren Johnson", 2K Games and Firaxis Games, 2005 (read Oct 22, 2026)
• The complete history of Civilization, page 3 (Fraser Brown), PC Gamer, Apr 6, 2020
• How To Play Your First Game Of Civ 3, Suede, Feb 12, 2020 (video)
• Your City Placement Sucks! | Civ 3 Tutorial, Suede, Oct 15, 2024 (video)
• 6 Civ 3 Gameplay Mechanics That Are Hard To Explain, Suede, Sep 4, 2022 (video)