I'm trying to figure out where major cities would likely be on a map. Is there any guide or helpful articles on such things? I know some of you think that being realistic in games when it comes to this doesn't matter but I prefer to be as close as i can be... Map I'm placing cities on (not done) red dots represent where i think cities or major structures would be 0 to about +50 longitude, +10 to -40 latitude will be a dessert >.> Any help or advice would be appreciated P.S. due to financial problems do not know when site will go down if it does...

I don't have any solid advice, but I (as a player) wouldn't question your placements. Most of the cities look like they're near water sources or defensive locations, which seems natural enough.

If you're looking for random ideas, you might consider one or two cities that have "spawned" from others, and which rely on those others for certain resources, since they've always been there to supply them. In these situations, several cities will be close together, but each will specialize in a different area, such as city a:market + city b:mining + city c:smithing. City B will have more rugged types, while it's easier to meet women in City A.

That greatly depends on the history of your planet or continent. If you are talking about planets with a long history such as starting with the stone age city will most likely develop in places where citizens have access to fresh water (rivers) and pathes for trading (such as crossings over rivers). Also, locations with easy access to the sea (such as natural habours like bays) will spawn.

But people would evade locations with steep slopes, no access to transportation or trading routes and no access to farmland.

However, if you are interested in "colonization" of planets you do not have to apply such strict rules. So basically there are no papers but with your own brain you can think up a lot of rules where to place cities with centuries of history.

well...basically the history goes...

Draconic civ... not city oriented so none for them...
Elves civ rose to fight against the dragons leading to a stalemate with the elves herded into one group and several races that were create by the dragons colonizing land...
Humans come about and war with all the other races and create massive kingdoms before they all fall.
in current time the different races are divided between clans, families, and such. big clans/famillies have large castle cities and are only concerned with the farm villages surrounding the city...each clan mainly stays in one city, but some lans lay claim to multiple. there are cities also that are built around taverns and entertainment which aren't really home to any body...

in other words there are city states, but no real nations at the current point in time. and while there were nations they all were destroyed.

What about the types of technologies (and/or magic) that are available to your world in this time? City placement can also depend very much on the types of technologies/methodologies that various peoples have discovered.

Another type of city you could also consider are the trading-type cities, those that are very much set back in the types of resources they may naturally gain access to (due to the type of region they are in), and thus, utilize city-to-city and quite possibly overseas trade to help gain them access to those resources that they need.

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Original post by Tangireon What about the types of technologies (and/or magic) that are available to your world in this time? City placement can also depend very much on the types of technologies/methodologies that various peoples have discovered.

Human civs during their era had high technology, beyond our own. Nanites that heal and such was common among the royal families.

Current day civs, scientifically are about early 1900s, but appear more advanced due to magic, like internet, tv, hover crafts, etc, on the hand culturally they are more feudal.




Other city types... more or less are villages or one of the other 2. Like tavern cities also double as trade cities...

For the number of cities you have, and the tech levels you are talking about, I would expect them to all exist in the little spur of land at -20, +30,... In other words your positions for the current ones work fine, now just start adding more.

Honestly I would strongly suggest shrinking things down to a small continent, not a whole world, or be willing to put a lot of work into building your world.

What about resources: there is water, certainly, but also you could have sources of magic, mines, fertile soil, etc.

Urban development patterns have been studied in-depth over the centuries and are generally though to be a function of a number of variables, including resource locations, strategic defensability, and overall placement in the local heirarchy. Yer generally recognized reference work in the field would be a man named Christaller and his Central Place Theory.

I don't think you'll go terribly wrong if you at least familiarize yourself with that work.

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Original post by Talroth For the number of cities you have, and the tech levels you are talking about, I would expect them to all exist in the little spur of land at -20, +30,... In other words your positions for the current ones work fine, now just start adding more. Honestly I would strongly suggest shrinking things down to a small continent, not a whole world, or be willing to put a lot of work into building your world.

Do you mean the peninsula? or the continent? (I'm bad at coordinates.)
if the peninsula, I thought that after I posted ^.^
if continent, that's all desert, but there will be at least one city in that area...


I was thinking about only using one continent, but I like definng the whole world, besides there are a number of stories to be told with just this one world so that's why the world over just the continent