Plains vs. Plains w/ Forest

[That Guy]

I'm about to colonize and was planning on taking a plains province but I'm weighing my options to make sure there's not a strategic advantage in taking the forest that I've overlooked.  Assuming I already have a boxed mountain and a good economy and it's deep into a long realm so everyone in my 2x has a decent elite army (meaning losses can be huge and no army is ever big enough), is there any reason I should choose the forest (like the wood production bonus) over the superior population growth of normal plains?

[Starbuck]

my own 2 cents : I prefer to colonize plains at the beginning precisely because of the pop growth bonus and if I got choice, plains with forest only after the 4th or 5th colonization, because I will usually end up with max bureaucracy 16-18 later in the game and the wood production bonus make up for the economic penalties all along, while the lesser pop growth rate is not such a big deal at this stage (wtf with medecine 10-12 and granaries 10-14 anyway ), while still being able to house a lot of pop (as compared to hills)

[Radooo]

for 10% population growth, you get 25% bonus for wood. And the difference between maximum population size isn't more than 15k population.
All you have to do is to choose

[reni]

I prefer plains. This is not a solitaire game. You have to hire army or even get pillaged, so i prefer a faster population growth. If you will not hire army and you are sure you will never pillaged you can go even for mountains with forest 

[olsi]

for 10% population growth, you get 25% bonus for wood. And the difference between maximum population size isn't more than 15k population.
All you have to do is to choose

Yes I agree with radoo. With all the extra wood you get from plain with forest you can manage to get some extra granaries to keep up in pop growth.

[Radooo]

Yes I agree with radoo.

Yey, a farmer agrees with me (the anti-farmer) about farming  

[reni]

Yey, a farmer agrees with me (the anti-farmer) about farming  

Olsiiiii... he is calling you farmer... 

[That Guy]

Yeah I'm starting to lean toward the forest.  At this point, I really should have enough provinces to cover for any population issues and with the wood production bonus, I can put 25% more villagers to work in the iron mines while getting the same wood production that would come from using 25% more villagers in the lumber mill in a plains province.  Wait... that might not be quite right.  I feel a brain vomit coming on...
Basic production of 1000 villagers is: 100 wood, or 20 iron, or 50 stone, or 50 gold.

example in plains: 1000 villagers = 100 wood,
in plains w/ forest: 800 villagers = 100 wood
**At first I was thinking 750 villagers would do it but here's my math on the bonus...

 800villagers =80 wood + (0.25 bonus x 80 wood) = 100 wood;
*or if you add the bonus to the villager numbers*
 800 villagers + (0.25 bonus x 800 villagers) = 1000 villagers = 100 wood

So it actually looks like the 25% production bonus somehow means that 20% fewer workers will yield the same results.  I think that's right but it's screwing with my head.**

So now, if I have 1000 villagers, I can use 200 of them to produce 4 iron while making the same amount of wood
-and-
take away 10% of that population due to the forest growth rates and 900 villagers will still make 100 wood and 2 iron

Of course, in reality I would divide the workers up differently depending on the current trade rates or army needs but the point is that the forest is clearly going to win the production battle. 
-annoying afterthought... a statistician, which I'm not, could probably argue that the population growth bonus % has a compounding effect while the production bonus is fixed thereby making all those numbers useless once you account for time.
...Whatever

Screw the whole thing!  I'm going with the forest because my map will look cooler if I do!

[nuno96]

why dont u just colonize africa it yeilds better results

(this comment was sponsered by the sound hhrhrrrrrrrrrrhhhhr

[kingjohn]

plains is always the best, I personally don't give a damn on wood bonus, just build more wood mines, more villagers in the wood mines comes back to the same thing and it's good against pillages too, I choose first 5 province as plains because, beaureaucracy 12-14, can't remember which lvl, it makes the first five province produce at 100% efficiency and u can use the huge population to move villagers to province under 100k villagers later on.

[Polymeron]

I always colonize plains w/forests as my second province. Never did otherwise.

The boost from making all that wood to building farms is priceless. I never run out, and always have a surplus which can be sold for other resources.

Also, in NI that 10% defense bonus was very significant, too.

[kingjohn]

I always colonize plains w/forests as my second province. Never did otherwise.

The boost from making all that wood to building farms is priceless. I never run out, and always have a surplus which can be sold for other resources.

Also, in NI that 10% defense bonus was very significant, too.

but when era nearing end, iron is so expensive, you will thank me for the extra villagers, r4, I called Laesta to do it and he won networth, hamburger and me at r2 is doing this strategy. Maybe for eco players it's the best, but for non eco players, plains with forest, but in the end everyone can decide their own strategy. For me, I still prefer plains +20%.

[Radooo]

in plains with forest you do all the wood you need

[tiger]

but when era nearing end, iron is so expensive, you will thank me for the extra villagers, r4, I called Laesta to do it and he won networth, hamburger and me at r2 is doing this strategy. Maybe for eco players it's the best, but for non eco players, plains with forest, but in the end everyone can decide their own strategy. For me, I still prefer plains +20%.

PWF. its all i will say. without explaining. 

[Arutha]

go for plains all the way.  wood production +25% is gay.  when iron sits around 10-15 and wood max's out at around 2.4 (market prices).  you are better off using population in iron mines on a plains and then selling iron to buy wood!  or depending on what medicine level you have get a mountains or mwf province, i usually get medicine 15 or 16.  and granary 15 in a mwf.  whatever works for you but i would go plains soley for the fact that iron is far more valuable than wood.  if you play a longer realm with like 8 months left then go for mwf with high medicine.