I realize that the number and type of cities vary from game to game, but in an average, standard game what kind of ratio should you be aiming for? I tend to go for 1 GP:2 Science:3 Production:3 Commerce if I can, but I'm still new to Civilization.

Depends on how much you want to wage war or build wonders. For a relatively peaceful space race game on a standard map, i'd say about one production city for every ~8 cities. If you are going for domination or conquest, i'd say one every ~5 cities. As for GP cities, i usually have one sometimes two for my whole empire, whether it has 10 or 30 cities.

What I feel is important is adjusting that ratio according to your plan. If you're planning to wage a big war in a relatively near future, make more of your cities production ones. If you feel like going for space race victory after that big war, make the newly conquered cities commerce ones.

Of course some city sites just seem more appropriate for a particular type of city. I let that affect my ratio and even my plans (if i have a lot of nice production city sites any my neighbour a lot of nice commerce ones, he's dead ;) ). Making the most out of your land is more important than having a specific ratio imo, as long it stays decent.

Shouldn't Commerce and Science be the same city? That should mainly just depend on the slider. Either way, those cities will be cottage cheese (lots of cottages, actually towns).

1 GP city is right, at least for standard maps. A high food city, with floodplains and bonuses, is best.

Shouldn't Commerce and Science be the same city? That should mainly just depend on the slider. Either way, those cities will be cottage cheese (lots of cottages, actually towns).

Not necessarily For some reason this doesn't help as much as if you have sperate Commerce and Science cities because having dedicated Commerce and Science cities is of a much better effect on the overall empire. Why exactly I don't know, I am still researching the matter.

Are you confusing commerce and gold here? If you're running 100% science then science is basically a multiple of commerce. It's worth having at least one gold specialised city, which will usually be the one with your religious shrine(s), since this gives lots of gold even at max science. I'll generally have one or two GP cities, one of which will almost always be my capital. I'll then go for a fairly even mix of commerce (science) cities, production cities and mixed cities, based more on the terrain of each city than my total number of each. A city on flat land is almost always going to be preferable as a commerce city, whereas a hilly city makes a better production centre. I generally ignore the actual ratios.

I wouldn't put to much stock into "ratios". You need a GP city, but you have to have a capital, so thats settled. Terrain is going to dictate fate. Also, it tends to be a pain to "retrofit" captured enemy cities improvements, so I usually leave them alone or raze the city entirely. Of course, that happens more with later wars. I tend to have 2 or 3 production cities, and these can usually fight my land wars for me, while my farmed up lesser cities merrily plug away at courthouses, observatories, banks, and the like regardless of whether I'm at peace or not.

Agreed 100% with what AngryPants said. :D

For a civ of 10 cities, I try to get 2 GP farms, 3 production cities, and 5 commerce cities. That's an average for peaceful games, though. For war games, you would want more production. Also, it depends alot on your terrain and other strategies.

Do what works for you. :p

What is a GP city?

What is a GP city?
Great Person city. Typically a city with a whole 'lotta food to feed specialists with, and sometimes a Wonder or three thrown in for good measure.




As to the original question:

I don't hold myself to a strict ratio...if I see a city site that's good for a GP farm (which is rare, since I'm so bad at spotting them :blush:), I put a GP farm there. If I see a city site that's good for a Production city, I put a Production city there. Everything else is either a Commerce city or a hybrid city (aka "Commerce city where I put up 5 Mines as a brainfart and am too laz...err...'busy' to go back and replace them with Windmills" :crazyeye: ).

The only exception to this is in the very start. Of my first two non-capital cities, I try to have one Commerce and one Production. That way, no matter what the rest of my landmass's terrain is like, I'm guaranteed to have at least one powerhouse in each category.

Not necessarily For some reason this doesn't help as much as if you have sperate Commerce and Science cities because having dedicated Commerce and Science cities is of a much better effect on the overall empire. Why exactly I don't know, I am still researching the matter.

I think the name "Commerce city" is used for a city with a high commerce yield (not specifically gold), and which has a mixture of science and gold improvements, lots of cottages etc.

I'm ignoring real life here, and using civ terminology by making a distinction between gold and commerce.

Science city obviously is one where you focus on science buildings - perhaps Great Lib and Oxford for example.

A term like Merchant city or Gold city should be used for a city that's focused on gold. This is where you find the shrine or Wall Street, and markets, banks etc.

Just don't want the names for these city types to get too confusing.

As far as having dedicated Science and Gold cities, I can't really see why these would have extra benefit to your empire. Except for a shrine city where you want all the gold-increasing buildings first, all other buildings that increase gold or science are equally effective in any city (ignoring micro-management of rounding effects).

If you run your science slider at more than 50% for most of the game, it could be argued that science buildings will benefit you better (than gold-increasing buildings) in your Commerce cities as they will net you more 'commerce' in the long run (regarding beakers as a 'type' of commerce).
Vice versa if you have the slider below 50% for most of the game.

I realize that the number and type of cities vary from game to game, but in an average, standard game what kind of ratio should you be aiming for? I tend to go for 1 GP:2 Science:3 Production:3 Commerce if I can, but I'm still new to Civilization.

I think where you're at in the game is something to consider.
Early on, it's important to have a good production centre and a good commerce centre. I'm not well learned in the art of GP farming but I don't get a GP farm running very quickly (although I do realise the sooner the better). The first few cities should allow you to stay competitive in the tech race (commerce cities) and military or wonders (produciton cities).

I hate/avoid making my capital a GP city because I'd rather cottage early on than farm so that I can get my research moving along. Also, if Beauracracy is ever adopted, your capital doesn't get any extra commerce for having all those farms around.

Try to get the production cities down earliest as I find almost any city can become a commerce city, and usually most mid-game and conquered cities become commerce cities (for me anyway).

Of course, you must adapt to your starting environment and find the right balance for your situation.

As for ratios, I usually find in my games
0 or 1 GP city
2 or 3 Production cities (no cottages at all)
All other cities are commerce cities (n Gold cities if I own n shrines in different cities).