cities that specialize

It's always easier to do something the second time

- A city that produces the same unit over and over should produce a better unit or at least erode the production cost, quickly at first then slowly.
- The same could go for improvements

My apologies if this subject has previously been discussed.

Have been reading threads but haven't gotten through everything.

Let me know what you think

I agree with the unit, though I think the Manufacture Plant kind of deals with that albeit later on in the game.

Cant see how it would work with improvements, you only ever have one barracks, aquaduct, etc why would you builder another one even if it was better looking?

I like the idea of mass producing infantry. After a while the city could produce faster by way of having the units cost less shields. It would also be cool if every once and a while the city would produce two units in a turn instead of one.

this should only work for mechanised units such as tanks, planes and ships and only the ships that are considered modern (ironclads +?). think about it what kind of dock is required for wooden frigates? not alot. all that was required was manpower and not heavy machinery. this advance should therefore require mass production and since infantry dont need 'constructing' i dont think it should apply to them

Stid said:

this should only work for mechanised units such as tanks, planes and ships and only the ships that are considered modern (ironclads +?). think about it what kind of dock is required for wooden frigates? not alot. all that was required was manpower and not heavy machinery. this advance should therefore require mass production and since infantry dont need 'constructing' i dont think it should apply to them

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First, at the time when frigates were built, the technology used WAS high tech. And man-powered cranes at that time WERE heavy machinery.
Second, in principle I disagree with the thought that units should be "build". Units should be converted from population, picking up some equipment - which in turn would have to be built.

Commander Bello said:

Second, in principle I disagree with the thought that units should be "build". Units should be converted from population, picking up some equipment - which in turn would have to be built.

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I fully agree with this idea.But won't it unbalance the game?
Starting near poor food tiles will slow down growth and then
you also can't build an army.

I agree with Commander Bello regarding the conversion of population to units. I have in fact elaborated on and advocated the idea here on CFC, and there is a precedent for this system--Sid Meier's Colonization used such a system.

That, however, brings us to the problem that has resulted in that system's disappearance since--how can this be streamlined to keep micromanagement to a minimum? Colonization used a relatively small number of units, but the Civ series has generally been using units on a larger scale with each installment.

Well, my take on it, when I suggested a similar feature was:
"cities can "specialize", producing, say 25% faster a unit and its upgrades, but can't build other units/things or suffer a penalty."

Now the penalty, could be a great deal of things, from making other units less easier(time is of essence in a war), use more resources for it progressively, etc.

I like the idea that if they specialise the units can be better in that city. Quite historical(from Greece, Minoan/Cretan archers for instance, or Athenean Triremes).

I think the secret might be that-if you accept that a unit has both a 'manpower' and an 'equipment' component-then cities with a high population might be able to build CERTAIN types of units quicker than a lower population city with the same # of shields per turn (to signify the ability to recruit troops faster). This would be for units like swordsmen, men-at-arms, horsemen and infantry. Knights, cavalry and mechanized units would probably depend more on the production level of the city. The latter, though, would require fewer population 'points' (or fractions of points) than the former unit type-if that makes sense.
What I actually hoped this thread would mean was cities specializing in science, or in agriculture, or in manufacturing/industry, or in culture-hope you get the picture!

Yours,
Aussie_Lurker.

Aussie_Lurker said:

What I actually hoped this thread would mean was cities specializing in science, or in agriculture, or in manufacturing/industry, or in culture-hope you get the picture!

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Yes, I had thought this thread would be on economic specialization among cities, but this is still an interesting topic.

I agree with Aussie_Lurker that production speed could be based on population and equipment factors. Since I advocate a commodity-based economy, however, I would simply like to see the weapons or equipment be commodities, except that their consumption results in the construction of units. Of course, special improvements such as barracks would have to facilitate this "consumption" of the weapons (although, I suppose, a militia could form if the population takes up the weapons spontaneously...)

Trade-peror said:

[...]Since I advocate a commodity-based economy, however, I would simply like to see the weapons or equipment be commodities, except that their consumption results in the construction of units. Of course, special improvements such as barracks would have to facilitate this "consumption" of the weapons (although, I suppose, a militia could form if the population takes up the weapons spontaneously...)

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I think the solution COULD be rather simple - and it could include commodities easily.
Base principle would be that units consume population. This resolves the problem that a strong nation with production powerhouses can "out-produce" any opponent, not to mention that they are probably ahead in technology.
It would require some update on the "governor" settings, though - but hey, governors stink anyway, don't they? In this area, any improvement in regards to optimization routines is very much needed, anyway.
In relation to this proposal, an optimization routine would stop the AI to "produce" units up to a cities "death".
Overall, any military conflict would considerably harm the participating nations' population growth, without any or at least without much micro-management, thus adding an additional flavour of realism to the game.

As weapons then would be some kind of special commodities, there would be an automatic balance between population powerhouses and production powerhouses, taking away quite some flaws from the current design.

About the commodities, I will open another thread, as soon as I have prepared my ideas.

Mobilization in war time is the same kind of thing... All the factories get retooled for war machine production and you can produce, say, infantry quicker.