Forbidden city and Versaille

[johncross21]

According to the civopedia the forbidden palace and versaille both reduce war weariness in nearby cities

How much difference do they each make

How far away from you capital should they be placed

[itsnotmeee]

the farther, the better becuz the more distant the cities are from the capital, the more maintenance it will cost. about the different those 2 wonders would make, i think it helps a lot in your early, young economy.

[facistal]

They actually reduce city maintenance not war weariness, and it is only the distance penalty they avoid so it is best to put them as far from the captial as possible (while still being close to another group of cities. It should also be noted that since it is only distance penalties that are reduced, they are completely useless under state property.

[Soneji]

I try to think of them as mini capitals, to place elsewhere in your conquered empire. Can make a large difference if you place it good, no difference if its next to your capital.

[JoeBlade]

I'm not sure what sort of map you tend to play but these improvements can be especially useful on continents maps. The landmasses tend to be elongated shapes reaching from pole to pole. By carefully distributing the improvements you can ensure that any city is close to either of your palaces, or Versailles (should you be able to build it) even when having conquered the entire continent. This can, in turn, dramatically reduce maintenance cost.

Keep in mind though that forbidden palace and Versailles cannot be rebuilt once established, while the initial palace can. As such, you should aim for an as ideal as possible placement for the former two while the latter is sort of a 'wildcard'. Ideally you'll want to distribute them as evenly as possible across your available landmass.

On that note: don't be afraid to move your palace around. I've noticed many players are very reluctant to do so but the cost is not THAT high either. At the same time, the initial city is fequently almost predestined to be a GP farm. Having the palace in such a city means both the bureaucracy and extra commerce are more or less lost.
Above all, distance from capital can make a substantial difference. Even, say, a mere 5 less gold spent each turn due to better palace placement really adds up in the long run.

One last point: don't bend yourself backwards to obtain Versailles. It's a good wonder, no doubt, but expensive as well. Unless you're playing an industrious leader and/or have access to marble I personally wouldn't consider the investment, especially since it requires Divine Right which is quite oddly placed in the tech tree (i.e. it's a sidetrack tech)

[popejubal]

Versailles is very nice. Forbidden City is also very nice. Both are especially nice if you are playing a Terra map where you have another continent to exploit that starts out entirely unsettled or a Continents map where you conquor another continent. Leave a Great Engineer unused for when you discover Astronomy and then you can settle a city on the new continent and build either the Forbidden City after a Courthouse or (if it hasn't been built yet) Versailles. The culture of either will lead to quick border pops and quick bonuses to cultural defense to help against barbarians.

...of course no matter what map you are playing, Communism isn't too far away if you have discovered Astronomy (the time when you really start to need either of these wonders) and State Property is the absolute king of Civics in that column because of the massive decrease in city maintenance and the increase in food production.

[Dan Quale]

Versailles is a great wonder.... as long as you dont build it. Let a distant neighbor make it for you. As soon as they are done go take over their territory, and you won't be penalized for it with extensive maintenance.
Until state property arises (which comes much sooner than you might expect), a good triangulation, of these buildings in relation to your palace will allow you to raise your slider a good 10-20 percent in most cases.

[Cabledawg]

Shhhh.....its forbidden to talk about the Forbidden City

[Florian]

Shhhh.....its forbidden to talk about the Forbidden City

But you can talk about the Forbidden PALACE if you want to....