Kadazzle
Emperor
I have wrote many times tips on how to place your cities, and how to get your cities specialized in order to make your cities be used best for your advantage. Now, there are main types of cities you build that need specialization. Other cities like filler cities and ones that you *might* build on choke points usually count towards science cities or extra production cities, so don't need to be specialized. The mains types of cities are:
Gold Cities
Science Cities
Production Cities
Growth/Culture Cities
Each of these cities are used to get the maximum amount of gold/science/production/culture possible from a single city, and is a good way to run right through your enemies. Before I start explaining more about the cities, I have to say a few thing.
1. When playing a game, you can't only rely on just build one type of city, or only having specialized cities. It is always good to have 5+ cities, so try to make (1 is the capital) 4 of them the specialized cities above. A good player would normally have more then 5 cities though, so specialize these cities if they're in a good location, otherwise make them normal cities, or "filler cities". Filler cities generally have no purpose and just generally pop out defenses for your empire, build settlers and might have a Library.
2. Never specialize your capital! Your capital is never in a good starting location to be specialized, so never specialize it! Use it to pump out settlers to make specialized cities and defenses to obviously defend your cities. Your capital later in the game will most likely be used as a secondary science city.
I will now start to explain a little more about each type of city, and how you can use them to yuor advantage.
Gold City
The gold city is the main economical city of your empire. It is your Djenne, so keep it safe and make sure it produces a lot of gold! A gold city should always be up fast, but a production city should always be prioritized. Your gold city should be near your capital or the inner part of your empire for protection. When finding placement for your city, you have to look at a couple of thing.
1. For gold cities, the more deserts the better! Deserts may look a tad shanty at first, but your specialized cities are to be used over time, and are to get bigger and better over time.
2. Production and growth should be balanced, but deserts should still rule.
Gold cities should always be inland and should always be surrounded be deserts. When settling a gold city, look for a spot with 2 hills, 4 deserts and 2 grassland squares. This is not always possible, but strive for always atleast 2 hills and 3 deserts, grassland squares don't matter too much but growth is always nice. Now, you may think "Why am I settling inland, when I can get more trade from seas?". Well, it's simple. Many of the squares that look bad early in the game, end up being the best tiles in the game later on. Desert, Hill, Mountain and Plaine squares may only produce 1 trade/food/production each, but if you wait and buld the appropriate buildings, they will easily blossom! The only thing you should be building at your gold city is a market and later a bank, always try to get the trading post for free! Getting it for free will really help move your gold city along! Later in the game, build a Workshop to get your hill squares to produce more production, and then try to get the Trade Fair of Troyes complete, meaning double gold production!
Science Cities
Unlike the other specialized cities, science cities are more up to you on the placement. Science cities should always be coastal, but leaning heavier on production or heavier on growth could be up to you. For me, my science cities generally have 1 forest, 1 grassland and the rest sea squares. Always try to get Fish, Whale or Dye in your science cities borders, as it shouldn't be too hard to find a spot with those extra resources. In your science city, build a Library, University, Courthouse and a Harbour. Building these buildings will make your city grow quickly, while getting you tons of science! These cities should be place on the coast, but can be placed anywhere around your empire, as you should have a lot of them!
Production Cities
Here's the crown jewel of your empire, your production city! Your production city should be the one that can pop out important wonders quickly, as well as being able to finish an army in one turn. Like your gold city, your production city will take a little bit of teching to grow, but it's well worth it! Always try to place your production city as close to an enemy capital as possible, and make sure it has atleast 2 grassland squares, and it must be plagued by hill and mountain squares! This city should built these builds in this order, Barracks, Workshop (Hills), Iron Mine (Mountains) and a Courthouse. Getting certain wonders quickly like the Samurai Castle, Leonardo's Workshop and the Manhattan Project will help to build them in this city, and not your culture city.
Growth/Culture Cities
Your growth/culture city will be the heart of your empire, build it near the middle of youe empire and watch it grow! Like your gold and production city, build it inland as sea squares do not help its cause! Try to get as many plain squares as possible, while fitting in a lot of production! I suggest getting 4+ plaines, while the rest should be hills/mountains. This city will grow slow at the beginning, but if you plan out your buildings properly, it's easy to get well over 10 population in this city before the Medieval Era. Building by plains may look dull at first, but if you get a Granery quick enough aswell as Irrigation (for rivers) your plains will be getting a lot of food per turn! Make sure you have these buildings in your Culture City and in this order, Granery, Temple, Workshop, [Hanging Garderns Wonder, at 10 population], Cathedral and then an Iron Mine. Building any wonder will help but your culture, but building Shakespear's Theatre and East India Trading Company will not only increase your culture, but it will make your science cities jump out even more!
I hope this helps you for city placement and specialization, if you have any questions/comments, post here! I hope you have fun!
Gold Cities
Science Cities
Production Cities
Growth/Culture Cities
Each of these cities are used to get the maximum amount of gold/science/production/culture possible from a single city, and is a good way to run right through your enemies. Before I start explaining more about the cities, I have to say a few thing.
1. When playing a game, you can't only rely on just build one type of city, or only having specialized cities. It is always good to have 5+ cities, so try to make (1 is the capital) 4 of them the specialized cities above. A good player would normally have more then 5 cities though, so specialize these cities if they're in a good location, otherwise make them normal cities, or "filler cities". Filler cities generally have no purpose and just generally pop out defenses for your empire, build settlers and might have a Library.
2. Never specialize your capital! Your capital is never in a good starting location to be specialized, so never specialize it! Use it to pump out settlers to make specialized cities and defenses to obviously defend your cities. Your capital later in the game will most likely be used as a secondary science city.
I will now start to explain a little more about each type of city, and how you can use them to yuor advantage.
Gold City
The gold city is the main economical city of your empire. It is your Djenne, so keep it safe and make sure it produces a lot of gold! A gold city should always be up fast, but a production city should always be prioritized. Your gold city should be near your capital or the inner part of your empire for protection. When finding placement for your city, you have to look at a couple of thing.
1. For gold cities, the more deserts the better! Deserts may look a tad shanty at first, but your specialized cities are to be used over time, and are to get bigger and better over time.
2. Production and growth should be balanced, but deserts should still rule.
Gold cities should always be inland and should always be surrounded be deserts. When settling a gold city, look for a spot with 2 hills, 4 deserts and 2 grassland squares. This is not always possible, but strive for always atleast 2 hills and 3 deserts, grassland squares don't matter too much but growth is always nice. Now, you may think "Why am I settling inland, when I can get more trade from seas?". Well, it's simple. Many of the squares that look bad early in the game, end up being the best tiles in the game later on. Desert, Hill, Mountain and Plaine squares may only produce 1 trade/food/production each, but if you wait and buld the appropriate buildings, they will easily blossom! The only thing you should be building at your gold city is a market and later a bank, always try to get the trading post for free! Getting it for free will really help move your gold city along! Later in the game, build a Workshop to get your hill squares to produce more production, and then try to get the Trade Fair of Troyes complete, meaning double gold production!
Science Cities
Unlike the other specialized cities, science cities are more up to you on the placement. Science cities should always be coastal, but leaning heavier on production or heavier on growth could be up to you. For me, my science cities generally have 1 forest, 1 grassland and the rest sea squares. Always try to get Fish, Whale or Dye in your science cities borders, as it shouldn't be too hard to find a spot with those extra resources. In your science city, build a Library, University, Courthouse and a Harbour. Building these buildings will make your city grow quickly, while getting you tons of science! These cities should be place on the coast, but can be placed anywhere around your empire, as you should have a lot of them!
Production Cities
Here's the crown jewel of your empire, your production city! Your production city should be the one that can pop out important wonders quickly, as well as being able to finish an army in one turn. Like your gold city, your production city will take a little bit of teching to grow, but it's well worth it! Always try to place your production city as close to an enemy capital as possible, and make sure it has atleast 2 grassland squares, and it must be plagued by hill and mountain squares! This city should built these builds in this order, Barracks, Workshop (Hills), Iron Mine (Mountains) and a Courthouse. Getting certain wonders quickly like the Samurai Castle, Leonardo's Workshop and the Manhattan Project will help to build them in this city, and not your culture city.
Growth/Culture Cities
Your growth/culture city will be the heart of your empire, build it near the middle of youe empire and watch it grow! Like your gold and production city, build it inland as sea squares do not help its cause! Try to get as many plain squares as possible, while fitting in a lot of production! I suggest getting 4+ plaines, while the rest should be hills/mountains. This city will grow slow at the beginning, but if you plan out your buildings properly, it's easy to get well over 10 population in this city before the Medieval Era. Building by plains may look dull at first, but if you get a Granery quick enough aswell as Irrigation (for rivers) your plains will be getting a lot of food per turn! Make sure you have these buildings in your Culture City and in this order, Granery, Temple, Workshop, [Hanging Garderns Wonder, at 10 population], Cathedral and then an Iron Mine. Building any wonder will help but your culture, but building Shakespear's Theatre and East India Trading Company will not only increase your culture, but it will make your science cities jump out even more!
I hope this helps you for city placement and specialization, if you have any questions/comments, post here! I hope you have fun!
