City Specialization Brainstorm

[amateurgamer88]

City specialization has been something I wanted to see more in VP or its modmods. I hope this thread can spark some conversation for those who want to see specialization or some form of it in the game.

In the current situation, I see many cities containing the same buildings. The order at which you build them may differ but cities become very similar near the end game when their focus might be either Units and/or Processes. Differences in Cities will not only make City development more interesting but wars may also change as loss of certain Cities will hurt your opponents more.

A rough idea I have regarding the specialization will look like the following:

Specialization	Strength(s)	Weakness(es)	Tied Policy Tree
Military Units	Unit Production and Promotions	Less Food	Authority
Military Expansion	City Defenses and Puppet boosts	Less Culture	Imperialism
Industrial	Building Production	Less Faith	Industry
Cultural	Culture Generation	Less Science Generation	Tradition
Science	Science Generation	Less Faith Generation	Rationalism
Religious	Faith Generation	Less Gold Generation	Fealty
Great People	Food Generation	Less Production	Artistry
City-State Diplomacy	Gold Generation	Less non-Diplomacy Units	Statecraft
Balanced	A bit of everything	Jack of all Trades	Progress

The basic concept is we have a specialization that is strengthened further by a Policy Tree. Each specialization will have strength(s) and weakness(es). Once a City is selected a specialization, it will be locked for the rest of the game. Meanwhile, the specializations will be limited. For instance, many Cities can go the Balanced route which can be seen as a default option while a Science specialization may be limited to 1 or 2 Cities (similar to how only 3 Cities can get Guilds).

With specialization, the buildings accessible to all Cities will be cut down to a smaller group of 'core' buildings. These 'core' buildings will be built in all Cities and will provide the most basic needs for Cities to be somewhat useful. Then, it's the specialized buildings that will make them more worthwhile.

Of course, the idea above is just one possible idea. I'd like to hear thoughts of other people on how, if city specialization happens, they would like to see it implemented.

 

[CppMaster]

I don't like locking the specialization.

What I like is sth that Endless Space 2 did. Some buildings have do high maintenance cost that it's not worth to build them in some cities.

 

[Stalker0]

I think the "guild" concept is a nice way to do it. You can have a limited number of buildings that when put in a city push it towards X specialization.

 

[CppMaster]

I think the "guild" concept is a nice way to do it. You can have a limited number of buildings that when put in a city push it towards X specialization.

Yeah, the simplest would be that you can have X buildings when you have X population. Although, I imagine that it'd be so big change to balance that it'd require super majority vote for sure. It's even more impactful than setting events off by default.

 

[alchx]

Cities always have specialization.

Coastal - it is obvious that they produce ships and coastal Wonders of the world and Culture-enhancing Wonders (2-3 painting, writing or music slots).. It is also good to place guilds in them, since the growth of borders for the repair of ships in territorial waters is needed. Often there are 2-3 fish that allow us to grow writers, artists and musicians.
There will always be three types of guilds in the capital, since the capital has maximum bonuses. Therefore, in the coastal cities of the guilds will be different.

One city for the regular production of units is closer to enemies so that the armies do not have to get through half the map. This city has a heroic epic, which gives +10% CS. The city is not coastal, since it is desirable to produce armies and ships independently. Also, the heroic epic is useless for ships.

The scientific city is most often the capital, since it has the maximum number of citizens (which means the maximum of passive science) is able to process all the academies. But, you need to focus on the building giving +20% of science during the Golden Age.

Any other non-coastal city is usually idle. In the late game, you can build missiles or aircraft.

 

[CppMaster]

Cities always have specialization.

Coastal - it is obvious that they produce ships and coastal Wonders of the world and Culture-enhancing Wonders (2-3 painting, writing or music slots).. It is also good to place guilds in them, since the growth of borders for the repair of ships in territorial waters is needed. Often there are 2-3 fish that allow us to grow writers, artists and musicians.
There will always be three types of guilds in the capital, since the capital has maximum bonuses. Therefore, in the coastal cities of the guilds will be different.

One city for the regular production of units is closer to enemies so that the armies do not have to get through half the map. This city has a heroic epic, which gives +10% CS. The city is not coastal, since it is desirable to produce armies and ships independently. Also, the heroic epic is useless for ships.

The scientific city is most often the capital, since it has the maximum number of citizens (which means the maximum of passive science) is able to process all the academies. But, you need to focus on the building giving +20% of science during the Golden Age.

Any other non-coastal city is usually idle. In the late game, you can build missiles or aircraft.

So basically the capital, unit production and coastal. That's not a lot and there wouldn't be many differences except for wonders and guilds, because those are limited. Cities still have about 80% the same buildings.

 

[amateurgamer88]

I don't like locking the specialization.

What I like is sth that Endless Space 2 did. Some buildings have do high maintenance cost that it's not worth to build them in some cities.

I suggested the locking approach because it will help the AI in focusing on specific buildings. From my games, it doesn't feel like the AI really weigh maintenance and benefits of buildings.

I think the "guild" concept is a nice way to do it. You can have a limited number of buildings that when put in a city push it towards X specialization.

Those limited number of buildings can be prerequisite to a few other buildings to help make Cities more specialized. I think it can also cut down on number of buildings all the Cities have to build, though the production cost of buildings may need to be adjusted (but that's a different discussion).

Yeah, the simplest would be that you can have X buildings when you have X population. Although, I imagine that it'd be so big change to balance that it'd require super majority vote for sure. It's even more impactful than setting events off by default.

Having "National Wonder" approach is another way for specialization. I'm sure we can introduce small changes to gauge how it feels as opposed to a major overhaul which certainly requires a super majority vote.

Cities always have specialization.

Coastal - it is obvious that they produce ships and coastal Wonders of the world and Culture-enhancing Wonders (2-3 painting, writing or music slots).. It is also good to place guilds in them, since the growth of borders for the repair of ships in territorial waters is needed. Often there are 2-3 fish that allow us to grow writers, artists and musicians.
There will always be three types of guilds in the capital, since the capital has maximum bonuses. Therefore, in the coastal cities of the guilds will be different.

One city for the regular production of units is closer to enemies so that the armies do not have to get through half the map. This city has a heroic epic, which gives +10% CS. The city is not coastal, since it is desirable to produce armies and ships independently. Also, the heroic epic is useless for ships.

The scientific city is most often the capital, since it has the maximum number of citizens (which means the maximum of passive science) is able to process all the academies. But, you need to focus on the building giving +20% of science during the Golden Age.

Any other non-coastal city is usually idle. In the late game, you can build missiles or aircraft.

Regarding coastal Cities, I don't see many differences between different coastal Cities. While coastal Cities are different from landlocked Cities, they just feel like Cities with a couple more "things" unlocked and not much more. With the exception of some buildings needing a coast, they end up much like landlocked Cities.

Regarding production of units, a high production City is good at producing both units and buildings so it will just be a strong City overall. This isn't specialization in my eyes because it's so easy to pivot to building all the critical buildings with the City producing a lot of everything.

The Capital is the scientific City because it has the Palace which provides science that scales with citizens. Due to that, you want to stack more science to the capital. Since Palace is given at the start of the game, it isn't even a specialization you picked but rather one picked for you. Should the Capital be strong? Sure! Is it a specialization I want for my Capital in every single game? Not necessarily if another City has a better situation.

 

[CppMaster]

I suggested the locking approach because it will help the AI in focusing on specific buildings. From my games, it doesn't feel like the AI really weigh maintenance and benefits of buildings

Sure, whatever helps AI

 

[alchx]

So basically the capital, unit production and coastal. That's not a lot and there wouldn't be many differences except for wonders and guilds, because those are limited. Cities still have about 80% the same buildings.

My cities have 100% of the same buildings, with the exception of coastal cities, national Wonders and Guilds, and some specifications like rivers. If you send caravans with hammers, all buildings will always be built. And very often there will be a situation where cities have absolutely nothing to do.

The city that produces units may be the most backward for the first 200-250 turns, since sometimes it needs to cost some kind of Wonder of the World (for example, Red Fort for maximum shelling of the territory). But the city has the maximum production base and quickly catches up with other cities at times when army replenishment is not required.

It is possible to specialize cities through landscape features, giving some buildings additional requirements.
Currently there are:

coastal - ports, lighthouses - trade

rivers - trade due to bonuses for trade routes. Partially additional culture due to baths. In vanilla, these cities could specialize in guilds, since for gardens there was a requirement for the presence of a river. Now gardens are being built in all cities, the building is no longer unique, which leads to an increase in the frequency of births of Great People for all players. You can give caravanserais requirements for rivers or oases, a bonus to trade and +3% or +5% to city income so that the building becomes unique (a watering hole for animals) and remove the basic increased profitability from land-based caravans - because it’s absurd when a land-based caravan has more value than a huge ship. Then you will have to plan the location of the trading capital. In this city it will be profitable to employ specialists as merchants due to the bonus +3%..+5% or actively use the “Wealth” process. Plantations are also desirable near the city. But in VP, the AI doesn’t really like sending caravans to trading cities, so the point of the rework is not visible.
Perhaps the caravans need to change the profitability modifier from the destination city so that the AI starts sending caravans to the trading capital or to the Colossus, and not to the “village with two houses”.

mountains - specific wonders of the world, such as Neuschwanstein. In vanilla, it was possible to build Observatories in cities near mountains. When cities were founded, the presence of a mountain could be a very important factor for the future scientific capital. I set up up to 3 Academies near such a city. But in VP observatories can only be built by Rationalism.

 

[CppMaster]

My cities have 100% of the same buildings

So this is almost no specialization at all, when all cities are almost the same.

 

[alchx]

So this is almost no specialization at all, when all cities are almost the same.

Cities can only be specialized in national wonders or wonders of the world. These are unique buildings with unique effects, around which the city's specialization develops.

Obviously, in each city all the army buildings (science + hammers), production buildings will be built (because otherwise in the late game any building will take 30-40 turns or longer to build), trade buildings (gold, science, culture), food buildings (otherwise the city will not feed itself), scientific buildings (otherwise the population will be very unhappy), religious buildings (you need faith to buy missionaries and Great People, you need to oppose other religions).

All buildings will always be built, as the requirements for happiness in each city increase. even at the birth of a citizen in another city.

You can specialize cities like this:

--- production of units - hills, forests, manufactories - you need strong production. There is only one national wonder with +10% CS - a heroic epic, so often this will be one city for training elite units. Order buildings also provide Morale promotion. The Karlstein wonder gives a free Order, but can only be built in the capital (usually the first 10-20 units are produced in the capital, so it's good to have an Order in the capital. Don't need to replace units over time). Thus, you can have two military cities, if you do not strengthen religion.
It is very desirable for the city to have access to pastures (stables) and stone.

--- coastal - water resources, hills, forests. Without water resources, the city is weak, since almost half of the territory will be sea or ocean, useless until the late game. To build Wonders of the World and ships you need strong production. This can be partially compensated for by sea caravans with hammers.

--- trading -- in the current version of VP this is almost meaningless, since the AI does not send caravans to these cities. But this specialization requires a Wonder of the World with additional income from caravans, bonus Great Merchant points to encourage the player to use merchant slots. this is usually a coastal town, as it will be accessible to any caravans. But here again there is a nuance - we want to place many villages and towns around such a city in order to receive gold (+ culture for the growth of borders into the ocean). But half of the city's territory is located at sea and there will be significantly fewer roads. Build villages and towns off roads - you will lose bonus gold and hammers.

-- scientific - there are no unique buildings tied to the area that could stimulate the border city to become a scientific center. In vanilla, you can specifically start founding a city near the mountains after turn 150 just to build an observatory. In addition, in vanilla, the rate of technology theft depends on the scientific potential of the city. Enemy spies are traveling to the capital to steal technology, but our research center is in another city. The rate of theft drops significantly.

In VP, the research center is almost always in the capital.

-- farming - I personally see no reason for the city to specialize in food production and the construction of many farms. Citizens cannot be moved to another city. But there will be a lot of unhappiness. The effect of basic food production on outgoing caravans is not very significant. Perhaps there are some special features for India. India wants to have huge cities.

- borderline - there is no particular specialization either. Defensive fortifications will be built in all cities. There are no buildings that increase the city’s CS by 20, for example. But it takes a very long time to build and is very, very expensive to maintain. Conventionally, the city itself becomes a huge Citadel. In Stellaris, individual planets can be specialized in this way - many fortifications that block interstellar movements from the system. And until the enemy destroys them all, he will not be able to penetrate the center of the empire.
In Civilization, a certain analogue is Red Fort, which shoots through 4 tiles (lol, but the arsenal it gives opens in another era through 5 or 7 technologies) + Ostrog (UB Russia), slowing down the enemy.

 

[caudheur]

I really like the idea of "soft" specialization, where gameplay mechanics encourage you to specialize while not forcing you. As said could be done in a couple of ways :

• Large cost (both to build and to maintain)
• Limited number like guilds (could scale with population ?)
• Tiles requirements (like energy plants)
• More exclusive buildings (again like energy plants, could even lead to chains of buildings where you have to chose between mutually exclusive path or branch at some point)

I think the first 2 are a bit boring because they are static. The other 2 are more dynamic and can be planned with, leading to actual choices that don't feel punitive but still matter.

 

[KlHannibal2]

I would like more emphasis on city specialization. The result should be that fewer buildings are built everywhere and that cities should "do" different things and feel different.

Civ 4 had some good features supporting this, like military training buildings that only gave xp and no yields.

Some ideas:
Reduce military training and defense buildings to xp and defense bonuses resp. No yields or unhappiness reduction etc. Other bonuses from policies could be ok. So an authority civ would get barracks everywhere, but other civs would only get them where they produce units.

Make some science buildings give nothing but specialist slots. Libraries could be the same as now while universities give no science, but 2 scientist slots. So you would build them only where you can work the 2 slots.

Create guild-like buildings for other specialist types.

Remove yields that gardens get from baths, so they are only built where you work specialists.

Let admirals build a weaker version of the Ottoman tersane to specialise for ship building.

Create more national wonders or change existing ones. There could be a weaker Red Fort for defense. Or NWs with terrain-based yields like Machu Picchu.

 

[CppMaster]

I would like more emphasis on city specialization. The result should be that fewer buildings are built everywhere and that cities should "do" different things and feel different.

Civ 4 had some good features supporting this, like military training buildings that only gave xp and no yields.

Some ideas:
Reduce military training and defense buildings to xp and defense bonuses resp. No yields or unhappiness reduction etc. Other bonuses from policies could be ok. So an authority civ would get barracks everywhere, but other civs would only get them where they produce units.

Make some science buildings give nothing but specialist slots. Libraries could be the same as now while universities give no science, but 2 scientist slots. So you would build them only where you can work the 2 slots.

Create guild-like buildings for other specialist types.

Remove yields that gardens get from baths, so they are only built where you work specialists.

Let admirals build a weaker version of the Ottoman tersane to specialise for ship building.

Create more national wonders or change existing ones. There could be a weaker Red Fort for defense. Or NWs with terrain-based yields like Machu Picchu.

Yeah, this is what Endless Space 2 do, so you do not just build all the buildings on autopilot.

 

[alchx]

If you simply remove the profitability from buildings such as barracks, then the lower technological branch will fall very far behind in scientific development. In addition, the production of many units requires hammers. If you postpone the war until the Forge and mines are built, then for the first hundred turns it will be almost impossible to start fighting. This will also have a cumulative effect on the construction of buildings at a later date. All empires will be weaker since they will have fewer buildings at turn 200.

If you make some buildings without passive income, then the meaning of constructing these buildings disappears. Nowadays, very often cities have nothing to do if they send caravans with hammers - everything has already been built and you just launch “Research” processes for new technologies.

If you expand the pool of available buildings so much that it is almost impossible to build everything, the list will be huge. It's just a cluttered interface.

It seems to me that it is necessary to reduce the options for passive income from gold, science, culture from buildings, resources, the growth of borders, the discovery of technologies, policies, the birth of Great People, so that the player starts processes more often even at a time when many buildings are not built in the city.

 

[Recursive]

Keep in mind if you start removing yields from buildings and otherwise messing with their balance, it'll affect the Unhappiness system as well. Any city specialization rework will likely have to modify how Unhappiness works as well.

 

[KlHannibal2]

If you simply remove the profitability from buildings such as barracks, then the lower technological branch will fall very far behind in scientific development. In addition, the production of many units requires hammers. If you postpone the war until the Forge and mines are built, then for the first hundred turns it will be almost impossible to start fighting. This will also have a cumulative effect on the construction of buildings at a later date. All empires will be weaker since they will have fewer buildings at turn 200.

Of course, those yields and effects should be moved to some other buildings to compensate. Currently, the military academy is about what I imagine. High upkeep and almost no yields without specific policies. So if you don't go warmonger, you don't build them or you only build them where you want to get units.

 

[CppMaster]

Keep in mind if you start removing yields from buildings and otherwise messing with their balance, it'll affect the Unhappiness system as well. Any city specialization rework will likely have to modify how Unhappiness works as well.

Yep, that for sure. It could also afects costs of buildigs, technologies, policies etc. Right now it's kinda yield bloat.

 

[Diomedes_]

I think the "guild" concept is a nice way to do it. You can have a limited number of buildings that when put in a city push it towards X specialization.

Funny that you mention this because I totally agree and have been thinking of ways to expand that concept because I more or less agree with the OP that cities are too generic. I think it could be very interesting to move Engineer/Scientist/Merchant specialists off of unrestricted buildings (i.e. buildings that you can build in any and all cities), and instead put them onto guild buildings that essentially work the exact same as culture specialist guilds, and have the same types of interactions with other buildings, e.g. instead of giving a specialist, a forge would increase Engineer birth rate by x% in this city, the same way that the amphitheater buffs a Writer's Guild.

• So at the techs where you unlock the Market, the Library, and the Forge, you would also unlock the Merchant/Scientist/Engineer Guild (could give them cooler names), which would give flat GPPs and two specialist slots, with a build limit of 3
• To compensate for losing their specialist slots, the Market/Library/Forge would increase the GP rate of their respective GP and add yields to each guild (like the Amphitheater, Opera House, and Gallery)

I used to use EE for all of my games, and one of the things I liked about it was that it added in these two mutually exclusive buildings, the Salon and the Academy (I think those were their names). The Salon increased culture and cultural GP generation, while the Academy increased science and Scientist/Engineer/Merchant generation. Deciding which building to build was rarely a super difficult decision, but nevertheless it was still an interesting choice you had to make and one that had a definitely non-zero affect on the rest of the game. Changing a couple buildings in the base VP to operate like this would be quite interesting. A similar type of decision and mutual exclusivity exists in current VP with the Seaport and Train Station (albeit the former building when available is almost always stronger), and with the Water Mill and Well for settling cities next to or away from fresh water, and I personally quite like it.

• Like what if we get rid of the current Public School and Museum, and replace them with two mutually exclusive buildings: the Public School and the Technical College. The Public School would essentially just be the current Museum, but with more culture and some flat GPPs for cultural GPs, while the Technical College would be essentially the current Public school but with more science and some flat GPPs for Engineers/Scientists/Merchants.
• You could also do this with the Research Lab/Broadcast Tower. Building splits like this really only seem viable/good for late-game buildings IMO, so I think buildings like the University and circus wouldn't be good candidates.
• You could also split a number of stand-alone buildings with multiple affects into two options, each one specializing on a certain attribute. Like the Military Academy could be split into the mutually-exclusive Recruitment Office and Military Academy, the former providing a larger production bonus with the latter providing a larger XP bonus. The Windmill could also be split into three mutually-exclusive buildings, the Sawmill (which would increase production), the Windmill or Grist Mill (which would increase food), and the Textile Mill (which would increase gold).

I also think that there is a lot of room to reform the National Wonder system, as they could be a very cool tool for city specialization. Currently, you're almost always going to build National Wonders in your capital, as the bonuses they give will almost always be maximized in the Capital. Its really only the diplomatic national wonders that are viable to build in non-capital cities. I personally think it would be interesting to 1) add a few more national wonders (whose added yields would have to be compensated for somehow), but also 2) modify a few of the national wonders to operate kind of like guilds, i.e. you can build x number of them in your cities.

• I think merging the diplomatic buildings and the diplomatic NWs into a Guild/enhancer building system would make the game more fun and interesting. In this system, the Scrivener's Office/Printing Press/Foreign Bureau would each become guild-like buildings with two Diplomat slots that you could build in 3 cities, while the Chancery/Wire Service would lose their Diplomat slots but gain a +x yields to the Scrivener's Office/Printing Press/Foreign Bureau and +x% GD rate. Some other numbers and the free emissary from Scrivener's would likely have to be adjusted, however.
• I think adding in a late-game military guild, possibly as part of a Military Academy split, could also be interesting. Like at Military Science, in addition to the new mutually-exclusive Recruitment Office and Military Academy, you also unlock the "Staff College" guild. It could provide 5 Great General and Admiral points, as well as +2 supply and a small XP and unit production bonus for each Military Academy/Recruitment Office on empire. Each Recruitment Office on empire could increase the supply given by each Staff college by +0.20 (max +2.00, and empire flat supply rounds to nearest integer) and the unit production bonus +2% (maximum of +20%), and each Military Academy could increase the Great General and Admiral points and unit XP bonus given by each Staff College by +0.5/+1 (maximum of +5/+10).
  • To compensate, neither the Recruitment Office nor the Military Academy would offer supply, and the cost scaling of Great Generals and Admirals would be increased slightly. By having the Staff College work on a guild system, giving a non-combat source of Great General and Admiral points, and moving supply from a building that can be built everywhere to a building limited to three cities, you could 1) help to limit the supply gap between wide and tall empires, and 2) offer less aggressive empires an opportunity to generate Great Generals and Admirals, and 3) offer another avenue for city specialization.

In general, however, I think that the problem of cities being generic is a pretty important one to solve, as I've definitely started to notice just how meaningless building decisions really throughout the majority of the game. I think the best solution to the problem is one that also tries to tackle a number of other problems at the same time and tries to offer a symbiotic and dynamic solution. I'm personally of the opinion that the Specialist system in the early game definitely is in need of improvement, and also that late-game supply and the balance between Tall and Wide also needs addressing as well. The ideas I've detailed above try to address all four problems simultaneously by expanding upon the guild system to also encompass non-cultural specialists and military functionality, and expanding upon the concept of building mutual-exclusivity to make building decisions more impactful, all of which should make cities less generic and more specialized in a way that is relatively unobtrusive and in keeping with concepts and mechanics already utilized in VP.

 

[amateurgamer88]

Funny that you mention this because I totally agree and have been thinking of ways to expand that concept because I more or less agree with the OP that cities are too generic. I think it could be very interesting to move Engineer/Scientist/Merchant specialists off of unrestricted buildings (i.e. buildings that you can build in any and all cities), and instead put them onto guild buildings that essentially work the exact same as culture specialist guilds, and have the same types of interactions with other buildings, e.g. instead of giving a specialist, a forge would increase Engineer birth rate by x% in this city, the same way that the amphitheater buffs a Writer's Guild.

• So at the techs where you unlock the Market, the Library, and the Forge, you would also unlock the Merchant/Scientist/Engineer Guild (could give them cooler names), which would give flat GPPs and two specialist slots, with a build limit of 3
• To compensate for losing their specialist slots, the Market/Library/Forge would increase the GP rate of their respective GP and add yields to each guild (like the Amphitheater, Opera House, and Gallery)

I don't think they all need a build limit of 3. A Scientist guild may need a limit due to how powerful Science is but I don't mind seeing more Merchant and Engineer Guilds for majority of the other Cities. With different limits, we will have to figure out what the roles of high production and high gold cities are for. I also don't know if we need more yields when the specialists themselves will be producing yields already.

I used to use EE for all of my games, and one of the things I liked about it was that it added in these two mutually exclusive buildings, the Salon and the Academy (I think those were their names). The Salon increased culture and cultural GP generation, while the Academy increased science and Scientist/Engineer/Merchant generation. Deciding which building to build was rarely a super difficult decision, but nevertheless it was still an interesting choice you had to make and one that had a definitely non-zero affect on the rest of the game. Changing a couple buildings in the base VP to operate like this would be quite interesting. A similar type of decision and mutual exclusivity exists in current VP with the Seaport and Train Station (albeit the former building when available is almost always stronger), and with the Water Mill and Well for settling cities next to or away from fresh water, and I personally quite like it.

• Like what if we get rid of the current Public School and Museum, and replace them with two mutually exclusive buildings: the Public School and the Technical College. The Public School would essentially just be the current Museum, but with more culture and some flat GPPs for cultural GPs, while the Technical College would be essentially the current Public school but with more science and some flat GPPs for Engineers/Scientists/Merchants.
• You could also do this with the Research Lab/Broadcast Tower. Building splits like this really only seem viable/good for late-game buildings IMO, so I think buildings like the University and circus wouldn't be good candidates.
• You could also split a number of stand-alone buildings with multiple affects into two options, each one specializing on a certain attribute. Like the Military Academy could be split into the mutually-exclusive Recruitment Office and Military Academy, the former providing a larger production bonus with the latter providing a larger XP bonus. The Windmill could also be split into three mutually-exclusive buildings, the Sawmill (which would increase production), the Windmill or Grist Mill (which would increase food), and the Textile Mill (which would increase gold).

For specialization to work, I do think mutual exclusive mechanic will have to be used. One approach is a group of mutually exclusive Classical Era buildings (the number equates to the number of specializations). Each of those buildings will have their own buildings they unlock for further specialization.

I also think that there is a lot of room to reform the National Wonder system, as they could be a very cool tool for city specialization. Currently, you're almost always going to build National Wonders in your capital, as the bonuses they give will almost always be maximized in the Capital. Its really only the diplomatic national wonders that are viable to build in non-capital cities. I personally think it would be interesting to 1) add a few more national wonders (whose added yields would have to be compensated for somehow), but also 2) modify a few of the national wonders to operate kind of like guilds, i.e. you can build x number of them in your cities.

• I think merging the diplomatic buildings and the diplomatic NWs into a Guild/enhancer building system would make the game more fun and interesting. In this system, the Scrivener's Office/Printing Press/Foreign Bureau would each become guild-like buildings with two Diplomat slots that you could build in 3 cities, while the Chancery/Wire Service would lose their Diplomat slots but gain a +x yields to the Scrivener's Office/Printing Press/Foreign Bureau and +x% GD rate. Some other numbers and the free emissary from Scrivener's would likely have to be adjusted, however.
• I think adding in a late-game military guild, possibly as part of a Military Academy split, could also be interesting. Like at Military Science, in addition to the new mutually-exclusive Recruitment Office and Military Academy, you also unlock the "Staff College" guild. It could provide 5 Great General and Admiral points, as well as +2 supply and a small XP and unit production bonus for each Military Academy/Recruitment Office on empire. Each Recruitment Office on empire could increase the supply given by each Staff college by +0.20 (max +2.00, and empire flat supply rounds to nearest integer) and the unit production bonus +2% (maximum of +20%), and each Military Academy could increase the Great General and Admiral points and unit XP bonus given by each Staff College by +0.5/+1 (maximum of +5/+10).
  • To compensate, neither the Recruitment Office nor the Military Academy would offer supply, and the cost scaling of Great Generals and Admirals would be increased slightly. By having the Staff College work on a guild system, giving a non-combat source of Great General and Admiral points, and moving supply from a building that can be built everywhere to a building limited to three cities, you could 1) help to limit the supply gap between wide and tall empires, and 2) offer less aggressive empires an opportunity to generate Great Generals and Admirals, and 3) offer another avenue for city specialization.

From the discussions about National Wonders, I feel they lack a proper identity. With specialization, we can even make them have prerequisites to a guild building so it cannot be built by any City. That way, the National Wonders won't all be built in the Capital because the Capital will only be specialized one way.

As for military options, I certainly won't mind quality vs quantity approaches. Like you said, one path offers supply (quantity) while another paths can offer more XP (quality). This can give Tall playstyles options if they want more Units or fewer and more elite Units.

In general, however, I think that the problem of cities being generic is a pretty important one to solve, as I've definitely started to notice just how meaningless building decisions really throughout the majority of the game. I think the best solution to the problem is one that also tries to tackle a number of other problems at the same time and tries to offer a symbiotic and dynamic solution. I'm personally of the opinion that the Specialist system in the early game definitely is in need of improvement, and also that late-game supply and the balance between Tall and Wide also needs addressing as well. The ideas I've detailed above try to address all four problems simultaneously by expanding upon the guild system to also encompass non-cultural specialists and military functionality, and expanding upon the concept of building mutual-exclusivity to make building decisions more impactful, all of which should make cities less generic and more specialized in a way that is relatively unobtrusive and in keeping with concepts and mechanics already utilized in VP.

I think this is the tough part. Trying to tackle other problems means understanding the complexity of all the mechanics. In a way, addressing this issue in small steps might be the best approach before changing other mechanics. After all, a very ambitious approach may require a big modmod to be developed.