InaneObserver
Warlord
@consentient
I think as long as you have the happiness to support them, some tiles to work, and are able to plant 4-5 of them early, then yes, it is better to go 5-6 than 4 cities when going for SV. The only situation in which sticking to 4 is better is if more cities would result in too many turns of unhappiness, or if the extra cities weren't able to grow fast.
In this game I settled the last city around t205. An advantage of late timing is that national wonders are no longer an issue. The disadvantage is the increased science cost of each tech. With 1 trade route for hammers and one for food, the new city grew to size 12+ in around 30 turns (t235ish). With library, uni, school and research lab (purchased) it put out over 100 bpt. As long as the key is maxing your final science for when you start bulbing your GS'es, those 30 turns of higher tech cost are usually worth it. If you bulb 8 GS, the extra 100bpt in the endgame will provide 6400 beakers just from bulbing. 40 turns of the new city giving bpt is another 4000. That is over 10k total.
Meanwhile, the increased tech cost (5% for most maps), adds a cost of around 2200 beakers for the 8 techs in the atomic era, and around 3000 beakers for the 6 techs you need in the information era for an SV. That's 5.2k total, and those are high estimates, I didn't do the exact math Increased tech cost adds more if you plant the city in the modern era, but then you also get extra turns of bpt from the city, so I think it doesn't change the equation.
Unless I'm totally off, the math seems to say that an extra city is worth it, even if you plant it after 200 turns. On the other hand, if you have too little happiness, need the trade routes for growing other cities, the city cant work tiles, or don't have cash to buy tech buildings, then maybe the math changes.
I think as long as you have the happiness to support them, some tiles to work, and are able to plant 4-5 of them early, then yes, it is better to go 5-6 than 4 cities when going for SV. The only situation in which sticking to 4 is better is if more cities would result in too many turns of unhappiness, or if the extra cities weren't able to grow fast.
In this game I settled the last city around t205. An advantage of late timing is that national wonders are no longer an issue. The disadvantage is the increased science cost of each tech. With 1 trade route for hammers and one for food, the new city grew to size 12+ in around 30 turns (t235ish). With library, uni, school and research lab (purchased) it put out over 100 bpt. As long as the key is maxing your final science for when you start bulbing your GS'es, those 30 turns of higher tech cost are usually worth it. If you bulb 8 GS, the extra 100bpt in the endgame will provide 6400 beakers just from bulbing. 40 turns of the new city giving bpt is another 4000. That is over 10k total.
Meanwhile, the increased tech cost (5% for most maps), adds a cost of around 2200 beakers for the 8 techs in the atomic era, and around 3000 beakers for the 6 techs you need in the information era for an SV. That's 5.2k total, and those are high estimates, I didn't do the exact math Increased tech cost adds more if you plant the city in the modern era, but then you also get extra turns of bpt from the city, so I think it doesn't change the equation.
Unless I'm totally off, the math seems to say that an extra city is worth it, even if you plant it after 200 turns. On the other hand, if you have too little happiness, need the trade routes for growing other cities, the city cant work tiles, or don't have cash to buy tech buildings, then maybe the math changes.