Adjacency bonus discussion

Underseer

King
Joined
Jan 16, 2004
Messages
828
Location
Illinois, USA
From reading this forum, it seems that I am really clueless about adjacency bonuses, and this may be why I've had problems with the game. I did not know that the Colossus wonder gives amenities to nearby cities, not did I know that production districts benefit from being placed next to mines or that science districts benefit from being next to mountains.

So everyone offer their tutorial tips regarding adjacency here....
 
The CIVpedia entries for the districts give a full list of everything.
...since the list is pretty extensive for each and every district, I recomment reading it up in game. ;)
 
First, you're speaking of 2 different things
  • Regional effect. Colossus wonder and a few buildings (from Entertainment and Industrial) districts affect every city within 6 tiles. You should consider this when deciding where to put those districts, especially Entertainment as a single district with a zoo can help many cities. Placing Industrial district purely based on Regional effect will probably reduce adjacency bonus so you have to weight the benefits.
  • Adjacency Bonus will determine the basic yield of a district. For instance, a holy district have adjacency +1 from mountains and +0.5 from forests. If you place such a district near 1 mountain and 2 forests, it will give you 2 faith without any buildings. If you just place it in the middle of nowhere, it will give you nothing. This is mostly important early as late game buildings are likely to be the main source of a district's yield but it can be significant if you can place a Holy Site near several mountains.
As GAGA Extrem pointed, you can find the detail in the civilopedia. Also when you place a district, you will see all the adjacency bonus displayed and will get a preview of the district's yield. Of course, you're limited to available tiles so it's good to know these in advance if you want to place your cities to benefit from specific districts (a city near several mountains will be great for faith and science for instance)
 
Thanks, and I will certainly read the help files, but I am still hoping for a discussion. What adjacency issues and regional issues are more important? Which ones don't matter as much? What would you tell new players about these bonuses and effects?
 
Holy crap, thanks for that picture. Super useful!
 
Just FYI, where folks mentioned Colossus earlier in this thread, they should have said Colosseum. Colossus is a wonder that is built on a coastal tile and providing extra trade route capacity and a trade unit, but no extra amenities. Colosseum gives +3 amenities to every city in a 6 tile radius.
 
Truthfully, I'm feeling that the terrain adjacency is overblown. If you can do it, it is nice early on, but if you really want bonuses, get a triangle of cities and pile all their districts up in the middle, with all three industrial zones at the core. That way they'll be sure to radiate, and the adjacency bonus will grow over time. Then layer satellite cities in a ring around the core so that their industrial and entertainment districts radiate to at least two core cities.
 
if you really want bonuses, get a triangle of cities and pile all their districts up in the middle,
Well, as you said "If you can do it, it is nice", you can't always build your cities in nice rings, nor even put a core of 3 cities in a triangle setup. Also, sometimes an early boost is better than a bigger, later boost (especially for faith).
This settings really works wonder for Japan thought.
 
I'll try and get a screenshot but I *think* you can get a +1 culture on a Theatre Square if it's next to an Aqueduct. I placed one last night based on the screen info and checked back later but it's not shown in the above diagram. Anyone else confirm?
 
I'll try and get a screenshot but I *think* you can get a +1 culture on a Theatre Square if it's next to an Aqueduct. I placed one last night based on the screen info and checked back later but it's not shown in the above diagram. Anyone else confirm?

what likely happened was that you placed it next to the aqueduct AND one more district.

Oh, one thing people should understand is that the adjacency bonuses adjust to their new surroundings as the game progresses and aren't 'fixed' at the number you see when you place the district.

Ie -- Industrial district is placed next to 4 hills, 2 of which are mined. The game shows +2, but once you mine the other 2 hills, it becomes +4.

Same goes for the 1 for 2 types. Place a district next to the city district, get nothing. place another district next to the first district, it's now 1.
 
Truthfully, I'm feeling that the terrain adjacency is overblown. If you can do it, it is nice early on, but if you really want bonuses, get a triangle of cities and pile all their districts up in the middle, with all three industrial zones at the core. That way they'll be sure to radiate, and the adjacency bonus will grow over time. Then layer satellite cities in a ring around the core so that their industrial and entertainment districts radiate to at least two core cities.

Early production boosts matter. An Industrial Zone that can provide +5 or +6 production is very much a worthwhile investment, especially when Factories are a long way off. Early production is sometimes more important that greater production later in the game.

One would have to examine the terrain and the specializations of the cities involved before making a decision either way. First and foremost I would aim to ensure that my major production cities (those with encampments, for instance) get the maximum output. If that means placing the IZ so that my troop-building city gets +6 production but my faith-production and campus-city miss out on the eventual Factory bonus, so be it.
 
what likely happened was that you placed it next to the aqueduct AND one more district.

Oh, one thing people should understand is that the adjacency bonuses adjust to their new surroundings as the game progresses and aren't 'fixed' at the number you see when you place the district.

Ie -- Industrial district is placed next to 4 hills, 2 of which are mined. The game shows +2, but once you mine the other 2 hills, it becomes +4.

Same goes for the 1 for 2 types. Place a district next to the city district, get nothing. place another district next to the first district, it's now 1.

Yep, was right next to city centre and aqueduct. City centre is a district for adjacency purposes, right?
 
The Hanse gets a production bonus when adjacent to a Commercial Hub. What happens if the Hanse is adjacent to two Commercial Hubs? Does the effect stack, or does the Hanse pick only one of the two adjacent Commercial Hubs?
 
The Hanse gets a production bonus when adjacent to a Commercial Hub. What happens if the Hanse is adjacent to two Commercial Hubs? Does the effect stack, or does the Hanse pick only one of the two adjacent Commercial Hubs?
Yes it stacks.

It also gets +1 for every adjacent resource (strategic, luxury or bonus).

So the perfect Hanse has +8 production from adjacency bonuses only. 4 resources and two commercial districts. The means the Germans can turn virtually any pair of cities into an industrial powerhouse even if it's all tundra/desert with no hills. In practice it's been easy to get +6 bonuses with each Hanse having two resources and two commercial districts next to them. Throw in some CS bonuses and the district buildings and enjoy your one-turn tanks from a coastal desert city with no hills :)
 
Top Bottom