All guilds in same city?

[ackoman]

Hello,

Is it recommended to build all three guilds in the same city? (With garden)

Or should you spread them out?

Ackoman

 

[Browd]

Best would be city with Garden and National Epic (+50% GPP bonus), and lots of excess food (Tradition capital with food caravans/cargo ships running to it is probably optimal). If you are playing Liberty, where your cities will be more numerous but generally smaller (and where working all the science slots and guild slots may strain a single city), spreading out the guilds among multiple Garden cities is probably best. Most important is that you be able to work those guild slots continuously from the time you build the guilds, without sacrificing other priorities for your citizens.

 

[darkskies]

Usually I'll put them all in the capital since that's usually going to be my most advanced/populous city at the time I want the guilds unless I got a very bad starting location. If I'm not on a river I'll try to get Garden of Babylon so that my capital gets a garden, if I can't then as mentioned consider putting them in a city where you can have a garden. I usually go Liberty not Tradition and this still works best. But like most things there is no hard and fast rule it is situational.

 

[fyar]

I sometimes try to separate my science city from my guild cities. My logic is that the guilds inhibit growth, because those damn artists aren't farming, and growth is THE priority in my science city. So if my capital has the National College, I might try to put my guilds in my next strongest city with a river, or spread them out if my next strongest city isn't that strong. Alternatively, if my second city is next to a mountain but my capital isn't, I might choose to make that my science city (with observatory + National College) and put all the guilds in my capital.

 

[phillipwyllie]

Only if you are the Aztecs(with a load of +4 tiles) should you build all the guilds in the same city. Even in a strong Tradition Capital you'll struggle to produce anything quickly whilst working all those guild slots. Renaissance is usually the time when you'd wish you have 15 more turns as there are many useful wonders to build.

 

[redwings1340]

I agree with Browd, it really depends on your empire. If your capital is really strong, has a national epic, a gardens, and is growing really well, then putting the guilds in it is probably pretty good. If your empire is more spread out and your capital would be set back in growth by getting these guilds, then put them in different cities.

If you aren't going for a culture victory, you don't really need to create great musicians, so factor that in to your decisions over when to get the guilds.

 

[Carl5872]

I have been putting all my eggs in one basket with NC usually in my capital, and then putting the National Epic there as well. My logic is that I usually have 2 food caravans going to capital and just turn it into a great person farm. I also have all 3 guilds there as well.

Is this a good move or should I separate a science city and a culture person city? If so, which should get the national epic?

 

[fyar]

I have been putting all my eggs in one basket with NC usually in my capital, and then putting the National Epic there as well. My logic is that I usually have 2 food caravans going to capital and just turn it into a great person farm. I also have all 3 guilds there as well.

Is this a good move or should I separate a science city and a culture person city? If so, which should get the national epic?

Well I already posted my opinion that it's good to separate your science city from your culture city, because the guilds inhibit growth and growth is the primary objective in your NC city. Under that premise, the culture city should definitely get the national epic, because the science city is NOT necessarily the one that produces your great scientists. In fact, your culture city should probably just work as many specialist slots as it can afford (since it has the national epic + garden), while still supporting its own specialists with growth. Meanwhile, your science city will probably work the science specialists, but no other specialists. What makes it the "science city" is not that it produces all your great scientists, but that it has the highest raw science output, and non-scientist specialists inhibit that. So why not give the national epic to the city that produces all kinds of specialists and not just scientists?

As with everything, there are always exceptions. (If I have Petra + Hanging Gardens in one city, I might be inclined to put everything there.) But that's my rule of thumb.

 

[beetle]

Spreading out your guilds is one of the main points Acken makes in his Liberty Wide Game Guide. I have struggled with that good advice though, because the cap starts out being high production / culture / NC -- it is hard to shift any those roles. Even as the cap is not able to handle them all. I feel like I have better success just running more internal food routes to the cap.

Not mentioned so far is the Freedom tenet which provides extra food for specialists. That helps when your science city (i.e., the cap) is also running four slots for the guilds.

Yes, I want my science cities to be high pop -- but I also want them on mountains for the observatory. So that implies more hills and less farms. So run food routes to observatory cities -- as well as the cap? You don't have enough trade routes! So this all still nets out that most games overloading the cap is not only simplest, but also the only thing that is practical!

I like it when the division of labor falls into place. So I am always looking for an expo on a mountain but with plenty of food and that build Oxford -- I might even put NC there if it will not slow down my early game too much.

If the cap is not coastal, then I look for a great expo that is so it can have EITC, Grand Temple, Iron Works, and Heroic Epic. There is good synergy with those four. Based on this thread, I will be vigilant about stuffing my guilds there too!

 

[maddskillz]

I often see posts referring to sending your caravans to your capital (or science city) to provide additional food . . . but this would cut down your gold per turn which is also a critical piece of the game. Is there a good formula for this?

 

[lindsay40k]

I often see posts referring to sending your caravans to your capital (or science city) to provide additional food . . . but this would cut down your gold per turn which is also a critical piece of the game. Is there a good formula for this?

As many as you can afford and still do what else you need gold for. Bear in mind a full Tradition cap will generate more and more gold as it grows. I'm a fan of opening Commerce to magnify this, and get Big Ben to free up more money. Both factors are only worth about a single trade route each, but that means +12-18 food in the capital, which if it were an opener and wonder would be beelined in almost every game.

 

[redwings1340]

I often see posts referring to sending your caravans to your capital (or science city) to provide additional food . . . but this would cut down your gold per turn which is also a critical piece of the game. Is there a good formula for this?

Generally, I base it off of whether I have the happiness to grow. Food is better than gold if you can grow, because growth feeds everything in this game. If growing faster will plunge you in to unhappiness, gold might be better.

Early in a diety or immortal game, external trade routes are also probably better because of the extra science it gives you, but that benefit gets a little less substantial somewhat quickly.

 

[shaglio]

I often see posts referring to sending your caravans to your capital (or science city) to provide additional food . . . but this would cut down your gold per turn which is also a critical piece of the game. Is there a good formula for this?

Try LastSword's Teotihuacan. They have a Market replacement called Foreign Quarter that "Gains an additional trade route slot if the city has active Food Trade Route with your Capital." So if you send a food TR from all your cities to your capital, you'll still be able to send your max number of TRs out for gold.