[NFP] Aquaducts in Cities That Already Have Fresh Water

[Ivan Hunger]

Wanted to get other people's thoughts on this. Are they worth it?

Assume you're not playing as Rome or Khmer.

 

[Lord Lakely]

Yes, I do it. Not saying it's optimal, but I do like buffing my Industrial Zones. Flatland River Cities are already starving for production as is.

 

[iammaxhailme]

Aqueducts are pretty cheap to build compared to the production they can bring from industrial zones, especially if you rush them with engineers (which I almost never remember to do...)

 

[UWHabs]

If I'm trying for a big IZ, then I don't mind them, since they're sort of like a +2 housing/+8 production tile, if you run the double-IZ card and have a coal plant. So in a few select spots, I can justify them. But certainly I wouldn't put them everywhere unless if I had a big bonus to them - like England getting basically 4X military engineers, Inca getting a special bonus to them, or possibly getting the World Congress half-price units, since they also count towards that.

 

[anonxanemone]

If I'm trying for a big IZ, then I don't mind them, since they're sort of like a +2 housing/+8 production tile, if you run the double-IZ card and have a coal plant. So in a few select spots, I can justify them. But certainly I wouldn't put them everywhere unless if I had a big bonus to them - like England getting basically 4X military engineers, Inca getting a special bonus to them, or possibly getting the World Congress half-price units, since they also count towards that.

Also, Maya's Housing penalty is negated with the Aqueduct. The Aqueducts their cities build for Housing becomes a framework for high adjacency Industrial Zones. In addition to the Observatory, they make up a trifecta for a Science Victory.

 

[leandrombraz]

I build it for IZs and there are situations where settling a city without fresh water is necessary, or at least worth the trouble, in which case an aqueduct is essential to get the city going.

 

[The Highwayman]

I build one for the eureka. Aside from that, they're pretty bad unless you've got the good non fresh water city but has limited jungle/marsh/bonus resource harvesting. The only exception is probably with Rome.

 

[CoconutTank]

Yeah, if I were to ever build an Aqueduct, it'd be more likely for the Military Engineering eureka.

 

[King of Prussia]

Generally speaking, my cities are always on fresh water so i only build them for boosting IZs. Even then, i only build them if the IZ already has, will have high adjacency, or if the city really needs the boost.

I will say a map like highlands doesnt have a lot of fresh water, so i do use them their to get fresh water from mountains.

Coal plants are by far the best plants. You get them early, they are easy to boost to high numbers, they use a resource that isn't as important down the road, and you do not have to remember to do the project to stop a meltdown. I tend to run the card that boosts both campuses and IZs. The card also works well with the heroic age boost.

 

[Shadowstrike]

There's also the Inca, whose terrace farms get more production (+2, if they wouldn't have fresh water otherwise) with an aqueduct which is the other special case that I'd build them in. I feel like it's kind of really situational depending on how badly I need the housing, and whether the high cost is worth it to boost an Industrial Zone a tad.

 

[Lily_Lancer]

You forget to quote the military engineering eureka. This is the main reason for me to build them.

 

[Pfeffersack]

There's also the Inca, whose terrace farms get more production (+2, if they wouldn't have fresh water otherwise) with an aqueduct which is the other special case that I'd build them in. I feel like it's kind of really situational depending on how badly I need the housing, and whether the high cost is worth it to boost an Industrial Zone a tad.

Khmer are a similar case, as for them Aqueducts boost farms food output. Hungary - provided that you actively settle for Geothermical Fissures - can likely often reap the additional amenity Aqueducts provide when next to a GF.

 

[comatosedragon]

The only civilization I really ever build aqueducts with are the Inca. (and Rome, but you excluded them)

So I voted No

 

[Mahi]

Buildings with extra housing is always worth it in my book if the city don't have any. I like to grow tall so I'm not limiting myself to 4 pop cities for example. The bigger the city, the happier I am. Late cities will rarely be worth it though.

 

[Basajaun]

I used to love them, to get extra adj for industrial zones. But I have played some games already where I actively AVOID to build them, and my games have been ending sooner.
I have no higher than +7 adj IZs, but I have more trade routes, which compensates for the effect.

 

[Vargas1]

I used to love them, to get extra adj for industrial zones. But I have played some games already where I actively AVOID to build them, and my games have been ending sooner.
I have no higher than +7 adj IZs, but I have more trade routes, which compensates for the effect.

How do you consistently get +7 IZs without using aquaducts? Not questioning you, I'm just curious - unless I'm playing as Germany, I struggle to consistently get even +4 IZs outside of my city with a government plaza. I can usually at best get 2-3 strategic resources around a tile, and then it's tough to add district adjacencies on top of that.

 

[walkerjks]

I never build industrial zones, so the second option is out, which means "no". Once in a blue moon I build an aquaduct for the housing, but in those cases, a district project would probably be better (I just don't think of projects when I have idle hammers to use)

 

[Basajaun]

How do you consistently get +7 IZs without using aquaducts? Not questioning you, I'm just curious - unless I'm playing as Germany, I struggle to consistently get even +4 IZs outside of my city with a government plaza. I can usually at best get 2-3 strategic resources around a tile, and then it's tough to add district adjacencies on top of that.

Nono, I dont get that high without them, maybe I expressed myself wrong. I get usually 3/4, sometimes 5 with leylines and quarries or strategics. Minimun 3 with other districts and surrounding the area with lumber mills and mines paired. Then maybe later if theres a spot I rush a dam to protect from floods and add its bonus.
Higher than that is way too much luck with the layout oronly possible using machu pichu wonder

 

[Qwan]

I almost never build aqueducts. Especially if the city has access to fresh water. (I'd have added, even as the Incas, although to be honest, I forgot there was an extra benefit of aqueducts for the Incas, despite my playing them heavily the last few months. Having looked up that benefit, I still wouldn't build them.)

An aqueduct is a trade-off. It's not something for nothing. You're giving up a tile, which you could have used for something else. You're also spending all that production. Sure you might gain it back eventually, if it's adjacent to an Industrial Zone or a Terrace Farm. How many turns before you break even? Sure you can employ policies to enhance such an Industrial Zone, but then you're not benefiting from some other policy.

Early game, fresh water plus local improvements (farms, plantations, etc) supply the housing the city needs. A granary adds 2 for a fixed cost. The cost of an aqueduct increases with the cost of districts, so by the time I have the leisure to build one, I find it too expensive. Yes, you can spend Military Engineer charges to build one, but for the same charges, you can build a Dam, which I find strictly better. Meanwhile, I'll use housing from the Republic, or Barracks, or University, or Monarchy walls, or Governors with Audience Chamber, and later there are Sewers and Neighborhoods.

If I do build an aqueduct, generally it's because I'm trading its production cost for the science of the Eureka. PLUS some other benefit, like the Industrial Zone benefit already mentioned, or a possible Angkor Wat, or because the city doesn't have access to fresh water. But if I have an aqueduct, it's more likely that I conquered it.

 

[enKage]

+2 for industrial zone is too little to build them.
I would rather build aqueducts when additionally I can boost other districts too, especially CH, Libraries and Theatres to +4 adjecency.
I just lock a tile for them early in case niter spawns on those tiles.

I am aware that I block floodplain tiles but when playing Cree I don't really need them.
Maybe that is why I tend not to do great with others because of my habit to kill potential food tiles