Big city advantages

[7daysofwar]

Are there actually benefits to grow a city above 10 sitizens? like something more then just an eureka for urbanization and to have a pingala city? The only other thing I found is that you get 0,5 science and 0,3 culture for each citizen but are there other benefits that these? Is it worth to invest in food, housing and amenties? I am asking this because my bigger cities most of the time don't feel better then some smaller cities I build.

BTW, the reason I say big instead of tall is that I never really go for a tall empire but for a wide empire (try to have at least 12 cities) but I like my cities to keep growing and was wondering if it worth to let them grow to 20 and above.

 

[Victoria]

Sure,
When I grew my cities to 30 enemy cities around them started to rebel. About 3 games ago I settled 1 icky little city on the outliers of Gilgamesh and chopped it to 13 using Magnus and gold and got a few more cities off it rebelling.

Despite its size causing amenity troubles it is not an issue for loyalty due to its size, as long as it’s not too bad

More districts for Kumasi as already mentioned makes it crazy strong.

The extra culture from citizens does push the borders more

Pingala loves a 20+ city.

Flexibility in specialists which you can use a ton of.

War weariness can be an issue but much more of an issue for a high WW enemy taking the city.

 

[Sostratus]

Before the modern era I don’t think it’s really worthwhile if you’ve already got the primary yields in a good spot. (Depending on what you’re dealing with, perhaps this means CH+IZ+some civil engineering districts and your campus/TS.)

But, I often find in my games that get into modern-atomic that being able to squeeze in that extra district can be handy.
Especially as England since WotW can net you some +10 yield powered buildings. It’s just easier at that point that putting out a settler if it means you can pick up a district that will help you along. Often times when I get to airplanes I always find myself looking for places to put down aerodromes, for example.

 

[7daysofwar]

Thank you for answering, I forgot about loyalty flipping with big cities and yeah it is probarly a good idea to wait until natural history to grow them really big and might should try to put down some aerodromes for once.

BTW how do you get 10 yield from WotW (Englands abilty) when they say you only get 4?

 

[Victoria]

Thank you for answering, I forgot about loyalty flipping with big cities and yeah it is probarly a good idea to wait until natural history to grow them really big and might should try to put down some aerodromes for once.

Airports give Victoria +10 production not so great for others but still fun.
There are eurekas/ inspirations for 10/15 pop and era points for your first city to 10/15/20/25/30 with +1 for being the first. The thing I found that helped me most get to 30 was fisheries and food halls. You really need to be around +25 food

 

[GKShaman]

I like the extra districts. Communism also gives +0.6 prod per citizen. Consider religious community if u want big cities.

 

[Sostratus]

BTW how do you get 10 yield from WotW (Englands abilty) when they say you only get 4?

There's a few end game buildings like the food market, airport (inside aerodrome) and shopping mall which aren't that exciting for most civs, but with +4 yield from WotW they suddenly become pretty serious contenders for your attention. Th airport, as an example, is normally 4, +2 when powered for 1 power load; but with England it's +4, +6. 10, plus 2 more for the hangar, is a very nice yield for just one flat tile. Likewise, encampments offer some nice production by the late game even independent of their military value. This sort of thing helps get cities from a relatively low amount of productivity up towards something very useful, especially if you're waiting for an end game push of some kind (domination, space race,etc.)

 

[tetley]

Absolutely; big cities can compete for wonders. Oxford and Ruhr Valley give +20% just for that city, so they have to be big. Apadana needs to build all the wonders it can (especially Kilwa), plus a Theater district, so yeah. A city on a peninsula + Liang + Mausoleum = big. Pingala = big. Chichen, Petra and St. Basil's need the population to work all the tiles you buffed up.

Big coastal cities have the advantage that you only have to build the seaport once. Seaport takes a lot of time to build. Likewise, it takes a lot of time to build Military academy, so you want that to have lots of production and funnel your land units through there. We look at the industrial/entertainment district bonuses where they multiply across several little cities, but things like seaports and military academies multiply the bigger your city is. Likewise, if you can funnel all your planes through one Aerodrome, why tie up more city tiles?

You might consider the Water Park to give little-city bonuses, and that is true, but you can also do Bread & Circuses project, and a big city with that can do some Loyalty offense.

Then there's all the "for cities with governors" bonuses. Government Plaza city benefits from more districts, and districts need population.

Then there's your Spaceport. Of course you want your main spaceship projects to have lots of everything.

 

[Lily_Lancer]

Not real advantages. Cities do not automatically gain amenity as size grows and big cities consume all your amenities. A city with size 25 need 12 amenity. You have to feed him all your luxuries just to let it to be "displeased" and not rebel.(but still it doesn't provide much yield since it is "displeased")

If you don't have stadiums nationwide and Maracana it is unaffordable to handle those amenity eaters.

 

[7daysofwar]

There's a few end game buildings like the food market, airport (inside aerodrome) and shopping mall which aren't that exciting for most civs, but with +4 yield from WotW they suddenly become pretty serious contenders for your attention. Th airport, as an example, is normally 4, +2 when powered for 1 power load; but with England it's +4, +6. 10, plus 2 more for the hangar, is a very nice yield for just one flat tile. Likewise, encampments offer some nice production by the late game even independent of their military value. This sort of thing helps get cities from a relatively low amount of productivity up towards something very useful, especially if you're waiting for an end game push of some kind (domination, space race,etc.)

One more question but you said that the shopping mall as well, but does it give 4 amenties when powered? or aren't they yields?

 

[Sostratus]

One more question but you said that the shopping mall as well, but does it give 4 amenties when powered? or aren't they yields?

The shopping mall gives extra gold when powered and WotW means +4 more.
@Victoria I seem to recall a threa da few months ago where you said amenities from the stadium also got the +4, and perhaps also the mall? Was there a determination on that?

 

[Victoria]

Yup + 4 amenities.. not for the mall though... only the primary gets +4 and for the mall that is gold

 

[madskillz32]

what does WotW mean?

 

[Victoria]

what does WotW mean?

 

[KayAU]

One of my biggest complaints about Civ VI is actually how relatively weak big cities are. Sure, there are advantages. Big cities can have all the districts, work more tiles and potentially have some specialists (which are also weak in this game). But you would be much more efficient spreading your population around. I really dislike this, because:

1. Building giant, extremely powerful cities is fun
2. Getting a really big city requires much more effort than a bunch of smaller ones, and is intuitively a more impressive thing

A big part of the problem (as I see it), is the way districts work, and the fact that there are hardly any buildings which give percentage modifiers anymore. Districts in medium/small cities are generally as powerful as those in huge cities, and you can only have one of each type in a city. To really increase your yields, you need more cities.

If I got my way, a size 30 city would be much better than 3 size 10s in most cases. Unfortunately, reality is far in the opposite direction. I think you are actually better off with just 2 size 10s than a single size 30. The only real advantage I can see is concentrated loyalty pressure.

 

[Victoria]

I think you are actually better off with just 2 size 10s than a single size 30. The only real advantage I can see is concentrated loyalty pressure.

A single size 30 with Pingala and a few wonders like Kilwa is a fine looking thing.

 

[Sostratus]

A single size 30 with Pingala and a few wonders like Kilwa is a fine looking thing.

I think that something people sort of project from civ5, but is completely untrue in 6, is that the wide empire has to have smaller cities. The wide empire can have many size 20-30 cities if they want. (You’ll need to space them a little more than minimum distance though.) it’s just the nature of regional amenities with colosseum+zoos+stadiums. (A great concept but probably not supremely balanced.)

 

[Pistol90]

This is one of the things I dont generally like in Civ6. They spread cities across the map, but you dont get that feeling. Maybe there should be 4 tile cities, also districs should be more connected to city center, you should not be able to build non-connected districs (city-center, empty, empty, district) it looks totally unrealistic.

 

[Fluphen Azine]

A single size 30 with Pingala and a few wonders like Kilwa is a fine looking thing.

I don't even know what my biggest pop city has been in Civ VI.
I know I never had a city this big!
You make me want to try it out... did you have a large empire... I am guessing you did cause I know you usually do?
You make me think that 4 city Tradition is viable in Civ VI now... tradition was a joke
I always hear you telling me that all you need is a 2 pop city and a Campus in my head while I play Civ VI.
I have always enjoyed wide play over tall... even in Civ V I would go wide all the time.
Usually with Liberty of course.
Now you are in here messing with me with these 30 Pop Cities!!

I think you are actually better off with just 2 size 10s than a single size 30. The only real advantage I can see is concentrated loyalty pressure.

This makes sense to me and seems easier to handle compared to trying to grow Huge.

 

[Victoria]

did you have a large empire...

Sure.

I always hear you telling me that all you need is a 2 pop city and a Campus i

aaahhh. Do not mistake me for an efficient player. Just because A mechanic likes cars, it does not mean they have a fast one. They will tell you about the best fast cars but it does not mean they drive them.
If you want to be fast you need to be vast or user efficient.
I like all types of civs and victories. I play weird games because we it tries things out. I quite like large cities, they are not efficient but hey, my life is not exactly efficient either.

The one thing I will say is I am not bound by these stupid victory conditions. They put your play into a box. All I want to do in my games is look at the end and go yeah, nice civ and I had fun making it.
I played an efficient SV last night with Tomyris, finished is T181 pretty much owning the world which was naked of most human improvements and just thought, well I can still do it, it has not changed... now what can I do next, because this looks inhuman.
I did not notice some of the new map types like Europe for some reason so I think I might try and be Swiss if the map will let me.

it’s just the nature of regional amenities with colosseum+zoos+stadiums.

No real idea why you copied me in that reply but I have played 3 mega city games so far with Khmer, Indonesia and India. Great fun and amenities are not really a big deal as long as you get enough faith and commercial hubs.
India gets great amenities done right. I could do a mega city write up?

And I must say pop30 cities are just a pain, 20 -25 is nice. Now I just pump and enjoy rather that aiming for a number.