Boosting coastal cities

[Frank327]

So coastal cities in Civ 6 are pretty terrible. Water tiles give almost no yield and you can build ships from cities that are settled two tiles inland anyways. That gives you more useful production tiles and a higher chance to get a real housing boost from an aqueduct. Also those cities are not vulnerable to naval attacks. So to make coastal cities useful again I propose the following:

1. Coastal cities inherently have +1 trade routes, removed from harbours.

It gives coastal cities an immediate trade advantage, which can't be replicated by settling inland. Harbours are still useful both for coastal and non-coastal cities for different reasons. Inland cities obviously need it for building navy and coastal cities need it to boost coastal tiles and shipbuilding.

2. Lighthouse provides +1 production yield for coastal tiles. It's a pretty expensive building to build so it might as well make those coast tiles worth working on. They still won't be anywhere near overpowered because land tiles are so strong with lumbermills, farms and mines starting in the medieval era.

3. All coastal tiles get +1 food. Come on guys, if water tiles can't even provide enough food for the guys that work the tile that would be insane. There's fish everywhere in the sea, not just a few allocated tiles.

With these changes I still don't think coastal cities will be better than inland cities but it will at least make them properly viable.

 

[Bodin]

Coastal cities do need improvement. Maybe also add +1 amenities (after all, in real life, coastal property is more expensive than inland property).

 

[Frank327]

Coastal cities do need improvement. Maybe also add +1 amenities (after all, in real life, coastal property is more expensive than inland property).

I think the price of coastal property is simulated by the fact that coastal tiles have increased appeal, which helps for neighbourhoods.

 

[Bodin]

Yes, you're right. I was confusing amenities with appeal. I'm still getting used to the difference.

 

[CultureManiac]

You could further increase the trade distance on the ocean, so trade from cities right on the coast are more lucrative. Early trading powerhouses were by the sea ... Carthage, Greek city states, goods from around the Mediterranean poured into Rome by boat.

 

[ilker]

Maybe it is better this way. It pretty solved city spamming problem. And cities are still "coastal" if they have any water tile. So far I think it is well balanced and improved from CiV

 

[Feyd Rautha]

Hmm... I'm torn on this. I like the idea of a trade route being added for a city right on the coast, but I also think that's a bit of a punishment to take it from the harbor for those cities who are one or two tiles off the coast because of fresh water concerns (either via an aqueduct or river). Keeping it on the harbor though is far too overpowered since routes are so strong in VI.

I do think there should be a greater benefit to coastal cities, however. The amenity idea is a good one, but I'm still not sold that an amenity would make me take an extra turn or keep me from wanting more land tiles (especially since I'm more likely to get a luxury resource by settling off the coast anyway).

In the end, I think coastal tiles need the revamp instead of coastal cities. I'd be much more interested in coastal tiles (and therefore placing cities on them) if the following were true...

1. Coastal tiles start at 2 food 1 gold
2. Harbor districts grant +1 food and gold to adjacent coast tiles.
   
3. Lighthouse improvements increase the food of all coastal tiles by 1, but they also give +1 production to sea resources.

Just some thoughts, but having access to more +4 food/+2 gold or +3 food +1 gold tiles would give the coast more appeal (on my end not my citizens )

 

[LanguishViking]

The basic problem is that ocean and coastal tiles are not worth working unless they have resources, period. The thing is neither are mountains.

Basically when comparing coastal cities to mountain cities you are comparing coastal appeal for neighborhoods with the mountain adjacency bonus for campuses and holy sites.

Coastal appeal for neighborhoods combined with the difficulty of putting coastal cities under siege doesn't seem to make them worth while. It was bad enough in CivV when England would make coastal cities unviable if you weren't english.

I've come up with a list of what I think are reasonable coastal buffs.

1. Cities founded on the coast build port districts in half the time and port districts do not count towards the district limit.
2. Coastal city tiles within city borders count as a district, farm or mine for adjacency if the city has port or is coastal.
3. Port Districts get coastal fortifications with bombard options just like encampments.

basically cities founded on the coast get the port district cheap and without having to give up some other district to get it, coastal tiles within city borders have value, especially when the city isn't big enough to have to worry about working all those tiles. Farms with two coastal adjacent tiles make one more food. Placing Holy sites and Campuses early on on the coast is now an option or even desirable. That port district now protects your city from coastal fleets, making coastal cities less vulnerable.

 

[Nefelia]

Suggestion: the city center produces an extra trade route if it is adjacent to at least one ocean tile.

This would give coastal cities the ability to produce three trade routes once they build the commercial hub and harbor.

This would be enough for me to be building more coastal cities. Might be a tad strong on inland seas though.