City States - what they are and how to exploit them

[Roxlimn]

City States and smaller civilizations in Civ 6 that are not vying for game victory. They generally keep to themselves, don't wage their own wars, and follow the diplomatic lead of their Suzerain. In addition, they give larger Civilizations distinct bonuses.

Industrial City States help you build Districts, Wonders, and Buildings. They are beneficial to the capital and any city that has an Industrial Zone. Having two or more of these on the map encourages early Industrial Zone, as you get the bonus cogs so long as you send the Envoys and are at peace. Having +6 cogs when building Districts is a big plus!

Religious City States add more Faith production in Holy Sites. They encourage you to build more, and adopt policies, stances or governments that allow you to leverage your Faith production. If you have a lot of Holy Sites, you'll want to send envoys to Religious City States. Each one can boost Faith in Holy Sites by up to +4 per turn.

Militaristic City States make you want to build units. They give you up to +4 cogs for unit production in cities that have Encampments (and +2 base in the capital).

Scientific City States boost your Science output. Just two of these babies at 3 Envoys will boost your capital Science output by +4 beakers, plus an additional +4 for each Campus. That's as much as 4 Mountain adjacency bonus! If you have 2 Scientific City States at 6 Envoys, each Campus gets +8!

Trade City States make you rich. The initial Envoy is worth 4 gpt base, and at 3 and 6 Envoys, they each give +4 per Commercial Hub. If you have 3 on the map and you prioritize getting them to 3 Envoy level each, they will make each new Commercial Hub worth +12 gpt as soon as they're done. Wow.

Cultural City States make you snobby. Each one adds +2 culture base at 1 Envoy, and +2 each at 3 and 6 Envoys for Theater Districts. If you want to pop your borders fast, send Envoys to a couple of these guys and build Theater Districts. They'll also make you socially advanced. Whatever.

Those are interesting enough by themselves. The composition of City States on your Continent can make you think War or make you think Build. Or Gold. Each one makes their relative Districts much more valuable. Germany on a Continent without any Industrial City States is a sad panda.

But more interestingly, each City State grants you a bonus that's enough to be a Civ Attribute if you are the Suzerain. Let's talk about that!


To start, here's two Militaristic Ones:

Carthage: Encampments grant +1 Trade Route each. You'll think you're England if you're Japan and you land this City State on your map. Who needs Commercial Hubs? Just make Encampments and pop up that Trade Route Capacity! And it works for every city, not just Coastal ones. Take that, England!

Valleta: Japan's little sister. With this militaristic City State under your wing, you can buy Barracks, Armories, Walls, Sewers, Granaries, Monuments, and Military Academies for much less faith than you'd believe is fair. If you're Russia, you can use your typically insane Faith production for more than just attracting the latest Great Person seeking patronage. Use it to put up Monuments and Granaries. Make Rome think they're a has-been.

 

[steveg700]

In general, I think the benefits of city-states are more well-executed in Civ VI than its predecessor. We don't actually need a spigot to turn off the "benefit" of military CS's anymore, for instance.

Some of the suzerain benefits are a bit too generous. Geneva's a good example: +15% science when not at war. Ripe for a nerf, right there. While you can argue civ's would (and should) keep battling for suzerainty, there are situations where some or even one civ might be able to land an early stranglehold due to positioning. Some are much more innocuous (Seoul, for instance, only gives a free eureka each era), although I'm not of a mind that all city-state bonuses need to be created equal in value.

There are some pretty novel ones as well. Lisbon makes your naval trade routes immune to pillagining, for instance. Not sure if that's thematically in keeping with Portugal (the reason you had privateers was because those early to colonialism got church-enforced monopolies on the choice trade routes, and Portugal was no exception), but as a gameplay mechanism it's interesting to have a city-state that is of value to some civ's while worthless to others. Need a version of that for land routes as well (e.g. Karakorum).

Oh, and of course La Venta and its colossal heads are a hoot.

 

[kampori]

The one that provides a copy of a resource you don't have is insane. You never need to go after strategic resources. Ever.
And Vancouver I think? Makes your buildings reach an extra 3 tiles? A godsend

They are the only 2 I really care about.

Hong Kong (I think) in a close 3rd, with bonus resources acting like luxuries. Also very nice

 

[Roxlimn]

Hattusa: Scientific City State. Ever feel gimped by not having the Era Strategic Resource? Then Hattusa is the friend you would like to have. If you can see it, they can give it to you. It's that simple. But they only give one copy, so make sure you have an Encampment. This is science, not magic, my friend.

Toronto: Industrial City State: Extends Entertain Complex and Factory/Power Plant radius by 3. If you want to have mega industry, you want Toronto. There is no replacement. End of story.

Buenos Aires: Industrial City State: Bonus Resources act like Luxuries, giving you 4 Amenities for a unique copy. No you can't trade them. Nobody else thinks of bananas as a luxury resource. Except for you. And Buenos Aires.

 

[Xenotitan]

Buenos Aires is nice, but not as nice as you think. Each bonus resource only affects one city, unlike the luxuries that affect 4. Zanzibar is probably better if you have at least 6 cities (you should) as it gives 2 unique luxuries that affect 6 cities.

I agree on Toronto. That bonus is insane.

Carthage can be pretty useful as it gives you a bonus trade route for each encampment. Trade routes are good.

 

[steveg700]

Well, Hattusa's insanity is a symptom of how bizarrely strategic resources work now. It's really only during a narrow early-game window that you have to fret about your production centers not having encampments. Hattusa, btw, is where the Hittites built their capital. So, basically, they get that ability because of their association with taking the lead in the iron age.

Toronto is undeniably awesome in the mid-to-late game, Not sure what that ability represents either. Canada's big? People drive farther? Probably just ignorance on my part.

Zanzibar is definitely one to snatch up.

 

[CaiusDrewart]

Some pretty incredible city states: Geneva (+15% science when at peace), Stockholm (+1 GPP per district), Toronto (+3 radius for industrial zones), Yerevan (apostles pick promotion), Zanzibar (+12 amenities), Carthage (+1 trade route per encampment)

Some pretty terrible city states: Jerusalem (converts to your religion), La Venta (build some worthless tile improvements), Preslav (minor buff to cavalry on hills), Jakarta (very small buff to trade routes)

Note that I don't think it's necessary that city-states be balanced, so long as none of them make the game too easy. I like that some of the bonuses are strong and interesting enough to really build a strategy around. It's fun. I think that overall they did a great job with city states. (But we could use some maritime city states that grant food to harbors!)

 

[steveg700]

I believe Stockholm is limited to generating great writer/artist/musician points.

The one thing that concerns me about city-state abilities is that they actually steal from pretty good ideas for actual civ abilities.

 

[Roxlimn]

La Venta's Colossal Heads is actually pretty nice. Granted, not nice enough to spam everywhere, but decent enough in the early game. Between +1 cog and +3 Faith, +1 Culture, I'd go for the Colossal heads on some good sites for it, especially if I have uses for that Faith. Let's say you have La Venta + Valleta on a map. I'd definitely use the Colossal Heads then. Not only does La Venta's bonus pimp the Holy Sites for added output, the +3 Faith on sites with 2 Woods/Rainforest translates to insane monetary production if we consider that Barracks and Granaries ask for less Faith than Gold. For La Venta + Carthage, you could always use the Faith to buy Barracks, because you'll have Encampment in every city - the cheap Barracks (because insane Faith production) will give you +1 Housing and +1 Cog.

La Venta isn't as insane as Carthage or Toronto. By itself, it looks innocuous. But if you can use the Faith they give you, their Colossal heads are strong in the early to mid game.

 

[IllustriousYou]

Some pretty terrible city states: Jerusalem (converts to your religion)

IIRC, Jerusalem also projects your religion as if it were a religious capital. Suzerain Jerusalem in heathen territory and it's your calling to spread the holy gospel of "Come At Me Bro".

You know. All situational like.

 

[player1 fanatic]

What I found is that sometimes I do not want to be Suzerain. For example if city state I near my rival nation and I really want to keep district bonus with no fear on city state being obliterated during the war.

 

[TruthfulCake]

Being a suzerain of Hattusa guarantees the ability to make nuclear weapons. Uranium has been scarce, so Hattusa has been often crucial in my games.

Also, La Venta actually helps when you have a desert-heavy city. I built a lot of colossal heads while waiting for districts to unlock.

 

[isau]

La Ventana is not bad if you're stuck near desert or tundra. Unique improvements are one of the few ways to use those tiles.

 

[FaerunPlayer]

Industrial city state bonus seems to apply to industrial zones under construction but this does not seem to be true for other districts.
i.e. I start an industrial zone but have not completed it and instead start some other district. In the screen capture below I have +5 production towards buildings from an uncompleted industrial zone. I think this is form being suzerain of Brussels and Toronto and having papal primacy while Brussels is of my religion (1.5*2+2=5). meanwhile in the second screen capture the commercial hub does not get any cs bonus although I am suzerain of Zanzibar and it's of my religion.... and I have checked to see if it's just a tool tip error for industrial zone and it seems I do get the bonus.
I be interested to hear if anyone else can confirm this behavior.

 

[Browd]

Moderator Action: This is the third thread you have necro'd today. As with the others, this thread is closed.