Civ 5: Forts and (Especially) Citadels connecting resources.

[Onionsoilder]

This was a really nice feature in Civ 4 that is lacking for some reason in Civ 5. I find myself using forts a lot more to defend key positions, chokepoints and such or occasionally just to fortify a front with ranged units, but the problem comes when those chokepoint tiles have valuable resources on them.

Key example: Earlier today I was playing an Earth map as Gandhi, going for the Bollywood(Cultural) Victory. I was placed in eastern Europe, with a large amount of powerful civilizations to my south. I ended up expending a Great General to build a Citadel flanked by 2 Forts to create a powerful defensive position that did a wonderful job of stopping the combined German and Japanese armies, but after I researched Biology I found out that the tile I built my Citadel on, so chosen because it was useless desert, was actually a source of Oil; the only one in my lands. What was I to do, demolish my Citadel that I expended a Great General for? Doing so might have given me the oil, but it would have left me open to attack.

The same might be said for other GP improvements. It's rarely worthwhile to demolish an Academy or Landmark to improve the tile under them, which essentially denies the player a resource. Custom Houses... well, I probably would build a different improvement, but that's primarily because Custom Houses are so weak(+3 gold? Come on, the Trading Post gives +2. You would need to play around 800 turns to make up for what you could gain using the merchant on a trade mission).

 

[jeffrockson]

My take on this is the following:

In Civ IV, I used forts to connect to resources that were outside of the citizen-working radius, since the exceptional food, production, or gold bonus wouldn't matter. Then I got a free resource and a free defensive position.

I currently have two great generals sitting around my towns, waiting for the next AI to attack me. So I wouldn't consider the citadel worth keeping simply because you used a great general. Although your oil discovery would kind of be a bummer, I'd grab the oil in exchange for the citadel. Or maybe you should just wait until the last possible moment to nab the oil, while you get the most out of your citadel. The two forts sound like good places where you can set up a protective line with ranged units to make up for some of the citadel's damage.

I feel ya with the Custom House. I stopdoing Academies when I hit the break-even point in turns. Once the + wouldn't add up to the current research price of my next desirable tech, I'd use the great scientist to research it immediately instead.

Thanks for reading,


JeffRockson

 

[mihaifx]

wait, where did you see a military base where they extract oil too (or uranium )

It's really bad luck in your case...but this is what a good game is all about, making choices. Having both of them in the same time would be unfair, from my point of view, now that resources are far more valuable.