CIV Illustrated #3: City specialization explained!

Seraiel · May 12, 2015

CIV Illustrated #3: City specialization explained

Hi again

You have discovered the next issue of CIV Illustrated. This issue is quite long, as city specialization is a very complex topic, lets hope that it doesn't get longish. In the following you'll again find a lot of screenshots which will help explaining the theoretical part in the beginning. This actually belongs to the main concept of the CIV Illustrated guides, that we (in this case again I) want that our guides are easy to read and useful for beginners as well as we hope that even the pros can learn from them or have fun reading them.
Again, if you appreciate our (my) effort, please don't forget to rate the thread. Feedback also appreciated.

The concept of city specialization has developed very much in the time CIV was / is being played. While people tried to press cities in certain roles, depending mostly on the type of economy, players nowadays all understood that a hybrid economy, which uses all concepts together depending on which is currently the strongest / most helpful option, is optimal. City specialization nowadays is also much more dependent on the land that is given to you and on the situation your empire is in.

One last note, before we start: It's very important for you, to learn to read the abbreviations that get frequently used on this site. To make it easier for you, I've fully written out everything I abbreviate in the following at least once!

Let's take a look how normal, so non-National-Wonder cities are specialized:

The standard, non-National-Wonder-city doesn't get only Cottages, only Farms or only Hammers. The easiest way to describe how normal cities get specialized is by giving an example.
It's 1560 BC and we have just founded our 4th city, which looks like this:

Spoiler :

The first thing you'll do in 99% of the cases is to improve the food and build a Granary. Should the food not be in your culture, you'll start with a Monument (standard) or a Library (case when city has good Commerce and enough Forrests to build it fast) .

As it's still very early, improving the resources and the riverside land is next.

Spoiler :

Don't think, that only because this city has Furs and a nice river, that it must become a pure Commerce city. If going for HA-rush or for Elepult, this city will need some Farms and some Mines to whip. However, after the rush, one will be in need for Commerce to support the conquered cities and to tech to the next military tech.

Here is an update from 500 BC:

Spoiler :

A lot of new things, compared the the screenshot of before. The city got two Mines, because production was needed the most, as we 1. went for a HA-rush and 2. chose this city as one of six cities that should get a University. The Happiness limit was still quite low, that's why we prefered Mines over Farms. Libraries but especially Universities are large builds, so we calculated that a Forge in this city would pay back very fast (in this case we were even IND, so it was really a no-brainer. If you aren't IND and need a University very fast, it can be possible that you'll delay the Forge until after the University. This of course is less efficient, but when it comes to Oxford, speed is what matters, because every turn you get Oxford earlier, is a huge gain in :science:

) .
The city already got a Library, and you're probably wondering that the city is working an unimproved Grassland Forest. We did this, because in this special case, the Grassland Forest gave 2 :food:

and 2

, because of running Organized Religion and because having a Forge, so it's a really good tile. The city will also soon get whipped down from six to size three, so we could save some Workerturns and delay its further improvements.
As already written, the construction of Oxford is mainly about speed, which explains why this city got chosen for a University. It only got very low :commerce:

until now, but it has a good production, so can build the University in only little time.

25 BC:

The fastest way to win a round of CIV, is usually to conquer as many cities as early as possible, so after having built all that you could see, we now decided that we need more and stronger troops for the next target. We decided for the city to get a Barracks, because we calculated, that this city in special, with having good food, good production and a decent amount of Forests, would produce quite a lot troops:

Spoiler :

Still no Cottages you ask yourself? No, Cottages would have been too weak for the current war-situation the empire's in, so +one Farm and +one Mine. Why not a Windmill? Because those three Mines + the Furs + the city-centre give exactly 12 :hammers:

, which is one of those magic numbers for the bonuses of OR or Forges, because it can be devided by four.

250 AD:

Spoiler :

So finally some Cottages, but were those Cottages even the right decision? I think not, because we (as you can see) ran a Golden Age chain from this moment 'til the end of the game, and while the Cottages give +2 :food:

and +3

, a Farm would have given +3 :food:

and +2

, so +1

and -1

. Having in mind, that this city has still very many good tiles it could grow on, the food would have been vastly better. No idea, why we ended up with Cottages on these tiles, maybe because we couldn't believe in a University-city with zero Cottages ourselves. Well, at least, those Cottages would be Hamlets in a few turns, so they look a little better against Farms, though riverside Farms in Golden Ages are really nice tiles.

Spoiler :

You see, that we realized our mistake and built a Farm next, while transforming the Mine into a Windmill, 500 AD.
Interesting btw.: Look at the Happiness of this city. Size 6 and it reached the Happiness-limit of 18? :eek:

Yes, this city got drafted three times, so has +9 :mad:

:> .

Spoiler :

Somewhere between 500 AD and 1050 AD, we had conquered the complete map but as these pictures are taken out of SGOTM 18, we still needed to tech towards Paratroopers to invade Dr. Evil. So while domination would have been possible a lot earlier already, we now could grow the city to produce max-research. It got mainly Watermills, because Watermills are extremely strong tiles, as they instantly give good :hammers:

(especially in this case, because of the Levee and the GA) , are food-neutral and produce mentionable :commerce:

from Electricity onwards.
Don't let yourself get disturbed that this city has a Jail and a (free) Spy-specialist, this is only because of another extra goal that SGOTM had. Without the Jail and with a Scientist or Merchant, this could have been an almost perfect Space Race city.

Conclusion:

When it comes to the specilization of a normal, no-national-Wonder-city, you should always ask yourself "what is the best improvement now or at the time when it will be ready" and "do I get any game-changing techologies, like Chemistry, Communism, Replaceable Parts or Electricity in the near future" . Evaluate improvements on a single-improvement-basis, and develop the city to its needs, or to the needs of your empire.

Same for builds, evaluate "which building will help the city the most now" , but also "which cities are powerful enough, to construct building x to get me National Wonder y at the fastest possible time" .

As you've seen, it's no problem for a University city to have zero Cottages, to build tons of troops and stay small for very long, to finally become a Hammer-city, just because Hammer-improvements and Farms have become stronger than all others.

Seraiel · May 12, 2015

Special cities:

Heroic Epic city:

After having leveled a unit to 10 XP, you surely will want to build the HE in your strongest Hammer-city. From the over 50 games I played for the Elite Quattromaster achievement, there was only one game in which building it had no benefit, because I conquered a complete Small Terra map with only 26 units. Normally, you will want to have the +100% as early as possible. This is one of the rare cases where playing with Barbs is an advantage. The HE itself is a relatively cheap National Wonder which you will want to build, no matter if you got Marble or not.
Beginners tend to select the city that will be the strongest, which is a misconception. Once you unlocked the HE, you should build it an a well developed city, that at best has good Food and some special-resources like Copper or Iron. The argument for this is, that a city that already is strong will produce earlier with the 100% bonus than a city that will be stronger in the future but cannot directly build the HE because the city still needs development.
As buildings, you will definitely want a Granary, a Forge, Barracks and a Factory + a Coal-plant later. All other buildings (Library, Courthouse, Harbour, Grocer and everything else) are situational. Best case is, that this city will produce troops for the whole game. When being coastal, which is definitely an advantage when needing ships, you'll later also want to have a Drydock. The better alternative is usually the Airport though, because other cities could take over building ships with 50% bonus. This is better especially the faster the tempo of the game, because a +100% military city can produce 1 unit / turn. 150% on ships can be overkill. This is also the reason why it's often not advisable to build a Military Academy in it. The Airport also has the Advantage, that one can easily transport the built troops directly to the front.
In an ideal case, this city will have freshwater to plaster it with Farms to then whip the hell out of it, green hills are also useful though because it's easier to control the anger then. Very late in the game, you will want to transform the Farms to Workshops, because the city then will have a lot of whipping anger or also because you needed to switch to Emancipation (ideally shouldn't happen but there are games where one has no choice, like Space Races on large maps on which one cannot simply switch all AIs to Caste via espionage, or generally every game in which multiple civs which you can't all control get Democracy. )
Don't be afraid to whip this city hard and often. As Team Kakumeika found out in an SGOTM, green hills are about as effective as the whip. This means that the city should grow and work the Grassland Hills in peace times, and once you reached your favourite military key tech, show no mercy for its population. The Kremlin even enhances whips greatly, so this procedure is advisable, even when you got Biology Farms and State Property Workshops.

Hint: A CHA civ can construct the HE without Barbs and without having having been in a war to level a unit. CHA units only need 8 XP for level 4, and that can be reached by running Vassalage and Theocracy while having a Barracks and a Stable when building a mounted unit! Additional civs that also can produce 10 XP units peacefully are 1. the mongols and 2. Native Amerika.

Screenshots:

Spoiler :

Seraiel · May 12, 2015

National Epic city:

The National Epic is the 2nd National Wonder that gets unlocked with Literature. It is also ultimately powerful like the HE, so you probably will want the +100% :gp:

in every game (Addition: Execept those, that you win without getting Literature

) .
The most difficult is, choosing the right city for it and getting it constructed as early as possible. Usually, you want the NE to be in the city that has the most food, which not seldomly is the capital. Building the NE in the capital has it's advantages and disadvantages. The greatest advantage is, that your capital most often is the furthest developed city, so it can be build earlier than in other high food cities. Another advantage is, that your capital i. e. will have an early Market, so it cannot only produce Great Scientists, but also Great Merchants, which help a lot when building many Horse Archers to upgrade them once Cuirrassiers are available. At last, your capital will often be the city which has the most World Wonders, which contribute almost as many :gp:

as a Specialist.
The disadvantages of building the NE in the capital are, that the city preferably wants to work Cottages, as a cottaged bureaucracy capital with an Academy produces up to 50% of the total research. A good situation where the decision is easy, are capitals with many Plains, as working Plains is almost completely unattractive. Further choosing the capital for the NE is good in games that are won early, so i. e. Domination or Conquest games. In Space Races however one needs as many Great Persons as possible, making it more attractive to build it in a city that doesn't need to work Cottages, so which is specialized completely to Farms. The minor advantage that the capital will also get Oxford and therefore can run many Scientists, then usually is of minor importance, because on will try to run Caste from after Universities 'til the end, which is very difficult the larger the map is, because one would need a lot of :espionage:

to regularly switch all AIs, to not get the :mad:

.
There are also situations, where one neither wants to choose the capital nor the food-richest city, because one wants to boost the :gp:

production of a 3rd city, following the logic that two GPs from two cities are better than 1.5 from one.

This is all very complicated and to make the right choice, one actually would need a spreadsheet like they're often used in SGOTMs, so what I'd like you to consider when making the choice are:

Is there a food-rich spot you can settle early? Early settling leads to a more developed city.
How fast can you build the NE? If you have a food-strong city that already has a Library because you planned this city to be the GP-Farm and that also got some Forests, take it.
Which city has the highest surplus of food? Obviously, more food can translate to more Specialists. If your capital has +10 :food while the next best city only has +6, the capital will be the better choice, even with its need to work Cottages.
How long will your game be? Short games NE = capital, long games = early, food-rich city.
Which city has the most World Wonders?
How many Plains or other bad tiles does a city have? The more bad tiles, the better is the Spot for the NE, because the main-GP-Farm will work only a few tiles.
Is the city holy? Holy cities have great synergy with the Wallstreet once they have a shrine. Wallstreet however got great synergy with Farms and also unlocks a lot of Merchant-slots.

Those are the 7 questions you should consider when you choose where to build the NE. Buildings for that city are basically all buildings that unlock specialist slots, except if you are running Caste, which often is not possible because “one can't live without the whip“ (WastinTime) .

Screenshots:

Spoiler :

Seraiel · May 12, 2015

Globe-Theater-city:

In war-games, the Globe Theater is the next most important National Wonder after the HE. The Globe eliminates all :mad:

,so it's great for cities with very much food and cities that get whipped and drafted regularly. A food-rich city that has the GT can even outproduce the HE-city, if built early and the longer the game goes. Upwards and including 4+ resources of food, one should heavily think if the city shouldn't get the GT.

There are a decent amount of Possibilities which city should get it:

Food-rich city that has neither the HE nor the NE. With getting the GT, the city can either be used as a very good 2nd Military City and it can be used for whipping Missionaries and / or Executives. It's the perfect city to get drafted every turn or as much as possible.
HE city: Ok choice, good if your HE-city has 4+ sources of food, generally, one will try to build it somewhere else though, because those Hammers spend into the GT could also be a lot of troops.
NE city: The NE city is a decent choice for the GT, simply because it often is the city with the highest surplus of food. One can use the city as a GP-Farm first, and once GPs become too expensive and also when one goes to war, one can use the highest food-city for whipping and drafting.
The GT also unlocks Artist slots, this can be useful when running many Golden Ages, so when needing different types of GPs. I'd still prefer to have it in a different city though, because the NE city has the lowest problems with much food because Specialists consume it, and GP-Farms often have a Market and a Theater, so they usually have a very high happy-cap.

Generally, the capital is not such a good choice, because it might already have the NE and you'll maybe want to construct Oxford in it too. Don't forget that apart from playing OCC, only 2 NWs are possible / city. It's also not worth to build the Globe at all, when games are either too short ( “small map!“ ) , or when one cannot spare the resources for the Theaters. If your game goes 'til after Cavalries, it's almost always worth its investment.

Hint to the construction of the GT: If your high food city is low on :hammers:

, it can still easily construct the GT. Whip whatever units you need excessively, and always let the OF go to the GT. Remember, that it doesn't matter how much :mad:

that city gets, because the GT will eliminate those problems anyhow.

You probably already noticed the drop in the importance of NWs, HE + NE are for 98% of the games, the GT however is already very situational, even with being very strong.

Screenshots:

Spoiler :

---------------------

Believe it or not, but apart from my OCC games and the HE + Globe city from Replay #8, these are actually the only games in which I built the Globe! I would have suspected it to be much more often, but as it shows, the Globe is simply too expensive in most cases while managing whipping-anger even if it's 10+ is simply too easy, when keeping cities small.

Seraiel · May 12, 2015

Another strong but again situational wonder are: The Ironworks.

Ironworks is a strong NW, that becomes available very late, so the game must be long enough for it to pay back. IW is definitely a good choice for Space Races and every game that goes into the modern era, so until Tanks and Nukes. In those situations, IW is like an additional earlier Factory, that needs Iron and Coal to be effective, which usually is a minor problem at the time at which it gets built.
IW cities want to have land with lots of :hammers:

, so it's great to found it at a long river, which has lots of Grasslands which can be Workshopped. Late Jungle cities often are awesome to build it in. The IW-city wants to have all production modifiers, so Granary, Forge, Factor and Coal Plant, and Levees help to raise the basic amount of :hammers:

by quite a lot. IW is great to build the three Hit Wonders, the Christo Redentor and also the UN. It unlocks two Engineer slots, so it can be used to create a late Great Engineer for Mining Inc., anyhow this needs IW to be constructed fast, because the way from Steel to Railroads is short.
The IW city is also great for 1-turning Execs, and the difference in GNP is tremendous, when building Research or Wealth. Additionally, there is no city which can build the Space Elevator and an Engine in the time where the 2nd strongest Hammer-city builds the other Engine, when using the GE from Fusion for Robotics.
Ofc., IW is also great for building troops, it can 1-turn modern Armors without having a MA. If building troops, you should again consider an Airport to airlift the units directly to the front.

Screenshots:

Spoiler :

Seraiel · May 12, 2015

The University of Oxford:

One might think differently ar first, but this NW is already very situational. You will definitely want to have it in Space Races, Time games and UN victories, as those games are long enough for it to pay back. The costs of Oxford are very very very high, it's often already hard to find enough cities that have the power to build a University fast. The costs of Oxford itself are quite low, but unless you're PHI, getting the Universities is expensive and difficult.
That is also the reason, why you don't want to build it in the great number of Dom / Conquest games, that you finish with Cavalries, Spies and Airships. Your game must at least go until Nukes, otherwise building Oxford is a waste. Even with a game going until Nukes, chances are still, that you should simply take the momentum you have with Cuirrassiers and / or Cavs, and take a lot of cities before the AIs reach sufficient defenders, as more cities ofc. also means more research, so it can be said, that Oxford in Dom / Conquest is only of use if the AIs are far developed and if more research is your only chance to compare (I once played a Large / Normal / Conquest game on Boreal where this was the case, you can find the writeup in the HoF forums) .

In over 90% of the cases, your capital will be the city where you construct it, simply because it has the most Cottages, is big and because you run Bureaucracy at that time. Buro + Oxford are multiplicative and not additive, so the bonus :commerce:

from Buro actually makes a huge difference
You probably guessed this also already, but Oxford is also one of the wonders where the speed at which one can construct it is important. In SGOTM games and also in the best Space Races in the HoF, Oxford is constructed with a tactic called “whip-stacking“ ! This tactic needs to be planned very well and its use is to construct Oxford in only 1T, to get the most of the bonus. For this it's needed, that you whip between 2 and 3 buildings on consecutive turns with maximum Overflow. If the cheapest building finishes, its OF will get carried over to the next building. As that building is already whipped with max. OF too, the :hammers:

of both will stack and be carried over to the 3rd building, which again adds its OF as it got also whipped, to finally have enough OF to construct the complete Oxford University with the production of those three + the following turns, which also gets added. If you don't want to whip down your capital so much, you can also apply chops on the turn at which Oxford is built. Just be careful, that you don't waste any OF though. You can always have only as much OF as the build you construct, including multipliers , so i. e. 300 :hammers:

when the building costs 600 :hammers:

and when one has a +100% production bonus. This is also the reason why you whip the small things first and the large ones later. Should you need to store :hammers:

because you i. e. still need one of the six Universities and whipped your capital too early, a great trick is to build Wealth or Research. This usually a tactic players use when chopping out WWs of which they don't know, if they can get them safely, so they chop i. e. Forests for 1000 :hammers:

, and if the WW is still available, they insert it in the queue and 1T-build it. Should it be gone, they can simply insert a different WW or also store the :hammers:

for as long until the next critical WW is unlocked.
When having Happiness-problems, there also is the possibility to whip a building with max-OF and then take it out of the queue, to insert it again, when it's needed. The building gets stored with its OF, so you don't have to worry about losing anything

.

To still get the most out of the bonus from Oxford, it's also needed to reach Education as fast as possible, therefore, it's often more useful to take your first GS to bulb Education, instead of building an Academy with him. An Academy then is only the right choice, if your capital is a) overly good or b) if your arbitrary cities aren't yet developed enough, so that you want to delay Oxford, to give them a little more time to maybe finish Forges and grow a little larger, to then be able to whip the Universities faster.

Screenshots of Oxford-cities:

Spoiler :

Seraiel · May 12, 2015

Explaining "Whip-stacking" with screens from Kakumeika's SGOTM 18:

(Special thx to WastinTime and elitetroops who checked this example for its correctness!)

Spoiler :

This is the capital, and it whipped a Temple with max-OF on the last turn. As you can see, we have about 30 base- :hammers:

of OF, which got taken over to this turn. In this turn, a Market got whipped with max-OF again, and as the Market needs 150 :hammers:

, up to 75 base- :hammers:

can be taken over to the next turn while having multipliers for 200% production, which is more than enough, because 33 base :hammers:

+30 base

OF from the Market are only 63 base :hammers:

, which you see here:

Spoiler :

Those 63 base :hammers:

get multiplied to 146 :hammers:

with including the production of that turn. Now we 2-pop-whip a University again with max-OF and even work the Marble for 4 :hammers:

:

Spoiler :

And with working all Hammer-tiles + even working an Engineer Specialist while starving the city for three :food:

, the wonder happens, Oxford in 1T:

Spoiler :

Note that this would have been impossible without being IND and having Stone, and that it's only to demonstrate OF-whipping into NWs in general. If you're not IND, you need to add Forests on the final turn, or you need to drag out the production by inserting Oxford in the queue for 1T, to get rid of the existing OF at that time. The key again is, to pre-produce useful buildings up to the point of max-OF before Universities and Oxford become available, to then whip that OF indirectly into Oxford, because whipping it directly would suffer the usual rush-penalty for NWs and WWs.

Seraiel · May 12, 2015

The Wallstreet-city:

Now we come to my favourite National Wonder, "the Wallstreet" , a great wonder but only for the fewest games, mostly because it comes so late and also because Banks are expensive buildings, that often aren't needed too. This is because on the higher difficulties, with the exception of Highscore games, one will run 100% science for most of the game, making the Wallstreet almost useless.
If you decide to build it, i. e. when your game is not over soon and you got a Great Engineer that has no better use so you can build it fast, the most important thing to know is, that the capital is only seldomly the best city for it. The capital would be great when you play a highscore game because then you'll have a large phase where your empire is running 100% gold, but in Space Races for example, the Wallstreet does nothing when being constructed in a Cottage city. The best place is a city with a shrine, that you also choose to be the Headquarter of your Corporations. In this case, the WS can generate over 3k of :gold:

, so it's mandatory. To make even more gold, you will also want to farm the city, to make it run a lot of Merchants which give gold even with your empire running 100% science. This synergizes very well with corps, because if your city has lots of farms, it'll also be easier to whip out the initial Execs.
After thinking about it again I find, that Corporations really are the only good reason to build the WS. I btw. also remembered, that a very elegant way of constructing the WS is to start a GA, switch to US for 5T and then buy it together with the National Park. This is a very good way, because constructing th WS as well as the NP can be a real pain, because the WS is so expensive and the best NP cities have few :hammers:

, otoh, starting a GA is usually really easy at that time. Should you also not have the Forbidden Palace at that time, you can buy it too, the FP is quite cheap while often saving hundreds of gold.

Screenshots of Wall Street cities:

Spoiler :

Seraiel · May 12, 2015

MOAI-statues:

Also a situational NW, though built more often than the WS. The main purpose why anyhow is, that the MOAI-statues come early and are Stone NW, so they're great for Failgold

. They can also be of real use, like in a Dom / Conquest game, when one city has multiple sources of seafood. In Dom and Conquest games, working non-food-seatiles doesn't make sense, because the whip is better, but if you got seafood, just divide the number of :hammers:

you gain through the number of :hammers:

it costs (don't forget to take Stone in this equation if you got it) , then you'll know the time at which the MOAI-statues have payed back their investment, so produce additional :hammers:

.
If you play a Space Race, forget what I wrote about non-seafood-tiles being bad, but let that city grow. When you build your Spaceship, you'll most probably be in a GA, so the coastal tiles then give 2 :hammers:

, which not seldomly turns the MOAI city in one of the most productive city.

Screenshots of a few MOAI-cities:

Spoiler :

I didn't find a single Domination or Conquest game in which I built the MOAI-statues, so better see this NW as very situational. ^^

Seraiel · May 12, 2015

The Forbidden Palace:

There is nothing special to say to the city getting the FP, except, that you should not forget that if you play a cylindrical or tororidal map, that the best spot to build it can be at the edge of the map, i. e. when your capital is in the middle of it.
The FP unfortunately doesn't reduce the cost of tech-steals, so it's not an extra Palace, but just for reducing distance maintenance. As you have read that, you ofc. also know that the FP makes no sense when running State Property.
See WS for most elegant way to build this.

No screenshots needed, or would you like to see a city that pays no distance-maintenance? ^^

Seraiel · May 12, 2015

The National Park city:

This city got already described in “CIV Illustrated #2: Case studies - city placement“ . There is nothing to say to this city, except the more Forests Preserves, the better.
Also see WS for the most elegant way to build it.

Screenshots:

Spoiler :

Seraiel · May 12, 2015

The Hermitage-city:

Has only a real use in traditional Cultural Victories. Then, it's built in the city that produces the most :culture:

(usually the capital) produced fast with OF-whips as whipping it would suffer from the usual malus on NWs and WWs. To know how this city looks like, see the guide for Cultural Victories by Jesusin.

Is often built in non Cultural Victories in multiple cities for Marble-enhanced Failgold.

Screenshots:

Spoiler :

Seraiel · May 12, 2015

Mt. Rushmoore:

Very cheap NW that can be of very great help in very late wars like they occur in war-scenarios that have dragged far into the modern era. In those it's such a great help, because together with Police State + Jails, it negates all :mad:

you have through the war. As it's so cheap, it's usually easy to find a city that can build it fast.

Screenshots:

Spoiler :

Seraiel · May 12, 2015

The Red Cross:

This NW comes so late, is so expensive and also so bad, that it's almost of no use at all. In theory, it could be build it in the Globe-city to draft Medic 1 units from it, that could use the first promotion to get March. Personally I've only built it in times, when I hadn't discovered CIVFanatics and was a very bad player still.

No screenshots available, thx to the great advice on CFC!

Seraiel · May 12, 2015

Westpoint:

Tbh., Westpoint is a mostly superfluous NW. Getting 4 XP sounds nice and many beginners therefore build it in their HE-city, but if you correlate how many units you didn't build because you constructed WP, it becomes obvious why WP in the HE-city is a bad choice. WP is only useful in games that stretch out into Modern or even Future times, then it should be built in the IW city, because that city 1. has the :hammers:

to construct it fast and 2. you don't lose as many units as you would have lost, if you had built it in the HE-city.

Screenshots:

Spoiler :

Seraiel · May 12, 2015

Scotland Yard:

With the new Espionage Victories now playing a role, I must adress this type of city too. Scotland Yard is no national Wonder, but it definitely makes a city special.

There are basically two types of "Espionage-cities" which I'd like to to adress:

1. The Burocratic Scotland Yard capital:

This city works mostly like an Oxford-city, only that it has Scotland Yard as a multiplier, and as one doesn't research past Alpha in an Espionage-assisted Cultural Victory, the city also needs no Library. Just the Great Wall, to generate a Great Spy, a Courthouse to hire a Spy-Specialist, sometimes and very late: A castle, and apart from that, Cottages over Cotttages.
Having Stone is very helpful, but not necessarily needed in non-competetive games, as the Great Wall is quite a cheap wonder, and in the mentioned games, there is no need for anything else, so not even the Mids, the GLH or the Oracle.

2. The 0% Specialist Espionage city:

This type of city is very helpful in games that go really really far down the tech-tree, like i. e. in Space Races, or Games that go until Nukes and Paratroopers. If acquiring a Scotland Yard city from the AI, one should instantly think of making it a Specialist Espionage city, as the possibility to create :espionage:

without needing the slider for it, is great in games where one still needs to tech, but also needs Espionage to switch the AIs out of Emancipation, or use Spy-revolts in fast mid- to late-game Conquest. AIs also have a tendency, to produce very much :espionage:

in the endgame, so this type of cities can be even already useful as a defense against enemy spying, and while the city having Scotland Yard is nice, it's not even necessarily needed.
The buildings in this city, as expected, are all the :espionage:

multipliers like a Jail and an Intelligence Agency, and having a Courthouse, a Security Buro and maybe even the Kremlin on top can be helpful to hire even more Spy-Specialists.
Also, as you probably already have guessed, this city gets mostly Farms, as it very similar to a GP-Farm.

Screenshots:

Spoiler :

Seraiel · May 12, 2015

So, you've made it

. If you learned something from the thread, or if you found that it was a good read, or if you simply appreciate the effort, again, plz rate this thread. There are always heavily frustrated people that rate everything with one Star, so really every vote is needed.

I'm also always happy about feedback.

Cya in the next issue of "CIV Illustrated" , which will most likely be about "hybrid economy" !

Seraiel

Seraiel · May 12, 2015

Reserved just in case.

Seraiel · May 12, 2015

Also reserved.

Seraiel · May 12, 2015

At last: Reserved.

CIV Illustrated #3: City specialization explained!

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