This post will be updated. While the mod is ready for use, consider the text here a rough draft. I wanted to get this released while I had a little free time.
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This mod addresses the issue in vanilla Civ VI where more cities is always a better strategy than large cities. There are many different systems that had to be altered to balance these two play styles. I attempt to do this in a way where one is not necessarily better than the other, but different. Also, I try to use pre-existing game systems to achieve this, as to keep the feel of the game consistent.
Theoretically, I wanted civs with very large cities to have an advantage in science and culture, and civs with many cities to have an advantage on production and economy. That being said, either style can excel at whatever they focus on.
This has been playtested in single and multiplayer, several games of 700+ turns. For the 2 longer multiplayer games, I limited myself to 1 and 3 cities. My testing partner went wide (10+ cities) in both games.I am very happy with the balance in it's current state. A wide empire will still be superior to a tall one if meticulously planned, but now that is harder to achieve.
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The larger system changes are as follows:
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GAMEPLAY
This mod places a focus on city planning and management. The best way to succeed in standard Civ VI is to place as many cities and districts as possible, as soon as possible. That is not the case in this mod. A well planned 3 city empire will be vastly superior to a thoughtless city-spammed 20 city empire.
Expansion
In Civ V, if you expanded to rapidly, you would suffer through global happiness. The same principle applies here. Before expanding your empire, you will need to make sure you have amenities available for the new cities. That can be done through excess luxuries, or by having an entertainment complex up within range of that new city. Additional luxuries can be claimed prior to settling a new city by taking advantage of my Strategic Forts mod, which allows for claiming territory without settling a new city. Negative amenity penalties can be harsh, and ultimately bring an empire to a halt if too far in the negative.
Amenity Management
We can break amenities into two parts: local and luxury. Local amenities will be those generated by entertainment districts, wonders, policies, and religious beliefs. Luxury are resource based amenities, which will be applied automatically to whichever city needs them the most. With this mod, amenities now cover 3 population each. Additionally, luxuries now only provide an amenity to a single city, as opposed to 4.
Local amenities will be very important for wide empires. If you try to build a 10 city empire without local amenities, your cities will need to be very small. Assuming you have access to 10 luxury resources, then without local amenities that caps all 10 of your cities at 3 population to avoid negative happiness effects. However, if you were to have 2 local amenities in each city, that would increase each city to a population of 9. Your empire wide population would therefore go from 30 to 90.
For a tall civ, local amenities will not have such a drastic effect. Assuming a single city civ with 10 lux available: No local amenities would give a total population of 30, while 2 local amenities would give 36.
Population Control
Since your empire's success will depend on your ability to properly manage city size vs happiness, methods of population control were added. There are now two city projects available: Prevent City Growth and Resume City Growth. These projects take only 1 production to complete, and their effects will stand until the opposing project is run.
An additional project, Develop Housing, will increase this city's housing limit by 1 upon completion. This is now used as a replacement to neighborhoods. Since a large city already has the majority of it's workable tiles used by districts and wonders, very large cities would not be feasible if requiring multiple neighborhoods.
City Yields
While city production and gold income remain the same as standard civ vi, culture and science have changed significantly. Cities that do not focus on these through districts and specialists will produce very little of the two. This is where a tall empire can excel. Larger cities means more citizens to spare as specialists in your campus or theater districts. Always keep an eye on your specialist slots, as this will not only be your main source of science and culture, but also of great people generation.
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FULL CHANGE LOG
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I tried to stick to the minimum needed to make this work. There are a few exceptions, such as where I fleshed out national wonders for each district. I need to create a replacement for Kongo's Mbanza, as well as make a couple of the national wonders more interesting.
Link to my required mod, Strategic Forts:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1142306094
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This mod addresses the issue in vanilla Civ VI where more cities is always a better strategy than large cities. There are many different systems that had to be altered to balance these two play styles. I attempt to do this in a way where one is not necessarily better than the other, but different. Also, I try to use pre-existing game systems to achieve this, as to keep the feel of the game consistent.
Theoretically, I wanted civs with very large cities to have an advantage in science and culture, and civs with many cities to have an advantage on production and economy. That being said, either style can excel at whatever they focus on.
This has been playtested in single and multiplayer, several games of 700+ turns. For the 2 longer multiplayer games, I limited myself to 1 and 3 cities. My testing partner went wide (10+ cities) in both games.I am very happy with the balance in it's current state. A wide empire will still be superior to a tall one if meticulously planned, but now that is harder to achieve.
------------------------------------------------------
The larger system changes are as follows:
-Changed amenity system to set a soft cap to empire wide population, similar in effect to Civ V.
-Made large cities beneficial through specialist slots/yields and national wonders.
-Made large cities sustainable through other sources of food and housing.
-Now able to claim land and resources without placing new cities, through Strategic Forts.
-District rework: No longer receive science/culture increases for simply having the districts. Now they must be utilized by specialists.
-Great person points are now generated by specialists, as opposed buildings. To attract great people, you will need to focus your population to that task.
-Trade routes are now granted through certain techs and civs, in addition to the normal commercial/harbor districts.
-Made large cities beneficial through specialist slots/yields and national wonders.
-Made large cities sustainable through other sources of food and housing.
-Now able to claim land and resources without placing new cities, through Strategic Forts.
-District rework: No longer receive science/culture increases for simply having the districts. Now they must be utilized by specialists.
-Great person points are now generated by specialists, as opposed buildings. To attract great people, you will need to focus your population to that task.
-Trade routes are now granted through certain techs and civs, in addition to the normal commercial/harbor districts.
------------------------------------------------------
GAMEPLAY
This mod places a focus on city planning and management. The best way to succeed in standard Civ VI is to place as many cities and districts as possible, as soon as possible. That is not the case in this mod. A well planned 3 city empire will be vastly superior to a thoughtless city-spammed 20 city empire.
Expansion
In Civ V, if you expanded to rapidly, you would suffer through global happiness. The same principle applies here. Before expanding your empire, you will need to make sure you have amenities available for the new cities. That can be done through excess luxuries, or by having an entertainment complex up within range of that new city. Additional luxuries can be claimed prior to settling a new city by taking advantage of my Strategic Forts mod, which allows for claiming territory without settling a new city. Negative amenity penalties can be harsh, and ultimately bring an empire to a halt if too far in the negative.
Amenity Management
We can break amenities into two parts: local and luxury. Local amenities will be those generated by entertainment districts, wonders, policies, and religious beliefs. Luxury are resource based amenities, which will be applied automatically to whichever city needs them the most. With this mod, amenities now cover 3 population each. Additionally, luxuries now only provide an amenity to a single city, as opposed to 4.
Local amenities will be very important for wide empires. If you try to build a 10 city empire without local amenities, your cities will need to be very small. Assuming you have access to 10 luxury resources, then without local amenities that caps all 10 of your cities at 3 population to avoid negative happiness effects. However, if you were to have 2 local amenities in each city, that would increase each city to a population of 9. Your empire wide population would therefore go from 30 to 90.
For a tall civ, local amenities will not have such a drastic effect. Assuming a single city civ with 10 lux available: No local amenities would give a total population of 30, while 2 local amenities would give 36.
Population Control
Since your empire's success will depend on your ability to properly manage city size vs happiness, methods of population control were added. There are now two city projects available: Prevent City Growth and Resume City Growth. These projects take only 1 production to complete, and their effects will stand until the opposing project is run.
An additional project, Develop Housing, will increase this city's housing limit by 1 upon completion. This is now used as a replacement to neighborhoods. Since a large city already has the majority of it's workable tiles used by districts and wonders, very large cities would not be feasible if requiring multiple neighborhoods.
City Yields
While city production and gold income remain the same as standard civ vi, culture and science have changed significantly. Cities that do not focus on these through districts and specialists will produce very little of the two. This is where a tall empire can excel. Larger cities means more citizens to spare as specialists in your campus or theater districts. Always keep an eye on your specialist slots, as this will not only be your main source of science and culture, but also of great people generation.
------------------------------------------------------
FULL CHANGE LOG
Spoiler :
I tried to stick to the minimum needed to make this work. There are a few exceptions, such as where I fleshed out national wonders for each district. I need to create a replacement for Kongo's Mbanza, as well as make a couple of the national wonders more interesting.
Link to my required mod, Strategic Forts:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1142306094
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