Do You Really Need Entertainment Districts?

[CaiusDrewart]

I'm wondering if, for a lot of games, you really don't. If you go to war a lot, you probably do. War weariness can be -5 to amenities or more, and that really makes you take notice. But when I'm at peace, I'm finding that amenities are almost never an issue. It seems that through expansion and a policy card or two, I just naturally get the amenities my cities need without building any entertainment districts, much less either of the entertainment wonders. This is in contrast to housing, which has been much more effective as a brake on my development. I'm wondering if other people have had the same experience.

 

[rpgalon]

If you want that +1 and +3 amenities boost to yield, yes.

But you really don't need amenities as a whole, the penalty you get for lacking amenities is not a big deal and the bonus are mediocre, housing is a far far bigger problem.

 

[redwings1340]

In my first game I didn't get them at all until late, when my population started exploding once I unlocked neighborhoods and farm adjacency bonuses.

In my second game, I'm getting them because I've been at war with Russia and Japan, my economy was bankrupt, and my cities were in open revolt.

I think entertainment complexes are more late game buildings, or for warmongers, as you said. You don't need to rush them early if you play peacefully and grab luxuries.

 

[Browd]

Depends on how many cities you found. Also, keep in mind that excess amenities will result in substantially faster city growth and boosts to non-food yields.

 

[Stalker0]

I've seen games where they were important, but other games where I was swimming in amenities without issue. Depends on what luxuries you find as a big factor.

 

[lamaros]

Entirely depends, but I've found unless you go tall you hit the amenity wall harder than you hit the housing wall.

You need to place them well, though. The cost to build them is significant and you need to hit that regional bonus on a few cities.

 

[LanguishViking]

YES, as the many revolutionaries in my country during war suggest.

 

[GAGA Extrem]

Really depends on the amount of luxuries you can get.
If you are lucky enough to grab like 4 of them early on, you can postpone the districts quite a bit. Otherwise I'd say they become pretty important once you have aqueducts.

But remember: You don't need them in EVERY city. The later improvements spread over 6 tiles, so a single city can make the whole neighborhood happy.

 

[joncnunn]

Really depends on the amount of luxuries you can get.
If you are lucky enough to grab like 4 of them early on, you can postpone the districts quite a bit. Otherwise I'd say they become pretty important once you have aqueducts.

But remember: You don't need them in EVERY city. The later improvements spread over 6 tiles, so a single city can make the whole neighborhood happy.

But also the more cities you have, the less it matters if you over-concentrate one portion of your empire with entertainment complexes; the department of luxury management will just shift all luxuries away from that area getting a lot of entertainment to the area without entertainment. The most important thing is to try to place entertainment zones in tiles with several cities within 6 hexes.

 

[lamaros]

Yep. Also, getting housing and luxuries above the minimum will make your cities more productive and grow faster.

A small core group of cities with overlapping regional amenities can grow pretty tall.

 

[Kouvb593kdnuewnd]

Entertainment district are similar to industrial district with area of effect yield on its two later buildings. Yes you are eventually going to need them to keep your cities happy. An entertainment district can give 6 amenities to its home city and 4 to nearby cities with all buildings and no cards.

You won't need them in all cities due to their area yield.