How to Make Snow Cities Work?

steveg700

Deity
Joined
Feb 9, 2012
Messages
3,845
So at some point a player reaches that moment when a they research Refining and they get to see if they will get to have a late-game military. An "oil or nothing" proposition, if ya will. In this case, the good news is that I am probably the only civ that can see oil. The bad news is, there's ain't too much to see. I got no options in my territory, and nobody nearby I can poach it from.

The two down here are up for grabs. All I need is the oil, so I s'pose I can have 1 pop city, kept alive with some trade routes. It likely won't matter by the time I get response (if I get any), all the same I think it might be interesting to hear how others might approach this.

In theory, I might try to work the CS on my behalf. I've got the suzerain and most civ's don't even know it exists. So maybe try to get its borders expanded to where it can milk the oil for me. Or I might simply take the CS.

upload_2022-6-19_21-19-2.png
 
Eh, City-State will take too long to expand there, Honestly, just plop a city and let it be what it is: a resource outpost. Maybe if you're going Science you can try to to Great Engineer Amundsen-Scott, in which case I'd settle to the right of the lake to quickly buy the fish tile. If you can buy a Harbor, and then a lightouse, easy 4 pop, plop a +1 campus just because. You can maybe skip the Harbor, but the trade route's the best non-oil yield the city provides if the great person you need doesn't show up, and hard-building Scott takes way too long.
 
That's close to what I was considering. I'm that a combo of fisheries and a well-placed preserve and it might have a vestige of self- sustenance. Knock two or three tiles to breathtaking. Then either grove+sanctuary or neighborhoods+public transport.

upload_2022-6-20_0-50-6.png
 
Honestly wouldn't worry about making it self-sufficient. Build the city between the oils, buy the tile, put your rigs out there, and just ignore the city for eternity. I mean, maybe you could put a second city up by the coast+tea and try to coordinate preserves, but the effort you're going to put in to get a few beakers out in the end is just not going to be worth it.
 
If it's only for the oil, there's no need to make that city "work". Plop it on the river, inside the bend, buy both oils, improve them and have a nice day :)
I don't think that a harbour can be justified here, putting it in that lake is a hmm, and trying to put it north or east makes it very hard to get both oils with one city. A tundra farm triangle will do. It can be a nice place for Amundsen-Scott, if you have a district-buying governor and get Shah. For another specialty district I'd probably place a CH, so that the city earns its traderoute.

Bye bye Bologna :ar15:
Aww, no, no, no :nono:
Bologna's too nice, Bologna gives you an edge in gaining nice great people. Also, as an allied city state it will be a trade route lifeline for this snow city with democracy bonuses. Yerevan can be allied too for the same purposes.
By the way, Ada Lovelace is probably meant to be used in such cities.
 
As others have said, just place a city between the oil, buy the tiles, and improve the oil. I wouldn't sink precious resources into trying to make the city anything other than an oil farm. It serves its purpose providing fuel for artillery and tanks. And I definitely wouldn't kill the CS - the science is far too valuable.
 
Snow and tundra cities shouldn't exist in any historically inspired 4X game to begin with, they are biologically and physically unsuitable for human habitation. That rule includes Inuits and Siberian peoples who have barely persisted there with extremely low population densities. Snow, ice and tundra lands (also known as "permafrost soils where agriculture is impossible, at ready until industrial measures") should only exist in civ series map generation as cosmetic representation of poles, with their only usability (besides interactions with hunter gatherer tribes) being late game mineral resources, research and strategic locations, because this is hard reality of humans living in physical universe.

The existence of any and all tundra - snow based cities in civ which are capable of high population via deer hunting etc (gues what, there is a reason why maximum hunter gatherer pop density is at least 20 times smaller than farming lands) an affront to reality, and Canadan and Russian people having some unique magical bonuses to their habitation is some softcore racist stereotype nonsense. 70% of area of Russia and Canada which has tundra soil are exactly those parts of those countries where almost nobody lives.
 
Krajzen: The existence of tundra forest as a terrain type in the game makes if (painfully) clear that the in-game tundra is not permafrost soil - permafrost does not have nearly deep enough unfrozen depth to allow for significant forests. It's pretty clearly a misapplied name that represent, not only permafrost areas but, a more general colder areas with short growing seasons and long winters, including taigas and other boreal forests.

Which as a matter of fact Russians and Canadians did settle fairly significantly.
 
Last edited:
I see there's 2 oil near a city radius. I would build a city next to them, build a monument for loyalty and then keep the oils. :)
 
LOL. Very pragmatic and sensible advice, everyone. All the same, I think I'm going to make a li'l project out of this and see how it goes.
 
Bologna is the best city state in the game imo., so that's a big no-no.

I'll say just plop down a city, buy the tiles and work the oil, and leave it to not grow.
Yeah, Bologna is too good to take.

La Venta, OTOH, has two oil. I'm afraid will have to make do sans Colossal Heads.
 
Man, I would never settle a city in snow just for strategic resources...but this thread is making me change my mind. It's an interesting challenge!
 
You don't have to make snow cities work. Settle, improve and forget. (but don't forget to place a secret military base with AA guns, in case :shifty: )

The only thing that itches me, is that it might take out 1 citizen from your core cities, and add one or even several (if it manages to grow alone somehow) mouthes to entertain. Not a big deal ? Probably, but every bit counts.

Also, in reality Alaska for example is an american state, but i'm unsure it is fulfilled with cities as it should be like in Civ to be able to claim its resources. Not talking about Russia and Canada.
So I think it is necessary to have a mean to claim land other than cities. I imagined once that we would have to claim land with scouts, as much early as it is, but it wouldn't serve reality either because it would mean that a small tribe can have the territory of the Roman Empire... maybe such a unit later on ? An explorator or something...
 
Depending on what your future plans in the game are, don't forget that uranium also pops up near the snow/ice as well. If you're anywhere close to unlocking it, might want to wait on settling to see if you can snag a location with both resources.

FWIW, most of my games I end up settling at least one or two low-pop cities in undesirable terrain for resources (primarily aluminum for science victory - I can often live without much oil or uranium).
 
That looks like a great spot for a city to me in general. I would have already settled that whole area. Harbour and all its buildings, with the extra trade route it gives, will get you your food. The river and mountain allow many spots for you to build an aquaduct, which will help you get a decent industrial district. Mountains for campus. With the industrial zone you should be able to use the city for producing units. Or just putting projects on an infinite loop for extra science or gold and great people points.
 
Top Bottom