I don't feel like district system makes any difference

[Fierro]

So far, the only difference is that districts need tiles to be built on. And they also receive bonuses for adjacent tiles. That's all. They still look like improvements separated from city and I still need most of the districts to be built in each city as it was in Civ 5.

Sometimes I may want just focus on production or gold but that was a thing in Civ 5 too (trading posts or mines spamming). So, what is difference if the most efficient way to win is building campuses everywhere and become tech leader? I'm just getting bored of the fact that campus gives me drastical bonus to science so that I feel like it must-have in each city. Same about Industrial zone - you certainly need it everywhere or cities will not produce anything.

The only exciting thing about this is that many wonders have requirements for terrain/district adjacency. That still keeps system somewhat exciting. But in Civ 6 wonders are not necesarry to have if you want survive. In Civ 5 they were much more important - I had at least one or two during my game.

It is just my current point of view, it may change with time, but I came to it after my third civ game when I felt like I should do the same things over and over, like in previous games.

 

[FlashXAron]

maybe have a look, WHERE you should place your districts and wonders and you could built cities AT THE SAME SPOT, which have at least double or triple output !
And you could even push that with Great Persons and artefacts/books etc. !

https://hydra-media.cursecdn.com/civ6.gamepedia.com/2/29/District_Cheat_Sheet.png
https://hydra-media.cursecdn.com/civ6.gamepedia.com/d/d9/Wonder_Cheat_Sheet.png

but of course if you have space to build 10-20 cities IT DOESN'T MATTER ...

 

[Plus Ultra]

So far, the only difference is that districts need tiles to be built on. And they also receive bonuses for adjacent tiles. That's all.

Those are two very important differences that significantly change how we play the game.

I'm in love with the system, even if there are some rough edges and exploits to be fixed I'd say districts are very welcome addition to Civ.

 

[Fierro]

Those are two very important differences that significantly change how we play the game.

I'm in love with the system, even if there are some rough edges and exploits to be fixed I'd say districts are very welcome addition to Civ.

Maybe I should play against human players then to feel full impact of new system. Because AI isn't competent enough yet.

 

[Victoria]

The AI will never be competent enough and so gets other bonuses at higher levels. But we all agree it could be a touch more competent than imbecilic.

The AI could spam campuses but its about Eureka is the big difference I am now seeing.

I can double my science by building that campus but upgrading those slingers over the years to differing levels with money from my commercial district has been more efficient. - Just one example.

Eureka - 50%
Campus - 50%

Yes it is not that simple, I am asking you to consider how "not simple" that is and can it be more balanced.
I am still unsure, we are all still noobs.

Last game I had 12 cities by the end, 4 had campuses and I was culturally elite. 1 small war fought that took ages to cheer everyone else up about afterward and a very very enjoyable Eureka challenge came...... I wanted to see how many Eureka's I could get and building campuses just slowed me down

 

[Xyriach]

Maybe I should play against human players then to feel full impact of new system. Because AI isn't competent enough yet.

I'm not sure how playing against human players is going to change the way that districts interact with the geography...

The AI can't get the blame for how land works...

 

[TwistedMinds]

I love the new districts system. It makes the land around your city feel more "alive" with wonders and more variety. But the real kicker for me is how pillaging is so much more interesting now. I can wreck my opponent without taking their cities and be certain they won't come back from it in 10 turns. I wage war to get yields by pillaging their districts and don't get denounced for warmongering.
Going to war is no longer a matter of only taking lands, but to weaken my opponent while getting stronger.

 

[WiseGreen]

By midgame, when you start having more choices and needs for districts than pops to support all of them, that's when districts show their strategic depth, IMHO - specially when both districts and farms are competing for real state.

 

[dac050]

Yes, the days of my old Civ style of "build everything, everywhere" are gone. I have to actually think about what I want the city to do, and focus a bit, which I think was the point.

 

[bladex]

i love districts one of the best things they added to the game.

 

[Znabel15]

The AI will never be competent enough and so gets other bonuses at higher levels. But we all agree it could be a touch more competent than imbecilic.
-snip-

This is actually a big challenge for AI coders as it introduces a ton of new variables that the AI needs to take into account when making decisions.
Where as in CIV 1-5 the AI could just build building in a set sequence without any major negative or positive consequences for the citys productivity.

 

[Matte979]

Starting to play on Immortal with slower tech/civic rate and Districts are vital even early, other difficulties or with the fast tech I did not feel this way, but on Immortal they are as they should be critical to the progress of your empire. The add a lot of depth to the city building that was just lacking in previous civ games.

I do let the AI build up and do not go crazy conquering the world, which I think it way to easy right now specially early on even on Immortal, mainly due to AIs units being older and range units being very powerful in the hands of the player, AI needs to build a lot more range 2 units and it will be a whole different game. AI also need to settle more aggressively even if a space is half taken but allows a city, Huge map helps a little but they are still to slow on settling, which is why the start with 2 cities on Immortal really make the game better in that respect.

 

[Roller123]

the district system felt refreshing until i realized its just a layered system of the same old stuff with more micro reqs. The best change for me was that wonders actually require a slot now building a wonder is a choice to make now.

 

[UncivilizedGuy]

Districts also add another dimension to protecting your empire during wartime.

 

[UWHabs]

I do feel that there could be more done to make districts a bit more "unique". Other than the small adjacency bonus, it doesn't feel like there's any local influence of a district. And after some time, whether I can get the +2 or +3 from building a district doesn't matter. I think one big piece they're missing in the districts is to have them give an extra bonus to the resources associated with them. So, if I build an industrial district, I should get +1 production on stone, copper, iron, horses. If I build a theatre district, I should get +1 culture on jade, silk, marble. Campus gives +1 science to mercury (maybe +1 science to rainforests as well?). Holy site gives faith to dyes and incense.

Basically, I would rather have it be a virtually overwhelming effect, so that in a certain city spot, you would be like, "this city has 2 silk tiles - it should be my threatre hub". Maybe for that, to not make it too OP, they could add that benefit in with national wonders. So basically each district would have a "national wonder" that you could build, that would give the bonuses above as well as a large boost to the district yields. That's the one part I miss most about civ 4 - exploring around and being like "this will be my cottage city, and it will be glorious. That spot over there with 2 fish and a corn, that will be my specialist city". Right now, in 6, as great as it is so far, it's more like, "well, this city will give me more land. And I guess I can get a +1 campus next to the mountain tile", which, when you think of things, doesn't matter at all when you're at 50 science per turn. You'll get more science by building a commercial zone and finding a +1 science trading route.

 

[Roxlimn]

That's weird, UWHabs. I feel that Civ IV vibe a lot more with Civ VI! In Civ 4, you see a lot of cottage sites and you want it to be a gold city. You see a lot of food and you want it to be a specialist city. The same is true for Civ VI, only moreso. When I see a lot of hills and stone, I'm thinking industrial hub. When I see a lot of flat land, I'm thinking breadbasket - that city will grow large and the farms around it will boost the internal trade output of food. When I see coast, I'm thinking commercial city - having both Harbor and Commercial Hub means it will be worth twice to the empire in terms of trade routes. When I see a bunch of mountains, or rainforest, that's Campus - the most adjacency to Campus I've had was +5 - 4 for 4 adjacent Mountain tiles, and one more for the 2 adjacent Districts. With the Policy that doubles Campus Adjacency, that's +10 to science before anything else when my global output was 20. Insane.

When Isaac Newton was up for grabs, I just built a new Campus wherever - just for him. Since he automakes a Libary and University AND boosts University output by +2, setting up a campus for him and then putting him on it boosted my Science output by +10 (I had two other Campuses). Once I had three Campuses with +8 each from the District Buildings, switching to Rationalism for +24 Science made sense, and I switched out Natural Philosophy. Of course, the new Campus had to be made in what was basically an Industrial City, and it was near the city center because that was the best adjacency I could get for it, but them's the breaks, Newton.

The Districts are also more unique in that putting them in faraway locations to get the juicy terrain adjacencies occasionally means that you have to station troops in the area unless you're fond of rebuilding Districts - the barbarians have a nasty habit of going around sacking everything, so you have to defend your stuff. It also makes it occasionally make sense to build an Encampment near a University if that's all that between the faculty and the ravening hordes.

Basically, if the only thing you've done with a Campus is put it near one Mountain tile for the +1 Adjacency, then you're really not exploring the mechanic very much.