Ideas for civ unique districts in CIV7

[BuchiTaton]

CIV6's districts are in general a successful gameplay element that add to the strategic use of the map, additionally they also provide extra flavor to some civs in this game. These aspects could be exploited more systematically in CIV7 with unique districts that allow to have duplicates of some buildings since these civ specific districts would no replace any regular district.
Some exaples with the main civs from the Americas:

> MAIN STREET (American UD)
Its buildings are Town Hall (Meeting House), Saloon (Theater) and General Store (Bank).
Double immigrant attraction.

> CALPULLI (Aztec UD)
Its buildings are Chinampa (Farm), Telpochcalli (Barrack) and Tianguis (Market).
Can be build on lakes for extra food.

> WITZOB (Maya UD)
Its buildings are Observatory (Library), Ballcourt (Arena) and Pyramid (Temple).
Extra science from adjacent natural wonder.

> TAMBO (Inca UD)
Its buildings are Kallanka (Fort), Qullqa (Granary) and Acllahuasi (Worshop).
Can be build on mountains linking trade routes.

Plus another possible option from the region...

> HACIENDA (Mexican UD)
Its buildings are Ingenio (Plantation), Capilla (Shrine) and Lienzo (Stable).
Extra production from adjacent farm or pasture.

Like you can see these districts cover 3 different aspects of those civs saving us from unidimensional designs.
So which ideas of Unique Districts could be added for others civs?

 

[Phrozen]

America's unique should be Land-Grant University.

 

[Zaarin]

I love the idea of Unique Districts being entirely unique; this also ties in with my hope of baseline districts adapting to civ architecture more.

 

[pineappledan]

A North African civ like Morocco could have a Medina district

I think a balance needs to be struck with districts. There were too many adjacencies and different district types that made the city planning too complex and disjointed in civ6. I could see UDs coming back as a sort of 1-per-city district, but it would be really nice if the civ game in general pulled back on this system and had undifferentiated districts that don't have such complicated placements and interlocking mechanics.

 

[Zaarin]

I think a balance needs to be struck with districts. There were too many adjacencies and different district types that made the city planning too complex and disjointed in civ6. I could see UDs coming back as a sort of 1-per-city district, but it would be really nice if the civ game in general pulled back on this system and had undifferentiated districts that don't have such complicated placements and interlocking mechanics.

Districts are one of Civ6's best ideas and one of the few it actually did well IMO; I'd be disappointed if they either went back to Civ5-style single tile cities or to EL/HK-style generic districts. However, what I would like to see is a return to the importance of specialists (it's very easy to forget there are specialists in Civ6) and more building options at all tiers to make district planning less linear.

 

[BuchiTaton]

America's unique should be Land-Grant University.

Is an option. Which buildings would it include?

The idea of the Main Street is part of a complete design for America as the "Immigration Civ", being immigration a significative mechanic for CIV7. This America have the Pioneer UU a replacement of the regular Settler that can defend by itself, allowing an expansive early gameplay. Then with your cities covering a huge area come the Main Street UD with a base bonus for immigration attraction. The Town Hall represent the protestant communal aspect that facilitated the development of democratic institutions, the Saloon representing the roots of the american entertaiment and gambling industry, and the General Store for the business and capitalist element. For the last one the selection of a Bank instead of a Market is because General Stores used to gave credits to farmers, ranchers and gold prospectors to purchase the necesary for their enterprises, and also because options for Unique Markets are more common than Unique Banks. Finally come to play "The Land of the Free" UA that gives America higher chances to gain Great People from the immigration atraction, this way America can shine in every aspect (culture, science, economy, military, etc.) from their great peoples.

A North African civ like Morocco could have a Medina district

I think a balance needs to be struck with districts. There were too many adjacencies and different district types that made the city planning too complex and disjointed in civ6. I could see UDs coming back as a sort of 1-per-city district, but it would be really nice if the civ game in general pulled back on this system and had undifferentiated districts that don't have such complicated placements and interlocking mechanics.

The Medina is a great option for a Magrebi civ, for it I think the Kasbah is a must. My idea is to give priority to a Berber civ. The complication come from the other options to complete the Medina.
- Hamman, these Baths are common for muslim civs included the famous Turkish ones. Still the many examples from the Magreb and Andalusia make me think in them as a nice addition for a Berber civ.
- Ghorfa, a traditional Berber Granary that remember us why North Africa was the "Breadbasket" of the Romans.

Others options:
- Madrasa, as an University should be for the Science based muslim civ, who usually is the Arabian one.
- Bimaristan, unique Hospital in origin Persian but I think would fit better for the Arabian civ.
- Paradise Garden, this is also common for muslim culture but since come from the pre-islamic Persian ones it would fit better to them.
- Caravanserai, like the previous one could be for many but instead of be Persian I think should be for the Afghan or Gurkani civs.
- Kapalicarsi, Bazaars are also prety common but the Ottoman can use this name for a unique form.

 

[pineappledan]

Kasbah - defensive building
Zawiyah - religious/educational institution and housing for Sufi fraternities that are totally not a monastery because those don’t exist in Islam
Riad - North African style of private mansion/manor house
Tannery - need to use an alternative word, but the leather goods were a major historical export from North Africa, and the tanneries in Fes’ Medina quarter are a major tourist attraction.

The others, as you say, aren’t very North African.

 

[Phrozen]

Is an option. Which buildings would it include?

The idea of the Main Street is part of a complete design for America as the "Immigration Civ", being immigration a significative mechanic for CIV7. This America have the Pioneer UU a replacement of the regular Settler that can defend by itself, allowing an expansive early gameplay. Then with your cities covering a huge area come the Main Street UD with a base bonus for immigration attraction. The Town Hall represent the protestant communal aspect that facilitated the development of democratic institutions, the Saloon representing the roots of the american entertaiment and gambling industry, and the General Store for the business and capitalist element. For the last one the selection of a Bank instead of a Market is because General Stores used to gave credits to farmers, ranchers and gold prospectors to purchase the necesary for their enterprises, and also because options for Unique Markets are more common than Unique Banks. Finally come to play "The Land of the Free" UA that gives America higher chances to gain Great People from the immigration atraction, this way America can shine in every aspect (culture, science, economy, military, etc.) from their great peoples.

There are options:
Ag School (Water Mill) Acts like a water mill even if the city is not next to a river. Also gives amenities or gives additional bonuses to any bonus resource.
Football Stadium (Stadium) Increases loyalty and produces culture.
University Library (Library) Gets slot for both culture and science specialists.
Engineering School (Workshop) Adds science as well as Production.

 

[Zaarin]

Football Stadium (Stadium) Increases loyalty and produces culture.

Shouldn't that be a malus to culture?

 

[Phrozen]

Shouldn't that be a malus to culture?

Up until recently, college football had been amazingly resilient in regards to tradition and regional cohesiveness. The want for more money has been degrading it over the last two decades though.

 

[Zaarin]

Up until recently, college football had been amazingly resilient in regards to tradition and regional cohesiveness. The want for more money has been degrading it over the last two decades though.

I was just making a joke about American football being uncultured, but sure, that, too.

 

[BuchiTaton]

Kasbah - defensive building
Zawiyah - religious/educational institution and housing for Sufi fraternities that are totally not a monastery because those don’t exist in Islam
Riad - North African style of private mansion/manor house
Tannery - need to use an alternative word, but the leather goods were a major historical export from North Africa, and the tanneries in Fes’ Medina quarter are a major tourist attraction.

The others, as you say, aren’t very North African.

Nice ideas, so what about this.

> MEDINA (Berber UD)
Its buildings are Kasbah (Fort), Riad (Resort) and Zawiyah (Monastery).
Double the yield from Dyes, Olives, Citrus and Salt in the same city.

 

[ManoftheHour333]

I like this idea but agree with some (Sorry Zaarin) that districts should be more interesting based on what goes in them than where they go on the map. I think that UDs like the American one could be fascinating and give plenty of options but it shouldn't have to be placed 3 tiles over and near a cow tile to get an adjacent bonus. I've said this for years but just forcing the player to connect districts with each other or put them around a city center for extra bonuses should be the biggest extent of city planning. Maybe there could be a few geographical features that give bonuses but to access them, you HAVE to actually build your cities on the coast or in the mountains to access them. I just think that the adjacency bonuses was too micomanagy and hard for the AI to figure out. But if you restrict it to just which possible place vs. how much minor yield they'd get? Easier to code.

...and with adjacency bonuses largely put on the wayside/ a minor bonus, you could focus on making individual buildings like this straight up better. In fact, you could give ALL CIVS a unique district and then three unique buildings that may not be as game-breaking in terms of bonuses, but could make things a little more useful. Like, if you're the Mapuche but have non appealing tiles, you can't access your UI but if that was just within a district that you could build anywhere it'd make it a forsure thing that you'd see in all your games which'd be cooler.

 

[Zaarin]

I like this idea but agree with some (Sorry Zaarin) that districts should be more interesting based on what goes in them than where they go on the map.

You're not disagreeing with me. Or rather I think it should be both. The district puzzle is fun, but we also need more variety within the district and, as I said, more emphasis on specialists rather than adjacencies.

 

[Psilonemo]

CIV6's districts are in general a successful gameplay element that add to the strategic use of the map, additionally they also provide extra flavor to some civs in this game. These aspects could be exploited more systematically in CIV7 with unique districts that allow to have duplicates of some buildings since these civ specific districts would no replace any regular district.
Some exaples with the main civs from the Americas:

> MAIN STREET (American UD)
Its buildings are Town Hall (Meeting House), Saloon (Theater) and General Store (Bank).
Double immigrant attraction.

> CALPULLI (Aztec UD)
Its buildings are Chinampa (Farm), Telpochcalli (Barrack) and Tianguis (Market).
Can be build on lakes for extra food.

> WITZOB (Maya UD)
Its buildings are Observatory (Library), Ballcourt (Arena) and Pyramid (Temple).
Extra science from adjacent natural wonder.

> TAMBO (Inca UD)
Its buildings are Kallanka (Fort), Qullqa (Granary) and Acllahuasi (Worshop).
Can be build on mountains linking trade routes.

Plus another possible option from the region...

> HACIENDA (Mexican UD)
Its buildings are Ingenio (Plantation), Capilla (Shrine) and Lienzo (Stable).
Extra production from adjacent farm or pasture.

Like you can see these districts cover 3 different aspects of those civs saving us from unidimensional designs.
So which ideas of Unique Districts could be added for others civs?

Persia: "Satrap's Court" as a replacement of the diplomatic. Increases loyalty and gold of a conquered city and allows trade routes from this city to be able to reach the capital no matter how far away it is. Also provides major diplomatic intel/gossip or diplomatic favor every time a trade route is completed in this city. A "Pairadaiza" can be built in it as a unique building, which increases the appeal of surrounding tiles. If conquered, the enemy has a chance of retaining this improvement.

Rome: "Castrum" as a unique military district replacement. It starts out as a Roman barracks but evolves into a late roman fort. Culture bombs adjacent tiles when built and garrisoned units in said city have free maintenance. Increases housing more than usual. (Surely Civ 7 won't pull another "aquaduct/bath" joke.)

Venice: "Arsenal" to replace the port which increases naval unit production and boosts trade.

Byzantium: The city center of Byzantium has access to a unique project called the Walls of Theodosius. Upon completion, a permanent bonus to city defense is added and the city produces 1 faith per 5 citizens. This value doubles when Byzantium is at war and triples when a surprise war is declared against Byzantium.

^_^