Mixed-use cities?

[AnaNg]

So I always hear you all talk about production cities and commerce cities and science cities and I see the nice dot-mapping. I do end up with some single-focus cities in my empire. But frequently (especially early game when I'm going for resources) I end up with... er... I dunno what you call them.

Some hills for production (hopefully though as often as not it's plains or tundra, dagnabbit), maybe farmland/floodplain/extra resource - but not enough of anything to really be a single-focus joint. Rarely does any kind of dot-mapping work out due to other civs, miles away, yearning to plunk a city down on top of me and then say that our close borders cause tensions.

I do, eventually, get some single focus guys plotted out but usually I end up with several that are, I guess, ill-placed for a variety of reasons.

The big ones are resources like iron or copper or to block access. There are times when these could be better placed if I didn't mind waiting for the culture pop but I don't usually feel I can wait. I place it in a somewhat worse location to get immediate access (not always but often) - though I try to place it so it won't screw up additional, better, city placements.

Is this something I should try to work on, or does it just work out this way sometimes? Maybe more specifically, what percentage of my cities should be single focus (generally speaking, I realize every game presents different challenges).

 

[Silence101]

I may not be answering your question here - I usually like to have about a 1:1 ratio of commerce vs production cities, but I usually build a lot of military too and go to war a lot. I'm not sure if there is a proper ratio - I often decide based on the surrounding land what type of city it will build. I may taylor it a bit in another direction if I need one or the other type of city.

I guess my real reason for responding to your post though is that you seem concerned that you have some cities that can function as both commerce and production cities. I often find that my earliest cities eventually turn into hybrids to one degree or another - and it's nice to know that in the event of a war, you can switch a commerce city over to effective military production. I don't see that as a problem - in fact, I see it as a sign of a well placed city. Even a commerce city should have some decent production value. Commerce cities build a lot of infrastructure, so you need that production to a degree.

I see city specialization as focusing on the city's priorities first - I may eventually build a forge in a commerce city, but I will focus on research and commerce related infrastructure first.

However, if you're looking for single focus terrain before you place a city, you'll be looking forever. Most good terrain will support any type of specialized city, though granted the more hills / forests there are, the more I think it leans toward production.

 

[Strategos]

I think a lot of specializing a city comes from placing the right national wonders and world wonders in them.

The only truly "specialized" city I make is a super science city. Usually this is located where there's the potential for lots of farms and a few food resources. It gets all the research buildings plus National Epic, Oxford University, and the Great Library. This is where I also plunk down my GS's (plus my academy).

The rest of my empire is a split between production cities and GP farms (which almost always run scientists). Commerce cities do not exist in my games (unless they're the opponent's ). As for ratios? I don't really check for that, but finding a good one might give me more of an edge. Who knows? I usually work with what I have. If I don't have enough GP farms supporting scientists I can always put a production city on research.

Civics, too, will play into a good specialization strategy. Caste System works well with a specialist economy; Universal Suffrage/Emancipation works well with cottage economy; bureaucracy works well with a production/commerce capital.

I find a lot of times that a city's character will be determined by what I start building there. If its a forge/barracks/stable/factory queue, then its production. Research buildings will be scientific, etc. And what I start building there is usually determined by what I need most at that time. Oftentimes, in the beginning of a game, I'll build a new (future) production city just to get started on a wonder, like the pyramids. Later it can churn out the units.

 

[Gnarfflinger]

I find that any city I control needs to be able to pop out military units when I need to switch to Vassalage and Theocracy, and if they are half decent with commerce, they would get the other stuff, like libraries, markets and stuff. I build what I think will be most advantageous for the city whenever the option comes up, and be ready with the whip when war develops (my choice or theirs)...

 

[LuckyAC]

I tended to fall into the trap of overspecialization (basically, cottaging everything). Now, I compromise a bit more and will build mines on hills even in my commerce cities, except for Oxford town. A little flexibility and the ability to actually build infrastructure is worth it. As long as you have a lot of cottages in general, it's not so crucial to be pure, except in the synergy of national wonders.

 

[AnaNg]

Thanks for all the replies -

I guess my real reason for responding to your post though is that you seem concerned that you have some cities that can function as both commerce and production cities.

Yep Silence, that was pretty much it. I think too this comes from me trying to run a CE once and ending up with something like 73 turns to build a bank... (didn't have US yet, which sucked).

Good to know I'm not doing something horribly wrong, especially since being able to switch all my cities over to crank out some infantry in a reasonable amount of time when Ragnar suddenly decided he didn't really like me after all and attacked 3 turns before I could make them really saved my bacon yesterday

 

[Morgrad]

Super-specialized cities are great when you pull them off and it should certainly be a goal to have at least one of each as you build you empire - but, it's pretty common for the map to say "No" to that idea, especially before the industrial age.

So get the super-specialized cities where you can, understand that the remaining cities will be hybrids, and then go win the game.

If I hybrid city is supporting it's own weight in maintenance while also adding beakers and/or hammers to your civ, it might not be a great city (or even a good one), but it is a net gain.

 

[colony]

A lot of the time my first couple of cities will have been placed to get Copper more quickly, or to block an AI for example. Because of this they end up not really being specialised much, if at all. They'll produce an ok amount of hammers, and beakers, but nothing special. As long as you make sure that you do have enough good specialised cities I find it isn't a problem. I try to keep all my cities after the first 2 or 3 placed optimally though (a lot won't be specialised, but I'll try to place them so that I get the most out of the available terrain), even if that means razing a few AI cities.

Cottaged cities need several improvements to really start to pump out the beakers/gold, and because of this it can be better to leave a couple of forests or mine a hill or 2 early in the game and then gradually cottage the hills/chop as the buildings become available in my experience. Whipping can help, but I don't like to over do it in commerce cities.