I've been playing this game off and on for a few years now. just recently, I've really started to pay attention to strategy. Which of the city improvements do people generally reccomend as neccessary, which do you figure are less necessary, and which are generally unneeded? And in which order? I am not concentrating on wonders here, there is a wealth of info on those, but rather on standard improvements (temples, supermarkets, library, marketplace, etc.)
neccessary city improvements
- Thread starter rponton
- Start date
It depends on what difficulty level you are playing at.
For me, on Deity, I build Temples and Marketplaces early on. Then Banks and Stock Exchanges a little later. Harbors go in for the places that need them for food. Aqueducts and Sewers when cities need them to grow.
Later in the game, Highways, Supermarkets, Mass Transits, Recycling Centers and Airports.
For me, on Deity, I build Temples and Marketplaces early on. Then Banks and Stock Exchanges a little later. Harbors go in for the places that need them for food. Aqueducts and Sewers when cities need them to grow.
Later in the game, Highways, Supermarkets, Mass Transits, Recycling Centers and Airports.
Terrapin
Prince
- Joined
- Apr 15, 2003
- Messages
- 505
You will get plenty of expert advice here... in time. (the initial writing started before Duke's post appeared!) For now, however, you are getting my advice...
First off, read up on 'super science cities' (SSC), because such a city gets treated much differently than other cities..
For the most part, especially in the early game, look to minimize the number of improvements you build. That said here goes. Others will correct me if I get any technical info wrong...
1. Temples (upkeep 1gold/turn): The maximum number of citizens a city can have before unhappy citizens show up is based on game level (1 at diety, 2 at emp...6 at chief). Try to hold off building temples as long as you can without having disorder.
2. Barracks (1g): If you are a warlike player, build'em. If you are a peace lover like me, don't. Even if you want barracks, try to pick out a couple of cities, put barracks in them and build as many of your units in those cities as possible. Also, if you are warlike, give thought to building Sun Tzu's wonder.
3. Harbors (1g): If you are a peace/democracy/trade player, harbors are often the first improvements you build voluntarily. By making regular sea squares produce 2 instead of 1 food, they allow you to grow cities to produce a lot of trade.
4. Libraries (1g): The SSC always gets a library. Otherwise, you have to decide whether a particular city produces enough science to be worth investing in a library. Remeber that there are two factors which determine how much you get from a library: How much trade (and therefore science) the city creates and how early it is in the game.
5. Marketplaces (1g): Increase tax and luxury by 50%. Never build a market in a city which produces less than 2g/turn at a tax rate of 10%. Otherwise, it is much a like a library: More worthwhile in big trading cities and earlier in the game. If you use celebration days to grow your cities, markets will more then pay for themselves. Another consideration is that in the advanced stages of a game where your empire is a democracy, most of your $$$ will come from trade, not taxes.
6. Granaries (1g): Grows your population faster. Usually in SSC. At high difficulty settings, almost never. This is because on the high levels, you are in a race against time to get your cities set up so that you do not start getting unhappy citizens and therefore disorders. At lower levels, look into building the pyramids, which acts as a granary in every city.
7. Aquaducts (2g): Necessary for a city to grow if it is size 8 or bigger. Always build in time to prevent your cities from having to wait to grow.
8. Colleseums (2g): Try to build the Mike's Chapel and/or Bach's cathedral Wonders to obviate the need for colleseums.
9. Banks (3g): Same effect, which is cumulative, as market places. Never build ina city which produces less than 6g in taxes at a tax rate of 10%. Otherwise, the analysis is the same as for markets.
10. University (3g): Same effect as library, is cumulative with library. Always in SSC. Same analysis as library, but remeber that the build and upkeep are greater plus universities become available later in the game.
11. City walls (0g): Only in cities which are threatened.
12. Coastal fortresses (3g): Doubles defense against warships. Once the ai's start to field navies, you will need these in important coastal cities. Not before.
13. Port facility (4g): Like a barracks, but for ships. In the mid to late game, build a couple in coastal cities with good shield production and startegic locations. Build all of your warships there.
14. Stock exchanges (5g): Same as markets. A city needs to produce at least 50 trade arrows to even consider one of these. Your SSC will definitely get one and, most likely, none of your other cities.
15. Research labs (5g): Same as library. You get them too late in the game to be worth anything. However, building SETI (research lab in each city) is well worthwhile. If you somehow get beaten to SETI, build on in the SSC, otherwise, these are a waste of money and shields.
16. Factories (5g): Build in your 2-5 best shild producing cities, but usually not the SSC. Never build a factory without a power plant and never build a powerplant. Confused? Well...
17. Power plant/hydroplant/nuclear plant/solar plant: Only effective in cities with factories. With a factory, it will double shield production. Do not build these. Build the Hoover's Dam wonder (acts as a hydroplant in all cities) instead, THEN build factories in selected cities. If you do not get Hoovers, shut the game off. Just kidding, if that happens, build the power plant/factory combination in selected cities. The only difference among these improvements is that they each one produces successively less pollution (more specifically, they allow you to produce more shields in that city w/o pollution). Hoovers will reduce pollution more than enough.
18. Cathedrals (3g) Bigger temples: Build Mikes chapel instead, it acts as a cathedral in every city.
19. Mass transit (?g): Reduces pollution from large city populations. You will need them when your cities get big.
20. Recycling Center (?g): Reduces pollution from shield production. With hoovers, these are unnecessary in all but the most mammoth shield producing cities. Might be cheaper to build an engineer to clean up...
21. Superhighways (?g): +50% trade from squares with roads in them. Always in SSC. A city probably needs to be size 15 or bigger (and with mostly land, not water squares) to benefit from superhighways. That is an estimate. A much smaller city which is active intrade might qualify. Massively improves the value of trade route to/from city since payoffs from trade deliveries (i.e. caravans and frieght) are based on trade produced in that city.
22. Off shore platform (expensive): Each water square produces plus one shield. Mostly a white elephant. It would be good for cities with mostly water squares, but becomes available too late in the game even for those.
23. Manufacturing plant (expensive): Like a second factory. Look at the cities you chose for factories. Do not build manufacturing plants there, either! These come too late in the game to be worthwhile, unless the extra shields allow you to do something very specific. (I once built one in a city with a barracks b/c it allowed me to build a (veteran) howitzer every turn!)
24. Police Stations (?g): Reduces unhappiness caused by military units in the field in Republic and Democracy. Try to get the Women's Sufferage wonder (acts as a police station in every city) instead.
25. Sewar system (4g): Needed for a city to grow beyond size 12. Always build in time to prevent your cities from having to wait to grow. Size matters!
26. Airports (?g): Allows one unit per turn to instantly travel from one city w/airport to another. Build in strategic sites. For instance, if you have a single colony on a continent held by another civ, airport will allow you to get more units there fast. Always build in your SSC, so that you frieghts can travel instantly to and from there to expedite trade. Incidently, also acts like a barracks for air units.
27. SAM missile battery (Expensive): Never unless you are having a big problem with fighter and cruise missle attacks. Even then, it is probably better to destroy the source of the attacks rather than build one of these.
28. SDI Defense (Expensive): Protects city and area a little larger than the city radius from nuclear missiles. Nuclear missile require the rocketry tech AND the Manhattan Project Wonder to be built. Build your SDI's before this happens or else
!
29. Supermarkets (?g): More food means bigger cities. Pretty much want to build these everywhere, or at least everywhere that you have a bunch of squares irrigated. Also, remember that the supermarkets do nothing by themselves. They allow you to 're-irrigate' land making it farm land. So do not build supermarkets in cities where you do not have engineers handy to do the irrigating.
I think those are the main ones. I could not recall the upkeep of every improvement and I rather suspect that I am wrong about some of the ones I did. Others will correct me. And obviously, all advice is subject to the caveat that you should experiment and see what works for you!
First off, read up on 'super science cities' (SSC), because such a city gets treated much differently than other cities..
For the most part, especially in the early game, look to minimize the number of improvements you build. That said here goes. Others will correct me if I get any technical info wrong...
1. Temples (upkeep 1gold/turn): The maximum number of citizens a city can have before unhappy citizens show up is based on game level (1 at diety, 2 at emp...6 at chief). Try to hold off building temples as long as you can without having disorder.
2. Barracks (1g): If you are a warlike player, build'em. If you are a peace lover like me, don't. Even if you want barracks, try to pick out a couple of cities, put barracks in them and build as many of your units in those cities as possible. Also, if you are warlike, give thought to building Sun Tzu's wonder.
3. Harbors (1g): If you are a peace/democracy/trade player, harbors are often the first improvements you build voluntarily. By making regular sea squares produce 2 instead of 1 food, they allow you to grow cities to produce a lot of trade.
4. Libraries (1g): The SSC always gets a library. Otherwise, you have to decide whether a particular city produces enough science to be worth investing in a library. Remeber that there are two factors which determine how much you get from a library: How much trade (and therefore science) the city creates and how early it is in the game.
5. Marketplaces (1g): Increase tax and luxury by 50%. Never build a market in a city which produces less than 2g/turn at a tax rate of 10%. Otherwise, it is much a like a library: More worthwhile in big trading cities and earlier in the game. If you use celebration days to grow your cities, markets will more then pay for themselves. Another consideration is that in the advanced stages of a game where your empire is a democracy, most of your $$$ will come from trade, not taxes.
6. Granaries (1g): Grows your population faster. Usually in SSC. At high difficulty settings, almost never. This is because on the high levels, you are in a race against time to get your cities set up so that you do not start getting unhappy citizens and therefore disorders. At lower levels, look into building the pyramids, which acts as a granary in every city.
7. Aquaducts (2g): Necessary for a city to grow if it is size 8 or bigger. Always build in time to prevent your cities from having to wait to grow.
8. Colleseums (2g): Try to build the Mike's Chapel and/or Bach's cathedral Wonders to obviate the need for colleseums.
9. Banks (3g): Same effect, which is cumulative, as market places. Never build ina city which produces less than 6g in taxes at a tax rate of 10%. Otherwise, the analysis is the same as for markets.
10. University (3g): Same effect as library, is cumulative with library. Always in SSC. Same analysis as library, but remeber that the build and upkeep are greater plus universities become available later in the game.
11. City walls (0g): Only in cities which are threatened.
12. Coastal fortresses (3g): Doubles defense against warships. Once the ai's start to field navies, you will need these in important coastal cities. Not before.
13. Port facility (4g): Like a barracks, but for ships. In the mid to late game, build a couple in coastal cities with good shield production and startegic locations. Build all of your warships there.
14. Stock exchanges (5g): Same as markets. A city needs to produce at least 50 trade arrows to even consider one of these. Your SSC will definitely get one and, most likely, none of your other cities.
15. Research labs (5g): Same as library. You get them too late in the game to be worth anything. However, building SETI (research lab in each city) is well worthwhile. If you somehow get beaten to SETI, build on in the SSC, otherwise, these are a waste of money and shields.
16. Factories (5g): Build in your 2-5 best shild producing cities, but usually not the SSC. Never build a factory without a power plant and never build a powerplant. Confused? Well...
17. Power plant/hydroplant/nuclear plant/solar plant: Only effective in cities with factories. With a factory, it will double shield production. Do not build these. Build the Hoover's Dam wonder (acts as a hydroplant in all cities) instead, THEN build factories in selected cities. If you do not get Hoovers, shut the game off. Just kidding, if that happens, build the power plant/factory combination in selected cities. The only difference among these improvements is that they each one produces successively less pollution (more specifically, they allow you to produce more shields in that city w/o pollution). Hoovers will reduce pollution more than enough.
18. Cathedrals (3g) Bigger temples: Build Mikes chapel instead, it acts as a cathedral in every city.
19. Mass transit (?g): Reduces pollution from large city populations. You will need them when your cities get big.
20. Recycling Center (?g): Reduces pollution from shield production. With hoovers, these are unnecessary in all but the most mammoth shield producing cities. Might be cheaper to build an engineer to clean up...
21. Superhighways (?g): +50% trade from squares with roads in them. Always in SSC. A city probably needs to be size 15 or bigger (and with mostly land, not water squares) to benefit from superhighways. That is an estimate. A much smaller city which is active intrade might qualify. Massively improves the value of trade route to/from city since payoffs from trade deliveries (i.e. caravans and frieght) are based on trade produced in that city.
22. Off shore platform (expensive): Each water square produces plus one shield. Mostly a white elephant. It would be good for cities with mostly water squares, but becomes available too late in the game even for those.
23. Manufacturing plant (expensive): Like a second factory. Look at the cities you chose for factories. Do not build manufacturing plants there, either! These come too late in the game to be worthwhile, unless the extra shields allow you to do something very specific. (I once built one in a city with a barracks b/c it allowed me to build a (veteran) howitzer every turn!)
24. Police Stations (?g): Reduces unhappiness caused by military units in the field in Republic and Democracy. Try to get the Women's Sufferage wonder (acts as a police station in every city) instead.
25. Sewar system (4g): Needed for a city to grow beyond size 12. Always build in time to prevent your cities from having to wait to grow. Size matters!
26. Airports (?g): Allows one unit per turn to instantly travel from one city w/airport to another. Build in strategic sites. For instance, if you have a single colony on a continent held by another civ, airport will allow you to get more units there fast. Always build in your SSC, so that you frieghts can travel instantly to and from there to expedite trade. Incidently, also acts like a barracks for air units.
27. SAM missile battery (Expensive): Never unless you are having a big problem with fighter and cruise missle attacks. Even then, it is probably better to destroy the source of the attacks rather than build one of these.
28. SDI Defense (Expensive): Protects city and area a little larger than the city radius from nuclear missiles. Nuclear missile require the rocketry tech AND the Manhattan Project Wonder to be built. Build your SDI's before this happens or else
!29. Supermarkets (?g): More food means bigger cities. Pretty much want to build these everywhere, or at least everywhere that you have a bunch of squares irrigated. Also, remember that the supermarkets do nothing by themselves. They allow you to 're-irrigate' land making it farm land. So do not build supermarkets in cities where you do not have engineers handy to do the irrigating.
I think those are the main ones. I could not recall the upkeep of every improvement and I rather suspect that I am wrong about some of the ones I did. Others will correct me. And obviously, all advice is subject to the caveat that you should experiment and see what works for you!
One could argue(successfully) that no improvements at all are needed for any level.
Neccessary would definitely include aquaducts and most likely sewers.If you want cities bigger than size 8 you'll need these for sure.
I think a "mistake" players make is trying to make every city a super fat metropolis.Better to concentrate on a few cities and make those the core of your economic/science/militaristic empire.
Certain cities should have specific purposes.Like this one spits settlers,this one build barracks and veteran units,this one builds wonders...etc.
Diversify.
Neccessary would definitely include aquaducts and most likely sewers.If you want cities bigger than size 8 you'll need these for sure.
I think a "mistake" players make is trying to make every city a super fat metropolis.Better to concentrate on a few cities and make those the core of your economic/science/militaristic empire.
Certain cities should have specific purposes.Like this one spits settlers,this one build barracks and veteran units,this one builds wonders...etc.
Diversify.
Great summary, Terrapin! Fix those upkeep errors and we'll all Bookmark it!
I like your order of upkeep cost. I had a page like that in my pocket notepad but lost it when I switched. A few I did not see:
- Courthouse(1g): Decrease corruption, bribing, stealing,+1 happy citizen in Democracy
- Palace(0g): no corruption or bribery, +1 happy citizen in Democracy
In rough chronological order, I build:
Library
Temple
Marketplace
Harbor (if lots of ocean)
---(stop here for "helper" cities)---
University
Aquaduct
Bank
CityWalls/CoastalFort(if border/coastal)
Only the SSC/STC gets the rest, but I consider SuperHighways and Airports in the late game for high-trade situations or unit movement, as available gold allows. If possible, try never to leave your critical cities building an Improvement for more than two turns. Make sure you have enough gold, let it put one turn of Shields in the box, then RushBuy the rest. Improvements are the cheapest things you can RushBuy, at 2 gold per shield.
BTW, rponton, welcome to CFC! Join the Game of the Month or the Democracy game to really learn about Civ!
I like your order of upkeep cost. I had a page like that in my pocket notepad but lost it when I switched. A few I did not see:
- Courthouse(1g): Decrease corruption, bribing, stealing,+1 happy citizen in Democracy
- Palace(0g): no corruption or bribery, +1 happy citizen in Democracy
In rough chronological order, I build:
Library
Temple
Marketplace
Harbor (if lots of ocean)
---(stop here for "helper" cities)---
University
Aquaduct
Bank
CityWalls/CoastalFort(if border/coastal)
Only the SSC/STC gets the rest, but I consider SuperHighways and Airports in the late game for high-trade situations or unit movement, as available gold allows. If possible, try never to leave your critical cities building an Improvement for more than two turns. Make sure you have enough gold, let it put one turn of Shields in the box, then RushBuy the rest. Improvements are the cheapest things you can RushBuy, at 2 gold per shield.
BTW, rponton, welcome to CFC! Join the Game of the Month or the Democracy game to really learn about Civ!
funxus
Orange Cycloptic Blob
Terrapin, nice list. Although some of these depends from person to person, as ElephantU and Smash said.
Powerplant clarification (I always found this hard):
There are 4 types, powerplant, nuclear plant, hydro plant and solar plant. Only one can effect production at the same time, or Hoover. They have different effects of pollution though, so if you build a bett plant, sell of the old one. So, sell powerplant once you've built hoover or a solar. Solarplants also does the job of a recycling center, but better, which means that you should sell the recycling center if you have both in a city.
The combination Mass Transit and Solarplant will also take care of all the pollution in the city, no matter city size or production.
Powerplant clarification (I always found this hard):
There are 4 types, powerplant, nuclear plant, hydro plant and solar plant. Only one can effect production at the same time, or Hoover. They have different effects of pollution though, so if you build a bett plant, sell of the old one. So, sell powerplant once you've built hoover or a solar. Solarplants also does the job of a recycling center, but better, which means that you should sell the recycling center if you have both in a city.
The combination Mass Transit and Solarplant will also take care of all the pollution in the city, no matter city size or production.
Old n Slow
Emperor
The more I play this game, the less infrastructure I see my self building in the early & mid-games.
Cases: OCC & ICS aside (where Im a dabbler, not an expert) Ill try to share my infrastructure thoughts.
As Elephant noted, the SSC gets everything, preferably rushed.
Try to time the infrastructure to meet its needs & uses -- temples make sense at size 3 or so, markets a little later, etc. My libraries often get built after banks (more on those thoughts later).
Infrastructure is part of the plan -- Wonders fit in the plan as well -- I build about one granary per three games, and havent built a cathedral in the last 20 games; Ive never built a police station.
But there are two over riding thoughts that I try to keep in mind -- what is the over all situation (all out war, a distracting skirmish, wonder building pressure, etc.) and what are the various cities doing to support the overall need? (Some day when I get around to planning better, Ill be able to put those thoughts in a dynamic picture.) Assuming that the game is well enough in hand not to be behind in techs or in an all out war, then I come down to a few basic city situations:
The SSC (discussed elsewhere)
Camel builders -- from time to time one of my top five cities takes a break & the camels are cashed in for a wonder. Sometimes camel builders will also squeeze out a boat or two (Im always late with these.)
Selfish city growth -- the infrastructure activity (discussed below)
The fringe -- is responsible for growing searchers, settlers, and defense.
Since I try to build lots of the wonders, infrastructure takes a back seat for the early game -- aside from the SSC, Ill only squeeze out temples (maybe a barracks once every dozen games or so) until Republic & the completion of Mikes. Circa this time, after the first two waves of wonders are tucked in (the Ancients & the 300 shield deals) I might take a breath & pop in markets & harbors into my inner cities & grow them to size 8. Depending upon the trade situation, after J S Bach, Ill grow these cities to size 12.
Mid to late game, I may find things well in hand -- trade is flowing, a few $$K and a tech per turn -- the ai civs are 20 techs behind & now it is time for rapid growth -- and the cities will need the support to get there. With price as a little object & three engineers to start a new city, the goal is to celebrate up to usefulness -- temple, harbor, market & aqueduct within the first six turns gets most cities to size 8(9) in time, making a bank, and sewer next on the list. 3 camels/trucks should be produced soon as well, and for most cities, that should do it. For some nice spots, often Ill throw in an offshore platform next, and finally a stock exchange. Im starting to see the excitement with superhighways, so theyll come in after the SE, and airports to cap it all off.
After I build Hoovers as Terrapin noted, Ill stick factories in about a dozen or so cities, and they go in after the offshore platforms go in. Maybe one or two sites will get a recycling center after that, and same thought about a manufacturing plant -- but rarely will I ever get those in place -- more often Ill just buy whatever was needed.
Once the SSC has farmland all around, a few more cities will also get the supermarket treatment -- but not too many because the game is almost over for me -- everything is just about done -- the other civs are almost gone & the spaceship is about to launch Oh well, on to the next game.
Cases: OCC & ICS aside (where Im a dabbler, not an expert) Ill try to share my infrastructure thoughts.
As Elephant noted, the SSC gets everything, preferably rushed.
Try to time the infrastructure to meet its needs & uses -- temples make sense at size 3 or so, markets a little later, etc. My libraries often get built after banks (more on those thoughts later).
Infrastructure is part of the plan -- Wonders fit in the plan as well -- I build about one granary per three games, and havent built a cathedral in the last 20 games; Ive never built a police station.
But there are two over riding thoughts that I try to keep in mind -- what is the over all situation (all out war, a distracting skirmish, wonder building pressure, etc.) and what are the various cities doing to support the overall need? (Some day when I get around to planning better, Ill be able to put those thoughts in a dynamic picture.) Assuming that the game is well enough in hand not to be behind in techs or in an all out war, then I come down to a few basic city situations:
The SSC (discussed elsewhere)
Camel builders -- from time to time one of my top five cities takes a break & the camels are cashed in for a wonder. Sometimes camel builders will also squeeze out a boat or two (Im always late with these.)
Selfish city growth -- the infrastructure activity (discussed below)
The fringe -- is responsible for growing searchers, settlers, and defense.
Since I try to build lots of the wonders, infrastructure takes a back seat for the early game -- aside from the SSC, Ill only squeeze out temples (maybe a barracks once every dozen games or so) until Republic & the completion of Mikes. Circa this time, after the first two waves of wonders are tucked in (the Ancients & the 300 shield deals) I might take a breath & pop in markets & harbors into my inner cities & grow them to size 8. Depending upon the trade situation, after J S Bach, Ill grow these cities to size 12.
Mid to late game, I may find things well in hand -- trade is flowing, a few $$K and a tech per turn -- the ai civs are 20 techs behind & now it is time for rapid growth -- and the cities will need the support to get there. With price as a little object & three engineers to start a new city, the goal is to celebrate up to usefulness -- temple, harbor, market & aqueduct within the first six turns gets most cities to size 8(9) in time, making a bank, and sewer next on the list. 3 camels/trucks should be produced soon as well, and for most cities, that should do it. For some nice spots, often Ill throw in an offshore platform next, and finally a stock exchange. Im starting to see the excitement with superhighways, so theyll come in after the SE, and airports to cap it all off.
After I build Hoovers as Terrapin noted, Ill stick factories in about a dozen or so cities, and they go in after the offshore platforms go in. Maybe one or two sites will get a recycling center after that, and same thought about a manufacturing plant -- but rarely will I ever get those in place -- more often Ill just buy whatever was needed.
Once the SSC has farmland all around, a few more cities will also get the supermarket treatment -- but not too many because the game is almost over for me -- everything is just about done -- the other civs are almost gone & the spaceship is about to launch Oh well, on to the next game.
choke... choke... choke...
Guess that explains your anemic research rate.
Try to be more selective in your Wonder building. Colossus, HangGdns, Shakes, Copernicus, KingRich, and Newtons are the only ones that HAVE to be built in the right place. The rest you can capture later if you miss it, or skip altogether. Focus on happiness and city growth early, then research. The only wonder I would exempt from this is MarcoPolo, but even I did not build that in my last OCC game and still posted a respectable finish.
(If you let the AI build it for you, you are using the AI to do your bidding - sort of like the Marco Polo Tech Slaves!)
A side note to Barracks:
In the early age, before Gunpowder, the Barracks require 1g per turn for upkeep. When you discover Gunpowder all your existing Barracks are "sold off" (40g ea) and you have to rebuild them, whereupon they now require 2g per turn. Upon discovering Mobile Warfare they are again "sold off" and after rebuilding now require 3g per turn. Sun Tzu works only up to the first discovery of Mobile Warfare. If you want Vet Armor or anything else you have to rebuild the Barracks. And Barracks have the extra benefit of "healing" any unit that spends a whole turn in the city, so if you are attacking a city with Barracks do NOT let that deep-red unit wait until next time - he will return to green if you dont kill him completely. Thus Barracks are a good complement to CityWalls in border towns.
The idea of building Barracks in only a few cities depends on something called "re-homing", where you move a unit to another city, open the City Screen, click the unit and select "Support from this city". Different government levels allow different numbers of units "free" support from each city, and once a unit is supported from a city its departure from "garrison" can affect city happiness.
In the early age, before Gunpowder, the Barracks require 1g per turn for upkeep. When you discover Gunpowder all your existing Barracks are "sold off" (40g ea) and you have to rebuild them, whereupon they now require 2g per turn. Upon discovering Mobile Warfare they are again "sold off" and after rebuilding now require 3g per turn. Sun Tzu works only up to the first discovery of Mobile Warfare. If you want Vet Armor or anything else you have to rebuild the Barracks. And Barracks have the extra benefit of "healing" any unit that spends a whole turn in the city, so if you are attacking a city with Barracks do NOT let that deep-red unit wait until next time - he will return to green if you dont kill him completely. Thus Barracks are a good complement to CityWalls in border towns.
The idea of building Barracks in only a few cities depends on something called "re-homing", where you move a unit to another city, open the City Screen, click the unit and select "Support from this city". Different government levels allow different numbers of units "free" support from each city, and once a unit is supported from a city its departure from "garrison" can affect city happiness.
Only one and a University in my SSC. 
Terrapin
Prince
- Joined
- Apr 15, 2003
- Messages
- 505
This is an interesting statement, one I see as mostly true, but not entirely. If your goal is to maximize your score and/or get as far up the power graph as possible, then this statement is a non-sequitor: Of course you want to make all your cities as big and happy as possible. If your goal is military conquest, then this statement makes sense in that you may want to limit your infrastructure building so that it does not take time money and shields away from your war efforts. However, if you are in an early landing game, you should probably not bother with more cities than you intend to build parts for your spaceship and you should not waste time on improvements in most of the cities until you have enough frieghts to build the planned component in each city in one turn.
The statement really concurs with the 'early in the game' philosophy. Your 'core' cities are typically your oldest ones. Usually your capital, your SSC and your Shakes+Shields city (If you use one. I do.) are all among the earliest cities you settle. Those cities are, at any given time, the biggest cities you have. Obviously, they are around the longest. This means that they satisfy the profitability requirements for structures such as libraries, market places and their more advance relations more than your newer cities. In my games, for instance, my first 4-8 cities often have banks in them. Usually, none my other cities get banks. Ditto for universities. Partly it is because those cities are big and produce lots of trade, making the structures profitable vs. their upkeep cost. But also, the value you get from the extra beekers and taxes accumulates each turn. These cities not only get banks and universities, they usually get them soon after they are available. A city which has a library of 200 turns is going to produce thousands of extra beekers as it grows from single digit population to 20+ (or 30+). A city which has a library for 20 turns will produce only a couple of hundred extra beekers.
The other issue of propinquity has to do with what economists call opportunity costs. What could your city be building instead of an improvement? The generic answer is that it could be building a caravan or frieght. Early in the game, caravans move slowly across (often) unroaded terrain. Ships are slow and triremes cannot even leave coastal waters. And if a caravan does arrive, its value is based on city size and intrinsic trade arrows (those generated by working the city radius squares). A car/fre costs about 100g to rush build. Early in the game, both the sending and receiving cities are likely to be small. A caravan, even one delivered to a foriegn city on another continent, is unlikely to so much as break even. Moreover, several turns will pass before such a delivery can be made. So building (for instance) a library or market instead may make sense. These structures, built early, will be around for hundreds of turns, paying off a little each turn.
Later in the game, all of these calculations change. Even if you are talking about a small, new city late in the game, a frieght built there has a chance to pay of its (rush) build cost. Moreover, sending a frieght to a big city with lots of trade will add a major trade route to the new city, which will double or more than double the city's trade. In republic or democracy, this may mean immediate celebrations and thus growth of the city. Plus, transports and ship chains will allow you to deliver late game frieghts much faster than early game caravans, so you do not need to wait for the payoff.
Old n Slow
Emperor
Originally posted by ElephantU
choke... choke... choke...
Guess that explains your anemic research rate.
I thought that it was my too few cities and too small cities...
Old n Slow
Emperor
I have a way to go before I'll feel comfortable with OCC -- I still play it way too safe.
I think that the size 4-5/ size 1 OCC takes the game to a new variant -- begging. It works, but it seems more like an OCC squared. I think I'll try it once I get a good feel for OCC (maybe in a couple of OCC comparison games or so.)
I think that the size 4-5/ size 1 OCC takes the game to a new variant -- begging. It works, but it seems more like an OCC squared. I think I'll try it once I get a good feel for OCC (maybe in a couple of OCC comparison games or so.)
Yes - Size 1 OCC does feature "begging", but I prefer to look it as an exercise in almost-pure diplomacy. Getting, maintaining and abusing alliances is one part; another vital element is setting up good trade routes and managing the research of the other civs. The most important Wonder is Marco Polo, and you spend more time improving your trade route partner city's terrain than you do your own.
You did not do too bad in Comparison Game #1... We were all in the same century...
You did not do too bad in Comparison Game #1... We were all in the same century...
