noob questions

[lucifux]

Hi,
I recently got the complete version of Civ 4 (warlord, BTS) and played one game as Augustus Caesar cause Imp/Ind was a combo i liked.

1) i know that its best to have specialized cities (like one for military, one for research) than normal ones. My question is: How do i specialized cities and what should i do to specialize them? Like, If I want a production city, where do i built it (geographical surrounding) and what buildings should i put for the specialization. Its not just a production city... pretty much all the specializations and the good combos.

Im planning to try Joao II for its Imp/exp, which i find a pretty appealing trait combo.

In Warlords... i like Catherine for her Creative and Imperialistic.

2) is it cheaper to conquer a civ or to make it a vassal?

 

[CCRunner]

If you vassal the AI you get some nice bonuses like extra happy and free resources but you have to pay more city maitenence.

I really suck at specialization but some obvious things are build production cities near hills and give commerce cities cottages. Always settle near a food resource so you have enough extra food to grow.

 

[Tibur753]

A production city should have at least eight hill squares preferably forested ones with half grassland hills and half plains hills, give or take. There should also be at least one food resource, and 4 or 5 grassland squares. This includes ones with a forest. Forge, factory, power plant, industrial park, Ironworks (in your best production city), and a barracks if it is going do be building military units. As for specialists, engineers are top priority. Priests are also good especially if you get the Angkor Watt. Also, settle several great engineers in your production cities.

Vassals increase your maintenance costs so if your economy is OK and you need some bonus happiness, then a vassal might be worth it. Visit the War Academy for more tips on specialization.

 

[Harry Potter52]

Similarly a great people farm should have many food resources so that it can run large number of specialists before starving

 

[eewallace]

Both science cities and income-producing cities should have lots of commerce. Possible coastal if you have the financial trait. Otherwise lots of cottages, or gold/silver/gems if you are lucky enough to get them. Then for science, build all buildings that produce science or give you a chance to run science specialists, and put your science oriented wonders there (great library in particular). Similar for your income city, but focus on merchants and put wall street there.

 

[nbcman]

Good Commerce cities can include a shrined holy city or a corporation HQ for the increase in especially in combination with the gold multiplying buildings there.

 

[Tibur753]

Here's a link to an article city specialization.

http://www.civfanatics.com/civ4/strategy/specialization.php

 

[Willem]

Production cities are pretty straight forward, if the area has lots of Hills it's good for production. But with Science and Commerce cities you need to make a choice as the two both rely on high commerce and as such are pretty much interchangeable. About the only real difference between them is the types of specialists you use in them and which wonders you place there. A Science city benefits from a Market just as much as the Commerce city, and a Library is as good in a Commerce city as it is in the one for Science. For both, you're looking for locations that will bring in lots of commerce like rivers, a cash resource like Gold etc. And you build as many Cottages as you can squeeze into the area. After that you must decide which is more important to you, Science or Commerce.

 

[Harry Potter52]

@Tibur
Hey thanx for that link.

 

[Sisiutil]

A production city should have at least eight hill squares preferably forested ones with half grassland hills and half plains hills, give or take. There should also be at least one food resource, and 4 or 5 grassland squares. This includes ones with a forest.

I agree with the food resources, but not necessarily with the others. My best production city is usually one with a lot of flat terrain and grassland riverside tiles or flood plains. The former get workshops, the latter get watermills.

The real point here, though, is that specialization is a mix of choosing the terrain and optimizing your use of said terrain by way of the right tile improvements which will enhance the chosen specialization. There are three articles in the War Academy's "Empire Management" section on specialization--check them out.

 

[Tibur753]

I was talking about in the early game before workshops and watermills are useful. But in the late game workshops and watermills are much better, especially if you run the right civics. And now that I think about it, eight hills might be more than enough, five or six hills is probably fine. Also, I have a quick question about watermills. Can you build one on both sides of a river? And yes, definetely visit the War Academy as Sisiutil said.

 

[Polobo]

I was talking about in the early game before workshops and watermills are useful. But in the late game workshops and watermills are much better, especially if you run the right civics. And now that I think about it, eight hills might be more than enough, five or six hills is probably fine. Also, I have a quick question about watermills. Can you build one on both sides of a river? And yes, definetely visit the War Academy as Sisiutil said.

Unfortunately you can only build a watermill on 1 side of a river; this is really annoying since you cannot control which riverside gets the watermill. Thus, is the river bends so that it is adjacent on two side of a tile you won't know until you build it which side will get the watermill and thus which opposing tile you will lose.

 

[Tibur753]

Thanks for clearing that up for me, Polobo. I couldn't find anything about that in the civilopedia.

 

[Fried Egg]

I guess the converse question is appropriate here too:

What sorts of improvements / environmental factors do all cities require (regardless of their specialisation? I presume buildings like temples are useful everywhere?

 

[Tibur753]

You should try to have every city near at least one food resource if possible. Temples are useful for getting rid of unhappiness and expanding borders. If you don't need either of those right now and won't in the near future, then don't build a temple. The exception is if you need to build cathedrals for extra culture and/or happiness in your larger cities. Most people like to build courthouses in all of their cities to reduce the matinence costs. Markets/grocers/banks are good if your need to generate more GPT, but don't build them in cities generating only a few gold because it won't increase that by much. Same thing for libraries/observatories/universities when you want more beakers per turn. Granaries can help alot in growing your cities, and they can be used by almost any city, so you can build them. Are there any other buildings that I left out?

 

[Willem]

Are there any other buildings that I left out?

By the end of the game, most cities are going to need either an Aqueduct or a Hospital to control the unhealthiness, and maybe the Recycling Centre too. At least from my experience. Oh, and Forges can be useful in all cities as well, especially since they also provide a happiness bonus for Gold etc.