Question about districts

[oPunchDrunko]

Should I build certain districts if I'm not going for a particular victory? For example: should I build holy sites if I'm not going for a religious victory? Or campuses if I'm not going for a science victory? Or theater squares if I'm not going for culture?

Also, I'm having trouble deciding which of the other districts I should build ( The ones that I didn't mention above ). Do any of you have any suggestions about which districts I should build in my cities?

 

[SirWill90]

Even if not going for science victory I generally try to build campuses and their buildings in cities where mountains can provide a science boost, but not in all cities. You need science to keep up with the AI (depending on difficulty, of course.) Same with Culture; it’s what makes you move up the civic tree so you want some of that too; I try to build one or two theatre districts. Just my two cents.

Edit: also, Commercial districts are pretty important all-around IMHO. Gold is good to have. Eventually you will need Entertainment districts in the middle to late game when amenities start to become an issue.

 

[Trav'ling Canuck]

My general view:

Campuses: yes, always, for any victory condition. Running up the research tree helps with everything.

Theatres: not always needed, as you can get culture from other sources, like Monuments. Still, consider building a few if your civics are lagging.

Holy Sites: you can play the game without them. Some people love them and use the faith for great people or other purchases. Can get good adjacency bonuses depending on your pantheon.

Commercial Hubs: at least a couple for trade routes, unless you're trying for a super fast victory, in which case they aren't as necessary. Great if you can build one near a cow to go for Great Zimbabwe.

Harbours: in place of Commercial Hubs if the adjacency bonus is better or you're going to have a lot of people working in the ocean at that city, in which case the boosts from the buildings will pay off if your game lasts long enough. EDIT: forgot to mention that Harbours and Commerical Hubs work great together in the same city if you can build them in a triangle, especially at the mouth of a river beside a sea resource of two. They get inter-related adjacency bonuses which provides a pretty good gold boost.

Encampment: It's not always obvious, but one Encampment can get you a ton of culture thanks to the Inspirations that are based on the district and it's outputs. More than one likely isn't necessary.

Industrial Zone: I like to build one in a central location. Unless your game lasts a long time, it may only pay for itself if you can cover four or more cities with a Factory, or in your space port city if going for a science victory.

Entertainment Districts/Waterparks: This is a gamestyle decision. If you want big cities and you're running out of amenities, then build them in central locations so that the zoo can cover a bunch of cities. Also great for building the Coliseum, which should also be in a central location near a bunch of cities.

Aquaducts/Neighbourhoods: Personally, I only build them for their related inspirations. Big cities just aren't that useful, but build them if you want to grow big cities anyway (they don't hurt, as long as you have the amenities to keep the extra population happy).

Aerodromes: Critical for building fighters to defend against the AI's bomber attacks. Just kidding.

 

[Lily_Lancer]

Campuses and Holy Sites are useful around all terms of victory conditions.

 

[Jackanape]

Holy sites and commercial districts top my list. These are the fungibles upon which the game is built. I try to build them in every city...harbors work if applicable.

Campuses are important, but only enough to keep up with the AI, unless you're going science victory...

 

[XplosiveLun]

It really depend on your play style. The majority in this forum I've seen prefer campus for technological superiority. It's true it helps you keep up with the AI in higher difficulties and allows you to build superior units. However, there are other ways to boost your science and overall strength without campus. Build more cities, grow cities, conquer cities, international and internal trade routes. Yep, internal trade routes also help. You get food and production for your cities to build infrastructures. Therefore, my say is that commercial and harbour (either one of them) are more crucial. Even satellite cities can grow into small powerhouses. But also keep an eye on your leader and nation ability. You should always build Larvae, Royal Dock, Mbanza, Carnival Street, Seowon, Ikanda, and Bath etc. first even for undeveloped cities. These districts provide more benefits that the replaced districts and is half the original cost which upstart cities can complete within 5 turns in the early game, ~15 turns within mid game. It also provides yeild for trade routes.

 

[MaryKB]

I feel a lot of my district choices depend on the game. When I have lots of sea resources and water I'll build more Harbors, and if there are merchant city states I'll make sure to also have a Commercial Hub everywhere so I can get those big lovely gold bonuses from 6 envoys. When I play as Korea I make sure to get my Seowons, but when I'm playing America I will want my Theaters everywhere. When I have a city with lots and lots of mountains, you can be sure I'll put up a Campus. I try to make sure I have at least one of everything somewhere so I have a place to put my Great People. I'll put my Encampment on my border to help for protection and you need to build Armories and such for some Eurekas.

 

[XplosiveLun]

I would build harbour whenever the city is on coastline. +2 golds is good enough for initial return of investment. Extra golds from adjacency is nice but its more of an appetizer for me. An extra trade route is what I usually aim for. I agree on building commercial hub as much as possible, especially for land cities with rivers. They are more easy to protect. Befriend merchant city-states with 3 envoys as many as possible even if you're not getting for suzerain bonus. You can gain +4 golds on market from each city-state, not just only one. Protect the city state and liberate them if necessary. Their benefits increase as you build more commercial hubs.

Personally, I seldom or never build theaters as America. Their +5 combat bonus in home continent is best suited to do early conquest. Still, you could transform into a culture powerhouse with all those land you got. Once you have secure dominance (say, at least conquered one neighbour), start building theater districts.

Also, I would like to stress that I just don't build campus... at all. If you're really into expanding or conquering like the black death, then population from cities are enough to cover your science (and culture, gold, faith...) needs. Expansion in Civ 6 is really powerful. Having more cities are always a plus. Some civilizations like Norway and England are excel at infinite city spam. As for Eureka and inspiration, I would say I mostly ignore them.

 

[agonistes]

Hmmm. I'm meh about campuses and theaters. Build a few encampments too. I spam the hell out of holy sites, industrials, commercials, and harbors.

 

[Trav'ling Canuck]

Hmmm. I'm meh about campuses and theaters. Build a few encampments too. I spam the hell out of holy sites, industrials, commercials, and harbors.

I believe you enjoy playing long games. So it makes sense you would prefer districts that allow you to build stuff rather than those that drive the end game forward more quickly.

 

[Uberfrog]

My general view:

Campuses: yes, always, for any victory condition. Running up the research tree helps with everything.

Theatres: not always needed, as you can get culture from other sources, like Monuments. Still, consider building a few if your civics are lagging.

Holy Sites: you can play the game without them. Some people love them and use the faith for great people or other purchases. Can get good adjacency bonuses depending on your pantheon.

[...]

Do you really find that you get enough Culture from Monuments these days? I find Civics really drag without having at least one Theatre Square + Ampitheatre. They're not as obvious a choice as Campuses and much harder to get a decent adjacency bonus for, but it's a long development towards new policy cards and governments without them, I find.

I also find Holy Sites very useful just because Faith is such a cheap way to get stuff, even without a religion.

Otherwise I pretty much agree with your assessments. I really wish Industrial Zones (and Factories) boosted production much more significantly. They're pretty useless, as things stand.

 

[oPunchDrunko]

I feel a lot of my district choices depend on the game. When I have lots of sea resources and water I'll build more Harbors, and if there are merchant city states I'll make sure to also have a Commercial Hub everywhere so I can get those big lovely gold bonuses from 6 envoys. When I play as Korea I make sure to get my Seowons, but when I'm playing America I will want my Theaters everywhere. When I have a city with lots and lots of mountains, you can be sure I'll put up a Campus. I try to make sure I have at least one of everything somewhere so I have a place to put my Great People. I'll put my Encampment on my border to help for protection and you need to build Armories and such for some Eurekas.

When you say "one of everything somewhere" do you mean you put ALL districts in one city or do you spread them out between cities? Sorry if this is a dumb question, but I just want to clarify.

 

[Disgustipated]

I think he means one of each district somewhere in his empire, not necessarily all in one city. Also good for the Civil Engineering inspiration.

No idea what difficulty level you play. Generally higher difficulty levels require more campus districts. 2 campus districts is plenty for Prince level, and you will find yourself ahead of the AI with even that small number. 1 or 2 theater squares is all you need, but often you can put these off if you build monuments in every city. But eventually you'll want them as later civics are quite expensive. I know some people don't value trade routes as much as me, but I love money. Like the Lizards song says, I want money. What's not to like about it? I want a trade route from each city, which means I build a commercial hub or a harbor in every single city. Sometimes both (but you can't get double trade routes), but not that often. The "triangle" above usually isn't worth it since it takes a long time to build and there's other stuff to be done. Encampment, usually one is enough, but many times I build none. Holy sites I only build 1. I differ from posters above, I can't see building one in every city. I can get a religion with one, and eventually spread it to all my cities. Still it can be useful for monumentality and purchasing great people, I just would rather have money instead. Entertainment districts usually come later, but it may be worth it to build one early if you want to build the colloseum which is a pretty good wonder.

 

[acluewithout]

Do you really find that you get enough Culture from Monuments these days? I find Civics really drag without having at least one Theatre Square + Ampitheatre. They're not as obvious a choice as Campuses and much harder to get a decent adjacency bonus for, but it's a long development towards new policy cards and governments without them, I find.

I also find Holy Sites very useful just because Faith is such a cheap way to get stuff, even without a religion.

Otherwise I pretty much agree with your assessments. I really wish Industrial Zones (and Factories) boosted production much more significantly. They're pretty useless, as things stand.

IZs are always going to have a problem so long as their yield is mainly just production, because it just makes the ‘production now v production later’ equation too stark.

IZs do have other yields than production, being great people points, gold from projects, and regional production buffs, but the first two are sort of minor, and the last is just production with other steps.

I have some suggested buffs for IZs in my signature. Basically:

• Steam: in additional to any other benefits, your capital receives +1 trade route after you research Steam provided you have at least two Coal resources and two Factories.

• Combustion: in additional to any other benefits, your capital receives +1 trade route after you research Combustion provided you have at least two Oil resources and two Factories.

• Nuclear Power. Your cities all receive +1 housing, and +5% growth, once you research Nuclear Fission provided you have at least two Uranium resources and two Power Plants. This increases to +2 housing, and +10% growth, after you research Nuclear Fusion, provided you have at least two Uranium resources and at least three Power Plants.

You could also do other things around factories or pp giving amenities, or maybe even policy card slots if you have a certain number of factories or whatever.

 

[MaryKB]

When you say "one of everything somewhere" do you mean you put ALL districts in one city or do you spread them out between cities? Sorry if this is a dumb question, but I just want to clarify.

Oh I like to have at least one of each district, but they don't all have to be in the same city! If I don't have any campuses then I won't be able to use some Great Scientists, and I'll need an Amphitheater or I can't use my Great Writers, and so on. And if I don't have at least one district of each type I'm probably not generating any great person points and I could be missing out, I just feel it's useful to have at least 1 somewhere.

 

[kb27787]

I dont know why ppl dont like theatres that much (I suppose their adjacency is hard to get and so the double culture from buildings is hard to get to work)
But I find that culture is far more valuable than science early to mid game... Great writers are worth basically 4 monuments each and only cost 60 gp! The thing is an ancient writer gives as much culture as a later era one whereas an early scientist gives much less science than a later era one.
I always get theatres up early and dont bother with campi unless they are +2 or more...

 

[MaryKB]

I love both! I always try to have a theater square in one of my first three cities, but I do build a campus first (if I have good mountains or if I'm playing as Korea) because I'm terrified of falling too far behind in science. But when I'm playing as Greece I build an Acropolis as soon as I can in every city, since it's such a huge help. I would say for certain I don't do the exact same thing every time, lol. That's one big difference I feel between civilization 6 and civilization 5.

I do see what you mean how theater squares just don't seem to get much love.

 

[Rosty K]

I dont know why ppl dont like theatres that much (I suppose their adjacency is hard to get and so the double culture from buildings is hard to get to work)
But I find that culture is far more valuable than science early to mid game... Great writers are worth basically 4 monuments each and only cost 60 gp! The thing is an ancient writer gives as much culture as a later era one whereas an early scientist gives much less science than a later era one.
I always get theatres up early and dont bother with campi unless they are +2 or more...

When you are a wonder whore, it's not hard to get good adjacency for a theater district at all

On the subject - the concept of beelining is something I don't feel good about, so I try to uphold the balance in everything, and that includes districts. At the start I'll get me things that help with growth - CH, Harbors for gold and traders, some Industrial Zones, maybe an Encampment overlooking the border, and possibly a Holy Site for a religion and some faith. This kind of sets up a mid-game production explosion, and then here come Campuses and Theaters (I'll try to have an equal number of those). By this time my borders have also grown large enough to have some good tiles for these, and maybe another Holy Site with big adjacency. And then here comes a final snowball. Then I'll pick a victory condition depending on who I am and who is up against me, but then at this point it becomes boring and I start a new game

 

[Trav'ling Canuck]

I dont know why ppl dont like theatres that much (I suppose their adjacency is hard to get and so the double culture from buildings is hard to get to work)
But I find that culture is far more valuable than science early to mid game... Great writers are worth basically 4 monuments each and only cost 60 gp! The thing is an ancient writer gives as much culture as a later era one whereas an early scientist gives much less science than a later era one.
I always get theatres up early and dont bother with campi unless they are +2 or more...

One of the features of Civ 6's design is that as long as you're playing single player, you can play pretty much however you like and it will generally work. And no one way is "right" or "wrong" since it's just about having fun.

Culture is very useful, I agree, but it won't help much if your neighbour gets to Knights before you do and crushes you. Which the AI probably won't do, so you're right, you don't need to stay ahead of the AI in science. It's likely just memories of earlier Civ games that makes me wary about not keeping at least tech parity with my neighbours, which you definitely need Campuses to do at higher difficulty levels.

When you found a new city and can build one district, you can spend that district on a Theatre for culture, and I agree, culture is very useful for running you up the civics tree. Or alternatively, you can spend that district on a Campus to gain science and build a Monument to get culture and you've boosted both.

Once you get to four citizens, you have another district decision to make. At this point, if you're falling behind in culture, i.e. your tech advancement is ahead of your civics advancement, a Theatre may make sense. If you haven't built an Encampment yet, your first Encampment will likely generate even more culture for you over the course of the game from the inspirations it provides. Alternatively, a Commercial Hub or Harbour could be a good choice to get a combination of culture, science, and gold from a new trade route. I like to run the policy card that gives you +1 culture / +1 science from international trade routes, as it really boosts both. If you have good relationships with not-yet-conquered cultural city states, that boosts the value of Theatres to be sure. And if you're playing peacefully and want to ensure lots of golden ages, archeologists are a sure fire way to generate tons of era score, which again is a reason to like Theatres.

 

[agonistes]

One of the features of Civ 6's design is that as long as you're playing single player, you can play pretty much however you like and it will generally work. And no one way is "right" or "wrong" since it's just about having fun.

Culture is very useful, I agree, but it won't help much if your neighbour gets to Knights before you do and crushes you. Which the AI probably won't do, so you're right, you don't need to stay ahead of the AI in science. It's likely just memories of earlier Civ games that makes me wary about not keeping at least tech parity with my neighbours, which you definitely need Campuses to do at higher difficulty levels.

When you found a new city and can build one district, you can spend that district on a Theatre for culture, and I agree, culture is very useful for running you up the civics tree. Or alternatively, you can spend that district on a Campus to gain science and build a Monument to get culture and you've boosted both.

Once you get to four citizens, you have another district decision to make. At this point, if you're falling behind in culture, i.e. your tech advancement is ahead of your civics advancement, a Theatre may make sense. If you haven't built an Encampment yet, your first Encampment will likely generate even more culture for you over the course of the game from the inspirations it provides. Alternatively, a Commercial Hub or Harbour could be a good choice to get a combination of culture, science, and gold from a new trade route. I like to run the policy card that gives you +1 culture / +1 science from international trade routes, as it really boosts both. If you have good relationships with not-yet-conquered cultural city states, that boosts the value of Theatres to be sure. And if you're playing peacefully and want to ensure lots of golden ages, archeologists are a sure fire way to generate tons of era score, which again is a reason to like Theatres.

Except you don't to lose out on a wonder you wanted because you were outpaced in tech. That's my main reason for keeping up with research.