Spec cities?

[theis81]

Hi,

So far I have played with workers automated and building everything in every city. I know that I need to develop soon if I wanna get past monarch.

I usually have a production city, but that is not planned just more choosing someone with a good mining ressource. All in all I would like to get some more specific on how a spec city is build up. I know this varies depending on the date in the game.

I recon there need to be a certain amount of food, so all cottages --> towns, can't be a strong science city? So a few farms (later windmills?) will help.

Also what differ a wealth city and a sci city besides the buildings? Cause in my view it's all about maxing out commerce.

What about GP citites, I assume they need population, hence farms. But wont they will have too low a production then to get the important buildings for even getting the specialist?

Any advice will be welcomed.

Thx

 

[Zanttu]

It's better to learn controlling your workers yourself, that way they will be much more useful. I'm not going to write an essay about what improvement to build in what situation, because there is so many possible strategies.

About GP cities, they dont need to have much production because they can run specialists with caste system+whip the most important buildings sucha as granary and library.

 

[Sjaramei]

Also what differ a wealth city and a sci city besides the buildings? Cause in my view it's all about maxing out commerce.
Thx

Wealth cities usually have a holy shrine which yields some gold or a corporations HQ.(if you build these yourself, put them in your wall street city, very important) These are the kind of cities where you build wall street, preferably a city where you can cottage up a lot too.

A science city can be a specialist city. It doesn't neccesarily need to be a cottage city. Representation + lots of food can give you a good science output in a city, and Oxford might be better there than in that cottage city of yours.

Keep in mind that you mostly just need to specialize the Oxford, Wall Street etc cities. The rest usually is better off being hybrid cities. (Mix of cottages and farms/mines)

What about GP citites, I assume they need population, hence farms. But wont they will have too low a production then to get the important buildings for even getting the specialist?
Thx

Lots of food means you can liberally use the whip. Whip libraries and all the other important buildings you might need, production isn't that important when you get the city going.

 

[futurehermit]

Super cities:

-Oxford: Usually capital, you want as many cottages as possible and any food surplus (especially with corporations) goes to working scientists

-Wall street: In BtS if you get a food corporation you can have this city with as many cottages as possible as well and then use the food surplus to work merchants

-Ironworks: Farms +/or mines +/or workshops +/or watermills. As much production as possible and this should be one of your top cities in terms of tile value

-Globe Theatre: As much food as possible and once you get nationhood you want to draft in this city every turn. Works great for mid-to-late game conquering

-National Epic: Goes great with the Great Library. As much food as possible and once it grows huge (awesome with food corporation) then you want to be working as many specialists as possible.

-Heroic Epic: Goes great with West Point. You want to try and unlock it early and get it in a solid production city (same criteria as IW). This city should be building military units non-stop and GGs can be settled here for the experience boost.

-West Point: See above.

-National Park: Find a city with lots of forests/jungle and use it as a second gpfarm.

-Espionage: Once you hit democracy and communism you can make a great espionage city. Focus on getting all of the espionage buildings, use a great spy (preferably from being first to communism) on scotland yard, build/buy the kremlin, and then run 9 spy specialists. You want lots of surplus food here although you don't need as much as for your NE city so you can get away with some production or cottages in this city. Forbidden Palace can go in this city as well if it is in a good location.

Try and plan out these cities as you go along. Watch for good locations for them and make map notes (alt-s) where you think they could go.

General specialization:

-Commerce: DaveMcW's rule of thumb is any city that can support 10 cottages (and presumably still grow) pre-biology (i.e., has a fair amount of grasslands and/or surplus food to work plains/grassland hills) becomes a commerce city. Use farms and windmills only where absolutely necessary and post-biology try and maximize the number of cottages the city can work. Try and focus on growing these cities as much as possible while working many cottages (try and lift the cap as much as possible).

-Production: Cities that fail to make good commerce cities, but that have enough food and potential for grassland farm + mine combinations become production cities. Post-biology and when later techs come online you can add workshops, watermills, etc. These cities support your military production or build wonders where necessary. If on the coast they can support your naval production.

-GpFarm: Unless playing a specialist economy, you only need one of these and it should be your future NE city. Try and generate great people early and often throughout the game.

 

[theis81]

Thx for the advise.

I have a follow up question. This is about production in cities in general.

For instance if I have a sci city should I produce sci as long as there aren't any sci buildings available or should I use the production on other buildings or units?

More in general should I build all those buildings thats not directly benefitting the purpose of the spec city.

I reckon this might vary between the different kinds of cities, but some general advise would be very welcomed.

 

[Sjaramei]

Thx for the advise.

I have a follow up question. This is about production in cities in general.

For instance if I have a sci city should I produce sci as long as there aren't any sci buildings available or should I use the production on other buildings or units?

More in general should I build all those buildings thats not directly benefitting the purpose of the spec city.

I reckon this might vary between the different kinds of cities, but some general advise would be very welcomed.

I think it's better to produce wealth so you can crank up the slider more instead of building research. Just build what you need, cities always have something to build. (Science city needs granaries, happy buildings and stuff too ) Army usually is safe to build since you almost never can get enough units

Point of building stuff in cities is maximizing things. A production city doesn't need a bank for instance, but a commerce city does. If the building gives happiness it's worth building, if it gives health it's worth building. (and you need those things of course) Markets and grocers can be worth building in production cities if you have the resources so they give happiness and health in addition to the +% wealth. It all depends on what you got and need.

 

[Airefuego]

hi theis81

try this excellent article by sisutil which has some great pointers on city specialization:

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=165632

It's called "beginners' guide" but don't be fooled, the tips in there apply to all levels of player, if you are moving on to monarch you're not exactly a beginner but i think you will find this useful

 

[futurehermit]

Cities should primarily build what they need and nothing else. For the most part that will mean that they will constantly be building something. However, if you find yourself without something to build at any given time building wealth can be a good idea (as mentioned) or else you can build troops, which you usually always need. For that reason every city in my empire gets a barracks (which can also be good when switching into nationhood).

 

[MyOtherName]

I think it's better to produce wealth so you can crank up the slider more instead of building research.

That's wrong here.

For other cities, producing wealth is good, because "crank up the slider" translates into "my science city gets more raw beakers to play with". But if it's your science city that is choosing between wealth and research...

Basically, the idea is that in any city whose science multiplier to gold multiplier ratio is more than your empire's average, you want to run research, otherwise you want to run wealth.

 

[futurehermit]

That's an interesting point.

 

[Sjaramei]

That's wrong here.

For other cities, producing wealth is good, because "crank up the slider" translates into "my science city gets more raw beakers to play with". But if it's your science city that is choosing between wealth and research...

Basically, the idea is that in any city whose science multiplier to gold multiplier ratio is more than your empire's average, you want to run research, otherwise you want to run wealth.

I believe you don't get multipliers from building research (only the production bonuses apply), hence why building wealth means more beakers total, but i could be wrong.
If you are at 100% and getting positive cash flow by all means build research. But below 100% building wealth so you can crank up the slider more is better.

 

[goldenhero]

Hey quick question. When you enter into a city, and turn the research sliders down in the city..does that bring the whole empires % down? Or can you change it for individual cities?

 

[Gliese 581]

Barracks is also good bc they increase your power rating without adding expenses, and give military defense if you're invaded, so yes every city.
I usually place the NE and Oxford in my capital, I build few cottages there, I run as many specialists as possible and build as many wonders as feasible wihtout sacrificing more important short term goals.
If I don't go for any early wonders (you have to use the capital for these most of the time) I might relocate my wonder/gp farm to one of my first two expansions however and go crazy with cottages for the capital.

 

[futurehermit]

Yes for me too the capital is either a power research center with cottages + early bureaucracy or a gpfarm. This largely depends on the ratio of surplus food to nice cottageable tiles (grassland river or floodplains generally).

 

[Airefuego]

Hey quick question. When you enter into a city, and turn the research sliders down in the city..does that bring the whole empires % down? Or can you change it for individual cities?

Whole empire...

 

[TheDS]

I have noticed that by mid-game, you can have up to +75% science bonus (with some select cities getting +125% if you use a Great Scientist to build an Academy), +100% gold bonus, and +25% hammer bonus. If converting hammers directly to gold or science, you don't get the use of the gold or science bonus, just the production bonus from your Forge, so if you have nothing better for a city to do, it is best to set your specialists to Merchants and it doesn't matter whether you build gold or science. For tiles with a lot of hammers, it may be better to work the tile than to have the specialist, so check the totals. (If you have any kind of bonus with the specialist over its normal bonus, it's almost always better than having him work a tile.)

None of the above includes any Wonders, Civics, Trait bonii, or UBs, any of which can change the above general statement.

 

[Maben]

If converting hammers directly to gold or science, you don't get the use of the gold or science bonus, just the production bonus from your Forge, so if you have nothing better for a city to do, it is best to set your specialists to Merchants and it doesn't matter whether you build gold or science.

I think you mean best to set to merchants OR scientists. Merchants will only help your gold, if you are running 100% tech then this won't help your tech at all, only scientists will.

 

[TheDS]

You're half-right. What I meant was that you'd get a bigger bonus out of using merchants, which will allow you to set your science slider higher. If you're already maxed out, then you could still want merchants because you've always got a need for gold - upgrading units, assisting in buying techs, rushing buildings, etc.

Of course, if maximizing science at the expense of everything else is your concern - perhaps to get that critical tech with the free thing before another player does - then what I've said might not make sense. And specific circumstances can also change it (Oxford, Academy, etc), but I filtered those out for my general statement.

 

[LlamaCat]

Hi,

So far I have played with workers automated and building everything in every city. I know that I need to develop soon if I wanna get past monarch.

comments like this make me think I should actually start automating my workers since I only play Prince and sometimes Monarch. And building everything in every city.

I can't imagine winning a game with workers automated at any level above Chieftain so I'm confounded how this comment can be true. Or maybe I am just terrible at managing my workers.

 

[futurehermit]

Managing your own workers is very important imo. It is helpful for learning the game: What should my worker be doing? Every time you have to make that decision, you are thinking about the game. More automation means less thinking which imo is bad news if you are looking to move up in skill. If you are happy just playing for fun on low skill levels then removing the tedium of managing workers can be a good thing. Your chances of losing are very low anyways.