[R&F] The best adjacency Civs

Cagarustus

Prince
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I wanted to create this Thread just to see what fellow Fanatics think. This thread might have already been raised, and if so, then I'm happy to be referred to that Thread. In any case, I shall continue.

'Adjacency' Civs are those who gain bonuses to District yields based on certain criteria. I would like to list my ranked list of these Civs, and explain why.

1) Brazil: number one in my view because they can rack up crazy bonuses! The best thing about this is that Rainforest Tiles are quite common and Brazil gains +1 adjacency from EACH tile (unlike other like Civs as I will explain later). Not to mention that if you choose Sacred Path Pantheon, then you can gain even more Faith!

2) Netherlands: because rivers are quite common, Netherlands can also rack up bonuses, and for IZs, which is good (and something that Brazil doesn't gain). The issue is that the bonuses don't stack (i.e. if between two or more rivers, so you can't gain as much adjacency bonuses as Brazil.

3) Australia: Land Down Under is a good ability, but again not as common as either Rivers or Rain forests so, in my opinion, not as good as 1 or 2.

4) Japan: I don't use them much and haven't really used their ability that effectively but if you plan your cities you can get nice adjacency bonuses.

5) Indonesia: this Civ is probably the worst of all Adjacency Civs. When I played them yesterday I was disappointed to learn that they don't gain bonuses for EACH tile, only for one. Sure, a +1 bonus is nice, but I don't think it's worth building a district just gain +1 science.

Let me know what you all think!
 
Norway can get 15 faith holy site adjacency by Dance of the Aurora, surrounded by tundra forests, with a Stave Church. Scripture doubles that to 30 and if you pop the great scientist Hildegard, it generates 30 science.
 
I would lower Brazil and raise Japan. Here's my rationale:
- For Brazil, you actually need to build districts to utilize the adjacency bonus (and rainforest tiles are not overly productive, other than when you chop them then place mines).
-For Japan, the adjacencies are powerful but you need the latitude to place them where you need to (irrespective of rivers, rainforest, etc...)
 
Korea doesn't deserve to be on any best adjacency list, but does deserve mention in any discussion of the topic, as it provides a weird alternative to the usual adjacency game.
 
I would lower Brazil and raise Japan. Here's my rationale:
- For Brazil, you actually need to build districts to utilize the adjacency bonus (and rainforest tiles are not overly productive, other than when you chop them then place mines).
-For Japan, the adjacencies are powerful but you need the latitude to place them where you need to (irrespective of rivers, rainforest, etc...)
Yeah, Japan's can be great if you cram your cities together as close as you can, with a giant district cluster in between three cities. Add in the half price districts and on pure adjacency only I think they win.
 
Have to throw in Australia and Netherlands. They don't get adjacency for everything, but they get adjacency on some of the more useful districts.
 
Japan, just due to the fact they can do it on nearly any terrain.

Well, except if it's water, but they still make good harbors.

Brazil is very strong just because of how early you can get it and Netherlands is good as well, since it has some degree of consistency.
 
I agree with Japan, I was impressed by how good it all turned out being when I played them last. They definitely seemed a lot better in practice than on paper.
 
Japan is probably the most consistently good civ, as you don't have to deviate a lot from your default placements to get a nice bonus. I tend to try to get districts in triangles right now, and with Japan that means an immediate +1 bonus to each of them. And if you plan it well, it's not hard to get a larger cluster going to push it higher.

Brasil certainly is nice to throw things in the jungle, but that means that you can't chop the jungle or place your districts too close together to make use of it. So sure, they're great to get a handful of early high yield districts, but after using up the main jungle tiles, I find that it's more hit or miss whether you get any real use out of their bonus later.

Australia has some nice bonuses too if you play the game the right way. Especially since mountains both have an advantage in that they increase appeal and bonuses, you can get some great campuses and holy sites. Wonders as well increase appeal, so they can get some great theatre sites too. The problem is that if you like to mine things, that can really tear down appeal, so I remember playing them and actually trying to massage things by not mining or chopping trees since I needed their appeal.
 
Persia, Scotland, and India also have tile improvements that function like Korea and Khmer’s district adjacency bonuses. They force city planning to get maximum yield from their improved tiles.
 
But this is why I can never finish a game. I'm in the middle of playing with Arabia now, but I can't stop thinking about when I get home I want to fire up a Japan game and mess around with districts.
 
Japan is number 1 IMO, a major adjacency bonus per each adjacent district is awesome. I'd have Netherlands number 2 and Brazil number 3.

I have Australia lower than them since it can be hard to get a breathtaking adjacency bonus, and a charming adjacency bonus doesn't provide much. Plus placing mines reduces appeal.
 
Good point. Perhaps this could be applied to Germany’s Hansa district?

I'm glad someone mentioned germany. You can absolutely game the hansa if you pack your cities together, since the bonus applies to EACH commercial hub. Even in terrible terrain, for example, you could take 3 cities and build a ring of Hansa/CH around a single resource, guaranteeing 12 production in all 3 (assuming you use the card.) Even two cities can just make a diamond with no resources at all and guarantee 10 for both.
At one point I made a long post with all kinds of shapes but in my games i can routinely create clusters of these districts seeing 16-22+ production each.

The best you can do if you happen to have the right terrain without any impassable spots is make one hansa surrounded by CHs and fit the rest in as best you can. (You have to make a large ring of 6 cities packed 3 tiles apart each.) That means 30 production for the central one, with at least 10 everywhere else, though usually more since there are resources and other districts you can place. A modern era or later dark age allows you to run Collectivism, which among other things adds another +100% IZ adjacency, potentially getting you up to 45 production in one hansa.

The hansa is nice because you don't have to build near mines, you can always make them useful and even throwaway tundra cities can contribute to the cause. Even better, germany can do all of this with cities at size 1 since you only need two districts each. (Sure, you might lose out on +2 gold from rivers by having to line up CH with hansas, but you gain +4 production so it doesn't really matter.)
 
The OP slightly underestimates Indonesia's bonus from coasts/lakes. You can get +3 adjacency for a district on a single tile island. Still usually you will only get +1, sometimes +2, but that can be combined with any other adjacency bonuses you can get.

Japan has the best bonus IMO. Not dependent on having particular terrain, affects all districts that benefit from adjacency.
 
The OP slightly underestimates Indonesia's bonus from coasts/lakes. You can get +3 adjacency for a district on a single tile island. Still usually you will only get +1, sometimes +2, but that can be combined with any other adjacency bonuses you can get.


Japan has the best bonus IMO. Not dependent on having particular terrain, affects all districts that benefit from adjacency.
Japan theoretically is the best overall because it is not limited to terrain options and you can get many districts together for the adjacency bonuses. However the best adjacency bonuses I have gotten, from the get go, are from Australia, Netherlands, and Indonesia, though not for every district. These are indeed quite easier than expected because they do have their start biases, such as Coastal tiles add appeal and help out Australia.
As for Indonesia I one time got a +7 Theatre Square which was on a one tile island with the Great Lighthouse and Sydney Opera House adjacent to it eventually.
 
Japan theoretically is the best overall because it is not limited to terrain options and you can get many districts together for the adjacency bonuses. However the best adjacency bonuses I have gotten, from the get go, are from Australia, Netherlands, and Indonesia, though not for every district. These are indeed quite easier than expected because they do have their start biases, such as Coastal tiles add appeal and help out Australia.
As for Indonesia I one time got a +7 Theatre Square which was on a one tile island with the Great Lighthouse and Sydney Opera House adjacent to it eventually.

Yep. Japan will consistently have better bonuses, but they're small each. They're the kings of having +2 or +3 adjacencies, with later bonuses being larger as you pack in districts more.

Australia/Netherlands probably get the better immediate bonuses, as they get a larger boost initially. However over time those top spots will quickly disappear, leading to the later builds as less valuable. Australia has the edge I think because as I mentioned before, in many cases the spots that you would naturally place these districts get additional help. You want campuses or holy sites next to mountains, which give bonus appear as they are. Or holy sites next to natural wonders - tiles next to a natural wonder are usually breathtaking appeal, so with Australia it's really easy to be running +5 or +7 holy sites. Or building wonders will raise appeal around them as well.
 
I like the Civs that consistently can get me +3 or greater Adjacency for the Era Score. Farming Barbs and building Districts to get Golden and stay Golden. So Brazil, Japan, Germany, Netherlands and Australia. I guess Indonesia too.
 
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