The best (favorite) city ever?

[banzay13]

In 1.17 it was for me - Istanbul (bets trade routes ever). There a lot of good cites on map was in 1.17 - Buenos-Airos, Mexico, New-Orleans, Alexandria, Babil of coz, Delhi, Bombay...
But many of them became not such good on new map.
So, my new Best city - Bombay (Shurparaka) and Shanghai. Probably Shanghai is best. yes. lack of production, but pop score in enormous. With proper GP settling and civics... It's can be SuperNova. I'm just thought - Korea should build capital here))

 

[AOS9001]

So far, the best cities in 1.18 for me are:
New York City (great pop, great , okay )
San Francisco (same)
Lisboa (same, if you can keep Spain’s culture at bay)
Shanghai (best pop in the game?)
The city 1 NW of China’s starting tile (crazy in the early game if you build the irrigation wonder there)
Moscow (big potential for or )
Kiev (still a powerhouse)
Kyoutou or Tokyou (choose one to be a supercity)
Mexico City (just good all around)

Honorable mentions:
Santiago de Cuba (probably the Carribean city quickest to become a net bonus to your economy, gets two sugar, a clam, salt, and iron)
Colombo (Sri Lanka city, very good for what it is if you can keep Tamil culture out)
Fort Sao Salvador (a good city for Brazil)
Hanoi (like a little Shanghai)
Bagan (Happiness central)

That’s what I’ve got off the top of my head. I’m sure I overlooked some.

 

[Kott]

This spot in the middle of Africa is quite nice if you can reach it.

 

[xerxess]

I would go with Tenochtitlan. Amazing city and a key for a succesful game not only as Toltecs and Aztecs but also as the Mayans.

 

[banzay13]

I would go for Tenochtitlan. Amazing city and a key for a succesful game not only as Toltecs and Aztecs but also as the Mayans.

For any civs, if you plan conquer NA
As for Africa- there numerous cites near Great Lakes, but all of them in foreign area (for all), unfortunately
And best -usually sea city (trades route, you know...), unless you play Rus and build Volok and Manufacture

 

[Derdan]

Ziwa in Zimbabwe and Kaditshwene in South Africa are absolute production monsters.

 

[Fresol]

The Wi -> Medvegalis -> Danzig city trio works well for medieval european civs such as the English.

Early access to amber, lots of commerce, and possible access to marble in Sortavala. All you need is to start with a settler and 2 archers in Wi and everything works itself out. The Swedish will flip the city of Wi but Medvegalis gets to keep all the ambers.

Spoiler trio :

 

[Leoreth]

The Anglonic Knights

 

[hnrysml]

Hnnnnng Kingsbarrow

 

[Fresol]

The French Baltic states:

Spoiler French Baltics :

 

[Dracosolon]

What's the strategy behind settling Wi if it's going to flip?

 

[Fresol]

What's the strategy behind settling Wi if it's going to flip?

The medieval european civs desperately need happiness resources so the amber near Wi is of great help to them. Not to mention the good chunk of commerce generated from the city helps with economy, even the production is not too bad(and you don't need any workers for Wi). Look at this city screen and imagine you get to keep it until 1252AD:

Spoiler Wi :

Moreover, if you manage to keep the culture of Wi down, you can get to keep all the ambers even after the inevitable flip to the Swedish, so the loss is minimum. I prefer to settle Wi as soon as possible in my Norse, English and French games, there's little downside of this strategy other than potential expansion stability problem, which comes into play quite a while later.

Here's a case after the flip:

Spoiler after Wi flips :

You can see not much is lost after the flip. A fish, a stone and that's about it.

 

[Fresol]

You can settle Wi early on and whip/build workboats to improve the 2 fish and 2 ambers near it, use the cultural slider to let its border expand once. After the Poles spawn you can settle 1 or 2 cities near these improved sea resources to deny them to the Poles(and also the Swedish later).

Wi also serves as a relay if you care to grab the marble north of Saint Petersburg. I find it extremely helpful in my English and French games where I would stack wonders in the capital city.

 

[AOS9001]

For me, it's going to Algeria as France. More real life accurate, even if I start the colonization several hundred years early. Also the free units from vassalage help with happiness problems and are useful when your neighbor backstabs you.

 

[Kott]

In my experience you have to rush a galley and a settler to arrive to Alger before the Moors. Though it is in the 600AD start, the earlier start probably makes it easier, but I am not sure if an Algerian city would flip to the Moors.

 

[Leoreth]

Is there any more feedback on this that people would like to share? Sites that are better than they should be? Sites that are underwhelming for the city they are meant to represent?

 

[Hickman888]

Is there any more feedback on this that people would like to share? Sites that are better than they should be? Sites that are underwhelming for the city they are meant to represent?

I'm still working out how I want to approach the Mande game, but I immediately noticed that Ansongo is a much better candidate for constructing the University of Sankore, rather than Timbuktu, due to having an additional production resource within it's BFC, as well as a couple of hill tiles if necessary.

Spoiler Mande Cities :

 

[Orbii]

Is there any more feedback on this that people would like to share? Sites that are better than they should be? Sites that are underwhelming for the city they are meant to represent?

I think that Chicago is still suffering. I don't have my computer right now, but the off memory the city sites 1N (Milwaukee?), and also maybe 2N1W (St. Cloud?) and 1NW (Minneapolis?) of the Chicago tile are just waaaaay better cities because they access the northern Midwest / southern Manitoba metals. I think one of the cities can actually get three to four metal tiles in its BFC, and they are all historical tiles anyways. Perhaps some adjustments to the metal placements could help?

I also find Los Angeles a bit mid compared to San Francisco. The latter naturally grows larger and contributes more in my games while I find the former struggles with unealthiness.

In the 600 AD scenario, St. Petersburg winds up unsettleable because Sweden tends to settle the tile 1NW. Extending the fading marshes there might be worthwhile.

I've noted a few other cities over time and will probably add more later.

Edit 1: As noted in my Rus write-up, Kiev is objectively weaker than the city 1E of Rus spawn, since the 1E city gets access to Iron, doesn't lose any other resources or major tiles, and is still in core. For a later Muscovite player they can access the Iron with another city, but for Rus I think Kiev is just worse.

 

[Dracosolon]

Is there any more feedback on this that people would like to share? Sites that are better than they should be? Sites that are underwhelming for the city they are meant to represent?

It's minor but for France, Lyon and Marseille are cramped together and Bordeaux tends to be the second largest city, when both of these are bigger in real life.

I would suggest moving the Bordeaux Sheep on one of the mountain tiles near Lyon. As a bonus, the Sheep tile corresponds to Toulouse, the fourth largest city in France, which would be better represented by a Town.

 

[Lilna]

It's minor but for France, Lyon and Marseille are cramped together and Bordeaux tends to be the second largest city, when both of these are bigger in real life.

I would suggest moving the Bordeaux Sheep on one of the mountain tiles near Lyon. As a bonus, the Sheep tile corresponds to Toulouse, the fourth largest city in France, which would be better represented by a Town.

On the topic of French cities, Marseilles is probably one of the worst commonly founded cities in the game right now. Out of the 20 tiles in its fat cross:

1 is a mountain
1 is Lyon
7 are shared with Lyon, a core city
1 will usually be controlled by Milan
8 are water tiles with no resources
1 is a flat plain with no river
1 is Corsica (decent production but tough to improve)

It desperately needs something to make it viable. As it is now, it has no reason to exist except for building a Mediterranean navy to capture Algiers with (which can then build your Mediterranean navy, obsoleting Marseilles)