The hospital building

[reddishrecue]

So, does anyone find any strategy with the use of the hospital building? What about the medical lab? I find that hospitals help give cities +5 food each allowing for a lot of growth. Is there any strategy that focuses on hospital use?

 

[DaNuke]

Building Hospitals ASAP?

 

[chazzycat]

if you still have under-sized cities at that point in the game, then they can be good. but in general they don't seem to have a huge impact in my games. I tend to go for plastics before biology so they come kind of late. hospital are nowhere near as powerful as research labs of course.

medical labs even less so, I don't think those are ever worth building (assuming you are playing the "correct" way with hoarding GS, etc.)

 

[Magma_Dragoon]

They should add the med lab bonus to the hospital and remove the med lab. Regardless of vc, med labs come too late to help.

 

[joncnunn]

I play 4 city tall tradition. More pop = More science so Hospitals are always a priority for me to build.

I normally skip Medical labs. These arrive rather late.

 

[reddishrecue]

Hospitals provide that much more food with biology and help reveal oil. Traditional hospitals are good because you get more food. A few cities with large populations caused by hospitals and medical labs can sometimes be better than large empires with more cities and less populations.

 

[shaglio]

I always build Hospitals when I get the chance. 5 more food = more Science and 2-3 more Specialists.

As for Medical Labs, I only build them when I play on lower difficulties and have run out of other buildings to build.

I suppose, IF you're in the late game, and IF you took the Order tenet where new cities start with 2 population, and IF there's open space available, and IF you have enough cash lying around, you could found a new city and rush-buy a Granary, Aqueduct, Hospital, and Medical Lab. That's the only situation where I could see it coming in handy, but it involves a lot of "If's."

 

[GoStu]

I suppose, IF you're in the late game, and IF you took the Order tenet where new cities start with 2 population, and IF there's open space available, and IF you have enough cash lying around, you could found a new city and rush-buy a Granary, Aqueduct, Hospital, and Medical Lab. That's the only situation where I could see it coming in handy, but it involves a lot of "If's."

It's not that many "ifs". I play wide empires frequently, and often go commerce (although commerce isn't necessary to have extra gold). The resettlement tenet starting a city off with 4 pop helps but isn't necessary either.

I've founded uranium mining cities or cities to infill gaps of razed land: in both cases I like to get all those buildings bought, plus I'll find more cash later for workshops, factories, etc. a city can grow in no time with all that.

 

[Memoryjar]

With Freedom, after labs and when I fit all my specialists slots, I go for Biology before Satellites in a SV.
For other VC, I quite never build them.

 

[shaglio]

It's not that many "ifs". I play wide empires frequently, and often go commerce (although commerce isn't necessary to have extra gold). The resettlement tenet starting a city off with 4 pop helps but isn't necessary either.

I've founded uranium mining cities or cities to infill gaps of razed land: in both cases I like to get all those buildings bought, plus I'll find more cash later for workshops, factories, etc. a city can grow in no time with all that.

Oh it's 4 pop, not 2 (I should have looked in up in the Online Civwiki, but I got busy at work and had to rush to finish that post).

That's the only situation where I can see Medical Labs being helpful: when you found a city late game and want it to grow quickly. Otherwise, by the time you can build them, your core cities are so big that they won't be doing much more growing anyway.

ETA: They should probably just change the Medical Lab to have a flat increase (maybe 5 ) like the Hospital to make it more useful.

 

[KrikkitTwo]

What they should do is add +25% retained food to the Hospital

That way...
Hospital+Aqueduct=65% (current level of retained food for Medlab almost 3x growth over normal)
+Med lab=90% ... (would be almost 10x growth over normal... would make Med Labs worthwhile for large cities.. for Wonders/Projects)

Currently the Med lab ~ 2x growth over Aqueduct
If the hospital had the same effect, the Med lab would ~3x growth over the hospital.

 

[Ritzy Cat]

IMO, Hospitals are best for wide empires, where you will have a larger amount of smaller cities, assuming these cities have the production to build them within reasonable time or you have the money to throw away.

Medical Lab effects should be removed to hospital, medical lab is simply too late to make any big of a difference

 

[Wodan]

if you still have under-sized cities at that point in the game, then they can be good. but in general they don't seem to have a huge impact in my games.

I think the benefit is subtle but is quite impactful. It's not in your face that you get the gradual growth the rest of the game, with the corresponding increase in and score.

It would be interesting to do the math and figure something like 5 cities starting at size 15, with 200 turns left (or whatever), what would the game-end differences be.

I tend to go for plastics before biology so they come kind of late.

I tend to go the other way around because I want to know where the OIL is.

 

[GoStu]

That's the only situation where I can see Medical Labs being helpful: when you found a city late game and want it to grow quickly. Otherwise, by the time you can build them, your core cities are so big that they won't be doing much more growing anyway.

ETA: They should probably just change the Medical Lab to have a flat increase (maybe 5 ) like the Hospital to make it more useful.

I agree that it's a pretty situational building as the big, core cities are usually plateauing in population that late in the game; at best it's another citizen, maybe two for a very short part of the game.

I dont agree with it turning into a flat food bonus though. That'd be potentially fourteen food off buildings with hospital and water wheel, which would allow a freedom civ to work a size fourteen city of four miners and ten specialists while still growing due to base food. That's kind of crazy.

 

[joncnunn]

IMO, Hospitals are best for wide empires, where you will have a larger amount of smaller cities, assuming these cities have the production to build them within reasonable time or you have the money to throw away.

Medical Lab effects should be removed to hospital, medical lab is simply too late to make any big of a difference

For that wide empire, the above also assumes by then that you have happiness sources.

But even tall empires often have a city or two that really need Hospitals. (Tall empires will run all science slots so that's 6 food being consumed by scientists and in many cases the city has effectively stopped growing; adding 5 food [plus multiplers from tradition] quickly cause the cities to grow providing more science; this is especially the case as the new tiles worked are likely to have 2 food enabling the growth to continue for quite some time)

Med Labs: Yes, from balancing these improvements that would be a big improvement over the current. But given that I have always caught up with the AI in science by hospitals, I'm reluctant in my own mod to give something that I as the human would probably take better advantage of than the AI.
This could also be a nerf to one of the Order tenets that provide +1 happiness to some buildings.

 

[CraigMak]

IMO they are both a case of too little too late and at a pretty big hammer cost.