I'm struggling a bit with towns and knowing how to use them. There are a few observations I've made very very late into the process, and then the common wisdom gathered so far. Finally, a question of whether this feature is good or not or if it needs improvement. Then, what's the actual best way to use these?
Observations:
As for the meta, here's what I'm thinking:
Observations:
- Gold and hammers->gold don't require specialization.
- All specialization vs. growth really does is send food to your city. Food in Civ VII sucks, so it seems universally correct to grow cities, as many specialization options are weak.
- Towns mainly exist when it's hard to afford cities, or to create gold. Thus, mining towns in rough terrain are a good gold source.
- Other specializations are very niche. Trade route for happiness crisis or early in antiquity age for extended range. Fort towns for really decisive battles as a last resort. Farming/fishing for coastal heavy or otherwise when a town really can't grow anymore might as well accumulate that marginal growth to cities, especially in exploration for the specialists. Religious site to squeeze in relics if you don't have room. Urban center for former cities after age transition that you would otherwise make into farming, but which don't have many farms.
- Hub is good in theory, maybe in the early phase of modern or exploration for some good influence boost, and for those small settlements used to fill gaps in your territory. However, something about them is severely nerfed. I'm sure there's some cheese that would ruin the game if they buffed hub towns, but frankly I think they should because I think no one's really using them.
- Rome can build culture in towns. OP, don't forget about it.
- Grow towns at least until all resources are captured, then specialize.
- Settlement cap makes town play less appealing. If you can afford them, cities are always better.
- Grow mining towns until the gold buff equals your net present value of if you grew into more mines.
As for the meta, here's what I'm thinking:
- In Antiquity, build all towns as if they're going to become cities. Look for resource adjacencies.
- The only exception is one or two spots with tons of mine or woodcutter tiles as a gold generator
- Another exception is if your second settlement can produce a lot of food and grow your capital early, pre turn 50.
- Leave towns as growing until every resource is captured, and then leave them growing anyway.
- The exception are mining towns once the bonus is greater than the number of mines you could still get over the amount of time required.
- Don't lean into farming until exploration, where island towns can fuel young cities.
- Convert everything into a city unless it's a fishing town with minimal space, or a very productive mining town.
- Don't do religious sites or fort towns unless you need to at that moment.
- Don't do trade towns except in a happiness crisis, or in early antiquity.
- Just really, just leave towns to grow until you can afford to make them cities.
- Hub towns are sometimes marginally useful in modern for filling gaps and generating a little early influence but otherwise ignore them.
- By the middle of the modern period, you should only have any towns if you can't afford to make them cities with sufficient gold buildings.
