Trouble Understanding the Petra

[AstralVisage]

Hey Civ Fans!

There is an aspect to the Petra that I do no understand. I realize the bonuses that it gives, but do not understand how they are applied. If my capital begins on desert tiles do they get the bonuses there? Or do I have to make it first and then start a new city on/near desert terrain? Thanks!

Cheers

 

[compwiz1202]

It will only apply to the city it is built in, and I know it needs to have a desert tile, but I am not sure how close it needs to be to the city.

 

[Smokeybear]

You have to make the city first, either on or right next to a desert tile (if the nearest desert is two tiles away from your city tile then it does not qualify for building it). Then you can build Petra in that city, and that city only. You can't build it in one city, then reap its benefits in a different city. It will only affect desert tile worked by the city it is built in.

One thing I've found, is that if you have two cities that can work some of the same desert tiles between them, sometimes the city that does *not* have Petra in it, will override the underlying tile modifications for some of those desert tiles, and you will not get the extra Petra benefits for them. So it is a good idea to make sure no other cities are built close enough to your potentially workable desert tiles near your Petra city, to interfere with them.

 

[TallNSturdy]

Basically this wonder can turn a horrible desert town into a powerhouse. The desert tile(s) need to be within the opening circle of culture I am almost sure and flood plains do not count (nor do they get the bonus). I once founded a town in the middle of the desert with some faith NW beside it and some flood plains 1 hex out of my starting culture. Turned into one of the best cities I had, pre-petra it would have been maybe 2 or 3 pop max early game and only getting me extra faith. With the petra it exploded in all catagories and gave me a significant lead in the faith game with the NW. And most important, only affects the city it is made in. I wanted to build it and make a desert civ that could compete but it was a no go with the 1 city only getting the bonuses.

 

[Smokeybear]

And most important, only affects the city it is made in. I wanted to build it and make a desert civ that could compete but it was a no go with the 1 city only getting the bonuses.

Heh, that would be sooo cool, if you could do that. Find a huge patch of desert with a couple of Nile-type floodplain rivers winding through it, and build a *real* Egyptian empire out on the sands

I think that would have made for a great civ UA, instead of a wonder. Like the Dutch and their poulders, or the Iroquois and their forest pathing. Although, from what I've seen of its capabilities, with the right (wrong?) resources existing within your desert settlements, it could rapidly turn you or an AI civ into a monster runaway

 

[civzombie]

I think settling adjacent to a mountain might count as settling adjacent to a desert (I had a game where a city that was on grassland and was not adjacent to what I normally thought of as a desert, but as adjacent to a mountain, and COULD [and did] build petra).

 

[Harv72b]

I think settling adjacent to a mountain might count as settling adjacent to a desert (I had a game where a city that was on grassland and was not adjacent to what I normally thought of as a desert, but as adjacent to a mountain, and COULD [and did] build petra).

You usually can't see it very well, but all mountains have a base terrain under them, just like hills do...yours apparently had desert.

 

[MaxellSnow]

In my current game I have a city with Petra and have been settling gp's on the desert tiles, plus I finished the piety tree to see the impact of the stacked bonuses on the tiles. Wow. Several of my earlier cities were not built near rivers so I had always been lower than usual on gold. This pretty much solved it.

 

[AstralVisage]

I play almost exclusively as Egypt, so knowing this about the Petra will provide invaluable. Thanks guys!

 

[Loucypher]

Last game I had as Ethiopia, I built Petra on a city that had 2 Marble, 1 Stone and 2 Salt on the desert surrounding it. Once I had all that (+ Stoneworks), I could truly say:
Dear Diary.
JACKPOT.
Petra turns those already-somewhat-improved Desert tiles in the NUTS tiles. Plop down Great folks in them for even more fun if they don't have a resource.

 

[AlienFromBeyond]

Petra is amazing on a very hilly desert, tons of production.

 

[Zenstrive]

I once built a city simple to make Petra. Send a settler an engineer to a spot. Make city, built Petra. Boom

 

[OmniPotent42]

Petra just makes a desert city into a plains city. I don't understand all of the hype.

 

[wetroofwoof]

it improves desert hills (same a plains hills) and also desert hills next river (same as plains hills next to river). that is why its good. on normal dessert, it turns the tile into a plain u are right. maybe it is overhyped a bit...

 

[nefloyd]

Petra just makes a desert city into a plains city. I don't understand all of the hype.

Um, no it doesn't. A desert hill and a plains hill have the exact same base (2 prod), but petra adds 1/1/1 to the desert version. A farmed, river desert hill with petra becomes a 2/3/2 tile, its great, and thats not even counting potential resources - the same farmed plains river hill is 1/2/1. A desert flatland has a base of 0/0/0 and goes to 1/1/1, a plains flatland has base 1/1/0. A farmed grass flatland is 3/0/0 with no ability to increase production. A farmed desert flatland can be 2/1/1.

It's fantastic for making a powerhouse city, every farmed tile becomes self-supporting of further growth. Desert faith just adds even more icing to that cake. It's only meh if most of your tiles are floodplains or you fail to acquire it in time.

-and don't forget petra itself is worth 1 GE point and provides a free ampitheatre, 1 culture, and another +5 culture after archeology

 

[The Wreckoning]

You usually can't see it very well, but all mountains have a base terrain under them, just like hills do...yours apparently had desert.

And Petra will give the bonus to any mountain that has desert underneath as well, as I was surprised to note yesterday.

 

[kk1000]

Keep this up and Petra's gonna be seriously downgraded next patch!

 

[chazzycat]

it's all about the hills, oases, and resource tiles (even desert wheat doesn't suck now). regular desert is still 2/1/1 with a farm...3/1/1 later after fertilizer. it really can turn a "meh" city into a powerhouse, definitely not overrated.

Keep this up and Petra's gonna be seriously downgraded next patch!

funny, but i hope not! if anything, there needs to be a similar wonder for tundra.

 

[Syntax Error]

Note though, that for Petra, floodplains also count as Deserts (whereas Desert Folklore does not), so you get a MASSIVE boost to otherwise already awesome tiles.

 

[Boris Gudenuf]

Keep this up and Petra's gonna be seriously downgraded next patch!

Doubt it. The benefits, though great, are situational: you gotta have the right tiles near the city at the right time to really reap the maximum benefit from it. It basically allows one really great desert city from the pre-Modern Eras of the game. Nice, but probably won't be the game winner for you, all other things being equal...

A similar Wonder Boost for a Tundra location, on the other hand, would not have any historical basis; probably ain't going to happen...