Very few sea resources (and reasons to settle on the coast)

[fmm]

I can't remember exact confirmation, but Galley comes earlier than Harbor on tech tree.

Okay, that's a very good point.

 

[Calouste]

If you are on a small landmass (say space for 2-4 cities, no other civ), settling on the coast will get you to Shipbuilding, which you need for land units to embark, a lot quicker than not settling on the coast. You'll get the Eureka for Sailing immediately. If you don't settle on the coast, you can't build Galleys, which means you can't explore for a Natural Wonder to give you the Eureka for Astrology. You also have to wait until your borders expand to two sea resources to get the Eureka for Celestial Navigation. And you would need to build a harbor to be able to build the two triremes to get the Eureka for Shipbuilding.

No Galleys also means you'll have to wait for another civ to contact you to get the Eureka for writing. And you won't find a second continent so no boost for Foreign Trade. Not that your traders can embark because you have to wait for Celestial Navigation, and no trade route means no boost to Currency.

That's a whole load of early science you're just letting slip if you don't settle on the coast when it is appropriate.

ETA: Of course a Harbor is a district, so either you build it at size 3 and forgo building a Campus or a Holy Site, or you have to wait until your city is size 6.

 

[ProMeTheus112]

I think I remember that yes, city center can build naval units without harbor if it is on the coast

 

[Hutchy27]

I think I remember that yes, city center can build naval units without harbor if it is on the coast

Yes that seems to be the case. So a city on the coast will allow for earlier seafaring and more freedom in district choice, as they won't necessarily require a harbour although it probably be preferable for its bonuses.

 

[Depravo]

Yes that seems to be the case. So a city on the coast will allow for earlier seafaring and more freedom in district choice, as they won't necessarily require a harbour although it probably be preferable for its bonuses.

Can a city on a coast WITH a harbour build multiple naval units simultaneously or have I failed to understand the system?

 

[ProMeTheus112]

Can a city on a coast WITH a harbour build multiple naval units simultaneously or have I failed to understand the system?

No I expect it's like having an encampment then, any naval unit built by the city spawns at the harbor.

 

[Hutchy27]

Can a city on a coast WITH a harbour build multiple naval units simultaneously or have I failed to understand the system?

No I expect it's like having an encampment then, any naval unit built by the city spawns at the harbor.

I would assume the same as if it was possible to produce two naval units at once, I am sure the developers would had mentioned this when asked about the benefits of settling directly on the coast.

 

[fmm]

Though you *can* produce two naval units at once with the Venetian Arsenal Wonder.

 

[Smitty1776]

I really hope seafaring is an integral part. It's one of my favorite aspects of the game. I may be in the minority, but I loved playing archipelago maps in Civ V.

 

[Civbra]

No I expect it's like having an encampment then, any naval unit built by the city spawns at the harbor.

First of all....Sorry for my english!
At first when I saw that the encampment district showed up, I thought that they will add a mechanic that allows separate units from spawn of the center city. nothing about that at all, though, still I love the new mechanics of districts!

Let me explain better.

I always wondered why not separate yields of production to units and buildings!
Your units production would be redirected to the encampment - melee, range, horse and siege units - and at the same time in your center city you will be allowed to built a district, a building, a wonder or not militar unit - settler, builder... - and the same thing to a habor district - build naval units separated from the center city!

Thus, it can be built units and buildings at the same time. I think would be nice!

 

[Ryuu Falconwing]

I'm very sure that coastal cities will be important for tourism due to the Appeal mechanic.. High base appeal in your city means stronger tourism. And it looks like coastal tiles automatically get a bonus to appeal.

 

[Atlas627]

From watching more recent gameplay (that also wasn't on Pangaea), there did seem to be more reason to settle on the coast proper, just due to the fact that the city spacing required it. I'm glad that's the case, and I hope that there is still some benefit to settling on the coast. Coastal cities have always been tremendous locations for trade, which is why many became great cities in history.

 

[Miravlix]

Housing - River and Coast give a bonus to housing.

Siege - It's complicated to siege a coast/land city.

Instant harbor - Since you can't rush harbor, having a coast city so you can instantly trade buff it is another plus.

Sailing before Harbor - Hard to say if this is an important thing, might be more interesting the slower games you play..

 

[Polobo]

Thus, it can be built units and buildings at the same time. I think would be nice!

Think again. Given a finite per-turn allocation of production spending all of it building one item at a time is considerably better than spending half of it each building two items. It will take the same total amount of time/production but you'll have the benefit of having actually produced the first item while the second one is under construction.

 

[Atlas627]

Housing - River and Coast give a bonus to housing.

Sure, but I wish they'd stack.

Siege - It's complicated to siege a coast/land city.

Sure, though I would assume your coastal cities are the furthest away from your enemies anyway, unless they're colonies.

Instant harbor - Since you can't rush harbor, having a coast city so you can instantly trade buff it is another plus.

Haven't actually seen any sort of trade buff for coastal trade.

Sailing before Harbor - Hard to say if this is an important thing, might be more interesting the slower games you play..

Its an early tech. The Eureka might affect if you put your capital or first city on the coast proper if they were already going to need the coastal techs, but otherwise by the time you need the tech you're turning a 3-turn research down to 1. Not worth making the city worse by giving it so many fewer tiles to work and build districts on.

Still needs something more than all of these things, I think. But we'll see the game balance when we get there.

 

[Calouste]

Haven't actually seen any sort of trade buff for coastal trade.

Its an early tech. The Eureka might affect if you put your capital or first city on the coast proper if they were already going to need the coastal techs, but otherwise by the time you need the tech you're turning a 3-turn research down to 1. Not worth making the city worse by giving it so many fewer tiles to work and build districts on.

Still needs something more than all of these things, I think. But we'll see the game balance when we get there.

We don't know a lot yet about trade routes in Civ6, but we do know that the duration of a trade route is now variable, with shorter routes finishing faster. We also know that after a trade route is completed, it creates a trading post in the target city, the benefit of which is unknown.

Naval trade routes presumably move faster than land trade routes and will therefore create trading posts quicker. We don't know about Civ6, but in Civ5 naval trade routes had twice the range of land trade routes to start with.

Late game benefits of settling on the coast are unclear, but settling your first or second city on the coast makes the boosts to all early naval techs a lot easier to get, not just the one to Sailing.

 

[Ebrim]

Building a city on the coast also means you have less reason to spend a district on a harbor. Districts aren't only limited by space on land but also by population. I'm curious if you could build harbor improvements in a coastal city which does not have a harbor...

 

[Atlas627]

We don't know a lot yet about trade routes in Civ6, but we do know that the duration of a trade route is now variable, with shorter routes finishing faster. We also know that after a trade route is completed, it creates a trading post in the target city, the benefit of which is unknown.

Naval trade routes presumably move faster than land trade routes and will therefore create trading posts quicker. We don't know about Civ6, but in Civ5 naval trade routes had twice the range of land trade routes to start with.

I hope this is a thing, though we haven't seen any indication that Naval routes will be better at making the Trading Posts.

Late game benefits of settling on the coast are unclear, but settling your first or second city on the coast makes the boosts to all early naval techs a lot easier to get, not just the one to Sailing.

The boosts are:

Sailing - Found a city on the coast (easier if you found a city on a coast...obviously)
Celestial Navigation - Improve 2 sea resources (marginally easier if you found on the coast, because you don't need to wait for border expansion. Buying tiles seems cheap though)
Shipbuilding - Own 2 galleys (easier if you found on the coast, since you don't need to research celestial navigation to build a harbor, nor build the harbor)
Cartography - Build 2 harbors (not only not any easier if you found on the coast, but arguably counterproductive)

And by now, you probably have Harbors enough that it doesn't matter either way. Note that you don't actually need the ones that get easier unless you already founded on the coast. Its one case where I think the Eureka system might fail: I don't care about the Eureka, because any time I'd want the tech I'll probably have the Eureka.

 

[Lucius_]

Building a city on the coast also means you have less reason to spend a district on a harbor. Districts aren't only limited by space on land but also by population. I'm curious if you could build harbor improvements in a coastal city which does not have a harbor...

Doubtful since harbor improvements go in the harbor. That means settling on the coast is the same as having a free harbor, which I wouldn't be against mind you, but I don't think that's how it works right now.

 

[Ebrim]

Its an early tech. The Eureka might affect if you put your capital or first city on the coast proper if they were already going to need the coastal techs, but otherwise by the time you need the tech you're turning a 3-turn research down to 1. Not worth making the city worse by giving it so many fewer tiles to work and build districts on.

Still needs something more than all of these things, I think. But we'll see the game balance when we get there.

I'm not sure that sheer number of land tiles doesn't come with diminishing marginal returns. This won't be like Civ V where you build improvements everywhere just for the sake of building improvements. It's not hard to imagine that in many cities you're just going to have open and unimproved hexes. Also "space" that would be needed to improve say food resources would ideally just be traded for sea food resources so that comes out as a wash. Yes you need land tiles for most districts but how many do you need? That will likely be situational.