With the addition of the city-state picker, the thought crossed my mind recently that there are some city-states that will change the tenor of an entire game - like a game I thought would be peaceful becomes domination-heavy, or something science-focused turns cultural. What do people think are the city-states that have the biggest impact on the way you play a game? Note that this is not about which are necessarily the best city-states - for instance, Bologna and Zanzibar are top-tier city-states to have, but neither of them for me end up really changing how I play.
My top 5:
5. Kandy - tricky to use, and not much use if you encounter them late, but if you find them early it can change your entire exploration strategy - you have an incentive to stay home until you have the space to put relics in case you can trigger them. I recently had my fastest-ever cultural victory using a reliquaries- based strategy with Ethiopia where I found Kandy early and managed to get 4 relics from them (the 5th wonder I had already settled near).
4. Auckland - coastal cities are not bad anymore with recent boosts, but Auckland can make them some of your best and most productive cities. I will actively seek out the coast to settle with suzerainty over Auckland.
3. Kabul - I'm not much of a domination player (I prefer entirely peaceful games, or at least games where I defend and counter-attack a bit if needed). The main exception is if I get an early suzerainty over Kabul. Double experience is such a strong incentive to go on the attack and makes warfare much much easier.
2. Nan Madol - settling and building around the coast becomes much more impactful. Even more of an incentive than Auckland in my view. It's not uncommon to get over half my culture through the late-game from being suzerain of this city-state. A coastal city with a harbor effectively gets two extra monuments just from those districts alone.
1. Yerevan - the ultimate game-changer for me. Games where I had no intention of even founding a religion become games where I consider going for a religious victory. The ability to choose apostle promotions just makes your religious game so strong.
My top 5:
5. Kandy - tricky to use, and not much use if you encounter them late, but if you find them early it can change your entire exploration strategy - you have an incentive to stay home until you have the space to put relics in case you can trigger them. I recently had my fastest-ever cultural victory using a reliquaries- based strategy with Ethiopia where I found Kandy early and managed to get 4 relics from them (the 5th wonder I had already settled near).
4. Auckland - coastal cities are not bad anymore with recent boosts, but Auckland can make them some of your best and most productive cities. I will actively seek out the coast to settle with suzerainty over Auckland.
3. Kabul - I'm not much of a domination player (I prefer entirely peaceful games, or at least games where I defend and counter-attack a bit if needed). The main exception is if I get an early suzerainty over Kabul. Double experience is such a strong incentive to go on the attack and makes warfare much much easier.
2. Nan Madol - settling and building around the coast becomes much more impactful. Even more of an incentive than Auckland in my view. It's not uncommon to get over half my culture through the late-game from being suzerain of this city-state. A coastal city with a harbor effectively gets two extra monuments just from those districts alone.
1. Yerevan - the ultimate game-changer for me. Games where I had no intention of even founding a religion become games where I consider going for a religious victory. The ability to choose apostle promotions just makes your religious game so strong.
