You know, I really like the way Coastal Citiea work at the moment.
I like how there is a split between Cities on Rivers, that have no housing issues, and can grow tall, and smaller non-river Coastals that are smaller. The tall cities can be very tall. With a few hills, they're really not all that different to inland tall Cities in terms of raw output (although they usually have less chops), but they have different options and there's some nuances that are very fun. The smaller Cities are also very cool - good gold from their Harbour and tiles, and I often route trade routes threw them to benefit from trading posts and better yields. These smaller Cities often pick up culture from a Coloseum etc.
Coastal Cities are soft targets for Barbs and attacking AI. But that's fun too, in its own way. You have to not take them for granted.
I like how the tech tree is laid out for ocean and naval stuff.
@Victoria and others have raised some valid criticisms about the placement of Harbours in the tech tree, and I'm not actually disagreeing with those. But I like the logic behind it (basically, I think the intention is you start with sort of quasi-harbours because Coastal Cities can launch ships from Shipbuilding, so the actual Harbour tech represents a kinda step up from that; and generally the game drives you to get harbour tech a bit later rather than sooner, to help drag out exploration).
But Coastal Cities - and more generally Harbours and Naval - do have problems. I'm increasingly of the view that the fault lays with other mechanics, not Coastal Cities etc. Gold is too plentiful and not that useful overall (in part because chopping is so strong); loyalty is tough on new Coastal Cities particularly from the mid game onwards; Commercial Hubs are way too easy to get to and trade routes are too easy to get.
I think the whole gold economy of Civ could maybe use a look at some point. There needs to be less easy gold, more gold demanded through maintenance, and maybe more you can do with gold that's unique. Frankly, I don't think tweaking the gold economy is the highest priority for Civ, but it is something that isn't quite right. And unless gold is more valuable - because it's harder to get and is more useful - then Coastal Cities are always going to be a little lacklustre because they don't have a good niche to fill.
And I categorically don't want trade route stacking back. Too much micro.
But. If we were going for a quick fix, this is what I'd suggest:
1.
Buff Coastals and or Harbours just a little (but only a little). I'm not sure more housing is the solution (I think that would sort of screw up the river / non-river distinction). Maybe God of the Sea should be a Policy Card? Maybe Coastal Cities get +1 hammer at Celestial Navigation and another +1 at Mass Production? Maybe Harbours are just flat out cheaper than other Districts? Dunno. But it doesn't need to be anything massive.
2.
Nerf Commercial Hubs and Markets, at least in terms of Gold and or Trade Routes. Nothing drastic; just enough to balance them with Harbours given that, unlike CHs, Harbours are on a leaf tech and are being built by Cities with usually less production and Harbours don't give you Great Merchants. Like, maybe Markets don't give you trade routes until you unlock Mercantilism (you'd probably need to have another free trade route through the tech tree if you did that)? Or maybe Markets (and other CH buildings) don't give all their gold when built, but instead their gold output goes up as you unlock certain Civics or based on your Government Tier? Or maybe Markets don't give any Gold but buff Gold from luxuries instead (making Markets more situational)?
3.
Make recovering from Disasters easier. One idea: get rid of Liang's disaster promotion, and instead have a Policy Card that makes all Cities with a Governor immune from Storms and or allows Cities with Govenors to recover faster. Or give Liang a promotion that lets her repair Districts with Gold. Whatever. I'm happy to have disaster recover take effort and tax my economy. But at the moment it's just GG for my Coastals hit by inclement weather.
If FXS had the time, I'd also have some mechanic that just ratchet up gold maintenance costs to soak up some of the extra gold people have. Something like you current Government Tier increases District and unit costs. Whatever. But just something so gold has some real value beyond just standing in for production. Nerfing chopping would also help - and it doesn't even need to be nerfed much. Just have the increasing value of chopping top out around the Renaissance or Industrial eras.
