- Civ 6 Cities on the coast? Okay, I know it boosts sailing, but why else would i ever want to settle on the coast?? Especially in multiplayer? Settling a tile or two in gets more land tiles to build farms on and a harbor allows the building of ships. With coastal raiding being so.
- Here is a complete list of all the leaders available in Civilization 6, their special abilities, and their agendas. Wants to settle coastal cities and like civilizations that settle inland.
The rules of the Coastguard Challenge are pretty simple; we can only have cities on the coast, which means they need to be adjacent to a coastal tile. Civilization 6 - Emperor Difficulty One.
Having a lot of cities will never hurt you although some players might argue that certain kinds of victories encourage you to limit the number of cities. But are there any mile markers to go by when building cites, like how many should you have by turn 50? Or turn 100?
The answer is you can have as many cities as you want without suffering any penalties. The best rule of thumb is to continue expanding as long as there is space. Most experienced players believe you should have about 10 cites by turn 100, meaning you should establish, on average, one city about every 10 turns.
The best rule of thumb is to continue expanding as long as there is space and your top priority is to get your first three cities as soon as you can. Generally speaking, it’s a good idea to build at least two Settlers before building any districts since expansion is very important early in the game, and this will provide you the means to found those next two important cities. By most standards by turn 40 you should have at a minimum two new cities established. The limiting factor will be the cost of creating Settlers and the population limits in your early cities, plus as the game progresses they get more expensive to create. Check out my page on where to settle if having trouble deciding where to start your cities.
One possible exception to having as many cities as possible is if going for certain victories, like a scientific victory. In Civilization VI districts and special persons count more toward how much science you produce per turn than having a lot of cities with a lot of pops like it did in Civilization V. By spending less resources on founding cities and more on constructing science related buildings you can accrue more science points faster, gaining the upper hand for a science victory. The early game lead might just be insurmountable.
Of course, the other side of the coin says that with the more cities you have the more scientific buildings you’re able to build. With that in mind the question becomes why wouldn’t you want a lot of cities since there’s really no limit to the amount of scientific related buildings you can construct as long as you have the cities to support them. Someone with a few cities focusing on science might have an early lead but due to the sheer quantity of science related buildings you can build you should be able to overtake him before the end of the game. Plus, you will be better positioned for other types of victories, like a Domination victory. My vote would go toward founding as many cities as you can.
One drawback to having a lot of cities is having more territory to defend. The main disadvantage is upkeep costs for the units you need for defense. Another issue is being able to deploy them rapidly to a trouble spot, the more cities and the wider the territory the more difficult it is to mount a strong defense and counterattack. And there’s always someone who will be offended by your expansionism, like Cleopatra.
Even with these disadvantages I still like the option to expand and have as many cities as you can. Once built the first thing I do is build a defensive unit and fortify it in the city, usually an archery unit of some type, plus I like having defensive walls around my cities. Positioning and fortifying forces between important cities make it a little easier to get help to a city that’s under attack much more quickly.
Typically, cities should be four to five tiles apart. This allows room for cities to expand and still get some adjacency bonuses from districts in other cities, and even benefits from some of the specialty buildings produced by Districts. Keep district adjacency in mind when placing cites so you can optimize the benefits of districts. For instance, an Industrial Zone gains bonuses when placed next other districts, in addition to being placed next to mines and quarries. Some buildings produced from districts can benefit more than one city at a time as well. For example, a factory building can provide a benefit to another city if it is with six tiles of the city center.
Placing cities this close together will also cut down the effects of loyalty pressure caused by the pops of other civilizations. Loyalty is not normally an issue if you build your cities close together, but it can be if you encounter another civilization that is using loyalty pressure and trying to steal cities from you by influencing them to join their empire. When loyalty reaches zero your city will say goodbye to you and become a Free City. Even if loyalty only drops down to 75% you lose 25% of all the yields that city produces so this can be a big deal.
Sometimes you may need to “leapfrog” ahead to grab an area that’s important to you and leave a big gap between cities. Always keep an eye on loyalty if you have to do that and if you can fill that gap in with another city whenever possible. Sometimes you just need take a spot less favorable to your city to gain that tactical or strategic advantage that you want.
You can defend against a loss of loyalty in distant cities by establishing a Governor in the city. You can also use abilities the Governor has to increase other aspects in the city so placing one there will not only benefit loyalty but will increase things like City Defenses, which might be important in a distant city. As mentioned earlier, establishing another city close by is another protection against loyalty loss.
Another consideration is defense. The more spread out your cities are the more military forces you’ll need to muster to adequately defend your territory. Unless going after something special, like a coastal city to get a luxury resource before someone else does, or to gain control of a critical chokepoint, it’s usually better to keep cities close together.
It depends on the resource. It’s actually a good idea to found a city on a tile with a luxury resource since it gives the city access to that resource immediately. You gain the benefits of that luxury resource even if you haven’t researched the technology to use it yet. As a matter of fact, one of the most powerful starts you can get in a game is to establish a city on a plains/hill tile with a luxury resource. A city automatically increases food production on any tile is it established on to two, so your new city would get two food, two production , and one luxury resource output.
It really isn’t a very good idea to establish a city on a tile with an ordinary resource like rice or one that has a rainforest. Founding a city removes those things, just like they would in real life. Just like building a real city, those resources are bulldozed and removed to make way for the new city. It’s better to build adjacent to those types of resources if they’re important to you, that way your Builders can improve those tiles and you can gain even more benefits from those resources.
Governors can be used primarily to help out with loyalty in a city and each one can help out with things they specialize in, like city defense or production. It’s obvious but each Governor has special abilities and to utilize them fully a Governor should be placed in the city that makes the best use of his or her unique skills. You can only assign one governor to a city. Governors can always be assigned to a different city but it will take them time travel and get established in the new city.
You get a governor and promote a governor through Governor tiles, which is a little confusing since the map area is also made up of tiles but these are not the same thing. You usually unlock governor tiles through new civics, but they can also be gained through the Government Plaza district and by building the Casa de Contratación Wonder.
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Strategy games can be imposing beasts, with layered systems and complex progression. Firaxis’ newly released Civilization VI breaks down barriers thanks to an approach that makes complexity welcoming instead of daunting.
SEE ALSO: 5 major changes that make 'Civilization VI' feel like a better game
Long-time fans will feel at home quickly, despite some major changes. Those who have always toyed with the idea of experimenting with the long-running strategy franchise will find a fantastic introduction in this installment. But in case you need a helping hand, we’ve got you covered with a set of tips to guide you through your first game.
1. Understand the four victory conditions
In every new Civilization game, Firaxis tweaks the ways you’ll conquer the world. There are four core victory conditions in Civilization VI: domination, science, culture, and religious. There is also a quiet fifth option based on score that only kicks in if you reach the year 2050 (500 turns) without a victor.
Domination victory relies on military might. Once you control every other nation’s capital as well as your own, the game is yours.
A science win requires you to research a number of late-game technologies, launch a satellite into space, put a man on the moon, and establish a colony on Mars. Each of these requires special construction projects, with the final step demanding three components that can only be built in cities with a spaceport.
Cultural victories rely on building tourism cache and welcoming foreign tourists. This is generated with open border treaties, archaeological finds, great works of art, holy sites, unique wonders and national parks. The longer the game goes on, the harder this is to accomplish since you need to have more visitors than all of the domestic tourists combined in each of the other civs.
Finally, Civilization VI adds a religious victory for the first time. Your path to victory is through the use of holy sites and religious agents like apostles, missionaries, and inquisitors. You need to convert at least half of every other civilization’s cities to your faith, in order to score this kind of win. Founding a religion in Civilization VI is great fun, because you can call it anything you want.
2. Pick a leader that suits your play style
Once you understand the different ways to win, it’s important to choose one of the 20 leaders that fits your play style.
If you’re new to the Civilization series, we’d recommend a science victory to start with. Culture is tricky, religion will likely send you to war, and domination is harder than it sounds, because big armies need robust infrastructure.
For that reason, you might consider Russia. Peter I (sometimes known as Peter the Great) is a science and culture leech. Trade routes (more on them later) can bring in additional science from any culture that is more advanced than Russia. Just be careful that Peter’s rapid land grabs don’t raise the ire of your neighbors.
Other good options for science victories are Arabia and Saladin (combining faith and technology) and Sumeria and Gilgamesh (whose ziggurats produce additional science along rivers).
Science victories allow you to secure your borders with a modest military while focusing on technologies and district improvements that serve your end game. This is also a great way to experiment with the diplomacy system, as making friends with other leaders will help keep you safe. Using negotiations, you can trade for technologies you’d rather not waste turns researching yourself.
You’ll also want to make sure that your relationships with other civilizations give you access to crucial commodities you can’t harvest on your own. If you need oil or steel, but them isn’t available within your borders, you’ll have to trade for them with other leaders.
A science victory lets you get your feet wet. Next time out, you can be the bully on the block, preach the gospel to the rest of the world or welcome the world’s tourists with open arms.
3. Choose your first city location carefully (but don’t dawdle)
Each Civilization game starts you off with a settler and a soldier. You’ll want to be near water when you put down roots, whether that’s a river or an ocean (definitely the latter if your leader and civ focus on sailing, like Norway and Harald Hadrada or Victoria and England).
Don’t take too long to find the perfect place to found your empire. Get it done in the first two turns unless you’re dropped into a miserable wasteland.
Settling near water is important for any civ to promote population growth. Each new citizen allows you to “work” one additional tile in your borders. You can choose to micromanage the tiles on which your city focuses or let the game deal with that (we recommend leaving that alone until you get comfortable).
It’s important to have a healthy food supply nearby that you can cultivate into farms with builder units later. The best way to determine this is to turn the yield overlay on (and leave it on).
The minimap on the lower left features four icons, choose the one second from the left and enable all three checkmarks (you might later wish to turn off resource icons and grid lines, but the yield icons remain helpful).
Corn represents food, gears represent production and music notes represent culture. For now, focus on food and production, which helps you complete building assignments faster.
Civ 6 Coastal Cities
4. Know when to send settlers out into the wild
Eventually, you’re going to need more cities. Your population will hit a point at which growth stagnates.
Civ 6 Coastal Cities Regional
Before you hit that point, build a settler and send them out to found a new home. It’s time to start considering expansion when you hit four or five population, but don’t disrupt your build queue if your current project is almost done.
Be sure to attach a military escort to your vulnerable settlers. You don’t want barbarians or an enemy civilization to capture or kill it. When looking for a good spot, try to nab valuable resources, and settle against rivers, hills or mountains.
5. Diversify your cities
You don’t want carbon copy cities. Each new metropolis should have a role to play in your growing empire.
You can prioritize culture and trade in one and production in another. Your coastal cities can pump out naval units, while a well-fortified, centrally located city can be used to train up military and dispatch them to other areas of your territory.
As you play more, you’ll get a natural feel for how to specialize cities. To start with, just know that some cities don’t need certain districts. If you’re generating gold, there’s no need to focus on production-boosting improvements, for instance.
Don’t take the cookie cutter approach. Trying to do everything in every city is the quickest way to waste time and money. It’s a distraction from pursuing your victory.
6. Don’t ignore your armed forces
Even if you are the most passive leader the world has ever known, you can’t ignore military forces. Eventually, you’re going to find yourself in a situation that requires a sword or gun, and it might be through no direct fault of your own.
Sometimes the AI will settle close to you and get huffy about your naturally expanding borders. Other times, you’ll send an emissary to a city-state and draw the ire of a leader on the outs with that settlement. You don’t always know how leaders will react to your moves, and sometimes, they’ll surprise you with a declaration of war.
You don’t need to biggest, baddest military to force your aggressor to sue for peace. You just need enough units to patrol the borders, rattle their sabers, and scare off anyone who thinks you might be a pushover.
If you do run into a situation like this and navigate it well, you might find your coffers full with your opponent’s gold as they try to extricate from a losing conflict.
7. City-states can be valuable allies
Early on, the first non-barbarians you are likely to encounter are AI-driven city-states. You can be the neighborhood bully and take them by force. Or, if you are looking for a peaceful relationship, you can build trade routes, send emissaries, and foster a relationship.
Every envoy you send contributes to city-state specific bonuses. This helps you target which are most important to your victory condition.
More importantly, if you’ve got the most influence, you can temporarily command the city-state’s military forces. If you find yourself in a bind, this can be a good way to discourage enemies from stepping over your border.
8. Make the most of trade routes
Trade routes are your friends. This bears repeating. Trade routes. Are. Your. Friends.
In previous Civilization games, players had to tediously task workers to build roads. It wasn’t enjoyable, and it didn’t always work quite right. In Civ VI, roads between cities are automatically constructed along trade routes.
These speed movement, negating terrain penalties and, in the case of war, getting vital military units to their destination before it’s too late. Trade routes also deliver food, gold, production and culture, giving you a lifeline between your people and allies, or simply moving your domestic goods around the map more easily.
Especially if you’re going for a cultural victory, you’re going to want to send your caravans to as many cities as possible.
9. Make friends, because you’ll definitely make enemies
Unless you set out to rule the world with an iron fist, chances are you’re spending the early game laying the foundation for a game that’s more a race than a boxing match. You might be able to go the whole game without a war, but it’s unlikely. You’re going to piss someone off, and have to rapidly put yourself on a war footing as a result.
Your goal at that point is to make the situation untenable for your aggressor as fast as possible. The best way to do that? Make friends.
Spend some time in the diplomacy menu. Try to negotiate open borders with leaders that aren’t predisposed to warmongering, strike trade agreements, and raise your rapport to the “friendship” level.
Once you’ve done that, any AI that declares war on you is going to find themselves with a fight on two fronts. If you do end up in a scrap at that point, chances are your combined might will give you a path to end the conflict in relatively short order.
10. You don’t need every technology
Earlier, we recommended that you specialize your cities. Now, in our final tip, we’re suggesting you apply that same philosophy to your entire empire.
Technologies take time to research. Every time you choose a tech that doesn’t unlock a building, district, or unit that serves the victory you’re pursuing, you’re burning valuable turns (sometimes 40 or 50 of them). Once you learn how to play, you can choose your next tech from a list that appears on the left side of the screen.
When you are getting your Civ legs, open the tech tree every time. Get a feel for what your options are and what they, in turn, make available for research. It’s not only ok to plan out your next three or four choices, but advisable. In fact, if you have a target in mind, you can select it on the tree and the game will research the prerequisites in order without interruption.
Later on, you might find that you need an earlier tech to reach one you need. This is a perfect time for diplomacy.
Civilization 6 Capital Cities List
In addition to units, great works of art, gold and resources, you can request that other leaders impart their wisdom. Sometimes, this is the fastest way to convert your gold surplus into science. There’s no shame in paying for it.
Civilization VI is out today, October 21, for PC.