- Civilization 6 Capital Cities List
- Civ 6 Siege Coastal City
- Civ 6 How Many Cities
- Civ 6 Coastal Cities Bad
- I usually settle on the coast when i'm settling to expand my borders. I don't want a civ to settle too close to I make sure there is no settlable plots around me. So if I have rom for a city close to the ocean but not that many land tiles (because occupied by other cities, mountains etc.) I get closer to the sea to have tiles to work.
- Light green: Coast tiles without a river or lake. +1 Housing: Grey: Tiles away from rivers, lakes or coast. No Housing bonus: Red: Too close to another city, river, lake and mountains. Settle a city in Civ 6: Yields and resources mechanics. Okay, so depending on the terrain you settle the city it gains yields or not, for exaple if you settle on.
Civilization VI best starting location guide. Best yields and position to settle your first city in. I will thoroughly explain how to get a god-tier first city for your Civilization.
In Civ 5, any city could bombard nearby enemies from the start; in Civ 6, city centers (and encampments) can only attack after building Ancient Walls (unlocked with Masonry). The Water Availability Guide is one of the basic Game Concepts in Civilization VI, which contributes to what make cities grow. Increasing your Housing can be achieved by the following: Buildings, Civics, Districts, Tile Improvements, access to water: being next to Rivers, Lakes, Oasis and some Natural Wonders, by building an Aqueduct (which must be placed adjacent to both your city and one of.
Previous steps for newer players
Click on 'Show Yield Icons'
Experts already know what yields have every type of hex. If you are newer to Civilization VI or you are like me and just prefer seeing the yield icons, then click on 'Show Yield Icons' in map preferences.
Use the Settler lense
Tiles are better or worse to settle depending on water availability, resources and yields. If you're new to the game and don't really want to go in depth about settling yet, the easiest way is learning by using the Settler lense. This lense won't tell you anything about yields, very little about ubication (it will tell you not to settle too close to other cities) and everything about water availability, which is very important.
Settle a city in Civ 6: Water availability
Every single civilization on earth started with a city and a river: Rome and the Tiber, Egypt and the Nile, Paris and the Seine and so on. In Civilization VI water availability allows for higher population in a city, which in turns helps a city to have more citizens.
Location | Bonus |
Dark Green: Access to fresh water (river and lakes) | +3 Housing |
Light green: Coast tiles without a river or lake. | +1 Housing |
Grey: Tiles away from rivers, lakes or coast. | No Housing bonus |
Red: Too close to another city, river, lake and mountains. |
Settle a city in Civ 6: Yields and resources mechanics
Okay, so depending on the terrain you settle the city it gains yields or not, for exaple if you settle on a hill:
Originally the tile (Hills) had 2 production and 1 food, after you settle it generates 2 food and 2 production. The city improves the tile by 1 food yield.
Does it always improve by 1 food?
No, some tiles don't improve at all and others improve production instead of food.
City location yields
Location | Original Yields | Yields with a city |
Plain Hills | 1, 2 | 2, 2 |
Grassland | 2 | 2, 1 |
Grassland (Hills) | 2, 1 | 2, 1 |
Floodplains | 2 | 2, 1 |
Rainforest | 2, 1 | 2, 1 |
Desert | 0 | 2, 1 |
Desert (Hills) | 1 | 2, 1 |
As you can see the best tiles to settle are Hills, offering 2 food and 2 production once settled. This is 1 extra production when compared to Grassland.
Is 1 extra production worth it?
Yes, that 1 extra production in your first city is very important as yields are very impactful early game and it will make the difference when competing for a wonder against the IA. Also in a 300 turn game that extra production means 300 extra production without considering bonuses or its snowball nature.
What happens if you build a city on a resource in Civ6?
Settling on a strategic or luxury resource is very good, as you will not only gain extra yields once settled, but also will get the resource. In the case of a luxury resource you don't even need its technology to work it if you settle on it. On the other hand, settling on bonus resources is really bad, as although you will get the bonus resource (which isn't worth much anyways) you will not receive bonus yields. It is much better to settle next to a bonus resource than on it.
- Settling on a river tile with Plain Hills and Citrus luxury resource on it will make for a godlike city location. Besides the 2, 2 you would usually get from a city in a Plain Hills you will get 2 extra food from Citrus, resulting in 4, 2.
- In the same way if you settle on Cotton, you will get its 3 gold bonus.
- Settling on a bonus resource like Rice will negate its 1 yield modifiers if you harvested it, but without the benefits of harvesting, making it generally a bad idea settling on a bonus resource unless you have strategic reasons.
Settle a city in Civ 6: Surrounding location.
Not only the hex itself where you settle is important, but also its surroundings. You should check for the immediate 2 tiles radius, there should be either good workable yields, wood to chop (yes, chopping wood is good) and/or locations with great adjacency bonuses. More advanced players will settle in strategic locations too, for example to get a chokepoint or a resource.
Besides the 'ok' hex this city is settled on (Floodplains with Amber, which yields 1 extra culture). This city's surrounding tiles are good:
- Total yields sum in a 1 tile radius is over 20.
- There is another Amber tile to build a mine on.
- There are resources in a 2 tile radius.
- There are forests to chop and marshes to clear, which will give you food and production to complete city projects or grow in population.
- In a 2 tile radius there is an ok location for a Campus or Holy site. It gives 2 adjacency bonus from Mountains and Rainforests.
That's pretty much how you should analyze the surroundings of a starting location. Depending on the map and settings you should also check for things like barbarians, other civilizations and disasters.
Settle according to victory conditions:
This is more about your next city after the first one. Notice the Cattle tile surrounded by mountains.
If you see something like this you have to settle a city near it, clear that cattle and make either a Campus or Holy Site. No questions asked. You will get huge adjacency bonus from mountains and get a kickstart in either a science or religious victory.
Settle a city in Civ 6: Locations rated.
Location | Rating |
Fresh water, Plain Hills with either , , or | Godlike |
Fresh water, Plain Hills with other luxury resources | Very good |
Fresh water, Plain Hills | Good |
Coast, Plain Hills with either , , or | Good |
Coast, Plain Hills with other luxury resources | Medium |
Fresh water, Floodplains | Medium |
Coast Plain Hills | Poor |
Fresh water, Rainforest | Poor |
Fresh water, Bonus resource | Bad |
Desert and Tundra | Bad |
Keep in mind some of the medium to bad locations sometimes are ok to settle if it's not your first city and/or you have strategic reasons to use them.
Settle a city in Civ 6: FAQ.
Civilization 6 Capital Cities List
How many turns should I wait before settling my first city?
Ideally you should settle in the first turn, but if there are better locations it is worth to take some turns. Three turns being the absolute maximum if you intend to settle on a very godlike location (including yields and surroundings). Otherwise taking 2 turns for a good location is ok.
What's the ideal distance between cities?
6 Tiles? No. The ideal distance is around 3 tiles, this way you make better use of the space available and you're able to make good use of district's adjacency bonuses between districts of different cities. There are strategies to get +50 production making clever use of Aqueducts, Commercial Hubs and Industrial Zones.
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.
Okay, so depending on the terrain you settle the city it gains yields or not, for exaple if you settle on a hill:
Originally the tile (Hills) had 2 production and 1 food, after you settle it generates 2 food and 2 production. The city improves the tile by 1 food yield.
Does it always improve by 1 food?
No, some tiles don't improve at all and others improve production instead of food.
City location yields
Location | Original Yields | Yields with a city |
Plain Hills | 1, 2 | 2, 2 |
Grassland | 2 | 2, 1 |
Grassland (Hills) | 2, 1 | 2, 1 |
Floodplains | 2 | 2, 1 |
Rainforest | 2, 1 | 2, 1 |
Desert | 0 | 2, 1 |
Desert (Hills) | 1 | 2, 1 |
As you can see the best tiles to settle are Hills, offering 2 food and 2 production once settled. This is 1 extra production when compared to Grassland.
Is 1 extra production worth it?
Yes, that 1 extra production in your first city is very important as yields are very impactful early game and it will make the difference when competing for a wonder against the IA. Also in a 300 turn game that extra production means 300 extra production without considering bonuses or its snowball nature.
What happens if you build a city on a resource in Civ6?
Settling on a strategic or luxury resource is very good, as you will not only gain extra yields once settled, but also will get the resource. In the case of a luxury resource you don't even need its technology to work it if you settle on it. On the other hand, settling on bonus resources is really bad, as although you will get the bonus resource (which isn't worth much anyways) you will not receive bonus yields. It is much better to settle next to a bonus resource than on it.
- Settling on a river tile with Plain Hills and Citrus luxury resource on it will make for a godlike city location. Besides the 2, 2 you would usually get from a city in a Plain Hills you will get 2 extra food from Citrus, resulting in 4, 2.
- In the same way if you settle on Cotton, you will get its 3 gold bonus.
- Settling on a bonus resource like Rice will negate its 1 yield modifiers if you harvested it, but without the benefits of harvesting, making it generally a bad idea settling on a bonus resource unless you have strategic reasons.
Settle a city in Civ 6: Surrounding location.
Not only the hex itself where you settle is important, but also its surroundings. You should check for the immediate 2 tiles radius, there should be either good workable yields, wood to chop (yes, chopping wood is good) and/or locations with great adjacency bonuses. More advanced players will settle in strategic locations too, for example to get a chokepoint or a resource.
Besides the 'ok' hex this city is settled on (Floodplains with Amber, which yields 1 extra culture). This city's surrounding tiles are good:
- Total yields sum in a 1 tile radius is over 20.
- There is another Amber tile to build a mine on.
- There are resources in a 2 tile radius.
- There are forests to chop and marshes to clear, which will give you food and production to complete city projects or grow in population.
- In a 2 tile radius there is an ok location for a Campus or Holy site. It gives 2 adjacency bonus from Mountains and Rainforests.
That's pretty much how you should analyze the surroundings of a starting location. Depending on the map and settings you should also check for things like barbarians, other civilizations and disasters.
Settle according to victory conditions:
This is more about your next city after the first one. Notice the Cattle tile surrounded by mountains.
If you see something like this you have to settle a city near it, clear that cattle and make either a Campus or Holy Site. No questions asked. You will get huge adjacency bonus from mountains and get a kickstart in either a science or religious victory.
Settle a city in Civ 6: Locations rated.
Location | Rating |
Fresh water, Plain Hills with either , , or | Godlike |
Fresh water, Plain Hills with other luxury resources | Very good |
Fresh water, Plain Hills | Good |
Coast, Plain Hills with either , , or | Good |
Coast, Plain Hills with other luxury resources | Medium |
Fresh water, Floodplains | Medium |
Coast Plain Hills | Poor |
Fresh water, Rainforest | Poor |
Fresh water, Bonus resource | Bad |
Desert and Tundra | Bad |
Keep in mind some of the medium to bad locations sometimes are ok to settle if it's not your first city and/or you have strategic reasons to use them.
Settle a city in Civ 6: FAQ.
Civilization 6 Capital Cities List
How many turns should I wait before settling my first city?
Ideally you should settle in the first turn, but if there are better locations it is worth to take some turns. Three turns being the absolute maximum if you intend to settle on a very godlike location (including yields and surroundings). Otherwise taking 2 turns for a good location is ok.
What's the ideal distance between cities?
6 Tiles? No. The ideal distance is around 3 tiles, this way you make better use of the space available and you're able to make good use of district's adjacency bonuses between districts of different cities. There are strategies to get +50 production making clever use of Aqueducts, Commercial Hubs and Industrial Zones.
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.
Civ 6 Siege Coastal City
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.
Civ 6 How Many Cities
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Civ 6 Coastal Cities Bad
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