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→Cities: some expansion of detail
*>Robin Patterson (→Cities: some expansion of detail) |
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==Cities== | ==Cities== | ||
All Civilization games have cities. Alpha Centauri refers to them as "bases", Colonization as "colonies", but they serve exactly the same function. The primary function of a city is production. The secondary function of a city is acquiring and holding territory. By acquiring territory, you reduce your enemy's possibilities for production. Therefore, an unproductive city can | All Civilization games have cities. Alpha Centauri refers to them as "bases", Colonization as "colonies", but they serve exactly the same function. | ||
The primary function of a city is production: food, military or other units, and/or structures (including facilities for increasing defensive strength of the units in the city). | |||
The secondary function of a city is acquiring and holding territory. By acquiring territory, you reduce your enemy's possibilities for production. Therefore, an unproductive city can be useful even if "loss-making", but a productive city will almost always be more useful. | |||
The ideal city serves both functions. | |||
===Good city sites=== | ===Good city sites=== | ||
The details of what constitutes a good city site | The details of what constitutes a good city site depend on the game. For instance, in Alpha Centauri, high elevation is desirable. However, most other Civilization games have no concept of elevation. What they ''do'' share in common is that different terrain will produce different resources and have different defensive capabilities. Therefore, what makes a certain site desirable is always the same: an abundance of resources and an ability for the city to defend itself. | ||
On worldwide considerations, proximity to your other cities is advantageous too. The different games have different ways of making that count. | |||
===Resources and production=== | ===Resources and production=== | ||
Cities (except in Colonization) always produce three resources. These are usually named ''food'', ''shields'', and ''trade''. In SMAC, these are called ''nutrients'', ''minerals'', and ''energy'', respectively. In ''Civilization III'', "trade" was renamed "commerce". In ''Civilization II: Test of Time'', the names depend on the current game being played. Regardless of their names, they always serve the same functions. For consistency, we will refer to them as food, shields, and trade. | Cities (except in Colonization) always produce three resources. These are usually named ''food'', ''shields'', and ''trade''. In SMAC, these are called ''nutrients'', ''minerals'', and ''energy'', respectively. In ''Civilization III'', "trade" was renamed "commerce". In ''Civilization II: Test of Time'', the names depend on the current game being played. Regardless of their names, they always serve the same functions. For consistency, we will refer to them as food, shields, and trade. | ||
All games have cities, each populated by at least one "citizen" (which term here includes people such as slaves). They will work the surrounding terrain and produce goods. Each citizen may work one tile; the central city tile is always worked automatically when the city is created. For instance, a city with 6 citizens can work up to seven tiles: the center tile plus one tile per citizen. In most ''Civ'' games, citizens are restricted to the tiles they can work to a ''city radius''. However, any one tile on the map may only be worked by a single laborer within a single city: that is, if two cities have overlapping city radii, a laborer working a tile within the overlap within one city will prevent laborers from any other city from working the same tile location in the second city. Citizens can also be specialists and not work tiles; this will be discussed later. Civ cities contain 20 tiles, Colonization colonies contain 9 tiles. | |||
:Colonization allows citizens to do specific indoor work, in purpose-built or pre-existing buildings. Most of the high-value production comes from this work. | |||
All games have cities | |||
These are the three kinds of goods that your cities will produce: | These are the three kinds of goods that your cities will produce: | ||
* Food - No civilization can survive without food. Surplus food will accumulate until the food box is full. When it is filled, another citizen will be added to the city and the food box will empty. The food box grows with the size of the city, (and thus requires ever more surplus food to fill it in order to get the next citizen or worker), usually at a constant rate. Each citizen requires two food per turn to survive. A citizen will never take more or less than this. If the city is not producing enough food to meet demand, this food will be taken from the food box. If the food box is empty and a citizen still must eat, a citizen starves and the population count will be reduced by one. In some Civ games, Settlers units need support in the form of food from their home city in addition to the shields they need for support. In these cases, if the food box empties and more food is needed, the most distant such unit will be disbanded. If more food is still needed after that, ''then'' a citizen will die. The population count will never be reduced by more than one per turn due to starvation. | * Food - No civilization can survive without food. Surplus food will accumulate until the food box is full. When it is filled, another citizen will be added to the city and the food box will empty. The food box grows with the size of the city, (and thus requires ever more surplus food to fill it in order to get the next citizen or worker), usually at a constant rate. Each citizen requires two food per turn to survive. A citizen will never take more or less than this. If the city is not producing enough food to meet demand, this food will be taken from the food box. If the food box is empty and a citizen still must eat, a citizen starves and the population count will be reduced by one. In some Civ games, Settlers units need support in the form of food from their home city in addition to the shields they need for support. In these cases, if the food box empties and more food is needed, the most distant such unit will be disbanded. If more food is still needed after that, ''then'' a citizen will die. The population count will never be reduced by more than one per turn due to starvation. | ||
: In many ''Civ'' games, improvements and wonders may also affect how food is used to create new citizens. For example, many ''Civ'' games have the Granary (a city improvement) that only half-empties the food box upon creation of a new citizen, dramatically reducing the time required to refill it, and a wonder that gives Granaries to every friendly city. In ''Civilization III'', possession of the Longevity wonder will make your cities create two citizens instead of one when the food box fills. In other cases, a new citizen may not be created when the food box is full because of the city reaching a population limit. | : In many ''Civ'' games, improvements and wonders may also affect how food is used to create new citizens. For example, many ''Civ'' games have the Granary (a city improvement) that only half-empties the food box upon creation of a new citizen, dramatically reducing the time required to refill it, and a wonder that gives Granaries to every friendly city. In ''Civilization III'', possession of the Longevity wonder will make your cities create two citizens instead of one when the food box fills. In other cases, a new citizen may not be created when the food box is full because of the city reaching a population limit. (The food box may nevertheless lose all or half its store, with no compensation.) | ||
* Shields - A city must procure raw materials (shields), which can then be used to build things. Your city will ''always'' be working on one of three kinds of projects: | * Shields - A city must procure raw materials (shields), which can then be used to build things. (The Colonization equivalent is "hammers", produced from lumber.) Your city will ''always'' be working on one of three kinds of projects: | ||
** Unit - Build a unit, such as a military unit or Settler. | ** Unit - Build a unit, such as a military unit or Settler. | ||
** Improvement - An improvement to benefit the city, or a Wonder to benefit your entire civilization or even the entire world, but which is physically located in the city that built it. | ** Improvement - An improvement to benefit the city, or a Wonder to benefit your entire civilization or even the entire world, but which is physically located in the city that built it. | ||
** Capitalization (in some games, Wealth) - Shields are converted to gold for the player's treasury, usually with a heavy penalty (e.g., four shields is converted to one trade unit). Civ 2 does not have this penalty. | ** Capitalization (in some games, Wealth) - Shields are converted to gold for the player's treasury, usually with a heavy penalty (e.g., four shields is converted to one trade unit). Civ 2 does not have this penalty. Completed buildings may be "sold" on a 1:1 basis in most games. | ||
:Shields are added to the shield box (except when "building" Capitalization | :Shields are added to the shield box (except that when "building" Capitalization the gold generated goes into the treasury instead). When the shield box is full, production is complete and the unit or improvement is immediately available. In most Civ games, but not ''Civilization III'', shields are also used to support units beyond those that are deemed "free". If more shields are needed by units than are being collected in the city, then in ''Civilization'' a unit is disbanded, but in other versions the needed shields are removed from the shield box. If the box empties but more shields are still needed, one unit will randomly be disbanded. In most games, shields in the shield box can be destroyed through espionage activities of the Spy unit. | ||
* Trade - Every civilization has some form of currency or barter system. You allocate the total trade resources of your civilization on the "set tax rate" screen. Each turn, the trade resource is "spent" according to the rates you set on at least one of three things: | * Trade - Every civilization has some form of currency or barter system. You allocate the total trade resources of your civilization on the "set tax rate" screen (except that in Colonization the Monarch back in Europe sets the rate of excise duty on goods you sell there). | ||
:Each turn, the trade resource is "spent" according to the rates you set on at least one of three things: | |||
** Tax - The trade goods become money in your civilization treasury. You can use it to rush-build, given the right conditions, or use it as part of a trade with another civilization, or even give it as a gift. Tax revenue is also used to pay required maintenance fees for improvements and wonders, as well as, in ''Civilization III'', support your units. | ** Tax - The trade goods become money in your civilization treasury. You can use it to rush-build, given the right conditions, or use it as part of a trade with another civilization, or even give it as a gift. Tax revenue is also used to pay required maintenance fees for improvements and wonders, as well as, in ''Civilization III'', support your units. | ||
** Science - The trade goods go toward scientific research, allowing you to research new technologies that can unlock new units, improvements, wonders, and unit abilities. Falling too far behind your competitors in the science race is one of the most reliable ways to lose the game. | ** Science - The trade goods go toward scientific research, allowing you to research new technologies that can unlock new units, improvements, wonders, and unit abilities. Falling too far behind your competitors in the science race is one of the most reliable ways to lose the game. (As mentioned above, the Colonization equivalent is the Liberty Bell, where the "new technologies", such as faster ships or greater production, are called "Founding Fathers".) | ||
** Luxury - The trade goods go toward entertaining the populace, keeping them happy or content, which increasingly becomes a factor the larger your city population becomes. In addition, the more cities you have, the sooner you have to deal with unhappy citizens. In many Civ games, luxury output first transforms content citizens to happy ones, then, if there are still unallocated luxury output and no content citizens, transforms unhappy citizens to content, then happy, citizens. Angry citizens and resisters are generally unaffected by luxuries. | ** Luxury - The trade goods go toward entertaining the populace, keeping them happy or content, which increasingly becomes a factor the larger your city population becomes. In addition, in some games, the more cities you have, the sooner you have to deal with unhappy citizens. In many Civ games, luxury output first transforms content citizens to happy ones, then, if there are still unallocated luxury output and no content citizens, transforms unhappy citizens to content, then happy, citizens. Angry citizens and resisters are generally unaffected by luxuries. | ||
=== Corruption and | ====Colonization==== | ||
Colonization, instead, has 16 types of "cargo" produced, some "gathered" directly from the terrain and some produced by conversion of another (or, in the case of horses, just fed with surplus food production as long as there are two or more). They can all be bought or sold for money and moved in ships or wagon trains. Two other elements can be produced but not traded. | |||
*''Food'', one of the 16 cargoes, is needed to sustain workers (two units each per turn as in the other Civ games), and is exchanged for a new colonist in a colony that has a 200-ton surplus after the end of a turn. Colonists who are not working in a colony (eg travelling (with or without horses or engineering tools) or engaged in defence duties) need no food or other support. | |||
*Forests can be worked for lumber, tradeable as one of the 16 cargos but having prime value when converted by carpenters into ''hammers'' (the equivalent of Civ shields) for producing units, ships, wagon trains, and structures. | |||
*The Colonization equivalent of "science" is the ''Liberty Bell'' (produced to a limited degree by every colony but much more where a worker works in the Town Hall and still more if he's an Elder Statesman), which (in addition to an effect on the productivity of the colony that produced it) goes toward having successive "Founding Fathers" joining your Continental Congress and thereafter providing your empire with various benefits, some major and some minor. | |||
*An extra feature of production is the cross, produced to a limited degree by every colony but much more where a church is built and staffed and still more where a Firebrand Preacher is installed: crosses go towards encouraging fare-paying emigrants from the religious persecution of Europe. | |||
=== Corruption and waste === | |||
Resource output can be lost through ''corruption'', although in many games there is no corruption of food. Corruption of shields is generally known as ''waste''. In many games, the amount of corruption is heavily dependent on the distance a city is from the civilization's capital city, as well as the overall number of cities controlled by a civilization. Some games may also have an upper limit on the amount of corruption a city can have, so that a city that suffers heavy corruption could still be productive. The amount of corruption that exists are also dependent on the presence of certain improvements that reduce corruption, the type of government, as well as whether a city is celebrating "We Love the King Day". | Resource output can be lost through ''corruption'', although in many games there is no corruption of food. Corruption of shields is generally known as ''waste''. In many games, the amount of corruption is heavily dependent on the distance a city is from the civilization's capital city, as well as the overall number of cities controlled by a civilization. Some games may also have an upper limit on the amount of corruption a city can have, so that a city that suffers heavy corruption could still be productive. The amount of corruption that exists are also dependent on the presence of certain improvements that reduce corruption, the type of government, as well as whether a city is celebrating "We Love the King Day". | ||
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In many games, there is an additional incentive for having happy citizens, as, with the exception of angry citizens, there is no production bonus or penalty associated with the mood of a citizen and its association with the tile they work on. This incentive is called ''"We Love the King Day"'' (although in many cases "King" is substituted for a better title). This occurs when there are no angry or unhappy citizens, the number of happy citizens exceed that of content citizens, and the city is growing. "We Love the King Day" generally brings reduced corruption and waste to a city, and may bring forth additional production through production bonuses or the elimination of production penalties, depending on the type of government. In some games, and under representative governments, a city may even spontaneously grow in size. In a histographic game, happy citizens contribute more to the score than content citizens. | In many games, there is an additional incentive for having happy citizens, as, with the exception of angry citizens, there is no production bonus or penalty associated with the mood of a citizen and its association with the tile they work on. This incentive is called ''"We Love the King Day"'' (although in many cases "King" is substituted for a better title). This occurs when there are no angry or unhappy citizens, the number of happy citizens exceed that of content citizens, and the city is growing. "We Love the King Day" generally brings reduced corruption and waste to a city, and may bring forth additional production through production bonuses or the elimination of production penalties, depending on the type of government. In some games, and under representative governments, a city may even spontaneously grow in size. In a histographic game, happy citizens contribute more to the score than content citizens. | ||
:Colonization has a similar productivity loss when the number of Loyalists in a colony exceeds a fixed number (which varies with the "Degree of Difficulty"). The solution is to increase production of Liberty Bells so as to increase the proportion of citizens who are of the Rebel persuasion instead. | |||
==Research== | ==Research== | ||