The Ultimate Guide to City Building in Civ 6: How Many is Enough?
As a passionate Civilization fan with over 300 hours under my belt, one question I get asked constantly is: "how many cities should I settle in Civ 6?" So let‘s dive into this topic in-depth.
The Magic Number: 10 Cities by Turn 100
The ideal number to shoot for is around 10 cities by turn 100. Achieve this through a mix of training settlers and strategic early game wars to capture enemy cities. This faster expansion leaves you with an unbeatable backbone for your civilization.
Through extensive testing across multiple victory types, I‘ve found this 10 city and sub-100 turn timing to be optimal for growth. It strikes the right balance between rapid infrastructure building and preventing uncontrolled sprawl that tanks happiness.
Optimizing Your City Layout
When planning out your city placement, there are some best practices I‘ve developed over hundreds of games:
Settle Cities Closer Together
You want your cities cozily packed together – don‘t be afraid to crowd the map! My rule of thumb for city center spacing is 3-5 tiles, but 4 is ideal. This lets your cities share regional buildings while working high-yield tiles.
Specialize for 2-3 Strong Districts
The perfect city has a population of around 10-15 citizens initially. This lets you work key resources while developing 2 or 3 high-level districts quickly. Prioritize the districts that match your intended victory type.
Here‘s an example district/victory matchup:
| Victory Type | Key Districts |
|---|---|
| Science | Campus, Spaceport |
| Culture | Theater Square, Entertainment Complex |
Target Resource-Rich Areas
Look to claim areas near luxury resources, strategic resource sources (like iron), as well as Natural Wonders for their adjacency bonuses. These resources fuel growth, provide trade income, and buff your districts.
Managing Captured Cities and City-States
Conquering enemy cities and influencing city-states is critical too. Here are some techniques that have served me well:
Absorb Captures Strategically
Raze weak cities in poor positions. But absorbing just 1-2 cities through early game wars can accelerate you immensely. This is thanks to their existing infrastructure. The production costs alone make captures worth their unhappiness in all but fringe cases.
Make City-States Work for YOU
With the Rise & Fall expansion, we now have the Nomadic Photographers Alliance technology that reduces war weariness against city states. This makes early conquests nearly painless.
I try to grab at least one militaristic and scientific city-state as soon as possible using this casus belli. Their supply bonuses are just too good to pass up in the early game when snowballing your tech and troops.
Additional Pro Tips for Rapid Expansion
Here are a few other tactics I frequently employ when aiming for 10 cities by turn 100:
Construct Multiple Spaceports
The extra Spaceport cuts the orbital construction projects by a third when pursuing science victories. I strive for one spaceport per 3 major cities at a minimum.
Embrace Aggressive Early Settlement
Constructing your first settler and dispatching explorers should happen immediately after the initial scout. Securing those key early expansion locations is too important to delay!
Conclusion
After all this, I hope you‘ve got an awesome city building blueprint. Bringing together optimal early growth, district planning, and absorption techniques should have you dominating on your path to those glorious turn 300 victories. Let me know how your 10 city 200 turn races go!
