My Cities are Cookie-Cutter

[Kuciwalker]

AIUI, here's the pathological case:

City A is size 16 and has a market, grocer and bank. (Let's pretend you're running 100% gold for the moment). It gets a high-value trade route from a foreign city.

City B is size 12 and has nothing. It doesn't get that high-value trade route.

City B builds a harbor. It is now effectively size 18 for the trade route calculations. So, it gets that high-value foreign trade route, and the base value of that trade route is slightly higher than before. But since it's missing the +% gold improvements, the result is actually less gold.

edit: Blake has rendered this post obsolete and slightly wrong

[Blake]

The Cothon is an interesting thing because it provides +1 trade route.

What is actually the effect of the Cothon? It's that you need to build fewer of them than you would harbors, they more strongly concentrate the trade in your best cities.

[dregor]

Originally posted by Blake
You then build some harbors in size 10 coastal cities, this brings these cities up to effectively size 20

Wouldn't it bring it up to 15? I thought harbors were +50%, or am I mistaken.

[Blake]

The description on the harbor is nearly entirely meaningless.

[dregor]

Huh.. alright, well good to know!

[realpolitic]

I recently had to build a culture city. On a 18 civ map, on the map of Earth, I was playing Germany. France built the Pyramids, so I took them. London and Madrid had plenty of culture, so I put synagouges, cathedrals, etc. just to keep Paris safe from culture.

When I conquer a new city, I build theatres fast.

Conquring the Pyramids (and hereditary rule) early meant I didn't want to cause the health consequenses (cutting down trees) I would have in other games. Had France not given me such a convenient target, things would have been quite different.