City Planning
I had nothing to do tonight so I started looking around at what I can see of the map and took a closer look at putting City #2 on the coast. Well, I don’t think that’s a good idea with what there is available to the east and northeast. This also ties into just about everything else….here goes.
My current thinking is to go Code of Laws → Foreign Trader → Early Empire on the civics tree. Both cities would start settlers right around the time Early Empire completes and try to have cities #3 and #4 founded in the early 50’s. Assuming no Foreign Trade inspiration we need 102 culture to complete those civics. The builder out of London is putting down a quarry and a horse pasture, in that order, with the pasture being done on Turn 27 and would have a charge to do something with. With that in mind...
South Coast
The city would found on Turn 19. The issue down here is production – we need to buy tiles in order to get 2
![Icon_Production Icon_Production](https://www.realmsbeyond.net/forums/images/smilies/Civ6Icons/Icon_Production.png)
tiles, improved or “native”. If we put a city down here it wouldn’t get out a settler until the mid 50’s. That’s too late from my perspective. Skipping this city now doesn't slow anything down in terms of Celestial Navigation. That typically comes in around Turn 65 or so in my test games and we'd still be able to get the eureka in plenty of time to complete the tech.
Thames Elephants
This city would found on the grassland between the cattle and the elephants east of London. It would spend the first five turns working the cattle and then start working the elephants at 2 population. The city builds would start out Monument → Settler. There are two options for the pantheon selection (Turn 22) and the builder’s third charge.
a) God of the Open Sky, Pasture the Cattle (T33)
b) Goddess of the Hunt, Camp the Ivory (T35)
The city finishes a settler on EoT46 (b) or EoT47(A) and the capital completes its settler EoT48. The only real difference here is culture generation – I’d be making 2
![Icon_Culture Icon_Culture](https://www.realmsbeyond.net/forums/images/smilies/Civ6Icons/Icon_Culture.png)
per turn more under option (a). Under option (b) I’d send one settler north to the coast elephants (T53)and one settler south to the river mouth (T52) and be pulling in +1
![Icon_Food Icon_Food](https://www.realmsbeyond.net/forums/images/smilies/Civ6Icons/Icon_Food.png)
per turn vs. (a). London would follow its settler with a builder for the south coastal city. Thames Elephants woud likely get out a couple of units, maybe a builder for local improvements and then build an Encampment. Pingala would go straight into this city while Magnus went into the capital for the fourth settler.
Coast Elephants
This city would found on the currently unknown (and hopefully) land tile NE of the coastal elephants on Turn 21 and I’d take God of the Hunt on Turn 22. It’d start working the 1
![Icon_Food Icon_Food](https://www.realmsbeyond.net/forums/images/smilies/Civ6Icons/Icon_Food.png)
4
![Icon_Production Icon_Production](https://www.realmsbeyond.net/forums/images/smilies/Civ6Icons/Icon_Production.png)
1
![Icon_Gold Icon_Gold](https://www.realmsbeyond.net/forums/images/smilies/Civ6Icons/Icon_Gold.png)
elephants immediately upon founding. The city would go builder → monument → warrior → settler with its own builder putting down camps on Turns 31 and 33. The bad news is that barring an improvable food resource up here the city’s population growth would be
slow. Early Empire completes on Turn 41 and its settler would complete EoT46 with the capital following EoT48. This city’s settler would head for the Thames Elephants site (T51) while London’s went to the south coast (T52). As before, London would follow its settler with a builder for the south coast location. London’s initial builder would follow its settler in order to improve a land resource (or chop a jungle for pop & production) with its remaining charge.
In this instance I’d put Pingala in London until Magnus was available, at which time I’d move Pingala over to the Thames river city and put Magnus in London.
My inclination is to go with Coast Elephants. Yes, it’s against conventional wisdom to found a low-food city early and we still have no idea what’s up there. However, the city gets a
lot done in its first 25 turns (a builder for two camps, a monument, a warrior, a settler and 100
![Icon_Gold Icon_Gold](https://www.realmsbeyond.net/forums/images/smilies/Civ6Icons/Icon_Gold.png)
income) and that trade-off might be worth it. The extra milpower from the land units and galleys would also make our defensive situation a bit better.
Alhambram/Thrantar, thoughts? The warrior will be able to get to the area near Coast Elephants around the same time the settler completes to better inform our decision.