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Should I Keep the City in Civ 6?: A Comprehensive Guide

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Yes, in most circumstances, keeping a captured city in Civilization 6 is the optimal strategy. There are many reasons why a city might be worth keeping. We’ll explore when it’s the right move, when it’s not, and how to manage your newly acquired territories to maximize your empire’s potential. Deciding whether to keep or raze a captured city is a critical decision that can significantly impact the trajectory of your game.

The Case for Keeping the City

The default position should always be “keep it”. Razing a city incurs significant warmonger penalties, sets back your empire’s growth, and eliminates a potential asset. Let’s break down the benefits:

Production Base: As the article mentioned, a city, at the very least, gives you the production needed to build a settler, but also gives you the production from the tiles around it. That’s already a return of value. The key is to invest wisely in the city’s development to make it more than that.
Strategic Location: A city might control vital resources, a key geographic chokepoint, or provide access to new areas of the map. These strategic advantages can be crucial for military campaigns or economic expansion.
Population and Growth: While a conquered city starts with unhappiness and unrest, its population represents potential labor for districts, improvements, and military units. Conquered cities also grow to create new workers as well.
District Potential: The city might have excellent locations for key districts like campuses, industrial zones, or holy sites, boosting your science, production, or faith output. These can drastically change your victory goals.
Luxury and Strategic Resources: Cities often control valuable resources that can be traded for gold, used for strategic advantage, or provide amenities to improve the happiness of your citizens. Don’t ignore the economic possibilities!

When to Raze (and Why it’s Usually a Bad Idea)

While keeping cities is generally preferred, there are a few specific situations where razing might be considered:

Location, Location, Location (or Lack Thereof): If a city is located in a completely unusable spot with little to no tile yields, no resources, and no strategic value, razing it might be an option. This is extremely rare.
Severe Loyalty Issues (Early Game): In the early game, a city with overwhelming loyalty pressure that you can’t hope to counteract can cripple your empire. The cost of constantly suppressing rebellions can outweigh any potential benefit.
Desperate Warmongering: If you are playing a domination game, you may think that razing a city to get rid of a rival is the best option. However, the warmongering penalties can be devastating, especially early on.
Extreme City Spam: An enemy may have settled a city in a place that is useless to them, but also blocks you from a strategic location. If you truly need a certain location, razing a city to get there is a valid strategy.

Important Note: Razing a city is always a gamble. The warmonger penalties are severe, affecting your relations with other civilizations. Make sure you have a very good reason before resorting to this option.

Managing Conquered Cities: Turning Enemies into Assets

So, you’ve decided to keep the city. Now what? Here’s how to effectively manage conquered cities and integrate them into your empire:

Address Loyalty Immediately: This is the biggest challenge. Use Governors (especially Victor), policy cards that boost loyalty, and garrisoned units to exert positive loyalty pressure.
Deal with Unhappiness: Unhappiness can cripple your empire. Build amenities or trade for them. The Colosseum wonder is particularly useful for spreading amenities to multiple cities.
Focus on Infrastructure: Build infrastructure that addresses immediate needs, like a monument for culture, a granary for food, or a sewer for housing.
Strategic District Placement: Plan your district placement carefully to maximize adjacency bonuses. Prioritize districts that will benefit your overall strategy.
Trade Routes: Establish trade routes to the new city to boost its growth, production, and gold income. Domestic trade routes are especially helpful early on.
Consider a Governor: Appointing a Governor like Reyna can boost gold production and make the city easier to manage. Pingala is a good choice for cities focused on science or culture.
Patience is Key: It takes time for a conquered city to become a productive part of your empire. Don’t expect miracles overnight.

Understanding Warmonger Penalties

It’s crucial to understand the mechanics of warmonger penalties in Civ 6:

Base Penalty: Capturing a city applies a base warmonger penalty, which is reduced based on Casus Belli.
Casus Belli: Using a Casus Belli (formal war reason) drastically reduces warmonger penalties. Declaration of wars, such as a Holy War, are essential for peaceful expansion.
Razing Multiplier: Razing a city applies a multiplier to the base penalty, significantly increasing the negative impact on your diplomatic relations.
Warmonger Score: Your accumulated warmonger score determines how other civilizations view you. A high score can lead to denouncements, trade embargoes, and even joint wars against you.

By understanding these mechanics, you can minimize the diplomatic repercussions of your conquests.

Maximizing Your Empire

Keeping cities in Civ 6, when managed correctly, is the path to becoming a dominant civilization. Every city you add to your empire is another source of production, science, gold, and culture. Embrace expansion and carefully consider your choices. You can turn former enemies into allies to help you succeed.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Here are some frequently asked questions about city management in Civilization 6:

1. Is it better to have a lot of cities in Civ 6?

Yes, generally. More cities mean more production, science, culture, and gold. While managing more cities can be more complex, the overall benefits outweigh the challenges. Go wide!

2. How far away should I build cities in Civ 6?

Aim for around four tiles between city centers. This allows for optimal tile coverage and district placement.

3. Is it worth taking city-states in Civ 6?

It depends. If a city-state’s bonuses are critical to your strategy, try to become its suzerain rather than conquering it. But if the city-state occupies a strategically important location, or its bonuses are irrelevant to you, conquest can be a viable option. Also consider their walls and how much effort it will take to attack the city-state.

4. What is the penalty for razing a city in Civ 6?

Significant warmonger penalties, damaging your relations with other civilizations. The penalty is a multiplier of the base penalty for capturing a city.

5. How can I deal with Rebellion after capturing a city in Civilization 6?

Use Governors (especially Victor), policy cards that boost loyalty, garrisoned units, and religious pressure to counteract negative loyalty pressure.

6. Where is the best place to build a city in Civ 6?

Near fresh water, strategic resources, luxury resources, and terrain that will give you high production and food tiles. Plains hills are considered among the best terrains to settle on.

7. Should I settle on resources in Civ 6?

Generally, no. You won’t get the resource yields from settling directly on it. Settle nearby and build an improvement on the resource.

8. How many cities should I have in Civ 6 by turn 50?

Aim for three to five cities by turn 50.

9. Is it better to build tall or wide in Civ 6?

Wide (many cities) is generally considered more effective in Civilization 6.

10. What is the most important thing in Civ 6?

Understanding the map. Explore your surroundings to find resources, ideal city spots, and strategic locations.

11. What happens to free cities in Civ 6?

If a city’s loyalty drops to zero, it becomes a free city, independent of any civilization.

12. Can I raze a free city?

Yes, unless you are allied to the founder (or most recent owner) of the city.

13. Should I trade with my own cities in Civ 6?

Yes! Domestic trade routes can boost the growth, production, and gold of your cities.

14. What is the strongest start in Civ 6?

Being near a natural wonder or tribal village. Access to many resources is a good start.

15. Who is the best governor in Civ 6?

Pingala and Liang are generally considered the best overall governors.

Learning the ins and outs of this strategy is not only fun but also provides skills that are transferable to other areas in life. Strategy games like Civ 6 allow individuals to develop their leadership skills. Consider looking at the research provided by the Games Learning Society at GamesLearningSociety.org to learn more.