Industrial City-States in Civilization 6: Gathering Storm tend to be less impactful than their counterparts, primarily due to their bonuses being tied to production, a resource with limited strategic flexibility. This ranking evaluates them based on their utility, consistency, and contribution to overall victory in various situations.
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Ranking Criteria
- S-Tier: Always impactful and worth pursuing.
- A-Tier: Strong in most situations and worth investment.
- B-Tier: Situationally useful but not always impactful.
- C-Tier: Minimal utility, typically pursued only for specific needs.
General Weaknesses of Industrial City-States
- Limited Early-Game Impact: Bonuses often tie to Industrial Zones, which are late-game districts. Early production boosts are modest and generally confined to the capital.
- Localized Benefits: Unlike global resources such as science, culture, or faith, production bonuses affect only specific cities.
- Restrictive Bonuses: Their benefits, such as improved building and wonder production, don’t contribute broadly to advancing victory conditions.
Industrial City-States Ranked
Auckland (B-Tier)
- Bonus: +1 production to Coastal and Lake tiles (+1 additional production in the Industrial Era).
- Analysis: Auckland can be strong for coastal civilizations like Kupe, Norway, or Indonesia, but its effectiveness diminishes for inland civilizations or maps with limited coastlines. Coastal tiles are inherently weak in most games, so the production boost doesn’t significantly alter gameplay for most civs.
- Verdict: B-Tier – Situational and map-dependent.
Brussels (B-Tier)
- Bonus: +15% production towards wonders.
- Analysis: A favorite for early wonder rushes, especially for strategies focusing on wonders like Apadana or Pyramids. However, mid-to-late game, wonder production becomes less relevant due to chopping, great engineers, or reduced necessity.
- Verdict: B-Tier – Excellent early game but tapers off quickly.
Cardiff (C-Tier)
- Bonus: +2 power per harbor building.
- Analysis: Power requirements are negligible for much of the game and are easily covered by solar panels or wind turbines later. This bonus rarely provides meaningful value.
- Verdict: C-Tier – Lacks relevance for most of the game.
Hong Kong (A-Tier)
- Bonus: +20% production towards city projects in all cities.
- Analysis: City projects are vital for mid-to-late game victories. Whether it’s campus and spaceport projects for science or theater square projects for culture, this bonus accelerates critical game-ending activities. Early-game utility for holy site prayers or trade route projects further enhances its flexibility.
- Verdict: A-Tier – Useful across all victory types and game stages.
Johannesburg (C-Tier)
- Bonus: +1 production for each improved resource type (+2 production after industrialization).
- Analysis: The benefits are minimal, adding only a marginal amount of production to cities. By the time the +2 production bonus arrives, it is far outpaced by other sources like trade routes.
- Verdict: C-Tier – Insufficient impact for its envoy cost.
Mexico City (C-Tier)
- Bonus: Industrial Zones, Entertainment Complexes, and Water Parks extend their range by 3 tiles.
- Analysis: Extending the range of district effects is rarely impactful until late game. Industrial Zones and Entertainment Complexes are generally low-priority builds, and the added range doesn’t significantly enhance their value.
- Verdict: C-Tier – Limited early-game relevance and minimal late-game utility.
Singapore (C-Tier)
- Bonus: +2 production for each foreign civilization you have a trade route to.
- Analysis: International trade routes are underwhelming until late-game governments like Democracy. Even then, the production bonus is insufficient to justify envoy investment.
- Verdict: C-Tier – Poorly aligned with most strategies.
Key Takeaways
- A-Tier Stars: Buenos Aires and Hong Kong stand out for their empire-wide impact and relevance across all game phases.
- B-Tier Situational Picks: Auckland and Brussels offer niche advantages but lack versatility.
- C-Tier Disappointments: Cardiff, Johannesburg, Mexico City, and Singapore suffer from poor scalability and limited strategic value.
Industrial City-States, while generally underwhelming, have a few standouts that can complement specific strategies. Focus on A-Tier options for consistent value, and don’t hesitate to skip the C-Tier city-states entirely unless required for diplomatic or tactical purposes.