Building Banks is Losing You Games in Civ 6

Summary

The video argues that building banks is often a sign that a city has run out of useful things to produce. Banks cost more than twice as much as markets while generating less than one-fifth of their value, and they do not add trade-route capacity. The underlying problem is often that cities have too little population to unlock more district slots.

Why growth matters

Cities gain another district slot at population 4, 7, 10, and every three population points after that. Reaching a new breakpoint can unlock higher-value options, such as campuses, libraries, universities, and district projects for Great Scientists.

Growing cities promptly helps them keep producing priority items instead of eventually resorting to lower-value buildings like banks.

Growing cities efficiently

• Prioritize food chops—such as marshes, rice, cattle, wheat, and sheep—to push a city to its next district breakpoint quickly. Food chops still provide their normal food even when a city is housing-capped.
• When both food and production chops are available, doing the food chop first can be more efficient:
  • Place the district as soon as the city reaches the required population, locking in its lower cost.
  • Production chops grow stronger as more technologies are researched, while district costs also rise with completed technologies.
  • In the video’s example, chopping food first means the district costs 78 production rather than 82, and the later production chop yields 28 rather than 27. The city also gets to work an extra tile sooner.

Delaying food growth can therefore mean higher district costs and more turns without access to valuable production choices.

Passive growth: housing and food

Housing strongly affects growth: a city at its housing cap has 75% reduced growth, while one just below the cap has 50% reduced growth. To reach 7 population without housing penalties, aim for at least 8 housing. The Republican Legacy policy card, an aqueduct, and a granary can give a freshwater city up to 10 housing.

Assess cities by their land:

• Green cities, usually with plentiful two-food grassland, can grow steadily if they have enough housing.
• Yellow cities, often surrounded by one-food plains, need outside support such as trade routes, Feed the World, or farm triangles.

In Better Balance Game (BBG), the Audience Chamber provides food, housing, and an amenity to cities with governors. Prioritize assigning governors to yellow cities, where the food is most needed.

Don’t automatically send governors or extra trade routes to the largest cities. Send them to struggling yellow cities that need to reach their next district breakpoint. This can also make Pingala’s science bonus more productive by helping a smaller city grow.

Overall advice

Plan how each city will grow, use food chops early when possible, and direct housing and food support to the cities that need it most.

Featured creator/source: Herson (also signs off as Herzson), with a Pericles gameplay example. Great Scientists mentioned: Isaac Newton and Ibn Khaldun.