Ten Cities by Turn 100?

[Witterquick EQ]

I was doing some reading online and I saw some folks say an ideal goal is ten cities by turn 100. My question is how would you ever accomplish this?

[Kimmaz]

At what game speed?

[Kimmaz]

Try to get 10 cities by turn 200 on marathon speed. its hard to do it within 100 turns.

I have 14 cities by turn 207 in my current game: https://i.imgur.com/yhnIA4U.png
I only had 5 cities on turn 100.

As for how: I have killed 2 AI's and taken their cities and I am attacking my 3rd AI currently. I have used 4 settlers total one of them I stole/took from AI.

[Kimmaz]

I am currently on turn 300. And I have 23 cities, about to gain 2 more. But I only play on Emperor Difficulty currently, as I learn the new dlc mechanics.
https://i.imgur.com/PozPYvo.jpg

[Martin]

Depends what kind of map you get, but it is doable with any civ. If you start on a resourced plains hill, with 2-3 plains hills nearby, a river and flood plains 2-3 with rice or wheat, if you then get the goody huts which rush specialty districts and early settlers, you can then just get the dude in the top hat, with his spec in free settlers, build 2-3 builders, then 2-4 warriors, pair warriors off and get them killing barbs, use the money to expand borders, concentrate on food you build city up to 6-7 peeps, maybe rush/chop the city district.. (I'm dreadful with names for a game I have 2k hours in) then the city addon for settlers. Throw in the settler card, can get 10 cities out. Or you can get 5 out and capture 5 from an ai civ.. which is easier.

[Andy]

Generally, the only way I end up with ten cities is if I conquer someone else's.

[OoOoOoooOOoOoorgle]

You really don't need that many cities by turn 100 (assuming standard), it depends quite a lot on map gen and your neighbors' placement. Seven or so strong cities is usually better than crowding the same area with 10.

That said, it is best to expand territory whenever possible in this one, since there are no penalties whatsoever for spreading out. So if you're able space-wise to settle that much without needless crowding, and they aren't poor spots, you basically always should.

By far the best way to settle fast is to use a Monumentality golden age, a good faith generator, and just buy settlers. Second to that is the common beeline of Early Empire for the +50% settler production policy. The Ancestral Hall (government plaza building) is also a big boost to expansion, though its requirements are considerably later than the previous two examples.

[Kimmaz]

If you compare standard vs marathon speed. I had 23 cities by turn 100 normal speed. I would argue that is hard on normal speed. So I would say playing on marathon has some advantages.

[bluetooth]

I usually have 8-10 cities at turn 100, I guess I build 2-3 and conquer the rest in an early archer rush (about 8 archers and 2 warriors) This is on normal speed/emperor.

[Witterquick EQ]

So I play on normal speed usually. So I should build up my starting city before buying any settlers unless I have Magnus with his no-pop settler promotion? I'm wondering if I'm stunting my city growth too much in the beginning by using my starting city to crank out settlers.

[Kimmaz]

Originally posted by chadandbrandyjohnson:

So I play on normal speed usually. So I should build up my starting city before buying any settlers unless I have Magnus with his no-pop settler promotion? I'm wondering if I'm stunting my city growth too much in the beginning by using my starting city to crank out settlers.

Its a lot faster for a city to grow from 2 pop -> 3pop compared to 6pop -> 7pop. Or I noticed that.
With this in mind, it takes less turns to regain a lost pop on a small city compared to a large one.

I usually build my settlers right away, before building any buildings or districts in my capital.

[Martin]

Lately I've been messing around with rapid expansion, trying to get settlers out of every city at the same time, so build up to 4 cities, then 8 then 16.. and so on.. every city makes a builder, then a settler in queue.. when placed etc. Of course, it also means alot of neutral/dark ages as it completely screws your production up and science etc. Although war and pillaging can help out there.

[Lady Crimson (RIP)]

I mean, on normal speed, mostly you would do it by conquering. Once you start conquering you basically steamroll.

[Lady Crimson (RIP)]

Originally posted by bluetooth:

I usually have 8-10 cities at turn 100, I guess I build 2-3 and conquer the rest in an early archer rush (about 8 archers and 2 warriors) This is on normal speed/emperor.

+ Exactly this.. though not so much the archers anymore.

You really don't want to focus settlers less you are avoiding war, or you get some boost from it like Carthage. Mass expansion is really broken (great) in civ6, however the cost increases each time and there's only so many ideal spots. Generally it's better to focus on military after 1 settler and just go on a conquering spree, using your cities for more economic self-centered building up.

[Dray Prescot]

I have a recent game where originally I conquered Mapuche by turn 100, with Mali as the next target.

I have replayed that game from the start (as the Inca, now that I understood how to use the Inca special abilities) where I concentrated on developing 4 or 5 cities before going to War with Mali first to defend a scientific City State very close to me. After conquering Mali, I conquered Mapuche (Mapuche declared War on me) to liberate a different scientific City State that he had conquered. Both City States had been under my control and I wanted them: 2 Science to my Capital plus 2 Science to each Library from each City State is BIG early in the game. I then conquered Mapuche, and finished him off by liberating a 2nd City State.

It made a big difference in relations with the other Civs when I started the first War with Mali to defend a City State, and then defended myself against an attack by Mapuche and Liberated 2 City States. Plus made sure that that both Mali and Mapuche died by their LAST City revolting to a Free City (Mali) or by liberating a City State (Mapuche). With the 2nd War done by turn 200.

As a result I was able to keep relations good enough with the other Civs to have 5 Alliances (and I could have had a 6th Alliance if there were 6 different Alliance types available) before Mapuche even was finished off.

The big advantage to waiting (after turn 100) for the Wars was that they had more Cities to conquer with their territories well developed, plus 1 City State under Mapuche control also well developed. Plus I had the Policy (by waiting to get it before fighting the Wars) to improve Pillaging yields and I did a LOT of pillaging before conquering each City. The loot in Science, Culture and Money was HUGE. Usually equal to one or two turns income of my Empire in one of Science, Culture, or Money (depending on the type of improvements on the tile being pillaged) PER Tile pillaged. Over the course of 2 Wars conquering 7 Cities followed by another 7 Cities and 2 Liberated City States and 1 controlled City State, pillaging ALL of them, I went from a below average Score to the top Score and picked up enough Science and Culture for many Techs and Civics (at least 5 or 6 each, probably more) out of the pillaging results.

It helped that Mali and Mapuche were my only close neighboring Civs who had trouble even getting to the Inca because of a very long semicircular mountain range, which the INCA could cross when and where they wanted with their special ability to build mountain passes. Plus Mali concentrated on developing Money income, and Mapuche concentrated on Faith/Religion and Culture and Money Income development with several (religious) World Wonders to capture as well.

When you have a semicircular mountain range over 20 tiles long (plus side branches) (with your enemies on the other side of the mountains) the Inca Pass is like a SUPER HIGHWAY for moving your military units around for conquest.

This is my first Map playing the INCA, and I have fallen in love (figuratively speaking) with them and their abilities. Pericles/Greece was my OLD favorite, the Inca are my NEW favorite Civ. With the right map and a lot of mountains, the Inca will be in a strong defensive position, and can conquer their enemies when the Inca is ready, and the enemy is ready to be pillaged. In my previous game as Trajan/Rome a long continuous Mountain Range was a barrier to my expansion, with the Inca it was completely different.

[NjoBe]

I heard the same thing when I was starting and thought it was practically impossible, now I accomplish 10 cities in 100 turns in almost every game, no matter the difficulty. And you even don't have to use multiple cities to produce settlers from (althought it does make this easier if you use at least two cities). The way to do this is to combine Magnus with government plaza (ancestral hall-gives you 50% production to settlers) and with two policy cards (one that gives +1 production in all cities and the other that gives another 50%production to settlers).

P.S. it also helps to plan the city placement start by settling farther cities first then fill in the space between your cities, that way you ensure other civs don't take up land...