A Second City is a city built on an empty plain, and is very beneficial to the player.
Getting the Second City Deed[]
To start building your Second City, you will first have to get your Second City Deed. For this you need:
Picking a spot[]
New cities have to be built on empty plains.
There are a few things you need to take in consideration when picking a spot for building your new city, such as:
- Travel time between your cities for defense purposes and the exchange of Resources.
- Travel time between your new city and allies' cities.
- Proximity to potentially hostile cities.
- Playing the market if you're choosing a site in a different 'province' from your first city.
Some alliances have specific strategies for when and where to build your new city and can often offer you some good advice, so it's a good idea to check with alliance leadership if you are a member of an alliance. It also might be a good idea to place your Second City a little away from your first city, just across the border in another province for a few reasons.
- In case of war, the enemy can't see both your cities straight away. (With the introduction of the Leaderboard, this is not so useful as your coordinates are available to anyone).
- You will have access to two markets in your marketplaces.
- If you build it too far away you will have a hard time transporting Resources and Troops between your cities until the later upgrades of the Relief Station.
Note: Higher level plains give no advantage over lower level ones.
Conquering a plain and building the city[]
After getting your second city deed, you need to conquer a plain. You can get more information on conquering a plain on the Wilderness page. Once you have conquered the plain and you own it, click on the beige + sign next to your castles, or click the plain and select the "build" option. Now you can build a city there.
Use of the Second City[]
The second city can be used in many different ways, such as:
- A resource production center for your first city.
- An army producing city, i.e. one with a lot of Barracks.
- A duplicate of your first city.
These three options all have their pros and cons. It depends on your playing style what suits you.
It is advisable to build an Alchemy Lab in your second city. The research from both your first lab and your second will count for all of the cities in your kingdom. The benefit of having a second lab is that you can research two technologies at once, as long as you have met the requirements for the technology in the city that the selected lab resides.