Mitla

Strategy guide

+15% growth in every city with a Campus compounds turn after turn — bigger cities work more tiles and staff more specialists, which loops back into more science. Build Campuses early everywhere and the population lead becomes structural by the medieval era.

Best civs & plans

Tall science empires — Korea's Seowon cities especially — compound the hardest. Anyone racing science wants this early, not late.

Envoy plan

Mitla rewards speed over depth: because the growth bonus compounds, three envoys committed in the ancient era are worth far more than six committed in the Renaissance, so this is the scientific city-state to front-load if it is on your continent. The type rewards cooperate — the first envoy's Library science and the third envoy's University science both land in the same Campus cities that are now growing faster. AI science civs contest scientific city-states persistently, so plan a two-envoy cushion rather than sitting at exactly three. Amani placed here early counts as two envoys for zero envoy spend, and the first envoy under Diplomatic League counts double; between the two you can hold Mitla for most of the game while real envoys go elsewhere.

Value by era

The bonus is strongest in the ancient and classical eras, when every extra citizen is a large share of a city's output and the first Campuses are going down anyway; a capital that reaches its next size a few turns earlier for twenty turns running is a real lead in science and production. Through the medieval era it keeps paying as new cities get Campuses, but the marginal value drops once housing rather than food is what caps growth. Late game the bonus is close to idle in cities parked at their housing ceiling, and it only revives when Neighborhoods and Sewers open new room. A late suzerainty is therefore worth little unless you are still founding or growing cities — taking Mitla in the industrial era is mostly about denying it to a rival science civ.

Pitfalls and how to protect it

Cities without a Campus get nothing, and many players forget that the outer cities settled in the medieval era need one too — even a low-adjacency Campus is justified here because it switches the growth bonus on. The second trap is housing: faster growth into a housing cap is faster growth into nothing, so pair Mitla with Granaries, Aqueducts, and a food-plus-housing pantheon or the bonus stalls in exactly the cities it should be helping. Bigger cities also demand more amenities, so plan luxuries a little ahead. Mitla is not usually in a defensible spot; if a neighbour grabs it, liberating it is cheap in the classical era and rarely worth a war later. If you are behind in the envoy race by three or more, let it go and pick a scientific city-state you can win.

Envoy bonuses

• 1 envoy+1 Science in your capital and in each Library you own.
• 3 envoys+2 Science in each University and each Consulate you own.
• 6 envoys+3 Science in each Research Lab and each Chancery you own.

Envoy bonuses are shared by every city-state of the same type.

Other Scientific city-states

• Anshan
• Bologna
• Fez
• Geneva
• Hattusa
• Nalanda
• Taruga

Related guides

• City-States and Envoys: Where Your Influence Should GoWhere envoys come from, how to spend the first handful, which city-state types match each victory plan, how to win and keep suzerainty against the AI, and when conquering a city-state is the right call.Last reviewed: 2026-10-03
• Diplomatic Victory: Earning and Spending FavorA working plan for the Gathering Storm diplomatic victory: where Diplomatic Favor actually comes from, how World Congress sessions and votes turn into victory points, which emergencies, competitions and wonders matter, how to keep alliances alive, and when to spend favor versus hold it against a rival's lead.Last reviewed: 2026-10-03
• Early District Planning: The First 100 TurnsHow to read city sites for future adjacency, decide between settling for yields now or reserving tile clusters, and know when a planned layout should be abandoned.Last reviewed: 2026-10-03