u/Ok-Satisfaction441

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This is my first Civ 7 game and I'm having a blast. I conquered an AI city that had a whopping 11 wonders in it! It seems like an obvious choice to turn it into a city... but is it? I'm almost at Future Tech and Future Civics, and I'm playing as Augustus, so I can already place culture buildings in there. Turning it into a city would allow me to add the research buildings, which I don't really need, though I'd love to see this place kitted out. It would also be neat to add specialists to this city, as its population is maxed (apart from a few mountains). But that 10% empire hit to building cost seems really rough... I currently only have 5 cities, but I still have lots to build and my military is small for my size (though I could ramp it up pretty fast, especially with how much gold I make).

Thoughts? I'd love to hear some pluses and minuses. I'm doing well this game, but I still have a lot to learn. Thanks for your time.

I keep reading online that the best City State suzerain reward is the free tech or civic per City State suzerain, but the only option I see reads "Free Civic" or "Free Tech." To me, it seems like I'd get the civic/tech once and that's it. If I befriend another city-state, I won't automatically get it; I'd have to choose it again. I'm getting techs and civics in the Modern Area every 2-3 turns. It seems like a waste of a reward. +1 permanent policy seems far more useful. Am I missing something? Was there a change, or is the current description inaccurate?

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I'm playing as Rome into Spain, Exploration Age. I have 15/15 settlements. I know I can go over it at a hit to happiness, and I'm currently making 465 happiness a turn, so I could easily go over the cap. BUT, in general, the game punishes having too many settlements through a settlement cap (which I like a lot), BUT, it doesn't seem to give you anything to do if you're at cap and don't want to go over it. I should be able to get more in peace deals than settlements. I should be able to Vassalize them (if they're small enough), or ask for gold, or ask for favorable deals in food/science/culture etc. Unless I'm missing something, conquering cities is the only point to war, and I feel like there is great opportunities here to be a whole lot more (Paradox Interactive player here, if you couldn't tell). Thoughts? Am I missing something?