and these pirates are overpowered)
They have two significant advantages – the cannon (and the hero Jeremy to go with it), as well as the second tier of pirates (which is also a plus, but you still need to level up to that point). The downsides are – the fragility of the units (until they reach levels 6-7), four floors in the guild, and a focus on water magic (and often various navigation skills). In short, the city is a solid mid-tier option, compared to truly overpowered Necropolis and Conflux... It's not even comparable.