The ai seems to have no hesitancy about building cities in placements most real players would consider encroaching on their teritory. Yet when these dumb cities which I don't want as the heavily overlap with mine inevitably flip I don't seem to have the option of "rebuff the rebels" or so on that were in other civ games. The only option I seem to have is to go to war and raze the city before it flips.

Is there a way to disband a city I own? I don't want these dumb things as they meerly leech off my good cities and often cost more than they produce.

I have the same problem, I'm winning by a wide margin anyway but I've gained 4 junk cities through revolts, I'd like an option to tell the rebels where they can go...

In my opinion, there are no such things as junk cities, most of the time a city will make enough commerce to compensate its maintenance cost even if it has very poor city placement....

If that were true then rapid expansion and continued expansion throughout the entire game would be a good strategy. Which we all know it's not. Doing that you end up making negative gpt at 0% science. So there are definitely situations where gaining a new city will hurt you instead of helping.

In my opinion, there are no such things as junk cities, most of the time a city will make enough commerce to compensate its maintenance cost even if it has very poor city placement....

Though I happen to disagree, regardless, I see no reason the option to rebuff cities wishing to join your culture is not present. It was present in previous versions of civilization. Now it is just a big headache. Not only do you have to go to war to raze the city (as was the case in all civ games) but it must be done quickly before the city flips.

I regularly find myself closing borders with allies in the early game because they wish to take their stupid settlers and build in the middle of my empire. No human with a brain would do that, but since the ai does I just end up with junk cities later. I don't expect the ai to be fixed, but it'd sure be nice if I didn't have to become owner of these stupid cities. In previous versions I was not forced to take them in. Is there a way to disband a city you own? Is there any solution to this. Not exactly thrilled about this...

I almost never would get a culture flip before my economy is stable in the later game anyways. I had a French city in the middle of my territory very early on, and not even culture bombs took it out until about 1900.

If that were true then rapid expansion and continued expansion throughout the entire game would be a good strategy. Which we all know it's not. Doing that you end up making negative gpt at 0% science. So there are definitely situations where gaining a new city will hurt you instead of helping.

Expansion kills your economy because of the number of cities and distance, not the tiles they can work. The odd flipped city in terrible terrain will usually still generate a profit since your maintanance costs havn't reached the point where each new city is just another nail in your economic coffin.

flipped cities with population can usually support you one way or another...

expansion cities with no pop is an issue...

Just gift it back to the AI through diplomacy :).

I usually just give the new city to the third party civ. I think it's a decent diplo bonus to the civ you give it to, and very often the cities never gain any ground culture/land wise and just end up costing that AI civ that much more money while weakening a neighbor that usually loses a good amount of land with that city gone. If nothing else it's funny to watch a city survive hundreds of years with only one or two tiles to work and/or in constant revolt. Maybe not the best strategy, but seems to be a good idea on paper.

I usually just give the new city to the third party civ. I think it's a decent diplo bonus to the civ you give it to, and very often the cities never gain any ground culture/land wise and just end up costing that AI civ that much more money while weakening a neighbor that usually loses a good amount of land with that city gone. If nothing else it's funny to watch a city survive hundreds of years with only one or two tiles to work and/or in constant revolt. Maybe not the best strategy, but seems to be a good idea on paper.

Actually i have employed this strategy before and it really works. You can gift the city you dont want to an AI ruin their economy and you'll get a diplo bonus for it. I did this only one time but it really worked. Even if their is a choice to abandon a city or rebuff the rebels i think that this strategy is better and therefore would never use the abandon choice or rebuff the rebels option. Be careful gifting it to a creative civ because they will be able to hold their own sometimes..... sometimes. :D

This leads me to think of a very interesting strategy. I usually end up having quite a few tiles in the middle of my empire that are not in any city's radius and thus quite useless to me.

What if I were to build a city there by myself and then gift it to the top dog AI? Everything but the city square itself would be surrounded by my culture and pretty much useless to the AI. "Gifting" let's say 5 of these cities would totally destroy any economy at least in the smaller maps. And I get the diplo bonus... :cool:

If that were true then rapid expansion and continued expansion throughout the entire game would be a good strategy. Which we all know it's not. Doing that you end up making negative gpt at 0% science. So there are definitely situations where gaining a new city will hurt you instead of helping.

I should have said : "it will eventually make enough commerce to compensate........"

But usually, if you gain only 1 or 2 cities through cultur flips... you should really gain something out of it... unless you really have a city radius that doesn't allow your city to grow higher than size 2 or 3......

I regularly find myself closing borders with allies in the early game because they wish to take their stupid settlers and build in the middle of my empire. No human with a brain would do that, but since the ai does I just end up with junk cities later. I don't expect the ai to be fixed, but it'd sure be nice if I didn't have to become owner of these stupid cities. In previous versions I was not forced to take them in. Is there a way to disband a city you own? Is there any solution to this. Not exactly thrilled about this...

thats probably because you leave huge gaps of good unused terrains between your cities, the enemy wont send settlers in your empire if the majority of your empire's tiles are convered by your city radiuses.

This leads me to think of a very interesting strategy. I usually end up having quite a few tiles in the middle of my empire that are not in any city's radius and thus quite useless to me.

What if I were to build a city there by myself and then gift it to the top dog AI? Everything but the city square itself would be surrounded by my culture and pretty much useless to the AI. "Gifting" let's say 5 of these cities would totally destroy any economy at least in the smaller maps. And I get the diplo bonus... :cool:

But you would end up cultur flipping those cities anyway ;)

Although I really like the gifting idea...pretty smart I must stay, couldn't you just starve the city and disband it if you really didn't want it around?

But you would end up cultur flipping those cities anyway ;)

Then just re-gift them for more diplo points! I smell a huge exploit, unless the AI cheats in city upkeep costs.

Although I really like the gifting idea...pretty smart I must stay, couldn't you just starve the city and disband it if you really didn't want it around?

The city square does 2 food, 1 hammer (2 if on hilly plains), and 1 commerce. You can't starve away the last person, because even if that last person is in revolt, they're STILL getting fed.

Then just re-gift them for more diplo points! I smell a huge exploit, unless the AI cheats in city upkeep costs.

Is that feasable in the game engine?

Find an AI city and completely overwhelm it with culture (or, found a city next to a bunch of big culture cities of yours and gift it to AI). When it flips, give it back to them. Then, because you're back in the same position as before, it'll flip agian. Repeat again and again :)

But maybe there's a limit to the amount of times that a city can flip.

Then just re-gift them for more diplo points! I smell a huge exploit, unless the AI cheats in city upkeep costs.

Hey, you're a regifter :lol:! Sounds like a brilliant idea though. Most AI empires seem pretty overstretched already (expanding like it was civ III) you should be able to bankrupt some of them this way.

It was pointed out in another thread that in standard Civ4 rules, a city cannot flip back to the country it was taken from. However, that was in warfare (IE, back to the county you beat the city out of right after battle) so I don't know if the same thing appies to cities that are given away or not.

The city square does 2 food, 1 hammer (2 if on hilly plains), and 1 commerce. You can't starve away the last person, because even if that last person is in revolt, they're STILL getting fed.

For some reason I thought I remembered reading that you could disband a city in the manual. Guess I was mistaken. Good to know.

The ai seems to have no hesitancy about building cities in placements most real players would consider encroaching on their teritory. Yet when these dumb cities which I don't want as the heavily overlap with mine inevitably flip I don't seem to have the option of "rebuff the rebels" or so on that were in other civ games. The only option I seem to have is to go to war and raze the city before it flips.

Is there a way to disband a city I own? I don't want these dumb things as they meerly leech off my good cities and often cost more than they produce.

By leech off your good cities do you mean the flipped city uses some of the workable tiles that your good city used to control?

I discovered if you open up the city screen you can click on a shared tile that your city doesn't have control of (appears dark) and give that city the tile. By doing this you could ensure your good city retains all of it's tiles. Just another option for you.

For some reason I thought I remembered reading that you could disband a city in the manual. Guess I was mistaken. Good to know.

I think the only way is to delete the city in world builder if you are thinking of manual disband.

its dumb that we cant abandon the city. I was looking for a way and the above is the only way. but is it considered cheating? I hate to cheat.:mad: