I'm an Immortal player and often times it's faster for me to just build it myself after the monument and granary. :|
I've only done this once on my Austria immortal game against the Iroquois. I captured one of their settlers to stall their rapid expansion. The Iroquois still don't want to end the war after 200 turns and they're demanding me to hand over 2 of my cities for peace. I even razed one of their cities and they are also making that demand.
The AI breaks when you steal a worker. If I feel the desire to take one I'll take it from a city state.
:|
Early game, swipe the worker from a CS. Then, late game when it's no longer useful, escort it to a barb unit, let it get captured, retake it and then return it to the CS for the friendship boost
but how can you keep track of which worker was a CS worker?
Also...allowing a barb to take a CS worker and then freeing them (often you can do this repeatedly thus gaining cred with the CS several times) is something I try to do often in the diplo game. Again...if the game lets me do it...it is just one more thing in your toolbox to even out the AI advantages on higher levels.
I rarely declare war on a CS or AI foe to steal a worker (a tactic I will use for deity games however)so as for all this "it's an exploit" discussion; my belief is if the game allows you to do it ...do it.
Also...allowing a barb to take a CS worker and then freeing them (often you can do this repeatedly thus gaining cred with the CS several times) is something I try to do often in the diplo game. Again...if the game lets me do it...it is just one more thing in your toolbox to even out the AI advantages on higher levels.
Is there anything the game doesn't let you do?