AI cities don't starve after I destroy their farms!

There was a war with the Aztecs and the Aztecs had a couple of huge cities. Their capital which had like 31 pop and another city nearby that had about 21.

I send some horsemen in and destroyed like at least a full half of all their farms (in their whole empire, not just the ones around these cities). And yet, the population of their cities never dropped by so much as a single point during the whole war.

Is this some kind of an AI cheat I don't know about?

Last time when it was possible to starve a city to death was back in civ 3....

Nowdays granaries and such of cities is too powerful, never can starve a city unless you block every single workable hex that gives food with ur soldiers.

The Aztecs' floating gardens have some pretty decent food bonuses - they provide a 15% increase in food, plus 2 extra food for every lake tile worked. Combined with possible food bonuses in religion or social policies, that could be the reason why these cities aren't starving.

Callonia said:

Last time when it was possible to starve a city to death was back in civ 3....

Nowdays granaries and such of cities is too powerful, never can starve a city unless you block every single workable hex that gives food with ur soldiers.

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I never really pay attention to how food works but I know I have had units around my city and caused my city to start starving. Don't you just need to make it so that the city takes in less food than it is eating( 2 food per pop?)

Callonia said:

Last time when it was possible to starve a city to death was back in civ 3....

Nowdays granaries and such of cities is too powerful, never can starve a city unless you block every single workable hex that gives food with ur soldiers.

Click to expand...

NameUndisclosed said:

The Aztecs' floating gardens have some pretty decent food bonuses - they provide a 15% increase in food, plus 2 extra food for every lake tile worked. Combined with possible food bonuses in religion or social policies, that could be the reason why these cities aren't starving.

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But you need to understand, their city had over 31 population. EVEN with strong food bonuses they can't possibly not lose population with half of their farms gone without resorting to secret AI cheats/bonuses.

How long were you starving them? I can see a late game city with the right food infrastructure producing 12+ food without working a tile. Combine that with the policy that reduces food cost for specialists (and unemployed) and they could only be a few food in the red. If they were near growth and had a big food bucket it could take dozens of turns to lose a citizen.

I would put a spy there and see what they are doing.

Scarpa said:

How long were you starving them? I can see a late game city with the right food infrastructure producing 12+ food without working a tile. Combine that with the policy that reduces food cost for specialists (and unemployed) and they could only be a few food in the red. If they were near growth and had a big food bucket it could take dozens of turns to lose a citizen.

I would put a spy there and see what they are doing.

Click to expand...

This. Try this out so that you can know what you need.