City State oddity

Suppose there is a City State in a game with 20 civs in play. The CS can only be Allied with ONE civ at a time. That ONE civ gets the CS's resources and the max donation amount of Faith (if the CS is a Religious CS) or Culture (if the CS is a Cultural CS). Meanwhile, that same CS could conceivably be Friends with all 19 of the other civs. Friends don't get any of the CS's resources, but they do get 1/2 of the Faith or Culture amounts that the CS gives its Ally. For example, in the Classic Era, I believe the amounts would be Friends get 3 points while Allies get 6 points.

Now look at those numbers again:
Ally = 6 points (the max)
Friends = 3 points -- times 19 = 57 points

Why is the CS holding out on its Ally?

If they are dealing in cash only, that's 9500gp they get for all those civs to be friends.

That's a lot more than what you'd pay to be allied. It makes sense for them to share their gifts around.

But if you have the Patronage Consulates + have made Pledge to Protect to that CS -- a strategy that is available to every civ -- then every civ would have 30 Influence points with that one City State. No cash expended. So it is distinctly possible to have a CS handing out far more Faith and Culture to its Friends, while the Ally is getting just a tiny fraction of what it is giving to its Friends.

For some types of city states it makes sense.

Eg when dealing with faith, you could imagine that the city state has a spectacular temple. Anyone that is friends they let come in for tours (giving some faith) but their ally get a VIP tour or a position on the church board or something else "unique". That's why it doesn't stack for the one ally, because going on the same tour 19 times isn't going to increase your faith.

This logic could be extended to other things that are less tangible, eg culture. It doesn't work so well for food and units, but could probably work for happiness.

Well, after the patch the pledge/consulates option won't be available anymore to abuse, but yeah, you make a good point.

In the end it's a game though, and we kind of just have to accept these things sometimes. It is kind of funny though! At least the ally is getting strategic and luxury resources that nobody else is even thinking of getting!

stoz said:

For some types of city states it makes sense.

Eg when dealing with faith, you could imagine that the city state has a spectacular temple. Anyone that is friends they let come in for tours (giving some faith) but their ally get a VIP tour or a position on the church board or something else "unique". That's why it doesn't stack for the one ally, because going on the same tour 19 times isn't going to increase your faith.

This logic could be extended to other things that are less tangible, eg culture. It doesn't work so well for food and units, but could probably work for happiness.

Click to expand...

I very much like this interpretation. Makes perfect sense when you put it that way. The tendency seems to be to measure Faith and Culture like they are coins being handed out.

stoz said:

It doesn't work so well for food and units

Click to expand...

why not?
for food, imagine they share some special foods like herbs or exotic fruits very small portion of which in a daily diet makes people substantionally healthier.

for units, CS may provide some military specialists, literature etc, not units themselves.

killmeplease said:

why not?
for food, imagine they share some special foods like herbs or exotic fruits very small portion of which in a daily diet makes people substantionally healthier.

for units, CS may provide some military specialists, literature etc, not units themselves.

Click to expand...

Food is too abstract. Food is food; you eat it. We get coffee from South America, bananas from tropical climates, coconuts likewise, guavas from.... All these "exotic" foods showing up in markets in geographical regions that couldn't even begin to sustain the agriculture of those exotic foods. All that they have in common with the locally grown foods is that people eat them. In the end, as food goes, all they are is "different".