I used to think (in past expansions) that the Aesthetics policy was kind of stupid. Now, though, you can "pledge to protect" every city state you meet, and reach friend status with all of them. With the introduction of Mercantile states, that basically gives enough happiness for a free city.
The city states never actual require you to do anything to back up the pledge of protection. A tiny diplo hit is the only real consequence. They don't even get mad if you let them get swarmed by Raging Barbs or fight a war with another Civ all on their own.
A quick and dirty fix: Pledges of protection should be just like Defensive Pacts, though of course available at game start. Instead of "You won't get away with this," force the player to denounce the AI. Every era-appropriate barbarian (i.e. Brutes in the Industrial Age don't count) the protected city-state has to kill on its own results in a loss of influence equal to what you would gain for killing the barbarian. An equal loss of influence results when a barbarian pillages an improvement or kills a city-state unit.
As an aside, I'd like to know more about what goes on inside city-states and how Scholasticism is calculated. A CS with a population of 8 would make 8 science per turn base. That's 2 science. 3 if they have a library. Either 3 or 4 with a university, depending on if the game rounds up or down. With a Library, University, and National College that's 6-7 science, assuming CS are even allowed to build national wonders. What buildings can they be expected to make?
Come to think of it, how do their workers build farms on riverless snow-covered hills? Why do they sometimes have Warriors and Gatling guns at the same time, and never upgrade their garrisoned archer? How do they always seem to be current with the most tech-advanced civ, even when they only have a population of 8?
Also, I've seen city states capture enemy cities. Usually they raze them, but in one strange case they did not, and I have no idea why. It wasn't a capital or another CS, and city razing was enabled. Also, at least in Vanilla, if you let the game go on long enough, they'll start building aircraft. I remember one CS building a stealth bomber. Where did the aluminum come from? And do they still do that in G+K?
Come to think of it, if you donate a unit that requires a strategic resource to a city-state that doesn't have it, does it take the -50% penalty? If they have it, does it count against their total? If it counts against their total, do they give you less?
And as a final complaint, if you start a game in a later era, when religion is turned off, Religious city states shouldn't be generated. I know they can provide Luxuries and Strategic Resources like any other CS, but their main benefit is wasted. Or as a compromise, Faith can be converted directly to culture.
The city states never actual require you to do anything to back up the pledge of protection. A tiny diplo hit is the only real consequence. They don't even get mad if you let them get swarmed by Raging Barbs or fight a war with another Civ all on their own.
A quick and dirty fix: Pledges of protection should be just like Defensive Pacts, though of course available at game start. Instead of "You won't get away with this," force the player to denounce the AI. Every era-appropriate barbarian (i.e. Brutes in the Industrial Age don't count) the protected city-state has to kill on its own results in a loss of influence equal to what you would gain for killing the barbarian. An equal loss of influence results when a barbarian pillages an improvement or kills a city-state unit.
As an aside, I'd like to know more about what goes on inside city-states and how Scholasticism is calculated. A CS with a population of 8 would make 8 science per turn base. That's 2 science. 3 if they have a library. Either 3 or 4 with a university, depending on if the game rounds up or down. With a Library, University, and National College that's 6-7 science, assuming CS are even allowed to build national wonders. What buildings can they be expected to make?
Come to think of it, how do their workers build farms on riverless snow-covered hills? Why do they sometimes have Warriors and Gatling guns at the same time, and never upgrade their garrisoned archer? How do they always seem to be current with the most tech-advanced civ, even when they only have a population of 8?
Also, I've seen city states capture enemy cities. Usually they raze them, but in one strange case they did not, and I have no idea why. It wasn't a capital or another CS, and city razing was enabled. Also, at least in Vanilla, if you let the game go on long enough, they'll start building aircraft. I remember one CS building a stealth bomber. Where did the aluminum come from? And do they still do that in G+K?
Come to think of it, if you donate a unit that requires a strategic resource to a city-state that doesn't have it, does it take the -50% penalty? If they have it, does it count against their total? If it counts against their total, do they give you less?
And as a final complaint, if you start a game in a later era, when religion is turned off, Religious city states shouldn't be generated. I know they can provide Luxuries and Strategic Resources like any other CS, but their main benefit is wasted. Or as a compromise, Faith can be converted directly to culture.
