AI Razing Cities - Stopping them?

[Andrew_Jay]

I've made a new scenario - Rise of Rome - and for reasons inherent in the scenario, I don't want cities to end up razed, nor do I want to allow civs to build new cities.

Usually things are fine, but I've noticed that sometimes cities do get destroyed - usually in the east where the Parthians are fighting the Selucids in a locked alliance.

Now, I'm wondering if there is any way to stop the AI from razing cities. I doubt you can turn the option off, but is there perhaps a way to "trick" the AI? What factors determine when they decide to destroy cities?

All of the cities on the map have culture, and population. Would wonders, even just dummy wonders, help?

It's not too bad, usually just one city per game, but it is very annoying, and ruins the ambiance of the game.

[Ozymandias]

Under "Scenario" in the editor, on the "Scenario Properties" tag, uncheck "Default Game Rules" and you'll see that "City Elimination" is optional.

-Oz

[vbraun]

Originally Posted by Andrew_Jay

What factors determine when they decide to destroy cities?

The AI will raze a city that is right next to another city (meaning 1 square gap) unless that city has a wonder.

I have no clue how the above setting will affect this.

[WildWeazel]

Oz, that's not it- City Elimination is a game type that kills off a civ when they lose a certain number of cities, like in the Middle Ages conquest. It also causes (according to the help file) cities to always be razed when captured, but not flagging it (default) does not prevent all razing.

Tendency to raze is also related to optimal city number. The more cities there are above that, the more likely the AI is to raze.

[Ozymandias]

Originally Posted by Weasel Op

Oz, that's not it- City Elimination is a game type that kills off a civ when they lose a certain number of cities, like in the Middle Ages conquest. It also causes (according to the help file) cities to always be razed when captured, but not flagging it (default) does not prevent all razing.

Tendency to raze is also related to optimal city number. The more cities there are above that, the more likely the AI is to raze.

According to the online helpless, the "City Elimination" flag "When checked, if a city is captured it will be destroyed, leaving ruins behind."

... Yet I also agree / remember that the OCN does come into play ...

-Oz

[gorn]

What about making all cities Victory Point Locations? Might the AI be more inclined to preserve them then?

From a historical perspective, though ... didn't the Romans raze cities? In a "Rise of Rome" scenario, I would want the AI to raze MORE cities, not fewer.

[recon1591]

ther are alot of things that can be done to help slow down this problem. But it won't stop it completely. We've triied everything in SOE and here is a list of the best ideas.

1) on the units tab for all units uncheck the pillage box for all units.
2) on the world sizes tab where is says optimal # of cities. Put 999 for all size maps.
3) on the Difficulty levels tab. Do the same as #2 in the Percentage of optimal cities for all levels.

Hope this helps u out.

[Plotinus]

The only really reliable way to stop the AI razing a given city is to preplace a Wonder in it, as far as I know. Not really ideal for all cases!

[WildWeazel]

Doesn't raisng OCN affect corruption too? You might have to adjust govs too to compensate.

[Andrew_Jay]

Originally Posted by gorn

From a historical perspective, though ... didn't the Romans raze cities? In a "Rise of Rome" scenario, I would want the AI to raze MORE cities, not fewer.

But it's a very small map, and they represent provinces rather than cities - so there are names like Dalmatia, Syria, Judea, etc.

Destroying all of Ireland (Hibernia) seems a little strange

One idea I have is to put dummy wonders in. Since they're all named after provinces, maybe I'll name them after cities, so you'll get a pop-up like "Emperor, we've captured Judea, and the great city of Jerusalem" or something like that.

I will however look into changing the optimal cities, though right now they are pretty good - the civs doing the most razing are, I think, the Parthians with only 3-4 cities or the Selucids with about 8 cities.

[sourboy]

Originally Posted by recon1591

2) on the world sizes tab where is says optimal # of cities. Put 999 for all size maps.

I made a thread with the same question a few months back, with razings happening on a huge map - and this option solved it. Nothing more was required. That's not to say it will never happen, but as mentioned - cities too close together may result in razings as well. It's probably considered before the optimal# of cities check.

[Craig_Sutter]

Doesn't changing optimal number of cities effect when/if you can build forbidden palace? No sure if this applies to world size optimum or difficulty.

[The Last Conformist]

Originally Posted by Craig_Sutter

Doesn't changing optimal number of cities effect when/if you can build forbidden palace? No sure if this applies to world size optimum or difficulty.

Changing the OCN for world sizes does affect the FP, changing the percentage for difficulty levels does not, IIRC.