What French city to acquire?

There is the possibility of a war with France soon (even if the people don't want one now, this discussion should still be applicable later). Some possible cities to take are Paris, Tours, and Besancon. Here are a couple of useful maps (ignore the red circles for the second one):



The following statistics assume a city size of 12.
Besancon would produce 23 or 24 shields per turn (with either a food surplus or deficit, so it could alternate between the two) and 42 gold per turn. It would have 32% corruption without a courthouse and 19% corruption with a courthouse. So it would be 19spt after corruption (with a courthouse). Besancon also has furs nearby.

Paris would produce 22 shields per turn and 44 gold per turn. It would have 42% corruption without a courthouse and 25% corruption with a courthouse. So it would be 18spt after corruption. Paris also has the Great Wall and could build Sun Tzu's Art of War or Leonardo's Workshop.

Tours would produce 18 shields per turn and 31 gold per turn...the rest of this is worse too, so Tours would only be good for the Great Lighthouse.

So I think the choice is between two cities with similar production and commerce, one of which has furs, and the other which has a (and could build another) wonder. I would support capturing Paris if it gets another wonder (the Great Wall wouldn't be particularly useful), and Besancon otherwise.

TimBently your plan is exactly like my own

Besancon is nicely placed, and will fit in well with the Roman fur city (Veii?) once we get that one. Let's claim Besancon.

If Paris gets a useful Wonder (Sun Tzu isn't really useful for us - 1gpt per city is all that is saved and the Furs from Bescanon will save more than that) then it is more worth considering (we should know shortly), but for pretty much everything else I prefer Bescanon.

We should look at Roman cities as well though, which ones are worth capturing? their incense city? their ex gems city? If we take Paris do we raze Bescanon and ecourage Rome to settle there and take that one?

Besancon (unless Paris for the reasons Furiey stated). It's best to keep our empire's cities together.

Hmm, can we take a stab at identifying where saltpeter might be first?

If we're going to do this sooner than knowing where saltpeter is, then Besancon does look like a good choice. It would be good to raze 2-3 more French cities in that war to cull them back a bit, but that is a topic for a different discussion.

Recent investigations have shown that Rome is due to build Sun Tzu's in 3 turns, and Paris in 4 turns. So Paris should build Leonardo's Workshop (barring unexpected production in Persepolis or possibly some unexpected quick research of theology).

Persepolis built Sun Tzu's, Rome built Leo's, and Paris got nothing. As such, I would support capturing Besancon. Saltpeter is not near any French cities as far as we know, so that won't be a consideration.

Besancon here we come. Lets get those Furs!

Furiey said:

Besancon here we come. Lets get those Furs!

Click to expand...

hear, hear

It looks like Besancon is the consensus now that we know Paris didn't get a wonder; I don't think there's a need for a poll.