How often do you move your capital?

Levgre · Oct 19, 2007

I find it is rarely worth it, because my capital is the city that got the biggest head start and usually in an ideal location, so it is better at making money and research. Better tiles, bigger cottages, buildings built sooner...

once you get bureaucracy you want to apply that 50% bonus to as much commerce and industry as possible, so it seems better to keep the capital in the same place.

I suppose once you get to point where your empire is really big and you have lots of cities that are fully maxed, or you use free speech instead of bureaucracy, it could be worth it.

Adam7Eight · Oct 19, 2007

I've only moved my capital one time, and that was back in Civ3.

6K Man · Oct 19, 2007

I've never moved a capital in Civ4.

gdgrimm · Oct 19, 2007

It's very, very rare. Perhaps only 1 in 20 games or more.

Generally, if I think I need an additional gov't center, the Forbidden Palace will work just fine, or I'll prioritize getting Versailles built somewhere.

I'm aware of the tactic of moving the Capital to better leverage Bureaucracy, but I almost never do it. Perhaps that's a weakness in my game, though. Or perhaps it's a sign that my empires get so big that the horizontal benefit of Vassalage or Free Speech just quickly out weigh the vertical benefit of Bureaucracy.

Krixx · Oct 19, 2007

I move it sometimes to make it fit better with Forbidden Palace/Versaille.

rabidveggie · Oct 19, 2007

The only time i did was in my first or second civ game since I was like "Wow a building that gives additional gold I'm sold!" Then I'd go to my capital or a city I had built it in earlier and be like "WTH I already built you! Glitch!"

AncientPlayer · Oct 19, 2007

Rarely but occasionally it becomes worthwhile if I discover a really great site later in the game and having the Palace there would help balance the empire.

Fjordson · Oct 19, 2007

rabidveggie said:
The only time i did was in my first or second civ game since I was like "Wow a building that gives additional gold I'm sold!" Then I'd go to my capital or a city I had built it in earlier and be like "WTH I already built you! Glitch!"

My first game I did the same thing but I built one in every city lol - my cap moved like 5-6 times and I didnt know what the star was.

Eikka · Oct 20, 2007

6K Man said:
I've never moved a capital in Civ4.

TheWilltoAct · Oct 20, 2007

It's not a big deal to move it imo... it's like 140 hammers which isn't that bad really. I moved my capital in the game I am playing now because the terrain surrounding my initial capital lent itself more to a gp farm than a commerce city.

Gooblah · Oct 20, 2007

IN those super huge continents where 4-5 civs are in play, and you conquer said Civs, moving the Capital to a cental Location with FP and/or Versailles elsewhere increases income.

Sisiutil · Oct 20, 2007

Every now and then, yes. Maybe once every 10 games or so. Sometimes my initial capital is a natural GP farm which will be surrounded by farms and run scientists while another location is better for cottages and therefore a better option for Bureaucracy. If it's more centrally located in my empire (the map generator often seems to like to stick my capital at the far end of a continent, for some reason), so much the better.

ParadigmShifter · Oct 20, 2007

I move it if it is on the coast at one end of the continent. The capital should have lots of commerce tiles if you are running bureaucracy as well.

Levgre · Oct 20, 2007

TheWilltoAct said:
It's not a big deal to move it imo... it's like 140 hammers which isn't that bad really. I moved my capital in the game I am playing now because the terrain surrounding my initial capital lent itself more to a gp farm than a commerce city.

yeah, later on in the game, for some cities at least, it only takes 1-2 turns of building to move.

TheWilltoAct · Oct 21, 2007

Levgre said:
yeah, later on in the game, for some cities at least, it only takes 1-2 turns of building to move.

yeah, and even if it takes longer than that it's probably not a huge deal - the benefits from Bureaucracy or just from more optimal placement in your empire for maintenance purposes should outweigh the initial build cost

ParadigmShifter · Oct 21, 2007

I forgot the other good reason to move your capital - Quechua rush, move your settler to the highest production site available (plains hill + marble is best, with a 3 hammer site nearby), inbetween a couple of the AIs, don't worry about food, just make lots of Quechuas and move your capital to one of the AIs old capitals.

TheWilltoAct · Oct 21, 2007

off topic

Spoiler :

on topic:

I thought I would mention that I am actually moving my palace for the third time this game... o.O
My capital was a coastal city... so kinda sucky

So I moved it to another coastal city that had a lot more commerce... then finally I moved it to a nice inland city surrounded by towns

As far as I can tell it's gonna be well worth it for me... idk, I only learned about moving your capital recently so I'm still real enthused about toying with it hehe... seems to be a wise strat though, so long as you are running Beaurecracy anyway.

DrewBledsoe · Oct 21, 2007

More and more, Bts seems to like giving me a "production center" capital, stuck on the far edge of a continent. Often, (if it makes sense), I'll move it further inland, and then save the forbidden palace for my inevitable overseas empire. This means you don't have to make the new territory a colony (which I hate doing if I nurtured the cities myself).....

6K Man · Oct 21, 2007

Eikka said:

And that means...? :rolleyes:

Steve the Noble · Oct 21, 2007

I don't think I've ever moved it on purpose. I think back in Civ III - or maybe even Civ I(!) - I accidently had it in the build queue for some small, crappy city on the outskirts of my empire. :hammer2:

In Civ IV, I will usually build the forbidden city, without even considering moving my capital.

How often do you move your capital?

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