City States - Puppeting or allies

[vesp3r1987]

Simple question really, what are the pros and cons of either puppeting (or outright annexation) a city state, vs keeping them as allies? (Not just friends; 60+ influence)

Ordinarily I keep them as allies, but I'm wondering if it's worthwhile making them puppets instead.

one reason i know of - WC... keep them as allies and you get 1 additional delegate for each allied CS
And if you care about your diplomatic relations with other civs then thats one more reason

as for annex vs puppet - well puppeting them is good if you have high happiness and you dont need to spawn units in that city. You just take it for the territory and resources. Annexing will give you the chance to get Courthouse built (either through building/buying or ideology) which will completely remove the unhappiness from taking them over (thats my opinion and have in mind i almost never tryed higher difficulties)

 

[Mesix]

Thanks guys.
I'll try to vary my strategy regarding CS and see how it goes. I almost always want to conquer them, because I set the map to standard (and sometimes scarce) resources, so they always have some luxury or strategic resource that I want and need.

When you are allied to a CS, they give those resources too you. If it is a Mercantile CS, they also gift you a unique happiness resource (either Porcelain or Jewelry) which is only available by allying a CS.

Here is some good information about CS features in the game.

In general, unless you are playing as Austria or Venice, it is better to keep the CS around and make them your allies.

 

[Dushku]

To add, the way my last couple games have gone, I think I'm going to give the Patronage tree more love in the future. I've been spending most of my money manipulating CSs. So the extra influence and reduced rate of decay are things I should've grabbed.

 

[wayneb64]

CS allies are VERY beneficial. First, you should grab the three or four left policies in the Patronage tree so your gold goes farther and lasts longer. The bonus science is significant if you get a handful as allies. You get their votes in the World Congress that helps all through the end game. You see what they see so much less fog of war on the map.

They make great pin cushions to absorb lots of AI attacks that your units do not. They make great landing points when invading another continent. And the most important reason, when an AI declares war on you, you do not have to worry about that CS sending it's units into your territory to cause havoc or take out your trade routes. Also during all out war you have someone to trade with.

 

[reddishrecue]

Another good city state ally making social policy could be the commerce social policy tree especially if you are using a lot of land trade routes in large land maps such as pangea. With the commerce social policy tree, you could purchase city states a lot easier and get the necessary resources to keep your population happy that city states usually have (i.e porcelain, jewelry). Puppet cities will make great merchants and commerce has a social policy that make great merchants a lot better so you get a lot more gold available to spend on other city states or the city states that need to get a renewal payment.

 

[GKShaman]

Unless I have a civ that wants to conquer a city state or take them (Venice, Mongols, Austria) I usually try my best to ally them or free them. I usually go freedom so the Treaty Org Tenet is too good!

Now with that said I will conquer city states if they provide 3 or more of a certain luxury. Say they have 3 sugar, a strategic or two, maybe some fish, and a NW? Thats too good! Sure that highly unlikely but those city states are mine! If they have 3 or more of a luxury or strategic or luxury its a waste for them. Its soo much gold for me throughout the game.

I do like ally city states that "screen." They are right near another AI like Monty, Attila, or Shaka so allying them can provide some defense.

 

[reddishrecue]

Unless I have a civ that wants to conquer a city state or take them (Venice, Mongols, Austria) I usually try my best to ally them or free them. I usually go freedom so the Treaty Org Tenet is too good!

Now with that said I will conquer city states if they provide 3 or more of a certain luxury. Say they have 3 sugar, a strategic or two, maybe some fish, and a NW? Thats too good! Sure that highly unlikely but those city states are mine! If they have 3 or more of a luxury or strategic or luxury its a waste for them. Its soo much gold for me throughout the game.

I do like ally city states that "screen." They are right near another AI like Monty, Attila, or Shaka so allying them can provide some defense.

Nw and city state conquering uas could make city state conquering tempting but removing the luxuries from city states that come with them such as jewelry or porcelain could be a complete waste and making city state alliances with these city states would return a lot more happiness. You have to be careful in conquering these city states because you can miss out on these luxuries unless theyre banned in the world congress which could be an exception.