Now *THAT'S* what I call loyalty pressure...

[bengalryan9]

I'm playing a game as Netherlands and settled the city of Maastricht. The city was somewhat forward settled... it's sandwiched in between England and Egypt but is still right next to two of my own cities and is not very far from the core of empire. I put both the government plaza AND a governor there to help with loyalty just in case, and figured that should be more than enough... but lo and behold, the city is in danger of flipping!

A look at the loyalty numbers tell an interesting story. Maastricht is getting -10 points from nearby governors. Turns out the city state of Taruga is exactly 9 tiles away from Maastricht, and there are 5 Amani governors sitting there with the emissary promotion (-2 loyalty to all cities within a 9 tile radius). So that stinks, but I can't even do anything about it (outside of conquering) because you can't use the neutralize governor spy mission in city states. Interesting.

Maastricht is also getting -14 points from nearby great works... anybody who doesn't think AI Eleanor knows how to make use of her leader ability flat out has never been next to her, because she absolutely does. Currently the Steal Great Works spy mission is bugged and doesn't work at all (which I had no idea about until this game, though it has been reported in the bugs forum) so there's nothing I can do about that either outside of a war which I have no real interest in fighting.

So that's -24 loyalty points right there, in a city right on the edge of my empire, and that's not even counting the population pressure Egypt and England are piling on top of that. I've never seen such a high loyalty penalty on a city that wasn't captured from an enemy and surrounded by enemy cities.

 

[Equilin]

you can't use the neutralize governor spy mission in city states.

yea they should allow Neutralize Governor and Foment Unrest in CS

 

[Bibor]

Culture pressure. Hah! Nothing a few bombards can't fix.

 

[Uberfrog]

Yeah, sounds like a job for the bombards to me

 

[Republic of San Montuoso]

Why don't you use the formidable Radio Oranje ability? Just use 25 trade routes from Maastricht to your empire and you'll see it will be negated in no time! Such a useful LUA!

 

[Mahi]

Eleanor has quickly become my favourite civ to play. I just love the loyal pressure she can generate. But yeah it can suck being her neighbour. What is the stealing great works bug? I haven't noticed anything specific in my recent games. If you can't steal her great works you are kinda screwed.

Did not even realize you can't remove govenor with spy from City States. I thought I had done this before.

 

[Bibor]

Eleanor has quickly become my favourite civ to play.

Whenever I meet Elanor in my games, I respond by placing down an Encampment.

 

[bengalryan9]

Why don't you use the formidable Radio Oranje ability? Just use 25 trade routes from Maastricht to your empire and you'll see it will be negated in no time! Such a useful LUA!

You jest, but Radio Oranje actually *was* somewhat useful here in scrounging up a few loyalty points to keep the city from flipping. It's still not a very good Leader Ability, but this is one situation where I felt it actually carried it's weight.

What is the stealing great works bug? I haven't noticed anything specific in my recent games. If you can't steal her great works you are kinda screwed.

Right now, your spies will simply show that there are no great works to steal even when you know without a shadow of a doubt that there ARE great works to steal. It's been reported in the bug forum and Firaxis is apparently on top of it.

 

[Republic of San Montuoso]

You jest, but Radio Oranje actually *was* somewhat useful here in scrounging up a few loyalty points to keep the city from flipping. It's still not a very good Leader Ability, but this is one situation where I felt it actually carried it's weight.

It's just good enough to try to slow down the loyalty flip until your city grows enough to be able to sustain itself. Or for the time for you to raze your neighbors...

 

[leandrombraz]

Turns out the city state of Taruga is exactly 9 tiles away from Maastricht, and there are 5 Amani governors sitting there with the emissary promotion (-2 loyalty to all cities within a 9 tile radius).

Ah, Taruga, the official home of the World Association of Amanis, where they gather to discuss the current political landscape:

It seems that the AI loves Taruga for some reason.

 

[bengalryan9]

Ah, Taruga, the official home of the World Association of Amanis, where they gather to discuss the current political landscape:

View attachment 560439

It seems that the AI loves Taruga for some reason.

Huh, so it's not just me. I wonder if that's not a bug?

 

[Deadly Dog]

Huh, so it's not just me. I wonder if that's not a bug?

Happened in my game too.

 

[Josephias]

A bit off topic, but well Taruga has an interesting science bonus. But I’ve to digress from it being an AI magnet, as in my current game I just snatched it at information age for a low cost 7-envoy suzerainity.

 

[leandrombraz]

A bit off topic, but well Taruga has an interesting science bonus. But I’ve to digress from it being an AI magnet, as in my current game I just snatched it at information age for a low cost 7-envoy suzerainity.

It seems to be an Amani magnet, but the AI doesn't seem to be overly interested on its suzerainty. I was also able to keep it, with just 5 envoys, despite all the Amanis there.

 

[Victoria]

Nice thread @bengalryan9 never considered this Amani black hole before. Keeping an eye out for it can be positive as well as negative.
I also quite like the way you cannot manipulate everything and just have to adapt

 

[Josephias]

It seems to be an Amani magnet, but the AI doesn't seem to be overly interested on its suzerainty. I was also able to keep it, with just 5 envoys, despite all the Amanis there.

May be some case indeed, I checked the game again for a 10-turn round. When I started, there were 2 Amani there (out of 7), which was on par with other CS, but it had raised to 3 already by the end.

 

[bbbt]

I feel like the AI has been prioritizing scientific city states in general (and building more campuses) as of the most recent patch.

 

[bengalryan9]

I feel like the AI has been prioritizing scientific city states in general (and building more campuses) as of the most recent patch.

...and that's great, but two things to point out here:
1) When every AI puts Amani in the same city state at the same time to get +2 envoys, it accomplishes nothing as far as actually gaining an advantage.
2) It's not like the AI seems all that concerned with actually getting suzerainity here... I'm in the late game and none of them have more than single digit envoys there.

 

[UWHabs]

...and that's great, but two things to point out here:
1) When every AI puts Amani in the same city state at the same time to get +2 envoys, it accomplishes nothing as far as actually gaining an advantage.
2) It's not like the AI seems all that concerned with actually getting suzerainity here... I'm in the late game and none of them have more than single digit envoys there.

AI enjoy/Amani usage definitely could use some improvements. I know I'm probably a lot smarter than the AI, but most games I can ally half the CS without too much difficulty, which shouldn't be the case with 6 or 7 AI on the map.