Razing a City

[Navinist]

When is good to raze a city?

I usually like to keep cities I capture, but I hate how closely the AI keeps them with each other. In a despotic government I usually use crappy cities as factories to pump out units and keep the population around 1, but in PTW people actually seem to get upset. What's the trade-off and the deciding factor(s)?

 

[zagnut]

People are always going to get upset when you wipe them out. Genghis Kahn wasn't very popular in his own time.

There seems to be a split in advice on this issue from other players. Razing cities does give you a bad reputation. Also, some players feel that it isn't right to do in the real world and shouldn't be done in the game.

The other side seems to think that you should look to your own self interest and just raze when the enemy city is not suitably located or when it doesn't fit in with your "grand design"

I try to retain cities but sometimes it is tough. I usually play on Monarch level. One of the deciding factors is whether or not your culture is greater than the civ with which you are at war. If it is less than your enemy then there is a greater chance that the city will flip back to the enemy. When it does this you lose all your units that are in the city. One strategy is not to load up too many units in the city and leave a couple just outside, preferably on a mountain or hill. Then if the city flips those units outside can immediately re-take the city. If your culture is much greater than your enemy then you usually don't have to worry about the flips.

If the population is greater than one you can turn the foreign population into workers and reduce the flip possibility that way.

You should always keep a city with a wonder because if it is razed you loose the wonder.

I personally think you sometimes have to raze but should try to keep the city if it is at all useful to you.

 

[tao]

You have to raize a couple of bigger cities to get enough slave labour for building roads/railroads. I usually do it at the end of a war; it also helps to increase the AIs peace wish.

 

[GerrardCapashen]

I always raze large cities that I have no chance of being able to prevent from flipping unless they contain a Wonder.

 

[Scyphax]

If you are a warmongering tyrant raze the city.

If you are a humanitarian and diplomatic relations are important to you starve the city down to one and create a worker.

 

[stroke9413]

I almost always raize cities at the beginning of the war to guarantee that the enemy will never be able to get anything from that city ever again. However, towards the end of the war, I find that it is best to keep the cities because there won't be any chance of them flipping back after you have eliminated the civ and you already have some trade and production that would take forever for a small city to develop.

 

[Parmenion]

Do you get the same reputation hit from razing cities that you have no choice but to raze? (ie: size 1 cities)
That would be unfair to suffer for what you couldn't help but do.

On the same note, I had a size 2 city I captured get razed automatically yesterday. I thought it was just the size 1 cities that had that happen to. Also, a size 4 city went down to a size 1 city after I took it. I woner if the city loses a random number of citizens...

 

[DaveMcW]

Originally posted by Scyphax
If you are a humanitarian... starve the city down to one.

Oh the irony!

 

[Darkness]

Originally posted by Parmenion
Do you get the same reputation hit from razing cities that you have no choice but to raze? (ie: size 1 cities)
That would be unfair to suffer for what you couldn't help but do.

AFAIK it's always the same, but I could be wrong here...

 

[Vinz Clortho]

I was testing a theory last night I read in the war academy about Swordsmen Conquest in early times. Only instead I played Persian and got Immortals. I was marching into Russia (after I had utterly defeat the Iroquois fledglings) and looking for their capitol city. As we marched southward the enemy units were steadily building up behind my so I decided to take a pit stop and occupy a medium sized city for a while. We took it no problem and fortified. And since I was still in Despotism I simply used up the enemy workers (8 in all!!) to pop rush spearmen and archers to fortify my ranks. The enemy came rushing in and impaled themselves on my defenses over and over until they were all but gone.

Then, seeing the path was clear I abandoned the city and kept marching south, letting my spearmen and archers stay one move behind to pilage roads.

Eventually we got all the way to Moscow using this method. Leap frogging down an entire continent using the enemy cities as temporary way-stations.

 

[Chieftess]

I think the AI tries to retake their lost cities, especially when your units are in their territory (or former ones). Although, I've seen the AI go behind the front lines.

But, yeah, I do use that tactic occasionally if I want to regroup at a city, but that city isn't placed well.

 

[puglover]

Originally posted by Navinist
When is good to raze a city?

When your invasion force is terribly weak and the computer has a chance of capturing it back.

 

[Jokerman]

Don't raze cities you want!

 

[MajorFallout]

Razing may make you look bad to the other AI civs, however if you keep the city, there are a number of things you can do with it:
1) Leave it as a base of operations for your invading army, especially if your enemy is on a distant island - makes for an excellent defensive position.
2) You could leave the city intact for a couple of turns, and then abandon it (via contextual menu). This, I think, will not make you look as bad to the other civs, as you haven't really razed the city.
3) Reduce the chance of it flipping to the other side, by producing workers constantly (making fortifications etc.), and all or most of the population as entertainers.
4) You can make an airport, and airdrop more of your military air and ground units into the city so that you can widen your 'beach-head'.

 

[Ecco]

Though I would mostly agree with MajorFallout, and i do feel that within the concept of CIV3 city-razing is a key element to prevent fliping, retaking and other stuff, but i feel that this is a little off balance with the real world.

I think that it would be great, if we could exterminate (or exile, as Mr Stalin would put it) a certain number of citizens. Say you capture a size 35 city with Adams Smith's Wonder thingie, and you see you have no chance of keeping it - exterminate say 32 people, and you have a size 3 city that you can hold on to.

Also, i think that there should be severe penalties for city razing, like there were in SMAC.

On another, more humanitarian note [maybe more humanitarian than Scyphax's ] you can always use arillery and bombers to reduce the city size to the one you want. So, you get to keep the wonder! Goodie! I did this last game [monarch level], 15 artillery and 10 bombers did the job in 3 turns.

 

[sysyphus]

I always raze with the sole exception where I'm going for Domination victory and the captured city stands little chance of culture flipping (this is why I save a Civ's most useful city for last)

 

[Lynx]

I play conquest, 16 civs, huge map, so basically it depends upon the mood im in. If they attack and burn one of my cities, I raze every single city they have and take their workers and kill.. I mean disband every singe one of the workers untill they are wiped off the planet. I can be benevolent to the conquered like Saladin of the Moslem Empire or I can be a Genghis Khan and leave noone alive..hehe

 

[Gingerbread Man]

When i am being severely beaten by foreign invaders, i usually capture two of their cities, and keep them both. they are usually the best placed cities for defence (e.g surrounded by rivers) . This is so the enemy is occupied at throwing their troops at my fortress cities, moving them out of my territory and slowly wearing them away.

their military weakens as my previously useless one grows stronger.

frome there on I raze about 50% of the enemy cities. they are not worth the effort to keep if they have more than 6 resisters.

 

[PersianImmortal]

this maybe a newbie question, but do you need a specific Tech to be able to 'retain' the conquered city??

I was in the Ancient times when i started taking over my neighbor England and everytime I won a city conquering combat my units would automatically raise it to ground and i'd be given the popup that they did.. and some techs later they were able to win the final battle and actually move into the city without raising it ..

 

[DaveMcW]

Only size 1 cities are auto-razed. The exception is if the city has 10 culture (borders expand) from any civ. In PTW you only need a single culture point to save the city.