Stopping the Culture Flip

[Sleijpnir]

I had a situation in my current game, where a city I have just taken from a civ I was at war with (Washington) flipped to another bordering civ (Asoka), despite the fact that I rushed a theater and two temples in it as soon as the post-conquest CD was over. I didn't mind that much (the city was not that important) but I was just wondering whether it was that I rushed the wrong things or that there was absolutely nothing that I could do in any case.

If it helps, one of the temples I biult was that of my own state religion, while the other happened to be of Asoka's (I think). Oh, and I was playing as Alex.

 

[The Tyrant]

I usually rush temples and libraries, since they are fairly cheap and give good culture per turn. There was probably nothing you could have done about that flip. In later wars, the cultural pressure exerted by nearby cities can completely envelop cities you've captured.

Having your state religion in the city does help to reduce the chance of flipping, but having the other's religion increases the chance. They balance out. See this post for an explanation of how that works.

 

[MrCynical]

Another thing you can do to help suppress a culture flip is to put a large garrison in the city. The number of units needed to completely prevent a flip depends on the size of the city and the cultural pressure it's under, but in small to medium cities it is often possible to prevent a flip with 20 units or less.

 

[TomOC]

Also, if I see a city start to rebel, I send more units to that city before it flips. I noticed that the units in the city become weakend (some red lined) when a city starts to rebel. So, I send fresh troops. I am not sure this helps, but I seem to hold on to the cities when I do this, and loose them when I don't.

 

[bitterguy]

check the culture bar on your city, it will tell you what percent chance that city has of revolting that turn. if it's above 5% you should pump a bunch more military units into the city to make sure you can keep it if it revolts. i think the number of units garrisoned directly impacts that percentage, and for sure having more units when a revolt does happen allows you to beat it back down.

 

[Gnarfflinger]

I had a city flip on me the turn I finished the Oracle! I got the free tech, but they got the city. That was what started the war. I found out that it was next to a holy City...

 

[StrideCollosus]

If you've rushed a Theatre in the city you can also consider some Artist specialists to quickly generate culture.

However, sometimes the city will be engulfed by your enemies culture and doomed to flip.

 

[Sleijpnir]

Thanks for the replies everyone, this more or less confirms my suspicions.

I was also wondering what determines the number of your units that you get back form the city after a flip. I had three cities flipping on me in this game with three different outcomes: I got none of units back, I got some of my units back and I got most of my untis back. Any clue as to what affects this?

 

[NuWorld]

I had a situation in my current game, where a city I have just taken from a civ I was at war with (Washington) flipped to another bordering civ (Asoka), despite the fact that I rushed a theater and two temples in it as soon as the post-conquest CD was over. I didn't mind that much (the city was not that important) but I was just wondering whether it was that I rushed the wrong things or that there was absolutely nothing that I could do in any case.

If it helps, one of the temples I biult was that of my own state religion, while the other happened to be of Asoka's (I think). Oh, and I was playing as Alex.

If you were close to Asoka's capitol or one of his "ancient" cities, there are small chances to prevent flipping. Instead of rushing buildings, try to keep the city at stagnant level while using as many hammer tiles as possible to produce culture, add some artist specialists if you can, it will reach culture expanding breakpoints much faster. Raise the culture slider too, if possible.

 

[TomOC]

Thanks for the replies everyone, this more or less confirms my suspicions.

I was also wondering what determines the number of your units that you get back form the city after a flip. I had three cities flipping on me in this game with three different outcomes: I got none of units back, I got some of my units back and I got most of my untis back. Any clue as to what affects this?

I am not exactly sure, but I did want to point out that if you have open borders with the civ that the city flipped to, your units stay posted and fortified in that city even though it flipped to another civ. It happened to me once and it took me 2 turns before realizing that my units were still in the city.

 

[Sleijpnir]

I am not exactly sure, but I did want to point out that if you have open borders with the civ that the city flipped to, your units stay posted and fortified in that city even though it flipped to another civ. It happened to me once and it took me 2 turns before realizing that my units were still in the city.

Aha! That never occured to me for some reason. Well, I do have OB with Asoka. I'll have to check whether the units are still mine. Thanks!

 

[ScarletFox]

if u have a great artist you can send him to the city and get him to make a great work...

 

[Gen. Custer]

Another thing you can do to help suppress a culture flip is to put a large garrison in the city.

Do bombers count as garrison? I know they don't protect the city if it's attacked...at least they didn't in C3 (I just got C4). I had a city that flipped on me which suprised me cause I had half a dozen units in it, but 5 of them were bombers and maybe didn't count?

 

[MrCynical]

I'm not too sure whether bombers count, since I think Civ treats them differently from most military units. You'd probably need more than 6 units to suppress a flip completely though, unless the city in question is only size one or two.