Another Foundation Challenge - Say Hello to My Little Friends

[adamh149]

"Become suzerain of each type of City State during a single Age"

I thought this one sounded easy but the difficulty seems to be getting one of each type (Militaristic, Gold, Cultural and Scientific) of city state to appear in the same age. I always seem to get three types but not four! Does anyone know if the number of AI civs affects how many city states spawn?

 

[Chefofrats]

At the moment I am playing on a standard map with the default number of civs reduced by 3, and all 4 types of independent powers are represented. It's not the first time this has happened, either.

 

[Yzman]

"Become suzerain of each type of City State during a single Age"

I thought this one sounded easy but the difficulty seems to be getting one of each type (Militaristic, Gold, Cultural and Scientific) of city state to appear in the same age. I always seem to get three types but not four! Does anyone know if the number of AI civs affects how many city states spawn?

They all always appear. The true challenge is not having the AI eliminate them. I got this one quite a while ago. Use necklace memento where you get 100 influence back when surezein and use a civ and policies that reduce cost. Having the AI on a lower level will probably help them not eliminate the IPs so fast as well.

 

[Disgustipated]

I don't even recognize this challenge, probably means I already have it. I most likely got it my first game as Tecumseh. Machiavelli is a good choice because all the influence you get. Getting this on anything above normal difficulty may be difficult. Especially since I think the 2 recent patches made the AI more aggressive towards city states.

You can try surrounding city states with units to prevent their capture. Obviously play the largest map you can.

 

[adamh149]

They all always appear. The true challenge is not having the AI eliminate them. I got this one quite a while ago. Use necklace memento where you get 100 influence back when surezein and use a civ and policies that reduce cost. Having the AI on a lower level will probably help them not eliminate the IPs so fast as well.

I tested this last night by opening every single tile up on the map in the Exploration Age and then starting the Modern Age with the map completely revealed.

I had 1 Cultural, 2 Militaristic and 4 Economic city-states but no Scientific one. The wait continues!

 

[Serenya]

I got it fairly early but it can be tricky! Often there will be a few of three and only one of the fourth - and either the AI beats me to it or kills the IP halfway through the sovereignty process. Depending on the map I’ve had very few IP spawn in modern due to spread so exploration is the best age to pull it off.

If it’s really annoying reduce the number of AIs and make sure to settle in both sides of your continent so you get to the distant lands first.

 

[Serenya]

Also, I love the Wei persona of Himiko for this. You can accept all the diplomacy offer spam and still have plenty of influence to spend on IPs

 

[Yzman]

I tested this last night by opening every single tile up on the map in the Exploration Age and then starting the Modern Age with the map completely revealed.

I had 1 Cultural, 2 Militaristic and 4 Economic city-states but no Scientific one. The wait continues!

That is tricky because I think there are factors that determine what CS appears in later ages. I am more assuming that if you started an antiquity game you would have one of each. The problem with later ages is that space gets taken and less CS can spawn in general...also if they were surezained the era before I believe the same exact one comes back as a friendly IP so it is predetermining what is available.

 

[adamh149]

Update - I still haven't done it but I noticed last night that City States can spawn in the middle of ages, not just at the start. I was missing a Scientific one last night and noticed it had appeared mid-age without me noticing, just in time for it to be razed by the AI!

 

[Isca Dumnoniorum]

I base my gameplay around suzeing as many IPs as I can so presume I got this long ago - I should have, if it's not bugged!

If you're struggling to suze in time (assuming you don't have trouble finding at least one of each type - again, not a problem I've come across), Ben Franklin's Bifocals memento that gives you influence for every tech or civic mastery is very helpful. Alternatively, or maybe in addition if you really love influence, the Shisa Necklace gives you 100 influence when you become suzerain of an IP.

Then you can obviously drop two points into the diplomatic attribute tree and get a discount on befriending IPs, which can compound even further with the Greeks' tradition that does the same thing.

A combination of all four with Machiavelli would be ridiculously overpowered but would likely leave you with more influence than you could care to use!

 

[Serenya]

Update - I still haven't done it but I noticed last night that City States can spawn in the middle of ages, not just at the start. I was missing a Scientific one last night and noticed it had appeared mid-age without me noticing, just in time for it to be razed by the AI!

If an IP is razed, or a City State annexed, there's a chance of a new IP spawning soon after! Sometimes I notice in time to vassal it - often though the AI notices first. I have noticed that the new spawns will either be in an obscure area, or in the 3 hex space that's still open by the coast next to my capital...

My current game though, two of them, late in antiquity, spawned on islands that are technically distant lands (though w/o those resources) and within sight of my borders - and I was able to vassal and convert them. That was interesting, because while I could absorb them, I tested buying their scouts and buying a settler - the scouts were offshore, and could not come on shore, and while I could move the settler from the spawned island to one right next door (literally just two coastal in-between) I could not move back on land to settle. Still was handy positioning to start exploration with!