Any Way Around Stagnant City Population?

[steveg700]

So, I settle a city where there's -20 Loyalty. I figure I'll drop a governor, a garrison. Not enough.

I apply social policy cards. Limitanei for +2. No good. I set up a cultural alliance to eliminate loyalty. Nope. Far as I can tell, the cultural alliance has no effect on pressure.

Okay, okay, okay. Pull out all the stops. Let's try diverting all available trade routes. Pump in enough food, and maybe the population will grow enough to overcome the pressure.

But even with plenty of extra food, it's still not growing. I've done this dance before, so I'm not sure what's going on here. Is there some lame catch-22 mechanism that whereby loyalty pressure prevents the very growth necessary to resist the pressure?

Seems like I'm essentially stuck on an endless cycle of recapture trying to figure out some method for making headway.

 

[lotrmith]

You can try chopping a resource that gives food directly but yes, heavy negative loyalty does cause stagnation:

Loyalty states
The current Loyalty of a city is described by several stages with relevant gameplay effects:

• Loyal (76-100): no penalties.
• Wavering Loyalty (51-75): 75% Population growth, -25% to all yields.
• Disloyal (26-50): 25% Population growth, -50% to all yields.
• Unrest (1-25): no Population growth, -100% to all yields.

You have to counter the negative loyalty by having nearby high population, bringing missionaries or apostles to convert, assigning governors, or conquering other nearby cities to reduce the loyalty pressure.

 

[Sostratus]

One thing that gets around the pop growth modifier is to chop jungle/marsh/food resources for a quick infusion. On smaller cities this can get you a point or two to stem the tide.
Alternatively, you can play ottomans who don't have the pop loss on capture; often times that hit is really hard to stomach.

 

[lotrmith]

One thing that gets around the pop growth modifier is to chop jungle/marsh/food resources for a quick infusion. On smaller cities this can get you a point or two to stem the tide.
Alternatively, you can play ottomans who don't have the pop loss on capture; often times that hit is really hard to stomach.

Unfortunately he settled in -20 Loyalty.

Being Ottoman would help with positive Loyalty if he conquered a nearby city that was applying pressure to his (by adding significant positive pressure in addition to removing the negative pressure).

 

[Victoria]

So, I settle a city where there's -20 Loyalty

If you are ever going to do this you need to do what you have done from the first turn, be properly planned as once loyalty is down to 25% you are dead without cow/rice/wheat/marsh/fish/jungle to chop... which really should have been chopped at the beginning.
Governor +8
Green loyalty card +2
Red loyalty card +1
Ecstatic +6
Monument +2

So if you start with the Granary and trade routes in place they will grow, especially as you should have hard bought a granary. A food market will also help a lot.

 

[steveg700]

Good advice, guys.

Chopping a jungle with Magnus got me to 3 pop, which as it turns out was sufficient to push past the loyalty barrier--at least as long as my cultural alliance with Trajan lasts, anyway.

 

[iammaxhailme]

If I"m going to forward settle a -20 city I will usually try and drop 2/3 cities on the same turn so they at least feed each other a bit of loyalty.

Also, remember to give the city your religion.

 

[steveg700]

If I"m going to forward settle a -20 city I will usually try and drop 2/3 cities on the same turn so they at least feed each other a bit of loyalty.

Also, remember to give the city your religion.

That was sort of the plan. This was one of those damn things that happen where there's unclaimed territory for what sees like a good while, but when I finally get around to planting a setttler, it's the same time everyone else is flinging settlers around and they get there a turn before.

So I either had to roll with just having one city, or give up altogether. I really wanted the coal, thus I took the shot. Can't plan for everything.