Sulla: I agree, that's the best way to get them; however it can still be annoying, and occasionally a weak enemy's capital gets relocated there. I have several examples of this:
- I was the Japanese, at war with the Chinese. They had a city a little south west of Japan, on a size 1 island, and it had some culture, so it's influence was substantial. I wanted peace with the Chinese, after mostly wiping them out, but they wouldn't give me the city in exchange for it. Eventually, after I had almost wiped them out completely, they agreed to give me the city in exchange for peace.
- In the same game, I was wiping out the Indians, and they relocated their capital onto Sri Lanka, which is only size 1. I had to wait until I got marines to destroy them. This can be very, very annoying when combined with culture flipping craziness.
- In the scenario I posted above with the Greeks and Crete, I had just captured Athens, and was trying to get it to flip back. Knossos, the city on Crete, had lots of culture, and so was putting cultural pressure on Athens. I wanted to take it asap to minimize the chances of a city flip, but couldn't.