automatically destroying conquered cities

[MJG1032]

this has been happening to me a lot lately...

i conquer an enemy's city, and my military advisor pops up saying "Comrade, once again our magnificent armies are victorious! We have destroyed [city]! and "liberated" [x] gold."

i didn't want to destroy it! i wanted to install a new governor. it didn't give me the option... it destroyed the conquered city automatically. this has happened several times, and i was playing as the Romans with either Despotism or Communism when it happened.

any ideas as to what's going on?

 

[TubaGuy]

If the city is only a size 1 city it will automaticly destroy it.

 

[Akka]

If the city is 1 pop size AND it has never got any culture point (or less than 10, according to other people), it'll be automatically destroyed.

 

[SirPleb]

If a town is size one and has no culture then it is automatically destroyed when conquered.

So if you want to capture instead of destroy, you should wait until the town is size 2 or larger, or has its sphere of influence expanded beyond the basic 9 tile size - that's an easy way to be sure that the town has some culture.

Unfortunately towns with small populations over size one often reduce down to one as you approach them. This happens because once your forces are within 2 tiles of the town, the enemy gets worried about defending the city and rushes or drafts units if it can. (It can't while it is in Monarchy or Anarchy. It can in any other government.)

 

[Lt. 'Killer' M.]

Originally posted by Akka
If the city is 1 pop size AND it has never got any culture point (or less than 10, according to other people), it'll be automatically destroyed.

In my experience culture from Temples and Libraries doesnt need to reach 10 points, but culture from a Palace does have to reach 10 points for the town to survive.

Thus, when the Palace jumps, you have to wait for 10 rounds until the borders expand.