best way to liberate a city state you conquered

[taltamir]

conquering city states can be lucrative early on in the game. Where you can't afford to bribe it... later on its much better to have them as allies. You can afford bribing them, you can't afford their happiness penalty, and the rewards are much greater for a larger empire (especially for maritime).

So... how to best go about it? AFAIK there is no "liberate" button for a conquered city state... but, could I SELL it to an AI (or gift if they no longer trust you), then conquer it and choose "liberate" when I conquer it? that would be a hilariously awesome way to liberate it, will net me whatever the AI paid for it, and will automatically make them my allies for their gratitude to me in liberating them.

so, is there any other way to liberate a CS you conquered? and if so, is it better?

PS. lets not discuss the merits of conquering them in the first place. I find it useful to conquer them VERY early on, but better to ally later on.

 

[Ayani]

I don't think you can.

In my last game, Lhasa was allied with Russia when Russia attacked me. I had cities surrounding Lhasa, and they were being a big pain with pillaging so I puppeted them. I finished with Russia, and then gave them Lhasa (figuring, correctly as it turned out, that Russia wasn't through declaring war). When we went to war again, I captured Lhasa again but had no liberate option.

 

[Bibor]

I can confirm it, you can't liberate "gifted away" cities.

 

[Ahriman]

You also can't liberate a city state that you puppeted, lost to the AI, and then recaptured.

My guess is: you can only liberate if you have never previously conquered it.

Which is good, avoids exploits.

 

[taltamir]

You also can't liberate a city state that you puppeted, lost to the AI, and then recaptured.

My guess is: you can only liberate if you have never previously conquered it.

Which is good, avoids exploits.

well... it is an exploit if you TRADE it away first... but why is there no "liberate" button that lets you set free a CS that you are currently enslaving? Can't I decide to emancipate them? to forgo my evil ways?

 

[SeptimusOctopus]

This is interesting. I didn't realize city-state liberation had these limitations. I don't really get why there isn't an option to liberate a city after you've held it for sometime.

 

[Tennyson]

This is interesting. I didn't realize city-state liberation had these limitations. I don't really get why there isn't an option to liberate a city after you've held it for sometime.

Liberation has benefits. To get the benefit, you actually have to sacrifice something.

 

[Ahriman]

well... it is an exploit if you TRADE it away first... but why is there no "liberate" button that lets you set free a CS that you are currently enslaving? Can't I decide to emancipate them? to forgo my evil ways?

I don't really get why there isn't an option to liberate a city after you've held it for sometime.

The problem is that the current liberation mechanism gives you an instant alliance.
It would not be fair if you could conquer a city state, killing half its population, and then say "oops sorry" and make it instantly your ally.

Liberation has benefits. To get the benefit, you actually have to sacrifice something.

Precisely. If you want city states as your allies, don't attack them.

 

[DuseCutter]

In the case of conquering then liberating a CS, I think you should have the option but then they start out completely Angry with you instead of as an Ally. That would be fair... unless you have the Aesthetics? social policy. Then you'd start out at 20 Influence which might qualify as close to exploiting.

 

[Ahriman]

I did have an amusing experience: France had Singapore as their ally.
Rome and I invaded and conquered France (and so Singapore was at war with us), and Rome took Singapore.

Then, Rome turned on me, and I captured and liberated Singapore. They were at ~95 relations with me..... but still at war, because the war state carried over from when I attacked France.
[They went to peace on request, but still weren't an ally.]

 

[taltamir]

The problem is that the current liberation mechanism gives you an instant alliance.
It would not be fair if you could conquer a city state, killing half its population, and then say "oops sorry" and make it instantly your ally.

Make it so that if you conquered them, then liberating them makes them unhappy towards you, just shy of war, but not at war. And prevent gold gifts to it until its at least neutral (aka, you need to either do it favors, or leave it alone for a while)

In the case of conquering then liberating a CS, I think you should have the option but then they start out completely Angry with you instead of as an Ally. That would be fair... unless you have the Aesthetics? social policy. Then you'd start out at 20 Influence which might qualify as close to exploiting.

heh, great minds think alike... how about just making them start at "completely angry" with a +20 to that if you have aestetics? (instead of being at 20)

 

[MaXimillionZero]

In the case of conquering then liberating a CS, I think you should have the option but then they start out completely Angry with you instead of as an Ally. That would be fair... unless you have the Aesthetics? social policy. Then you'd start out at 20 Influence which might qualify as close to exploiting.

The social policy doesn't actually make 20 the minimum influence level, just the level influence moves towards, rather than zero. You can still go below 20, by waging war on them or trespassing.