Blockades

[Gooblah]

I've read a couple threads on this thing, but none of them have sufficently explained exactly how to blockade, and how blockading works. Does it require declaring war? If so, do you sit on the tiles to ensure the blockade works? Do blockade runners exist?

Thanks for your answers!
Note: I'm on Vanilla 1.74

 

[xanadux]

Move your ship to a sea square next to a foreign city. Click on the blockade button (looks like a cannon to me). You will get the gold at the beginning of the next turn ( a message like 'you get 5 gold from blockade of Timbuktu')

 

[Elandal]

Only privateers get gold from blockades - other ships will still deny working tiles (and maybe trade) when blockading.

 

[GenocideBringer]

It blocks sea trade and stops them from working sea tiles. Most of the time, this cripples sea cities and starves them into oblivion.

 

[Winston Hughes]

I've read a couple threads on this thing, but none of them have sufficently explained exactly how to blockade, and how blockading works. Does it require declaring war? If so, do you sit on the tiles to ensure the blockade works? Do blockade runners exist?

Thanks for your answers!
Note: I'm on Vanilla 1.74

Blockades in Vanilla and Warlords are much less useful than in BtS for a number of reasons.

Firstly, there are no Privateers, so you have to be at war with the civ you wish to blockade.

Secondly, blockades will not yield any profits for your treasury (as Elandal says, BtS's Privateers are the only units that can do this).

Thirdly, the area covered by a blockade is much smaller:

Spoiler :

I haven't got time to check right now, but iirc the blockaded area is as follows...

Vanilla&Warlords:
xxx
xox
xxx

BtS:
xxxxxxx
xxxxxxx
xxxxxxx
xxxoxxx
xxxxxxx
xxxxxxx
xxxxxxx

o = the blockading ship; x = blockaded tiles (if sea)

Fourthly, blockades will only cut off a city's trade routes if all possible routes (including land routes) connecting that city to the rest of the world are blocked.

(I believe, although I'm waiting for someone to confirm or deny this, that in BtS a blockade can cut off all trade routes even if there are land routes available. This seems overpowered and unrealistic, but I can't find another explanation for the absence of any trade routes in some of the cities I've been blockading. )

There is one very (very) minor advantage to blockades pre-BtS: they don't require a specific action. If your ship is in enemy waters, it will automatically blockade the tiles around it, whereas in BtS you have to click a button (and use up a movement point/all your movement points*) to start a blockade.

*a change in the new patch, apparently.

Overall, though, pre-BtS blockades are a minor feature, and will only be of much use at all in very specific situations. Occasionally, you can find an opportunity to starve a sea-dependent city by positioning a few ships in the right spots, or to cut a city off from vital resources. But these are quite rare. That said, if you're at war and your ships have nothing better to do, you might as well prevent your enemy from working a few coastal tiles in key locations.

But if you want to see some real blockading action, I'm afraid you'll need to invest in a copy of BtS.

 

[Gooblah]

I wish i had the time and the power to do so. I'm debating between Twilight Princess for the Wii and BTS, but whatever.
So lemme get this straight:
Pre BTS: Ships in the cultural region of a Civ your are at war with prevent the use of the 8 squares around the ship, provided all are in the sea. Thus, blockades are only efficient if, and only if, you're on a high water map (Archipelago) with land being only a few tiles.
BTS: Privateers, with no alliegance to any nation, can be used to blockade cities. Ships now prevent usage of 48? tiles around the ship, if the tiles are ocean/coast tiles. Privateers also can be used to gain a profit from the blockading.

Great. Another reason to add to my list of "Reasons to get BTS".

 

[Winston Hughes]

I'm debating between Twilight Princess for the Wii and BTS, but whatever.

I've never heard of Twilight Princess... but it's not as good as BtS.

Pre BTS: Ships in the cultural region of a Civ your are at war with prevent the use of the 8 squares around the ship, provided all are in the sea. Thus, blockades are only efficient if, and only if, you're on a high water map (Archipelago) with land being only a few tiles.
BTS: Privateers, with no alliegance to any nation, can be used to blockade cities. Ships now prevent usage of 48? tiles around the ship, if the tiles are ocean/coast tiles. Privateers also can be used to gain a profit from the blockading.

Yep, that's about right, although pre-BtS blockades can be useful on other maps - just not very often (and they're not even that useful on archipeligos, imo).

Great. Another reason to add to my list of "Reasons to get BTS".

Indeed. And you could also add the reason that made me take the plunge, even though I couldn't really afford it:

*Be able to fully participate in the discussions on this forum.

You've made some good comments in the ALCs, but it must be really frustrating to lack first-hand experience of the features under discussion. And always having to add "I'm still playing Vanilla" when asking questions must be depressing too.

You know it makes sense!

 

[hardwarevreag]

I think, what you say is not right.

CIV V will be there soon, I think, so all these players (like me), who simply spent their money on hardware and not on games they do not really need for fun (as the extensions) will hardly buy any of them...

So you have to live without the capability of blocking btrade networks in Vanilla.

OT:

Are there any new information about the release date of Civ V?

 

[GenocideBringer]

(I believe, although I'm waiting for someone to confirm or deny this, that in BtS a blockade can cut off all trade routes even if there are land routes available. This seems overpowered and unrealistic, but I can't find another explanation for the absence of any trade routes in some of the cities I've been blockading.

Not true. They still get land based trade routes if they have a road to the city./

 

[Winston Hughes]

Not true. They still get land based trade routes if they have a road to the city./

Okay, but do you have any idea what caused the trade routes to disappear from the cities I blockaded? They had land connections to several other cities, and (iirc) had domestic trade routes before I blockaded them. I'm baffled.

And which trade routes are affected by blockades? Is it all intercontinental routes? Or does that only happen if you cut off all possible connections (including over land to other, unblockaded coastal cities)?

Edit:

CIV V will be there soon, I think, so all these players (like me), who simply spent their money on hardware and not on games they do not really need for fun (as the extensions) will hardly buy any of them...

Erm, unless you have some inside information, I think you're going to be very disappointed if you expect to have a copy of civ5 in the next couple of years.

Moreover, BtS includes so many new features that it's been described as "civ four-and-a-half", and imo it's a huge improvement over vanilla/warlords.

If you love civ, and you can find the cash, then you really should pick up a copy.

 

[GenocideBringer]

Okay, but do you have any idea what caused the trade routes to disappear from the cities I blockaded? They had land connections to several other cities, and (iirc) had domestic trade routes before I blockaded them. I'm baffled.

And which trade routes are affected by blockades? Is it all intercontinental routes? Or does that only happen if you cut off all possible connections (including over land to other, unblockaded coastal cities)?

Did they have a land connection to the capital?

When I blockaded, the city only lost sea traderoutes.

 

[Winston Hughes]

Did they have a land connection to the capital?

I'm pretty certain they did - same landmass, long-established cities, roads everywhere.

This was with the 3.03 patch - maybe it's a bug? It certainly doesn't seem right that a naval blockade should cut off land routes...

Edit: I checked, and the cities are definitely connected to the capital. Every city which has even a single tile in its BFC blockaded seem to have lost all trade routes, while those which do not have a single blockaded tile are still receiving the standard two domestic routes (the civ is in mercantilism). This must be a bug.

 

[Gooblah]

Hmm.
*Twilight Princess is a Legend of Zelda game, newest one. Very good.
*BTS might be a possibility for my b'day. I should really get something for myself after saving the limited (if existent) allowance I get, so that something will be BTS after Halloween. Wahtever.

Also, blockades should have the ability to cover the city itself; i.e, the enemy ship can infiltrate the city square; this would cause a lot of unhappiness, increased WW, etc, while the ship itself would lose health steadily.
If the ship sinks, the extra effects are removed, though the threat of "secession" to join another Civ due to the "neglect of our safety" could be a possibility...
Simple musings from a wannabe modder.

 

[KMadCandy]

I'm pretty certain they did - same landmass, long-established cities, roads everywhere.

This was with the 3.03 patch - maybe it's a bug? It certainly doesn't seem right that a naval blockade should cut off land routes...

Edit: I checked, and the cities are definitely connected to the capital. Every city which has even a single tile in its BFC blockaded seem to have lost all trade routes, while those which do not have a single blockaded tile are still receiving the standard two domestic routes (the civ is in mercantilism). This must be a bug.

i think that the game wants to use the "best potential trade route" as originally calculated with the coast connection available. and then doesn't recalculate potential trade routes when the city is blockaded. if my theory is correct, i'm not sure that's a bug, it might be intended.

 

[TM Moot]

Blockading with Privateers is a recommended tactic (with BtS).

I beelined the tech to get Privateers (can't remember which of the top of my head!) and sent out half a dozen around the globe, blocking Capitals or large coastal cities.

For years I was raking in an additional 25-40 per turn, and it had a noticeable effect the blockaded Civs.

The longer they are in position, the further the blockade effect spreads.

 

[Winston Hughes]

i think that the game wants to use the "best potential trade route" as originally calculated with the coast connection available. and then doesn't recalculate potential trade routes when the city is blockaded. if my theory is correct, i'm not sure that's a bug, it might be intended.

A plausible explanation (as always*), but I'd still say it's broken.

*For a 'permanoob', you have a remarkable grasp of both game mechanics and strategy. Perhaps it's time to change your title to 'giggling expert', lest you make the rest of us look like 'ultranoobs'.

 

[Party]

All I have to say is that there have been a few time (three, four maybe) when I was in a large scale conflict with another civ on a continent map and they got oil wayyyy before me and build a ton of destroyers and blockaded every single costal city I had.
My economy totaly crashed and I was had to scale my reaserch, culture and espionage down to 10%,0, and 0 just so I was not losing hundred of gold a turn.
(I still won but it was a long, hard fight)
Blockades can be devastating if used properly especially in BTS.

 

[Gooblah]

Yay! I tried blockading today and it worked! I had two frigates positioned around the Taoist holy city, Djenne. It starved 6 population in 20 turns!

 

[Boodler]

For years I was raking in an additional 25-40 per turn, and it had a noticeable effect the blockaded Civs.

25-40 gold / turn sounds very good, does it always yield the same (~) gold or varies a lot with various settings, like game speed for example ?

 

[TM Moot]

25-40 gold / turn sounds very good, does it always yield the same (~) gold or varies a lot with various settings, like game speed for example ?

dunno to be honest (first time i've tried it)

i had about 6 privateers stationed around 3 civ's capitals and 3 large coastal cities

it took a few turns to kick in, but after a while all i heard was the incoming jingle of gold