What do you do when you are waging war and have captured an important city far away? I prefer not to raze it, and sometimes it can be difficult to keep it. I have developed some guidelines for making good use of those cities...
A couple things to keep in mind:
1. AI values cities very highly. If you donate them, they are willing to give a LOT of stuff, for even minor ones.
2. If you take TWO AI cities, in a war, you can usually bring them to the table for peace.
3. Captured cities require troops to quell resistance.
4. Cities far from palace/FP produce at best 1 shield and 1 coin.
So based on these points, when I am waging war on a far continent, I try to donate 2 border towns to my friendliest rival.
1. This way I don't have to quell resistance.
2. I get a LOT of stuff from my AI pal (techs and lump sum gold)
3. Other AIs will sometimes rush in and retake, declaring war on the other AI (always nice when they fight each other) allowing me to easily capture them again and re-donate to my buddy.
4. If buddy AI holds them, then I can use them as easily capturable cities if he ever decalres war on me. In one game, my "ally" the Germans started making demands and declared war on me. I retook the donated cities and he offered peace pretty quickly.
5. Gives me a buffer from the enemy AI.
I prefer this technique to the obvious culture exploit of donating a city next door to your capital. IMO, that is not honorable game playing, but that's another story.....
A couple things to keep in mind:
1. AI values cities very highly. If you donate them, they are willing to give a LOT of stuff, for even minor ones.
2. If you take TWO AI cities, in a war, you can usually bring them to the table for peace.
3. Captured cities require troops to quell resistance.
4. Cities far from palace/FP produce at best 1 shield and 1 coin.
So based on these points, when I am waging war on a far continent, I try to donate 2 border towns to my friendliest rival.
1. This way I don't have to quell resistance.
2. I get a LOT of stuff from my AI pal (techs and lump sum gold)
3. Other AIs will sometimes rush in and retake, declaring war on the other AI (always nice when they fight each other) allowing me to easily capture them again and re-donate to my buddy.
4. If buddy AI holds them, then I can use them as easily capturable cities if he ever decalres war on me. In one game, my "ally" the Germans started making demands and declared war on me. I retook the donated cities and he offered peace pretty quickly.
5. Gives me a buffer from the enemy AI.
I prefer this technique to the obvious culture exploit of donating a city next door to your capital. IMO, that is not honorable game playing, but that's another story.....
