Capturing foreign missionaries

[tyro3]

There is a celtic missionary wandering around near my cities, how do I capture/kill them, I can't seem to get any of my troops to do the job.

 

[Polisurgist]

You can't just move them into the space the missionary is in?

 

[acetoolguy]

You can't just move them into the space the missionary is in?

Thats what i did for a GP, he was captured. I never used him to convert a city because I was not sure if he would promote mine or the civ that made him.

 

[Polisurgist]

Thats what i did for a GP, he was captured. I never used him to convert a city because I was not sure if he would promote mine or the civ that made him.

OK...what happens when you move your unit into the space occupied by the missionary, then? They just won't move?

Do you have a save file?

Also, a captured missionary will spread the religion of the city that spawned him, even if you own the unit at the time. You may be better just killing it. You shouldn't be able to capture a Great Prophet at all.

 

[docbud]

^^I've captured GPs plenty of times. If they are new (and never used), I plant them.

Am not sure why the OP can't capture a missionary, though.

 

[Browd]

@tyro3 - One reason you may not be able to seize a wandering missionary is you may have an active peace treaty with that missionary's civ (10 turns at Standard speed). Seizing a missionary is an act of war, but you can't DOW during an active peace treaty.

@Polisurgist - You certainly can capture Greeat Prophets, and Missionaries. Agree that captured GrPrs and Missionaries are mostly useless. Missionaries can be used as scouts (4 movement points isn't bad), but they will suffer attrition and die in foreign territory without open borders. Great Prophets that still have 4 spread missions left can be used to form a Holy Site or to found or enhance a religion. They shouldn't be used to spread, since they do retain their old religion (so you would be spreading that religion, not yours). They don't suffer attrition, and don't need open borders, but only 2 movement points means they are a tedious way to scout.

Also if you are playing as Sweden, a GrPr that has even 1 spread mission left can be gifted to a CS for 90 influence.

 

[acetoolguy]

OK...what happens when you move your unit into the space occupied by the missionary, then? They just won't move?

Do you have a save file?

Also, a captured missionary will spread the religion of the city that spawned him, even if you own the unit at the time. You may be better just killing it. You shouldn't be able to capture a Great Prophet at all.

No save....it was the same as capturing a worker though. It was with a Prophet, but I would think the missonary is the same.....

 

[Polisurgist]

No save....it was the same as capturing a worker though. It was with a Prophet, but I would think the missonary is the same.....

Yeah, I was wrong about capturing the GP, but you should be able to capture the missionary the same way. The aforementioned peace treaty sounds like the most reasonable answer; are you at war now, and have you been at war recently?

The other really silly mistake I make sometimes is when I'm playing on grid mode and at war, sometimes my enemy will end up with a unit embarked in a lake in my territory. I'll fail to notice that they're embarked, since they're covering the water hex and I'll tear my hair out trying to figure out why my melee unit can't hit it.

 

[Halcyan2]

I find captured missionaries to be most useful for:

Defensive blockers (to prevent AI prophets from converting my capital)

Peacekeepers (to keep a weak AI alive by blocking the troops of other AI's)

Of course, they are costing you gold maintenance in the meantime....