City state nonesense

[mirkwooduk]

I started a new game on the king setting and a standard map. I was Napoleon and I had the Arabs in the north and the japs in the south and genoa city maritime city state next to my empire.
Everyone was quiet for a long time though occasionally either civ would send me the message about my poor army to prompt me to upgrade and beef up.
I intended to try for the space victory and not be a war monger.
I gifted genoa lots of gold and I did their tasks and sent a great merchant over and as such they became allies.
The japs attacked once they had artillery but after a few years it became a stalemate and they sued for peace which I accepted.
Genoa had slipped to just friends and I had gone down the city state route on social policies but had not slipped them some gold for a few turns whilst I fought oda.
The very next turn after peace with japan the Arabs declared war - fair enough it was to be accepted but it was strange that they didn't attack whilst I was struggling with oda ?
I would have had a war on two fronts which would have destroyed me.
What really annoyed me and made me switch the
game off after years of patronage and being allies
for many of them and friends for centuries,genoa
joined the Arabs as their ally and also declared
war!
I know it's only a game and i know the Arabs must have done some mission or something for genoa
to get to be friends/allies but it's so unrealistic
that they would just turn table and agree to
attack me.
Diplomacy is just a hollow shell in this game and
the city states are the hollowest of them all.
Yes I hanker for the days of proper diplomacy where you build friends over time and it sought of
went in hand with all the other building one did of
techs and armies etc.
Now it's just plain pap in my opinion.

 

[PawelS]

Sorry, but it's hard to read when you don't use punctuation...

 

[Yngvi]

Why is it unrealistic? The Arabs might have been courting them for a while and you admit you hadn't done anything for them lately.
City states will side with whomever has more influence. It is one of the few diplomacy mechanics which is transparent.

 

[Lightzy]

punctuation is definitely your friend


as far as im concerned city states can be replaced with a 'buy food/buy culture' button

 

[DaveGold]

I suppose the city state fluctuations would represent history such as the British conquering India and other colonial expansions. The Europeans would bribe some of the local rulers and then attack the others, sometimes breaking down historical alliances. They never had enough troops to conquer a united nation.

It is a rather cheesy mechanic in this game. I suspect that city states will be given a very tasty overhaul at some point as they've got a lot of potential. I hope it's sooner rather than later.

 

[CHEESE!]

I started a new game: King, Pangea, standard map size. I was Napoleon- I had the Arabs in the north, the Japanese in the south, and Genoa (maritime city state) next to my empire.
Everyone was quiet for a long time; occasionally a civ would send me the message about my poor army (which prompted me to upgrade and beef up). A few turns later they would be friends again.
I intended to try for the space victory and not a war-based victory.
I gifted Genoa gold; I did their tasks; I set a great merchant over- they became allies
The Japanese attacked once they had artillery but after a few years it became a stalemate. They sued for peace which I accepted
Genoa had slipped to just 'friendly'. I had gone down the city state route on social policies, but had not slipped them any gold for a few turns whilst I fought Oda
The very next turn after we made peace the Arabs declared war - fair enough; it was to be expected. It was strange, though, that they didn't attack while I was struggling with Oda; I would have had a war on two fronts!
But what really annoyed me and made me switch the game off was this: after years of being allies for many of them- friends for centuries- Genoa joined the Arabs as their ally and also declared war.
I know it's only a game, and I know the Arabs must have done some mission or something for Genoa to be friends/allies. However, it's so unrealistic that they would just turn table and agree to attack me.
Diplomacy is just a hollow shell on this game, and the city states are the most hollow of them all.
Yes, I hanker for the days of proper diplomacy: where you build friends over time. It sort of went in hand with all the other building of techs, armies, and civilisations.
Now it's just plain pap.

Tried to punctuate and fix some of this nonesesesense.

 

[lietkynes]

It's not unrealistic, city states used to switch sides a lot in real life.

 

[Dark_Jedi06]

You ignored your ally and as such someone else stepped into the void.

Next time don't neglect your city states, with the Patronage tree you should have no problem keeping just one city state as an ally the whole game. And if you really want to get Genoa back, just outspend the Arabs.

 

[Skwink]

Sorry, but it's hard to read when you don't use punctuation...

This.

 

[Ighten]

Sorry gave up after three lines... Copy the edit Cheese kindly did and repost it after thanking him

 

[whomybuddy]

................Try this strategy. coastal capital. fast tech boat. 2-3 scout in the beginning for scouting. Make 1-2 boats for scout far away land. When you have your 1st luxury, trade it for 100-250 gold from other civ then declare war right away. Do this to all the civ that is not border to border to your civ so no war really because too far travel distance. Sometimes they even give you more gold for peace but it'll be about 10turns later.
..............spend gold on food city state or maybe culture. Expand like crazy but avoid expand near other civ. culture tech to for happiness +military boost. fast tech to colossus and theater for boosting in happiness. Once you do this. You'll able to ally with about all city states in the map with a huge empire.

 

[mirkwooduk]

I prepared the post on my iPhone on the train so sorry for the punctuation. It was not easy to lay out and review.
I am sorry my punctuation was more off putting than my comment.
Still maintain that an ally for centuries just would not declare war and city states need to be improved.

 

[mihaifx]

It's all about influence here. At a certain point in history some civ may be more influential and the city states will side with it. Being an ally for "historical" reasons just doesn't make sense. You want realism look at what my country Romania did during WorldWar 2, after being allied with Germany before and during the war, we decided to backstab them while they were retreating from Russia, and sided with the russians. Influence and interest won over formal agreements.

 

[bhavv]

I can punctuate better and place spaces between lines when posting from any 3G enabled phone using opera mini.

 

[gunter]

CSs are useless wasting of time therefore you do not have to trust them.