City-states allies & war

[bobbobjack]

Loving the game to death, so far. Too easy (playing prince right now), though, but i'm having a great time learning the game and everything.

So, anyways, i happened, in my game last night, to be allied with 2 city-states. When i declared war with another civ, they went with war with me, so i thought "cool". They assembled some forces and moved them into my ennemy's territory, along with some of my own troops. It really had a cool feeling of going to war with and actually being *helped* by the Ai, it was satisfying.

But then, that's about it.

They moved their armies a little bit around. They never pillaged anything, they never attacked any ennemy units and not even ennemy cities. They had plenty of options to do so, in fact, i was counting on them a few times. The only purpose they had sometimes was to distract ennemy ranged attacks on their units instead of mine.

So, what's the point? Is it the AI just being dumb for now? Has anyone actually seen some NPC allies actually fight against your common ennemy?

But, i'm wondering if it's not just an easy fix on the developper's side for now. I mean, what would happen if a city-states captured another city? They would not be a city-state anymore if that would happen. Would they just raze the city? Create another city-state? Capture it and give it to you?

 

[Wani]

If they capture another city, they will raze it. Proxy wars are fun!

However, as you pointed out, when they get in a war because of you, their only good point is that they divert a huge part of your enemy's forces against them. Kinda meh.

 

[SRV]

You could use that to your advantage. Having the enemy fire at someone else can be a big help.

 

[Zaimejs]

It would be great if you could get control of the troops once they enter your sphere of influence. Kind of like a United NATO force or something with you as supreme general. If they are sending troops to help in your cause, that seems like it would make sense. Then if you lose influence, the troops go home.

This would make City States much more valuable.

 

[Smips]

While I was at war with the Aztecs last night I had a city state actively participate in a war. In fact, they captured and razed two enemy cities and killed 2 or 3 units as well. However, at another point in the game, I had another city state do exactly what you described. From what I'm reading here, it seems that there are multiple forms of the AI in the game. Some tend to be timid and others are to be aggressive. I've heard multiple complaints about the AI civs being too aggressive and every one of my wars have been initiated be me. The AI definitely needs to be tweaked, but it does work well some of the time.

 

[bobbobjack]

While I was at war with the Aztecs last night I had a city state actively participate in a war. In fact, they captured and razed two enemy cities and killed 2 or 3 units as well.

Nice! That's exactly what i was hoping to hear. Actually, now that i think about it, maybe it has something to do with how much the ennemy civ is friends with the city-state. Maybe they were friends not so long ago and AI has memory? That would be neat.

 

[Smips]

Nice! That's exactly what i was hoping to hear. Actually, now that i think about it, maybe it has something to do with how much the ennemy civ is friends with the city-state. Maybe they were friends not so long ago and AI has memory? That would be neat.

That is a good point. I know when the one city state wouldn't attack, they had been allies at one point with the Civ I was at war with. In the case where the city state was actively helping me, the continent was extremely war-ravaged.

Oh, and it was pretty cool to have a city state helping out . They held the war on the Northern front while I flanked Rome.

 

[kaltorak]

I really doubt that once at war they will be more or less hostile if they like the enemy more or less.

 

[RagnorIronpants]

Was the CS militaristic, cultural, etc? They may just not like war but went along with it because they had to. They may have been reluctant to take out an enemy they like more than you, for instance.

Of course, it could just be a paralysed AI. We'll probably have a good idea of what's a bug and what's not this time next week.

 

[r0ck]

Question - if you capture a city, your options are raze, capture or give it to another civ, right?


wouldnt it be nice to "liberate" the city and make it a City State?


Just drooling for the next 24 hours, so, please, refrain from stepping on my drool.

 

[Smips]

Question - if you capture a city, your options are raze, capture or give it to another civ, right?


wouldnt it be nice to "liberate" the city and make it a City State?


Just drooling for the next 24 hours, so, please, refrain from stepping on my drool.

I think the options are to make it a puppet city, annex it, or gift it back to the Civ that used to control it if it had been taken over previously. If I remember correctly, after you annex it, you can raze the city. A liberation option would be pretty neat, but I think that would mess with the diplomatic victory conditions. I could be wrong though, I don't remember all the details yet

 

[SRV]

You can liberate a city that has been taken over by someone else. So technically there is a liberate option.

 

[King Jason]

yea sometimes this seems hit or miss, I was on a pangea map and had 6 city-state allies and when I went to war none of them did squat. However, In a different game, I went to war and my ally almost took a city by itself (until I swooped in and nabbed it for myself).

Additionally, I also had a city-state "betray" me ~ which was awesome. I mean, it worked with in the game mechanics, of course.. cause I lost him as an Ally before it happened.. but I was surprised cause when he dropped ally status I thought "no big, I'll get him back in a couple turns". However, I was in the midsts of a war with rome and about a several turns into the war the city-state declared war on me.

 

[Smips]

Additionally, I also had a city-state "betray" me ~ which was awesome. I mean, it worked with in the game mechanics, of course.. cause I lost him as an Ally before it happened.. but I was surprised cause when he dropped ally status I thought "no big, I'll get him back in a couple turns". However, I was in the midsts of a war with rome and about a several turns into the war the city-state declared war on me.

This got me thinking...Can an enemy "flip" a city state while you're at war? What I mean is, is the city state only allies with the Civ it likes the most? If that's true, an opponent could throw some money at the city state to get it to ally. I've only played one game so far, so I'm not 100% sure on the exact mechanics behind it.

 

[BjoernLars]

It would be great if you could get control of the troops once they enter your sphere of influence. Kind of like a United NATO force or something with you as supreme general. If they are sending troops to help in your cause, that seems like it would make sense. Then if you lose influence, the troops go home.

This would make City States much more valuable.

I am liking this idea, but here are some thoughts to expand it.

In order to become Allies with a City-State, you need X amount of points. So when you go to war, they may not be the most aggressive military force as stated by the OP.

If you have X+Y points with that particular City-State, they will "loan" a unit to you. It is still owned by that City-State and the maintenance is paid for by the City-State, but it is under your command. You may maneuver this unit as you wish, conduct attacks and give it promotions that you deem necessary.

If your points fall below (X+Y), then that unit reverts back to control of the City-State.

The number of units that you can receive would be g, given that your points are greater than (X+g*Y).

Perhaps, a more in depth option is that you have the agreement beforehand, the City-State revealing what units are in their Army and you get to choose g units.

Just some thoughts.