Colonies?What's the use if...

[PanaGo]

I can't really see why a colony isn't considered "your ground". I mean, the Civ team,says that they are usefull to get resources that can't be reached. But why bother making a road to a colony colony, losing a worker to it, having it guarded against barbarias and/or enemies only to find yourself been called all kind of names after a few turns for trespassing, when an enemy settler builds a city next to it,claiming the resource for them? If you ask me, a colony should be considered "your territory" and should fall to the enemies only after battle...

 

[NightRain]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but that wouldn't make any difference anyway. Every city always has at least one square of border all around it, even if it pushes back your border. So even if it were your terrritory, and they built right beside it, their territory would still claim it anyway.

Ray.

 

[Matrix]

Ok, but now I'm gonna been splitting hairs.

What if the resource comes into the other's territory because he built a temple?

 

[TrailblazingScot]

I AGREE with Panago...PLUS if they are built on the coast on a far-off island you shouldn't need a road to a city to allow them to ship their goods to your empire...

I built a colony on baffin island to take beaver pelts (furs?) to my empire (I am pretty darn sure that is a luxury)...but it won't actually do anything for me unless I put a city on baffin island and then link it with a road etc...What is the point.

Colonies need an upgrade...they are virtually worthless in their present form when they could be so much more!

 

[Magnus]

Recently, just for kicks, I tried an "OCC" variant on a tiny map. I played Babylon and I would never produce a settler, but cultural assimilation was OK. I had to build a colony to get iron, but this was close enough to be eventually absorbed into my cultural radius, however there was a source of ivory that would never be within my confines (I would have needed 100,000 culture for that to happen) so I set up a colony and stuck a pikeman to defend it. Well, the AI encroached on me, and I eventually absorbed a bordering American and Zulu city, but the Persians never dared get that close - like they KNEW they would lose any city put too close to mighty Babylon, so THEY sent out some workers and defenders and made a colony of the other two ivory sources next to mine - and the situation stayed that way until I got bored and turned the game off (my score was miserable). I wonder if tiny maps are less subject to mindless AI landgrabbing - I guess I will try to play a regular game and find out.

 

[Sirigor82]

I generally agree with most people here that colonies aren't very useful in this present form, however they do serve a slight purpose. Sometimes resources are in pretty bad areas and it's not worth constructing a settler and starting a city there. Then again, if the colony is on the island, then colonies are useless as harbors can't be built there. I think this whole concept of colonies ws put in here to diversify the game, but it needs upgrade.

 

[Alphidius]

That's why I NEVER use colonies period. It has it's uses but too vulnerable especially to cultural boundaries (the AI always build a city beside them).

I agree that colonies belonging to us should be considered our land and building anything the has a radius over it should be considered an act of war, as in building cities in rival boundaries.