Conquest VS Make them surrender

[attachtatuk]

I want to have your opinions on the pros and cons on military conquest compare to vassal state.

Usually when I go to war I tend to capture several enemy cities, make them surrender then give them back there cities. I find it easier that way because 1. less management 2. got yourself a military ally 3. you don't have to go over the long process of capturing every cities, boosting their culture, improving tiles, building improvement, building a strong defense so nobody comes to take that newly aquired territory etc...

If 2 human opponents would compete aginst each other, who would be the srongest? The one who's conquered new land or the one who has vassal empires under his domination?

 

[CivCorpse]

Eventually the one with the most land. Human players develop the tiles and cities much better than the AI does.

 

[attachtatuk]

But is there a point where having to much cities can pull down your economy? If so what yould be the buffer zone? What would be the ideal city number?

 

[CivCorpse]

expansion through war or peacefully usually does drag the economy a bit. But I'd rather have 50% of the commerce from 12 cities than 70% from 5...because as the cities mature you can get back to 70%

 

[Kesshi]

But is there a point where having to much cities can pull down your economy? If so what yould be the buffer zone?

attachtatuk,

With the right economy and proper city management, I will never* have a city be a drain on my economy. Once I get a decent economy running, every city will produce a net positive of at least 1 commerce. I mean that a new size 1 city may cost me 8 gold, and produce 3 gold and 6 beakers, and it only goes up from there. Thus more cities = more population = more "free" military units.

*Okay, not "never" but close. And even if the city is a drain, I can usually make that city into a net positive sooner rather than later.

 

[TheDS]

I take it you've never founded a Corp then?

As with anything in this game, it depends on the situation. Sometimes it's better to take the whole empire, sometimes you simply CAN'T do it, or can't do it quickly enough. Long wars are bad for multiple reasons, and making an early peace or accepting capitulation can save you from one.

Additionally, why would you give back all those cities? If you took 5 cities, I could see maybe giving back ones that would be a lot of trouble, like if they're on a different land mass, or clear on the other side of the world and you can't make a sub-capital to take care of it, but it's not like you're ever going to be in the position where your vassal tries to escape your grip, because you're going to treat him well and you're going to grow faster than he can, so why toss cities you can use just to make him feel better?

Land is power, land is power, land is power! It's true!

That being said, it's not the worst thing in the world to have multiple forced trading partners and then go to Mercantilism.

 

[TheMeInTeam]

Usually you want the cities, not the vassal. Exceptions:

- Forced diplomatic votes (rare in multiplayer unless you have a lot of AIs too).
- Wars that will take forever to finish, especially if the guy has 1 island city out somewhere and war weariness is bad. Really bad.
- You doing so stupidly well that somehow you're on your 3rd landmass and no where near DR or communism. I can't imagine the choice making a difference at this point however.

and my personal favorite:

You have a military tech lead over multiple opponents. You have a finite time to do as much damage with your troops as possible. You can finish the current target off, while another gets tech parity or better, or you can force capitulation from one and go after the other IMMEDIATELY, screwing both.

In the above scenario, it often makes more sense to choose the latter.

 

[Nibs]

If your economy can't support your new cities and depending on the map, raze the cities and wipe their tiny civ off of your contintent. Then build your new found area up at your pace. However, be aware that the other players may move in and redevelop your new lands. Only exception to razing their cities, if they have a holy city or WW then I would keep it. Remember to check out a city with a spy before razing it. this method works well when going for domination or last man standing victory.