Crippling enemies down to one city or finish'em off?

[HenriIV]

Originally posted by bobgote
Henri, that formula you mentioned sounds right. Destroying them will probably make catch - up research quicker, slightly. However, if you are the one catching up (more than likely on the difficulty level that challenges you) it can only mean good news. Unless there is only 2 civs left, the effect should be negligible anyway, and be outweighed by the removal of the civ you've just taken all the cities off, they're always less happy, especially when you're at war, and are likely to flip too.

@bobgate: Thanks. You're right about it usually not being the ai who's catching up. Normally it's us, at 1/1.67 the ai's research rate

 

[Shabbaman]

Originally posted by HenriIV


What do you mean by trigger-happy civs? Never heard of that
Hope that doesn't put me into the newbie section

Isn't the research value modified by the quotient (No. of civs in total)/((No. of civs who got the tech)+1). Reducing the nominator should then make techs cheaper for those who catch up (usually the ai )
Pls correct me if I'm wrong, thought I had read this somewhere here..

You refer to this formula.

The part of the formula which is important here is (1 - N)/(CL*1.75), with N meaning the number of civilizations with knowledge of the item that you have contacted and CL standing for the number of surviving civs.

EDIT: deleted crappy mathematical essay

 

[Mad Bomber]

Kill em off unless the Civ has so little cutural power that leavin it with a city or two would not hurt you or allow a chance of a CF Warning: This is a VERY rare exception and you should have a total civ cuture ratio of at least 5:1 in your favor.

 

[Moonsinger]

Originally posted by Sanaz
If you have respawn enabled, you will want to figure out where the civ can respawn (I think its 4 squares from any borders, on the same continent).

That happens only in the early stage of the game. I'm not sure about the cut off year for the respawn, but I have never seen them to respawn after 1 AD.

 

[Tsang]

Sometimes I like to put the conquered civ on a reservation. I wall them in with forts and a lot of units, and let them rot in their few last sorry cities in the middle of a desert or jungle.

The DYP mod has mines… I can’t wait to confine a civ behind a sea of land mines. War Crimes anyone?

In the old Civ 1 days I would buy any units they would send out. It used to be a nice source of settlers.


Other times Its fun to wipe them out. It depends on my playstyle that game.

That is the cool thing about Civ… you can decide to be an isolationist country, never venturing off of your island…

You can be the super-power that always gets involved in every conflict

Or you can be cancerous country that slowly consumes everything around it.

My last game I was a complete pacifist until the Russians declared war on me. Then I burned most of their cities and walled their few remaining cities in next to the other civs that they have wronged. Poetic justice 

 

[Sanaz]

Originally posted by Moonsinger
That happens only in the early stage of the game. I'm not sure about the cut off year for the respawn, but I have never seen them to respawn after 1 AD.

It was confirmed by Firaxis that there is no time limit, but a space limit. By 1 AD, there is rarely enough space left on the same continent to allow for the respawn, so you wouldn't see it. I've tested after I gave railroads by clearing away the right amount of territory, and guiding the respawn to specific areas.. We were given the formula, but I couldn't find it. I think it was 4 squares in every direction.

 

[SoRHunter]

I just got civ3, but I used to play civ2. Why should I let those pesky cities standing with another colour than my own?

 

[God]

Only time you cripple a civ is when you don't have enough manpower. That usually means you take about half or more of the AI's empire, still leaving quite a few cities. If they're at one or two then take them out. Sometimes I let the guys go if they have gotten too far away. Usually I build ships to chase them down, and execute their leader.

 

[Moonsinger]

Originally posted by Sanaz
It was confirmed by Firaxis that there is no time limit, but a space limit. By 1 AD, there is rarely enough space left on the same continent to allow for the respawn, so you wouldn't see it. I've tested after I gave railroads by clearing away the right amount of territory, and guiding the respawn to specific areas.. We were given the formula, but I couldn't find it. I think it was 4 squares in every direction.

Thanks! That's good info! I didn't know that.

 

[XOVER]

I see no benefit in letting them live -- only potential problems.

I agree with the others: being crippled, a 1 or 2 city Civ is not going to help with tech.

Plus, with 1.29f, the former enemy seems to hate you forever. No matter how "nice" you try to be to the SOBs, they never seem to get happier than annoyed. I've even had them ask for MDDs, but they stay pissed.

So I say, "wipe'um out." That way they can't vote against you in the UN, or otherwise act as a base for subversion for the more powerful.

 

[slothman]

In my current game I actually crippled the enemy down to 0 cities. He still has 2 settlers though. I might have to end the war, give him a city, and then plant a spy to find out where his units are.

 

[Bruinesian]

Sometimes AI civs are so thick-headed that they give me no choice but bring forth Armageddon. Case in point, this game I'm in the middle of has me (American) and the Mexicans on a World Map with real starting places.

Unfortunately, Mexico planted Tijuana in the Panamian isthmus cutting me off from my fledgling South American cities. You know the situation right? I can't move military units to defend my SA cities from barbarians and Brazil. TJ blocked all north-south movement.
So I wanted TJ and nothing else even I have to commit to a little skirmish. (Well that and he has a couple of cities that cuts me off from my California.)

I surprised him with an invasion and quick capture of about seven cities. That should've been enough leverage to sue for peace and give me TJ right? WRONG! So I kept on invading and invading and invading. Knocking off one city after another. All this time, I didn't want to. It was sapping my original goal to settle Africa and invade Europe.

You're wondering why I can't just use my South American cities to conquer Tijuana. Well, because at that point, they were more like colonies with weak production level and the jungle kept on killing them.

Oh 25 turns later, my South American cities cranked up enough military to conquer TJ from the south. By then, Mexico was stuck in the Yucatan Peninsula. I killed it. Killed the lot of them. Every man, woman, and child with unapologetic violence that made the world cringe in disgust.

 

[mydisease]

I find that the reputation hit for eliminating a civ is massive and so avoid doing so at all costs. Just shoehorn them onto a desolate island somewhere, or get another civ to kill them off.

And yes, killing off civs does reduce research cost slightly(CL is reduced so research cost devalues faster as N increases), but the change is only for techs that have already been discovered by an AI civ. And then its normally cheaper to trade for the tech anyway.

 

[Evincar]

Here's what I do sometimes, well, lately I do it very often:

When they are down to 2-3 cities I sign a Military Alliance with another(s) civ(s) againts the poor, doomed enemy. It's dirt cheap (you see, the AI to act as a vulture) and maybe it improves your relationships with them. Then, do nothing, just fight any unit I find and let them do the dirty job

 

[bbaws]

Agree with evincar, great way to avoid leaving your forces overextended. On DYP planted landmines all around the Roman's last city. Five or six turns and I had to put them out of their misery. Landmines are far more effective when they are invisible. Seems a bit obvious. You bury them right? Perhaps a Lady Diana wonder to make all landmines disappear?