Do giving cities back help with Warmongering?

[Louis XXIV]

I'm OK with the idea of less ambitious wars, but are there any benefits for doing it? Would capturing a city and giving it back in exchange for peace help reduce warmongering penalty?

 

[Verenti]

I certainly hope it does, but I somehow doubt (like you seem to) that it does. How many times, since the war mongering penalty, have I been penalised for winning a defensive war? Far too many.

 

[shyPiano]

I'm not sure if this was changed since last time I checked, but from what I remember:
When, in war, you conquer a city, you gain warmonger penalty, and the city becomes occupied.
During peace negotiations, if you return the occupied city, the penalty from having conquered it is removed. If, instead, you keep the city, the warmonger penalty is doubled, but the city becomes yours is no longer occupied (so it can grow and produce like other cities).

This might have changes since then, though...

 

[joncnunn]

Giving it back during peace negotiations does completely negate the war mongler penalty associated with taking the city.

Note that in the press release build that Quill could give production orders immediately to captured cities rather than having to wait for the war to end. In fact he completed several build items during the same war, (cheap items, and also repairing structures damaged during combat.)

 

[Furycrab]

If you got in a war somehow and then beat up the other guy and took a bunch of cities, then trade them back in the peace treaty in exchange for other stuff for no war penalty?

Edit: Maybe even sell all the buildings while you control the city?

 

[swordoflight86]

I am not concerned with the warmonger penalty. I have lots of practice in the handling of large coalitions due to my conquests. AE is just a number, after all.

 

[Cyon]

Build units or projects in occupied cities and harvest all bonus resources while doing it. Then give back the now worthless city.

 

[Uberfrog]

Isn't it true that you get your warmonger penalty in instalments? So the initial declaration has a penalty, the severity of which depends on the casus belli you used. Then you get an additional penalty for every city you take (and extra if it is razed?). It is only the penalty for the city capture that is annulled when you give it back. So it should help with warmonger penalty a lot if you're returning a lot of cities, but there will still be that initial penalty, plus the penalty from any city you razed or would like to keep.

 

[Lord Yanaek]

So it should help with warmonger penalty a lot if you're returning a lot of cities, but there will still be that initial penalty, plus the penalty from any city you razed or would like to keep.

If you're going to conquer someone and raze cities, it's only natural that you get a warmonger penalty.
If however it works as described (which is also what i heard/read somewhere), it will definitely help someone who's defending but has enough of his neighbor's aggressions and decides to teach him a lesson. Take a few cities, sell some buildings (if possible) or use them otherwise to build units for some time, then give them back in exchange for gold/resources or something with no warmonger penalty. Sounds good to me.