Do you pillage during wars?

[popejubal]

Do you pillage your opponents' tiles when you are at war with them?

I don't seem to get much gold per tile pillaged and it slows me down on my way to attacking that first city, so I don't tend to bother with pillaging. Also, why would I want to bust up tiles that I'm going to want to work in a few turns when I've conquored the city?

The only pillaging I do is to take out strategic military resources (Iron, Copper, Elephants, Oil) when I can if they are accessible and will make a difference in the fight. (i.e. I won't pillage copper if I'm having my hardest battles against Longbowmen, but I will pillage it if I'm worried about Spearmen/Pikemen defending against my horse units.)

 

[AnitaGaribaldi]

Sometimes I do pillage for the cash, but I do that if cannot take down the city fast or I'm not planning to keep it. I'm learning to raze the cities. I pillage often mines, trying to take away the production from the AI.

 

[cabert]

I pillage the resources (strategic or happiness) resources often.
I also pillage all around cities I plan to raze = don't give your opponent an option to rebuild the same city without much loss.

 

[KMadCandy]

if i'm going to raze, i pillage. if i declare peace, and that area is neutral ground when i'm heading back home, i finish the pillaging while heading back. no sense giving whoever settles there later (and someone is going to) a headstart IMO.

 

[cabert]

if i'm going to raze, i pillage. if i declare peace, and that area is neutral ground when i'm heading back home, i finish the pillaging while heading back. no sense giving whoever settles there later (and someone is going to) a headstart IMO.

exactly what I intended to say, but with a better choice of words, thanks

 

[Davidicus]

Pillaging can also be a good war of attrition tactic. It can lure units out of the city for easier attacking if you do not have great city assaulting units.

 

[oyzar]

I pillage if i cant take the city and hence will get peace before i can take the city so the opponent gets time to rebuild the land. Also sometimes strategic resources though often you can just take whatever city have hold of the resource instead.

 

[Collier20]

I pillage for three reasons:
1) Its a stragetic resource. Taking out Iron is the first thing I do in any war.
2) I am going to raze the city. Why not get the extra cash?
3) I find a city too well defended and have to kill a bit of time before my reinforcements show up. But I never pillage cottages in this scenario.

 

[ShredZ]

Wang went to war with me last night, I came up to his city defended by Rifles - I had a couple cannons and a bunch of Grens ... JUST as I step one square from his city he upgrades everything to Inf.!!! Bastard maneuver!!! So since I knew I couldnt take it I just started pillaging everything in site...

 

[Aseon]

I'll usually pillage a bit when I'm waiting for either reinforcements to arrive to bolster my attack or while I'm waiting for my seige units to take down the city's defenses. I usually try to pillage areas that I think will remain inside the enemies cultural boundaries after I take the city.

I do have a question though.

If a city has a special resouce, let's say an iron mine, and I place a unit on that tile, are they kept from using the iron? Or do I need to pillage the mine in order to deny them access?

 

[Ankh-f-n-Khonsu]

if i'm going to raze, i pillage. if i declare peace, and that area is neutral ground when i'm heading back home, i finish the pillaging while heading back. no sense giving whoever settles there later (and someone is going to) a headstart IMO.

What she said.

 

[KMadCandy]

exactly what I intended to say, but with a better choice of words, thanks

hehe i love quoting compliments! ps i linked your happiness guide to a new player asking about how to keep citizens happy yesterday

and to keep this on topic, i did not vote in the actual poll, since what i do isn't on there. whether i pillage truly depends on whether i'm going to raze or take the city. if i'm going to take it, i just stand on the resources when possible rather than raze them; prevents them from using the tile but saves my workers the effort when it's mine all mine.

edit to add:

If a city has a special resouce, let's say an iron mine, and I place a unit on that tile, are they kept from using the iron? Or do I need to pillage the mine in order to deny them access?

hmmz now you make me wonder. it makes them not able to work that tile, that much i know for sure. but maybe it doesn't stop the rest of their empire from having access to the resource...

 

[manu-fan]

I almost never Pillage. I'm one of the 'I'm going to own the city in the next few turns anyway' camp.

A couple of times I will pillage. Early in the game, if a neighbor is mining copper or Iron, I will declare war just to pillage it and maybe grab a worker. Late game, if I'm very close to a domination victory, why not. I'm not going to be getting many turns use out of the land anyway.

Cheers.

 

[svv]

The only time I pillage is when I have unit(s) in enemy territory which are strong enough to survive counterattacks, but not strong enough to take cities. This most often happens when I declare war on civ A, and they have a defensive pact with civ B, who is far far away from me. I might send some units to pillage in civ B to make a few bucks, and hopefully encourage B to pull out of the war sooner.

 

[OscarWildebeest]

I pillage to take out unit-building resources (eg copper, iron) but I also pillage roads in order to prevent the AI sneaking round me and entering my territory. I also pillage roads to cut off the target city from resources elsewhere in the civ and to cut it off from the trade network. All this assumes I have the time and units to do so, of course.

 

[Welnic]

...
I do have a question though.

If a city has a special resouce, let's say an iron mine, and I place a unit on that tile, are they kept from using the iron? Or do I need to pillage the mine in order to deny them access?

Sitting a unit on top just keeps a city from working it. It does nothing to deny them that resource. To do that you have to pillage the mine. If you can't pillage the mine because you can't deal with the unit that is parked on it, if you can cut the road access to it that works also. Though cutting the road doesn't work if they can use a river instead.

 

[Collier20]

Once I have bombers and fighters, I level the countryside to get rid of railroads.

 

[50_dollar_bag]

I'm not sure exactly how unit support cost works, but I know it does cost you gold per turn to have a unit in enemy territory therefore I wonder just how much money can be made via pillaging, especially if you send a 3 unit stack (axe/spear/chariot) out for that purpose. I know you make a lot from Towns ~20 gold? (I don't pillage much myself so I'm not too sure) but you don't have the opportunity to pillage many Towns until late in the game.

Personnally I dont pillage much because I want the city I capture to be useful once it's mine. But I really should pillage around the cities I raze. Thanks for the tips.

 

[None_Existant]

Sometimes if possible, I'll raze cities but wont pillage the resources. Using my settlers, I'll block off the land I just conquered after making peace/destroying my opponent and backfill later. Whatever army I have left would serve as a garrison and all is well...

Except for my matinence cost...

 

[Gorman Truart]

I'll send a force over specifically for pillaging if it's a faraway enemy that I'm only fighting because a friend asked me to. If I'm not involved in other wars, its a nice use for offensive units that would be sitting around doing nothing anyways. There's nothing wrong with increasing your income to justify backing up a demanding ally.