Does anybody else do this?

[LoneRebel]

So in that picture, I, playing as Greece, had earlier conquered Mecca. But then I realized that I perhaps wanted the Arabs to remain as a rump state in order to act as a buffer between me and the hyper-aggressive Aztecs to the west, who were attacking everything in sight.

So when the Aztecs inevitably declared war on the now-helpless Arabs almost the turn after I made peace with them, I used the open borders Harun granted to me with the peace treaty in order to surround one of his cities with my units. The Aztecs could bombard the city, but they couldn't capture it.

I've also done this with city-states. When there's an allied CS that's being attacked by another civ that I need to keep alive, and I am not at war with that civ, I surround every tile of the city with my units. In one game as Siam, I kept the Mongols from annexing a CS that way for, oh I dunno, a hundred turns or more. Later on when the Mongols declared war on me personally, that's when I attacked and destroyed them.

So yeah, does anybody else do this too?

Oh, and pardon the graphics by the way. My laptop's performance is really poor for some reason, even though it really shouldn't be.

 

[kb27787]

I've done that so often I've lost count...

 

[LoneRebel]

I've done that so often I've lost count...

It's such an exploit, but damn if it isn't hilarious.

 

[George Abitbol]

I do this with CS and former ennemy civ that became CS, to keep them alive. Actually, troops act as peacekeepers!

 

[LoneRebel]

I do this with CS and former ennemy civ that became CS, to keep them alive. Actually, troops act as peacekeepers!

It's particularly important if the other civ is attacking a CS that you need alive, but you don't want to go to war with that other civ yet.

Haha, peacekeepers! I never thought of it that way, but it works! These then are Greek peacekeepers in the UN mission to protect Arabia from Aztec aggression.

 

[George Abitbol]

I would like Peacekeeper forces included in a future CIV.. Being able to send "neutral" troops by a decision of the world congress to protect CS or weaker civs.

 

[TractorBoy]

I experimented with this quite a lot but unfortunately the expense can be quite high, gifting units (less expensive) seems to be a suicide mission. Sometimes just placing a scout or even a worker on a key hill next to the City can be enough to insure the CSs survival. I would never go to such extremes to protect a neighbouring AI civ.

 

[phillipwyllie]

A viable strategy. I'd get some modern melee units in there just in case Monty DOWs you and you loose your artillery.

 

[LoneRebel]

A viable strategy. I'd get some modern melee units in there just in case Monty DOWs you and you loose your artillery.

Yeah. I wasn't really making a super-serious effort to keep Arabia as a buffer, or else I would have surrounded Damascus as well before it fell. The open borders with Harun only lasted 30 turns, so I would be kicked out from his territory anyway.

After I was kicked out, the Aztecs of course captured Medina, but they razed it, since they were having happiness problems, and then planted a new city of their own there. Sure as clockwork, some time after that Montezuma declared war on me, but I wiped his army out and captured that city and the two other new cities he'd insolently planted near me. Won the game by diplo victory.

Hmm...I wonder what a good name for this tactic could be...?

I would like Peacekeeper forces included in a future CIV.. Being able to send "neutral" troops by a decision of the world congress to protect CS or weaker civs.

As a World Congress decision, it could be interesting...

I experimented with this quite a lot but unfortunately the expense can be quite high, gifting units (less expensive) seems to be a suicide mission. Sometimes just placing a scout or even a worker on a key hill next to the City can be enough to insure the CSs survival. I would never go to such extremes to protect a neighbouring AI civ.

I actually didn't need to keep Harun alive since I was more than capable of beating the Aztecs. On the other hand, keeping a CS ally alive can be vitally important for the benefits city-states give, and sometimes you need a CS alive but don't want to go to war with the aggressor.

You are right about the expense, and that sometimes you don't have to block every tile. Of course, the other game where I had to protect a CS from Mongolia, I did need to block every tile, even the water tiles. With the Mongols' UA, even an embarked land unit could have captured the city with an amphibious attack.

When I gift units to a CS, they seem to tend to use them to attack the enemy civ instead of using them properly for defense. That seems to be your experience as well.