Free Palace Jump

[DaveMcW]

When the capital city is razed or abandonned, each city in the empire scores

• 3 points per national citizen
• 1 point per foreign citizen
• 1 point per neighboring town (1-6)
• 2 points per neighboring city (7-12)
• 3 points per neighboring metropolis (13+)
• 1 point per military unit

The city with the most points is the new capital!

A neighbor city must yours, and within 8 tiles walking distance from the target city (a 17x17 square). The old capital does not count as a neighbor.

If there is a tie for the most points, the palace jumps to the first city in the database, which is usually the oldest city. After some old cities have been razed the database gets out of order and it's impossible to tell where the palace will go in a tie.

Edit: I multiplied all the points by 3 to make the formula easier to work with. Some of the discussions in this thread use the old numbers as fractions of 3.

 

[DaveMcW]

Example from GOTM16

I finished the Forbidden Palace in Antium a few turns ago, now I want to jump my palace far away to Kyoto. I add my road-building crew to Kyoto, bringing it to size 5. Then I abandon Rome.



(5) Kyoto
(1/3) Ravenna 2
(1/3) Pisae 3
(1/3) Tokyo 5
6 points

(4) Neapolis
(1/3) Cumae 3
(1/3) Veii 4
(1/3) Antium 4
(1/3) Pompeii 7
(1/3) Tokyo 7
( 0 ) Nara 9
( 0 ) Pisae 9
5+2/3 points

(4) Veii
(1/3) Antium 3
(1/3) Neapolis 4
(1/3) Nara 5
(1/3) Pompeii 5
(1/3) Cumae 7
( 0 ) Tokyo 9
5+2/3 points

So Kyoto is the new capitol!



The southeast settler could have built a city, giving Veii and Neapolis another 1/3 point and causing a 3-way tie. Kyoto would still win because it was founded in 4000 B.C.

I did not actually cut it this close in my submitted game. I waited 1 turn for Neapolis and Veii to drop down to size 3 and let Kyoto grow to size 6.

 

[Yndy]

Good job Dave. Yet another secret uncovered.

 

[Kemal]

very useful stuff, superb post Dave

 

[Darkness]

Interesting post Dave! This could prove very useful for me!

 

[Cartouche Bee]

Have you tried that theory when you jump the palace let's say 20-30 squares away?

I've found the safest way is just have all the other cites less than size three and you jump to the target you seeded.

 

[Cartouche Bee]

I should probably provide a more specific type test that I'm sure breaks this formula. Let's first of all say there are no neighbor cities (which I was not testing but looks like a very good way for the computer to help pick a new palace) involved that are close enough to have effect on the formula. If you have a city say 6 squares from the palace size 4 with 100 culture and another city size 5 and no culture and 30 squares away, does the palace jump to the size 5 city? The last time I ever tinker with this (about a year ago), it would jump to the size 4 city with 100 culture. IIRC, even if the other city was size 10 it would jump to the size 4 city. I believe that distance and culture also play a part in the calculation that determine where the jump goes.

 

[DaveMcW]

Here is one of my test maps (PTW). Try it with and without turning the 2 settlers into towns.

 

[Cartouche Bee]

OK, I'll check it out tonight. What version of PTW are you using? I switch mine back and forth so I'll stick to whatever version you are using.

 

[DaveMcW]

1.21 (I think). I switch a lot too.

 

[Cartouche Bee]

Yep, that worked. Seeing is believing, it sure has potential under certain circumstances and this knowledge would have saved me some pop. points and complexities, when I've done this in a game. Thanks.

 

[Hygro]

Awsome find man!

 

[Jove]

Arrr, the palace jump always bites me in the rear. Maybe this know-how will allow me to harness the power of the palace jump.

 

[Capt Buttkick]

Excellent.
I've never used palace jumps cause I could never figure out how make them correctly...
I sure will do it now.

 

[col]

Excellent - this answers a long running debate.

Now that the jump is predictable, it means that this is now a viable strategy. The risk was too great in the past that the 'wrong' city would become capital.

The neighbouring city count was the stroke of genius.

 

[ProPain]

Great work This will help me a lot! Thanx

 

[Globetrotter]

 

[NewDestroyer]

:worshp::worshp: :worshp:IM NOT WORTHY!!!:worshp::worshp:

Great job figuring this stuff out! Everyday we find more and more about the game thx to analysers like u thx.

 

[Dr Elmer Jiggle]

How is the "within eight squares" distance calculated? Is it a "walking" distance or an actual linear distance?

For example, suppose I have a city 8 squares due west of my capital. Is that 8 squares away or 8 * sqrt(2), since it's along the diagonal of the grid squares?

 

[Ram]

Good job, you are to be admired, but I have only one question: wouldn't it be easier to just ask the developers?