Funniest thing ever

[Lord Kid]

Izzy and I (Small Continents/Prince/England) spawned fairly close together near a CS, whom I pledge protection. She DoW's and takes the CS before I can respond, but I get my army up a few turns later and take Barcelona, then move on to Madrid, decimating her army in the process. After taking Madrid, her new cap is the puppeted CS which she has NO control over. She spends the rest of her short existence denouncing me and staring across the desert with her lone warrior. I was content to let her sit like that but 2 other Civs DoW her so I had to take her out to prevent them from getting a foothold.

Has this happened to you guys, a Civ being stuck in a puppeted city?

 

[spicytimothy]

Why did the AI kept the puppet status?

 

[Lord Kid]

I don't know, I kept waiting for her to do something, but she never did.

 

[hobbsyoyo]

It's been noted in other threads that the AI almost always puppets captured cities, no matter how many they end up taking. They will then refuse to unpuppet them, even if all of their annexed cities are taken. The only exception is when they recapture a city they had founded.

Who knows why they do it - bad coding maybe? It does get rediculous and opens up the AI to horrible exploits, however.

For instance, if you have to face off against a warmonger with a huge puppet empire, ignore the puppet cities. Focus on capturing or nuking the core annexed cities and you've essentially ripped the core out of the empire. The rest of it will fall apart soon afterward.

 

[apocalypse105]

Or the AI can built out of puppets i've seen the AI multiple times just rush buy units in puppets...

 

[Lord Kid]

@Hobbsyoyo - I noticed that too. Especially Mongolia and Aztecs. I was playing another game and I was taking Genghis' coastal cities when I realized his cap was again a puppetted CS, and he never did un-puppet it.

@Apocalypse - I haven't seen that happen, but it wouldn't surprise me.

 

[smallfish]

Or the AI can built out of puppets i've seen the AI multiple times just rush buy units in puppets...

I have seen this, rocket artillery appearing out of thin air.

They need to do this more, and with stuff like settlers and workers.

 

[Dogmouth]

I've had a puppet capital before with Germany. First, you grab a few barb warriors with your UA, then you attack the nearest CS. Voila, puppet capital without losing a single city! If you play your cards right, you can keep up the puppet fest by allying with a military CS. Of course, this strategy is only viable at low levels.