How do I stop other civs from putting cities on borders?

[JustJoe]

The AI loves to put cities on every nook and cranny of non-bordered space near or in the middle of cities or right up to my border and this is in a huge map!

This drives me crazy. :crazyeyes


After a what seems like forever I can
get the cities by growing my culture, but usually they are so close to other cities I do not want them.

What happens if I do not take the city? (war, pissed civs)

I have tried wars but I get sick of watching archers get killed by warriors and can't build culture.

So how do I prevent this in the first place???

 

[ironfang]

The best way to do this is to make sure when you are placing a settler that wherever you place it, a border connects to its border. Its not a coincidence that the AI will drop a city right in the middle of your empire if it can. Its part of its strategy (AI meaning Artificial Intelligence). So when you encounter another civ, make sure that it cannot easily cross into your territory and create a city.

ironfang

 

[virt]

Don't worry too much about it. Just concentrate on growing your culture. In the later stages of the game, they will defect to you.

If there are only a few spaces at the edge of your border where they could plant a city, you might want to build a somewhat cheap unit and just plant it there. If you are occupying a square, they can't build there!

The Germans learned that lesson the hard way on my last game. I had just acquired the technology for aluminum, and I searched my entire continent, but no resource! But on a small island not far from my continent, there was aluminum...under German control. Ah, but they had left a single square unoccupied, and right next to the aluminum! I quickly built a transport, moved a settler and some infantry over there, and built a city. I got my aluminum, and it pissed off the Germans so bad that they declared war! (I won... )

 

[exorcist]

It is intentional but I get screwed when there is the perfect city spot about 10 squares away so I go and put the city there and another city or two plopped down later would connect them border wise and right before my settler gets there, they pop up and throw down a city... and you know they are doing it just to be *******s. It'll be an all jungle place that I had planned on cutting down with my industrious workers and they'll flop right down just to screw me like a duck. I dont think its funny.

 

[Sam_Catchem]

Things I have learned to discourage evil invading settlers. (mainly the French..damned pinkos..I mean the color not that they are communists..wait..they could be communists..whatever, I hate the color of those guys..I have GOT to change it. Nothing is more irratating than a big pink square in the middle of your country..and they seem to do it the most.)


1) Put units down on the tiny corners, if you can. In the early stages of the game this may not be possible.

2) Don't worry too much about the jungle. THe real estate is more important! The AI doesn't care if they put down a city smack dab in the middle of the Jungle neither should you! Workers are cheap and always useful through out the game..just put on auto and watch them go to work.

3) Kill them off and take it. More than likey they travelled a fair distance and so they got nothing realy there to defend it. This is really only good early in the game..but a 3 or 4 cheap warriors or whatever can usually take a city early..especially a new one. Also, Early in the game it is easy to get them to want peace. The AI has little interest (usually) in a sustained war in the beginning of the game..wouldn't be prudent.

4) Build up the culture and watch them fall. This personally is my favorite method. You didn't have to waste you energy to build a settler..and BLAH BLAH BLAH..and you get a free city.

k..guess that is about 2 cents worth.

 

[ironfang]

I agree with the culture overwhelm. I had my "ally" Zulus place a settlement on a single piece of coastal property that I "failed" to get into my borders. I was VERY pissed off, but decided that causing a war on my northern border was not worth it (especially since I was at war with India and on the brink of war with Persia).

It was a matter of maybe two or three turns until my culture simply soaked that city in, effectively sealing that border gap AND put a city next to some nice resources.

ironfang

 

[Anticos]

I just always make sure I plug the holes on the outer edges with small, 2-4 population cities. I did this in the first game I actually won, and it worked great. Granted, eventually the corruption will start to hurt, but good government and city improvements have always worked to keep corruption in my main cities to a minimum.

I also try to ensure that every new city I create shares a border with my current empire, and build a library or temple ASAP, to expand my borders in preparation for the next city.

 

[Sam_Catchem]

Oh yeah..the best part of the culture thing is that when the city does finally fall to you...lots of times you have the surrounding cities built up with roads, irragation, mines so you new city can steal a couple of squares and get bigger!

 

[wilboman]

Anybody noticed that the AI has an annoying habit of placing his border-busters right next to a strategic resource that used to be within your borders? The french did that to me once, and stole my rubber, but I didn't try to take it back 'cause they were much bigger'n me. When the chinks tried the same trick though...

 

[Sam_Catchem]

Yeah..that is like the AI's favorite trick it would seem. It should be an act of war stealing your resources. I usually take it as one...but it does blow if they are bigger bullies.

 

[WSmitty]

This whole expansionist minded AI is probably the most annoying thing in this game! I did recently post a question that might give decent solution.... Let the bastards defect to your culture, even if it's a horrible city that impinges on three of your good ones or is in the middle of a tundra or something. When you get them, the city is most likely size one or two or three at the most due to it's lousy location. Make sure the population is either stopped growing, or purposely let there be a shortage of food, then, build settlers. Once you are size 2 or less and a settler is built AND the city is not growing, you'll get the option to disband the city....

Annoying problem solved....

 

[Paeanblack]

I was playing football, and there was this endzone, which was like the perfect place to put the football I was carrying, but this safety, who was on the other team, like, gets in my way. This was sooooo frustrating, because he was on the the 20 yard line, which sucks, because the endzone is so much better than the 20 yard line. I was like, why are you on the 20 yard line? And he was like, so you don't get where you are going. Isn't that so annoying of him? I mean, what loser wants to be in that sucky spot? Really lame, dontcha think?

So I went and complained to alot of people!

/sarcasm

 

[Ferd]

Yeah, that happened to me once, too. It sucked bad. But then I just brought in a couple of cheerleader units, and you know what? Two downs later he defected to my team!