How to Predict Palace Jump?

[DamnDirtyApe]

This is my first post, so be gentle.

While playing GOTM 5 I read about the 'free palace jump' and decided to try it myself by disbanding Washington (which was at the far east of my empire). I assumed it would go to the largest city (Paris), which was approximately in the middle - I even added a few workers to make it bigger. However, the capital instead moved to Chicago, which was the westernmost city, and right near the front with Russia - a long and protracted war, but that's another story.

How do you predict where the new Capital will be? Does it have to be a city you have started yourself?

 

[DamnDirtyApe]

77 views and no replies? Somebody must have an idea...

 

[BillChin]

I do not know, I thought it was population, and am glad I saw your post before trying the trick myself. My guesses: maybe it is culture. Are the top five cities in the world based on culture? You already did it, so maybe you can check to see if the city with the new palace has the highest culture. If it isn't culture, then maybe it is a complex formula that Firaxis will never reveal

 

[shdwlord]

I thought it was population too, maybe it is the city with the highest number of your civ's pop in it, or the highest population with no other civs population in it. Paris might not have been selected because Chicago had more Americans than Paris, or because Paris still had French population in it.

 

[IronKnight]

OK...let me catch up with this conversation. I'm very interested in disbanding Washington also...but how do you do it??? Is there a disband button??? I haven't seen it.

Thanks!

 

[DamnDirtyApe]

Just build settlers or workers until you get to population 1 or 2 (depending on what you are building). The game will ask you if you really want to complete that last settler/worker, as it will disband the city. Just click yes, and Washington will be no more.

 

[IronKnight]

OK...thanks for your patience...but I'm missing something here.

I've done that. I have 2 cities with pop. 1. Both are 1 turn away from producing settlers. I hit shift+enter, now its the next turn...no settlers. Shift+Enter...still no settlers.

What am I missing? Where's the magic button???

Do certain city improvements stop disbanding? Do you need certain techs to do this?

Any help will be GREATLY appreciated!

 

[jraohc]

I think that to disband a city, in addition to getting it small and building a settler/worker, you have to remove food so that it is not growing. It seems to me that otherwise the city just waits until it grows to build the settler/worker.

I'd also be very interested in the original question of the thread -- How to Predict a Palace Jump.

 

[IronKnight]

Thanks, jraohc. It now works. I was overlooking a MAJOR factor, I had the computer managing the town, so there was never a food shortage. DAHH!

I'd like to help you out in return. BillChin basically summed things up a few posts above in regards to where the palace goes. I've been following along the latest news about the jump and how it works, but could never do it. There appears to be no sure way to know where it will go. Aeson posted this in GOTM3 spoiler talk. I hope this helps.

"The palace usually moves to the city with the highest population, but sometimes it doesn't. So far no one seems to have figured out exactly why. It's best to do very early in the game (after 5-10 cities have been built/conquered), and while cities are small. I've never had a problem moving the palace to where I wanted it if the target city was the only one size 3+. When there are multiple cities of size 3+, it's becomes hard to predict where the palace will move. Early in the game, all cities should still be producing settlers and workers often anyways, so their populations should be low already. Just don't build any settlers or workers (or do any pop-rushing) from your target city, and it should work everytime.

Hope this helps!

 

[rdomarat]

Nobody seems to have The Answer, so I thought I'd add my guess as well.

You mentioned that you thought the palace would end up in Paris, but instead ended up in Chicago. Two things come to mind :

1) Maybe the palace will only move to a city founded by your civilization. Is there anyone out there with a OCC saved game that can test what happens when you disband the only city you've ever founded?

2) Maybe as opposed to total population, the palace moved to the city with the highest number of citizens from your Civ. Were there a large number of French citizens in Paris? Were the workers you added to Paris to inflate the population American workers, or perhaps captured workers from another civ?

Just my two gold worth...

 

[BillChin]

Originally posted by shdwlord
I thought it was population too, maybe it is the city with the highest number of your civ's pop in it, or the highest population with no other civs population in it. Paris might not have been selected because Chicago had more Americans than Paris, or because Paris still had French population in it.

I did it! As others have said, it is the city with the highest number of nationals. The original poster probably had French citizens and may have joined French workers. Culture has nothing to do with it. Again, it is the highest pop of native citizens. If joining workers, join native workers to boost pop (not captured ones). I believe that is does not have to be a city started by the player (vs. captured), but native founded cities have the advantage of zero foreigners.

There is a cool strategy that Killer stumbled on to. It is to build the Forbidden Palace right next to the capital in a high production city. Once it is complete, disband the capital and have the palace jump to a far away city. If necessary, use native workers to boost the new capital's pop (before disbanding). This tactic is more effective than other methods of getting a Forbidden Palace with the exception of a leader rushing production.

 

[IronKnight]

BillChin, incredible!!!

Great strategy. I should have expected you to be the one to share this, even if it was not entirely your discovery. I have learned more tips from you than you might imagine. You have helped me a lot. Thanks!

 

[DamnDirtyApe]

Excellent discussion. Now I'll know how to do this properly for next time! :crazyeyes

 

[Dutchman]

I must say it's an interresting strategy, only problem is I build most of my wonders espesially the first few in my capital, so I rather wait for my first Great Leader and just rush the palace! that's my strategy, but hey if it works for you, good strategy

 

[BillChin]

Well, it is back to square one. Apologies to anyone who took my post as verbatim. Someone on the spoiler thread did the jump and it did not go to the city with the most native citizens. Looks like it is the same criteria as the top five cities on the F11 screen. A witch's brew consisting of population, improvements, wonders, perhaps culture. It is definitely not purely on historical culture.

If you do try the free palace jump, make sure the target city is your number one city by a wide margin. Rush all the improvements you can afford. Join all the native workers that you can spare.

 

[Lt. 'Killer' M.]

Originally posted by BillChin

s.

There is a cool strategy that Killer stumbled on to. It is to build the Forbidden Palace right next to the capital in a high production city. Once it is complete, disband the capital and have the palace jump to a far away city. If necessary, use native workers to boost the new capital's pop (before disbanding). This tactic is more effective than other methods of getting a Forbidden Palace with the exception of a leader rushing production.

A warning word to add here: Remember the culture loss from the Palace! The new one will be at least 1000 years younger!

Also, it often is kinda hard to get the Palace to jump far enough. I usually employ this strategy if i have a town near my capital close to finishing a wonder and get beat to it. If I can`t switch to palace or another wonder (ie I`d finish the Palace or am saving prod with the palace somewhere else) I switch to FP, then rush the Palace with a leader where I want it to go. Expensive, since it takes a leader, but a capital can`t flip!!!!!

This is excellent if one opponent has a 3-wonder town you want to take and make sure you keep it, but you don´t have the power to exterminate the other civ completely. So grab the city, pile in defenders, then rush the Palace. By having the FP close to the original capital you can pull this off and still have a productive core empire....