Independents

[ascarybear]

I hated Bts colonies thare was no incentive to make them. you stilll had to pay matinance and you had to let the Ai improve them and the Ai just didn't know haw to build courthouses first. also sometimes you end up with a bad civ to have as a vassal. in one of my games the Ai created a zulu colony. within 50 turns the zulu had broken away and taken five of this superpowers cities.

BtS colonies are the tits, cap like 3 adjacent coastal cities and maybe an inland city, make peace with the AI, create a colony, and bam insta-beachhead where you can land troops without being under fire or having to deal with the cities, re group, and press inland

 

[Ahriman]

Of course, you could do all that without creating a colony too.

 

[conception]

Of course, you could do all that without creating a colony too.

Not what he is talking about, which is something I've done before. When you create a colony, it will automatically place garrisons in the cities. If you are taking the offensive in a war, usually the colony will be able to garrison itself just through those units, because the AI will be focused on your spearhead. But not only are you free to not worry about defending the cities, you won't have to waste a single unit guarding a city. And everytime you capture a city, you can "liberate" it immediately so all your healthy units can continue the offensive.

 

[Ahriman]

Sorry, I haven't created colonies in ages, but I thought they were your vassals? So if you're at war with someone, your colony is also at war with them?

Perhaps I have misremembered this.

And fair point on the free garrisons, though they're really not *that* large.

 

[conception]

Sorry, I haven't created colonies in ages, but I thought they were your vassals? So if you're at war with someone, your colony is also at war with them?

Perhaps I have misremembered this.

And fair point on the free garrisons, though they're really not *that* large.

It's not that they aren't at war. It's that usually you can keep the AI focused elsewhere with your SoD. It's not the largeness of the garrisons that matters, it's that every 1-2 units that you leave behind because you have to protect those cities, or prevent revolts, adds up, and it sucks to realize that you are finally confronting an AI's SoD only without 3-4 of your best units. I've fought a number of wars where those 3-4 units makes the difference.

Besides that, its fun to install an ally who will take over a number of cities which will have to be rebuilt but are already well-developed. Usually I have no interest in directly administering and defending overseas property, and sometimes I don't want to restore even a capitulated ally to their full glory. If you''re really flying through the opponent, you can always completely take over their territory and turn it over to your ally.

 

[Bobbtjoe]

Looks like my idea for city-states are now in

 

[mechaerik]

They were in before you thought of them.