Keep of raze capitol in early rush?

[erikzahn]

Hi all

At this time i play at difficulty level 5 ("principe" in italian language).
Many times happens that i use early rush to annihilate the most dangerous empire in neightborhood before 2200 A.D. (monty or gengis, usually...).
When i conquer their capitol city (most probably, their unique city), i keep them, for the following reasons:

1- I'have builded soldiers instead colonist
2- the city is in favourable position
3- The city is well developed.

But there is some negative reason that suggest me "raze,raze,raze"

1- High distance from my capitol
2- High distance from my capitol
3- uhm.. ah, yes: high distance from my capitol.

What do you think? Keep or raze? And in higher difficulties?

 

[AlessioCerci]

Keep always. If its close enough to take it, its close enough to keep it. Capitals are almost always very well placed and become awesome cities later on. Difficulty would not affect my decision.

 

[Refar]

Capitals are usually worth keeping.

 

[Diamondeye]

Always keep.

Offtopic question - difficulty number 5 is "prince" in english, so does "principe" mean prince in italian? -In that case, why is there a soldier class in Rome Total War called principe?

 

[DragonHawk]

Always keep. The capitals' locations are some of the best in the game, in any difficulty level.
The distance penalty are usually offset by the improvements you capture in the capital.

 

[Bleys]

You usually end up with a sizable chunk of land in between for your own future colonization.

There are many tips to make these distant cities pay for themselves. Cottages, courthouses, mining gems and precious metals, etc.

I am sure there are situations where razing is the better choice, but its probably a very low percentage.

 

[kjnoren]

Always keep.

Offtopic question - difficulty number 5 is "prince" in english, so does "principe" mean prince in italian? -In that case, why is there a soldier class in Rome Total War called principe?

It's from the part of the Roman legion that were called "principes". The three lines of battle of a deployed army were made up of hastati, principes and triarii.

Anyway, princeps (the root) actually means first, and it's the origin of both prince and principles.

 

[omglazers]

Always keep.

Offtopic question - difficulty number 5 is "prince" in english, so does "principe" mean prince in italian? -In that case, why is there a soldier class in Rome Total War called principe?

Also, Latin != Italian

 

[AnsonMage]

I'd keep it. The only time I have ever razed a city was when I annhilated the Germans and then as a final "middle finger" to them, I razed their capital instead of capturing it. In retrospect, I should have kept it, but it just made me feel so good to watch them go down knowing that I had burned their capital to the ground. I even pillaged the ruins. Later, I liberated all of their old cities and created the Americans out of them as a far more advanced ally and they resettled where Berlin had been.

All in all, unless you have inflation concerns, I'd certainly keep the capitol.

 

[futurehermit]

Keep the capital, raze the rest unless they are close to you or have high commerce (e.g., gold pits). Live off the razing money and be sure to focus on economy afterwards.

 

[Gliese 581]

There would not be much point in the early rush if you don't keep the price. You're paying a huge cost for a war so early were there are no siege units to do collateral damage and furthermore you typically halt your expansion completely so you better hope you capture some nice cities.

 

[Il Corvo Bianco]

Always keep.

Offtopic question - difficulty number 5 is "prince" in english, so does "principe" mean prince in italian? -In that case, why is there a soldier class in Rome Total War called principe?

In Latin Princeps meant "first", so that soldiers were the first of the legion.
Then Octavian called himself "Princeps Senatus", or better First of the Senate, from that Princeps ---> Principe and Prince, meaning the first of the nation.

 

[Jtownsend]

Princeps civitatis, first citizen, also. Most of the RTW pronunciations (and much else in vanilla) is a bit off, just as a warning.

 

[6K Man]

I always keep capital cities - as has been said, they usually are on really good sites with lots of resources and possibly some good buildings, even in the early game. Early on, I'll often raze everything else other than holy cities.

 

[stachnie]

I do not raze captured cities unless:

- ill placed (e.g. one tile from coast)
- placed too closely
- generally location is poor (e.g. tundra or ice without resources)
- I want to punish a civ, not to conquer.

I may even raze a well placed city if it does not have anything valuable (a wonder, a shrine etc.) if my economy is poor - in such case it is better to rebuild it later.

Capitals are usually very well placed and have valuable buildings, wonders etc. so it is better to keep them.


S.

 

[alex sword]

Distance maintenance matters, but not much. Number of cities matters much more. So, if you find good location for city (capitals usually are good placed) especially with luxury/strategic resources it should be kept.

So:
1) Don't raze the city.
2) Connect it to your capital ASAP (either build roads or via sailing)
3) Use whipping in this city (to reduce maintenance which is size dependent) to build libraries/courts and use FE/SE economy there (usually CE is bad choice for such a far-away city in early game due to a relatively higher risk of barbarians/Monty invasion).

 

[Diamondeye]

In Latin Princeps meant "first"

That would also explain why the muscles in your arms are called "bi-ceps" and "tri-ceps", as in "secondary" and "third", right?

 

[DaveMcW]

Biceps are connected to the skeleton at two points, triceps are connected at three points.

 

[Diamondeye]

Okay, thanks Dave. Impressive amount of knowledge guys like you have ONce again, thanks.