Question about CS liberation

[Sabrina]

Well, first of all, thank you all who taught me how to optimize my specialists in the cities to get ahead of the AI in science it turned out great, I'm not only leading in science, but also number 1 in everything in the demographics screen, with 60 happiness, even though everybody in the game is guarded against me and refusing to trade. I guess a few more games and i will be ready for emperor! Of the 20 CS, 19 are my allies, I hardly lost a quest since the renaissance... Thing is, I adopted freedom and everyone else order / autocracy. Apparently there was a civil war in Russia and one of her cities joined my empire.

And here comes my question. This city is located between Moscow and the 20th CS, which I never got a chance to be allied with because it was conquered by Cathy early in the game. I'm sending a few units to the new city and trying to figure out a way to liberate the CS. Should I attack Moscow, kill a few Russian units on my artillerys range and ask for the CS in a peace negotiation then liberate it or should I attack the CS, conquer and then liberate? I never tried to liberate a CS before, so sorry if my question sounds stupid.

 

[cpm4001]

I think you could probably go either way, though if you only want to capture/liberate the City-State you might want to attack that directly (Cathy may not want to give it up, even if you win the overall war.)

 

[Sabrina]

Thank you, cpm! So I just attack the CS as any other city and when it is conquered I will have the option of liberating together with the usual puppet/annex/raze? It's not that I don't want to get into a war with Cathy, I would gladly wipe her off the map and could even make a few friends for that, even though this friend ends up being Shaka. There is nothing to lose, everyone already hates me and she is leading the wagon.

 

[cpm4001]

Yes, when you capture a previously captured City-State (or any other civ's city), you'll get the options to Puppet, Annex or Liberate. You can't raze a City-State because it counts as a capital, but since you're looking to free it that shouldn't be an issue.
What I'd suggest doing is directly attacking the former City-State, and then (if Cathy refuses to make peace) start wiping her off the map. Good luck!

 

[Walter R]

As cpm says. I always prefer to attack and liberate CS first - you get the benefits of ally straight away and it's one less flank to watch.

 

[Jampine]

Liberating city states is a good way to go, as it makes the AI hate you less. However I wish the rewards for liberating it where a bit better, all you currently get is 60 influence, which is a lot, but could be much more. I think this situation plays out in my head:

Liberation: Oh thank thee rightful leader! you have freed my people from the chains of tyranny, we will be forever in your debt for saving our beautiful city!
Next turn, when the points decay: Eh, who's that shmuck lingering around our city? I kinda know him, but meh

 

[joshua43214]

If you really overpower Russia, just move everything up to her borders (do it one turn so you don't get the "lots of troops thingy") and try demanding the CS from her. She might give it up to prevent war.