Razing your own city

[svv]

Is it possible to remove a city you yourself built, and if so what are the mechanics for doing that? I can't seem to find it anywhere.

Reason for asking: I saw Cyrus was trying to plop down a city by some iron, and he was going to get there first. I plopped down a city a couple sqares away from the iron (with the iron outside the fat cross, because it was a straight diagonal away from the city center) so Cyrus' settler couldn't start a city in the area. After I got another settler built, I wanted to get rid of the previous city to position it better.

 

[Wodan]

Gift the city to an AI, then declare war. From there, it should be clear what to do.

Wodan

 

[svv]

Well, ok then. I suppose I also could have just let Cyrus build the city and gone after it at that point. I was wondering if there was a non-violent way to do it. I confess I'm in a building mode this game - my neighbors are Cyrus, Ghandi, Elizabeth and Frederick, and I want to see if I can outbuild them. The big aggressor is Louis XIV. Isabella and Tokuganga are around, but they're weak.

 

[Wodan]

To be honest, this is one of the complaints people have. I believe the designers didn't implement razing your own cities because it might have possible exploits. Not sure though.

Wodan

 

[Thorvald of Lym]

Exploits... like razing a city to reposition it in a better location?

I'm surprised they've left this feature out. You could abandon your cities in Civ3, so why not in Civ4? (And why wasn't there a 'No Raze' option for ?)

 

[Baru]

Exploits... like razing a city to reposition it in a better location?

I'm surprised they've left this feature out. You could abandon your cities in Civ3, so why not in Civ4? (And why wasn't there a 'No Raze' option for ?)

I nerver played civ III but, to raze a city means , basically, kicking the whole populatin out of the area. Sure there will always be the farmers and the herders but they will most emphatically need a trading area. Once that post is established there will be a town.

I would be more satisfied with a random city generator that once a plot of un-fatcross resource is utilized then a city pops up close to that.

 

[kniteowl]

To be honest, this is one of the complaints people have. I believe the designers didn't implement razing your own cities because it might have possible exploits. Not sure though.

Wodan

I have No idea what kinda Exploit it'd be except a easier Conquest Win... Sometime you accidnetly Trip over the Domination Barrier and if you have the option to raze Cities, and You REALLY want to check out the Conquest Video you can go raze your cities to decrease the amount of land your cultural baaoders control.

Wa-la no need to constantly checking your Victory Screen to See if you accidently Won Dominantion instead of Conquest.

Whether This is an exploit or Not... Depends on your point of view I guess

 

[malekithe]

To be honest, this is one of the complaints people have. I believe the designers didn't implement razing your own cities because it might have possible exploits. Not sure though.

I'd wager they left it out for the interesting strategic decisions it forces you to make regarding short term and long term benefits, not because of the possiblility for exploitation. If only they had included a better interface for the single time you are prompted to raze or keep a city.

 

[Baru]

All I have to say is............

Let's burn it down the local population won't mind!

All revolutions start with the farmers! Not a game reference but still valid.

If you raze one establishedm, then another will come. No matter how many theatres or libraries you put in them. tThe city is the resources, the food, the means to produce more buildings. Just burn it if you don't want it. If you founded it................Shame on you!

 

[cabert]

Gift the city to an AI, then declare war. From there, it should be clear what to do.

Wodan

If you capture back a city that was yours, you cannot raze it (there even is no revolt!)

 

[Bierp]

I'd wager they left it out for the interesting strategic decisions it forces you to make regarding short term and long term benefits, not because of the possiblility for exploitation. If only they had included a better interface for the single time you are prompted to raze or keep a city.

I'm inclined to agree with this.

The penalty for overexpansion is something quite unlike previous civ games and it can be debilitating. Not having a self-raze option forces you to live with your choices and learn from your experiences.


B

 

[manu-fan]

Here's another reason for wanting to do this.

I have some captured cities in another land. I'm at war with someone. They plonk down some units next to one of my cities and I know they will take it easily. I would rather raze it than let them take it.

But, hey, it's moot. Because there's no such option in Civ4.

Cheers.

 

[Jet]

If you capture back a city that was yours, you cannot raze it (there even is no revolt!)

That's only true if you've harvested 25% of the culture that has ever been harvested there (pCity->calculateTeamCulturePercent(getTeam()) >= GC.getDefineINT("RAZING_CULTURAL_PERCENT_THRESHOLD"))

So you can change your mind.

 

[Jorunkun]

I assume razing your cities is impossible because it would mean that you can just raze your own city when you are down to your last defender rather than let the enemy take it. It would make conquest really difficult because you'd never capture anything except land.

From a realism POV, I think razing of any city should only be possible if it is below a certain size, say three. The nazis on their retreat from Russia and Poland practised this "scorched earth" approach, but even they didn't really manage to eradicate whole cities.

 

[cabert]

That's only true if you've harvested 25% of the culture that has ever been harvested there (pCity->calculateTeamCulturePercent(getTeam()) >= GC.getDefineINT("RAZING_CULTURAL_PERCENT_THRESHOLD"))

So you can change your mind.

I never noticed because I harvest so much culture

 

[Thorvald of Lym]

The nazis on their retreat from Russia and Poland practised this "scorched earth" approach, but even they didn't really manage to eradicate whole cities.

Actually, those were the Russians when the Nazis were invading.

 

[Mutineer]

There is a lot of exploits posible with raising you own cities.

 

[CivDude86]

Thats why I don't raise my own cities but adopt them, with force.