Stealing workers from City-States

[woodshadows]

city states no longer mass-perma-declare-war on you for declaring war on other city states? i notice they get very angry and the anger doesn't seem to disappear except with gifts/quests, but they don't seem to do the mass declare perma war thing anymore, is this a change since G&K?

 

[Trik]

You could steal a worker or two from a neighbouring civ, Usually if they don't have a large military you can pay them off. The price; majority of the time, ends up being cheaper than the cost of a worker and you get a free Dow anyway, so might a swell use it.

 

[woodshadows]

id like to hear someone confirm or clarify what happens in the case of dow's on city states, since g&k. i remember in vanilla if you declared war on a city state 3 times about 5 other city states would declare war on you and stay in war with you for the rest of the game and there was no way to make peace except by killing them. since g&k i have been regularly stealing workers from city states and they never seem to declare war on me, they just get a huge angry red bar which doesn't seem to ever go away except with gifts. i only steal about 3 workers a game but if i knew i could keep declaring with impunity i may do that, even just to disband for the gold.

 

[tommynt]

never stealing workers - its just way better to clear the barb camp and make them aly - single dumb worker is worth 310 gold - clearing a camp gives u as much influence as 500 gold - workers cant work as much to offset the boni u get from CS.

As pointed out - if u want hese free workers just take it from ai

 

[krc]

never stealing workers - its just way better to clear the barb camp and make them aly

And you can sometimes rescue a captured worker from the barbarians at the same time, and simply "neglect" to return it to its original owner.

 

[Tabarnak]

A militaristic or hostile cs will be likely attacked and his worker stolen. I try to let other cs alone.

 

[loki75]

yes, on turn 25, I always steal a worker from a nearby CS. Gives you a small diplo hit with peaceful civs which will wear off quite quickly. I'll do it only once, I don't feel I need more than 2 or 3 workers through the whole game but maybe I need to refine my strategy on this point. Anyway, it's definitely worth it to steal ONE worker from ONE city state.

 

[docbud]

I normally don't steal workers from a CS. But in a game last night, this worker was just begging to be stolen. He just kept hanging around my borders for several turns, so I took him.

 

[Cromagnus]

If you steal a worker twice (Two separate DoWs) in G&K you aren't stuck in permanent war, but you will never again receive a gold bonus from discovering a CS, and your influence with CS will drop faster. Also, one or more CS will have their resting point set to -20.

Translation: It's not worth it. Steal one if it's *super-convenient*, tops. And by super-convenient, I mean, you happened to be walking by, it wasn't out of your way, no one was protecting it, and it was close to home so you didn't have to escort the worker allll the way home, etc.

In my opinion, the escorting is a big issue. Having your only scout taken out of action for 10 turns to escort a worker home isn't worth it in the early game. That'll cost you big-time.

I just ignore barbarians until they steal it for me. Then you get mad influence from clearing the camp and returning the worker in the same turn.

 

[iggymnrr]

It's probably right to steal a worker early. Negative influence that is not being cashed in on is as much of a waste as buying positive influence that isn't needed. It's also good to be alert for possibilities of bullying a worker from a CS.

 

[Crow T Robot]

Early on, you dont have so much influence with a CS that jacking a worker doesnt do any long term damage provided you dont abuse it. It angers them, but they'll get over it.

Just as valuable is rescuing workers from Barbs. I never return AI workers and only CS ones later if they are close enough and I am large enough to actually start treating them like a client state.

 

[CultureManiac]

It depends on the style of game I feel like playing. If I want to be left in peace for a culture victory, then I leave all the workers alone, except ones stolen by barbs. If I feel like conquest, I will steal them, since the negative impact on relations is nothing compared to what's coming.

 

[FromBirth]

loki75 mentions taking one at turn 25. What level is this on?
Is it a set time that the workers appear in CS or is it just an approximate time frame. Does anyone know, or is there a thread already, which details this for emperor and immortal level?

 

[CultureManiac]

They don't appear on any set turn, but you can generally find them around Turn 25, or a touch earlier, on standard speed. Earlier on quick speed and about Turn 70-75 on marathon. Haven't noticed a difference between levels.

 

[loki75]

loki75 mentions taking one at turn 25. What level is this on?
Is it a set time that the workers appear in CS or is it just an approximate time frame. Does anyone know, or is there a thread already, which details this for emperor and immortal level?

immortal, standard speed. Workers will usually appear around turn 25 in CSs. Probably doesn't depend on the difficulty level. At least that's how it goes in my games (g&k).

 

[Qaz33]

Always take one early. More than that and you will suffer CS penalties, so that depends on your game type. Typically I will find its only the 2nd one that I declare war on that gets the -20 resting point, so basically you're not going to ally that city state later unless you're rolling in the dough. So make the second one a military cs. Not sure about the decay penalty..

I typically have the worker that I start with do a little scouting and circle back around pretty quickly to protect the worker I build at my capitol. So it's not a big deal to have him swing by a close city state and pick up a worker. I try to time it because with those two workers early that keeps me ahead of the curve pretty well. But if I'm thinking aggressive often I'll take a second one early because WTH I need to start putting out some hammers.

 

[Martin Alvito]

Wow, a thread necro from all the way back in the Warrior rush days.

In general it's still better to get them from the AI civs since you can sometimes get two instead of just one, and there are no lasting consequences if the victim is reasonably pacifistic. Sometimes it's best to supplement that with a CS worker, and sometimes it isn't. It depends on the dirt and who's nearby.

 

[tommynt]

best to do is:
up to emperor difficulty:
dont steal worker , way better to demande 2 or 3 rounds of tribute untill u get quests

immortal and deity:
steal from 1 CS (choose some with decent production not some1 with all jungle or water)- stay in war and steal 3 or 4 more.
When u finaly sign peace after last steal the CS will be close to 0 hate allready and u can start for his quests

every1 not doing it like that is doing it wrong

 

[Buccaneer]

every1 does not play with exploits like this.

 

[joshua43214]

I do not regard stealing from the AI an exploit. It's one of the best ways to slow down your closest neighbor. You get less hate from them stealing their workers and settlers than from telling them not to settle near you. CS's are in the game just to provide you with junk, if pledge/consulates is not an exploit, or demanding tribute, then stealing a worker is certainly not.