The eternal dilemma... when to stop taking cities....

[Sherlock]

I was in an alliance with Rome and they back-stabbed me, declaring war on me.

When this happens I'll always take at least one city before letting a Civ off the hook.

But heck, I've got the army.... should I just go ahead on take Rome?

Seems like a pretty good city, but not sure I really need it.

 

[WillowBrook]

Depends if you care about warmonger penalties....

I'm currently playing Norway for the first time, went with island plates and king. After having fun with longships, I decided that the Thunderbolt of the North could only win by taking every. Single. City. He clearly doesn't care about warmonger penalties. No dilemma for him.

 

[bite]

I'll take my continent, by that point I have nukes anyway so I don't want the irradiated mess that is my neighboring continent anyway

 

[ShakaKhan]

More cities equals more power. You stop taking cities when you decide that you have enough power to win the game.

 

[Disgustipated]

Or just never stop as in my picture in the Favorite settings thread. One fun aspect of this game is you can take everything like back in the Civ2 days. The penalties are so small, that there is little deterrent. Of course I was playing Macedon, and without worrying about war weariness penalties, I can go all day long, and I did.

In normal cases, the time to stop taking cities is right before your own cities revolt from unhappiness (from war weariness).

 

[Victoria]

You stop taking cities when you can no longer take cities... Went through Mvemba on deity this morning....Hit Scythia, DOW'd and they came at me... it was only then I looked at the military score.... my 360 to their 1650.....The AI was poor at attacking but when knights appeared (I had no Iron) it is time to take their money and regroup.

 

[gettingfat]

If your concern is warmonger penalties or amenity issue, you can always return the captured cities in the peace deal or even later as a gift. This will cut down the warmongering, remove the you occupy my city -18 rating, empty the AI cash, relics and writing. You can also use them to trade for cities you prefer and have everything intact. Also, capturing cities reduce their population, and you can rob their tiles if these cities are at your border, so your enemy will have no chance to recover. Before you return these cities you can also run projects to give you a few additional coins. So take and return is generally better than not taking.

 

[Victoria]

So take and return is generally better than not taking.

Indeed
Capture lots, loot all their land give back cities with no useful amenities or production and then watch the rebellion begin... their civ is now gimped and still likes you if you have done it right.
Alternatively just take the lot but remember this... a Gimped Civ generates more gold out of those cities than you would and with less amenity issues you can milk the cow with your extra amenities.
Razing is an option if you are going to wipe a civ out completely, its just a question of whether you have the amenities to handle the pop growth.

 

[gettingfat]

Indeed
Capture lots, loot all their land give back cities with no useful amenities or production and then watch the rebellion begin... their civ is now gimped and still likes you if you have done it right.
Alternatively just take the lot but remember this... a Gimped Civ generates more gold out of those cities than you would and with less amenity issues you can milk the cow with your extra amenities.
Razing is an option if you are going to wipe a civ out completely, its just a question of whether you have the amenities to handle the pop growth.

I normally won't raze cities unless close to victory. Just loot everything and trade them to my next war target, Dow, take the city back and resurrect the leader. This way I will gain a friend and also clean up all annoying envoys of this leader.

 

[Victoria]

Aaah the gifting cities exploit In god mode or how to make everyone love you after slaughtering them.
Definitely one I want fixed.

 

[DizzKneeLand33]

Aaah the gifting cities exploit In god mode or how to make everyone love you after slaughtering them.
Definitely one I want fixed.

Especially when gifting a city in Siberia has the same value as one in the Virgin Islands....

 

[mtt9999]

I normally won't raze cities unless close to victory. Just loot everything and trade them to my next war target, Dow, take the city back and resurrect the leader. This way I will gain a friend and also clean up all annoying envoys of this leader.

I like the idea of looting the city and crippling it and then give it back. What exactly does everyone mean by loot everything? Take the great works, maybe have a builder "harvest" the resources for another quick unit? Can we sell buildings like in earlier civs?

 

[Salmuth]

How many times do I settle close to the cities I'm going to take, just to make sure that when I give them back, I give them cities with a ton less tiles to work. It also boosts your new born city because tiles are improved already. I may even use a builder or two to kill bonus resources in the city I give back.

 

[gettingfat]

I like the idea of looting the city and crippling it and then give it back. What exactly does everyone mean by loot everything? Take the great works, maybe have a builder "harvest" the resources for another quick unit? Can we sell buildings like in earlier civs?

Too bad we can't sell buildings. What I usually do is to swap all possible tiles, chop forests and harvest for units, move any great works away... I may even start building some useless wonders or districts before the handover

 

[Victoria]

I may even start building some useless wonders or districts before the handover

I always place a holy district if I can...that has more meaning to me than anything else.

 

[Archon_Wing]

Pillage Pillage Pillage!

And pillage some more.

They'll call you a warmonger for taking cities, but looting and pillaging is okay. It often comes down to how much my army costs, and how much it costs to defend. Usually a new city will help pay for it if you can buy/build the proper infrastructure. Plus losing units lowers my costs.... Think about soldiers as aggressive versions of settlers. You build settlers to build new cities. You build soldiers to take other people's cities.

I would seize his capital though. This will make it much harder for him to recover and threaten you again. He'll hate you forever, but be sure to kick him when he's down.

However, you do want to consider the diplomatic makeup of the game. Some leaders will react more strongly than others and if everyone else is peacefully trading and leaving you out when you put yourself behind due to war, that may not be nice.

 

[Victoria]

Pillaging gives war weariness too.

@Archon_Wing he will not hate you forever if you settle a city on some ice and sell it to him, removes the -18

 

[Archon_Wing]

I just like how you can heal your units as you reduce city defenses.But you know, if I don't have to take the city by force, all the better! (err.... I mean the city tile itself, surrounding the city is already using force)

That seems a bit odd that they would forgive you for taking all their stuff and letting them retire in the tundra, but I'll keep that in mind. I don't really mind being hated for being a warmonger (especially by the conquered) as long as I can get decent trade with some other leaders.

 

[Victoria]

That seems a bit odd that they would forgive you for taking all their stuff and letting them retire in the tundra, but I'll keep that in mind.

Or during the peace deal just give a crappy low prod no lux city back, that also removes it.

Keeping a civ in the game to lower your amenities as a gimp can be useful, just go and demand gold off them every now and then

 

[Archon_Wing]

Or during the peace deal just give a crappy low prod no lux city back, that also removes it.

Keeping a civ in the game to lower your amenities as a gimp can be useful, just go and demand gold off them every now and then

Yea, these are things I like to do as well. Aka keep the best land and give back the "crap". And demanding gold is what I meant by kicking them while they're down, though I should have been more specific.

I do know outright annihilating them is a big no-no, as it was in V. Though I just hate looking at Trajan so much that I will do it anyways.