The mechanics of losing a capitol

[carbontaxes]

This is kind of a two-part Q.

1)When AI (or a human) loses its capitol, is another city picked for a capitol? I get the world messages that "[Civ] lost their capitol" but I've run around a few AI's territory after they lost it and really don't remember seeing a new capitol city, or getting a world message about any new capitol like I remember from older versions of Civ.

2)So the reason I ask is because the last couple of games I have tried for a culture victory. Problem is that it takes me too long, like, if I were to get the victory it would be right at 2050. But around 1990, Darius or Caesar starts pumping out SS Boosters and SS Engines, so then I have to just ahead and power through my own spaceship like I always do.

So this game here, Bismark owns roughly half of the planet, it's 1918, and I'm on my 5th Social Policy branch right now. I'm getting the vibe that he's not going DoW me plus my military is pretty freaking stout anyway. So I'm thinking of pulling up to his coastal capitol with 3 filled nuclear subs of ballistic nukes, 5 destroyers, 3 typical subs, a carrier, a few modern armor and few mech inf. I will nuke Berlin and all of his oldest cities around it, then take Berlin. I plan to try this in about 40 years Marathon game time; I suspect his will have started his SS.

And diplo victory has been disabled.

What is going to happen at that moment? His capitol is taken and then razed, does he get a new capitol and what is the fate of the SS components he's already completed?

 

[AndrewBot88]

When a civ's original capitol is taken, another city (probably in order they were built) is chosen to be the stand-in capitol. Really, this is just a title. If you destroy it it doesn't count towards a domination victory, etc. A civ just requires a capitol. (particularly Rome, with their special ability and all)

I'd assume once Berlin is razed, any SS components he's built are destroyed along with it, and then he gets a stand-in capitol.

 

[Maktaka]

You cannot undo a player's progress towards a science victory. When the capital is destroyed, all SS components already added to the ship are teleported to the new capital, completely intact with no loss of progress. If you need to slow down a player's/AI's progress towards a science victory, focus on popping production-heavy cities and interdicting the roads leading to his capital. If you're lucky, you can get an SS part to finish in a city while you have the capital blocked off, which gives you an opportunity to nuke/bomb/attack the SS part and force the player to rebuild it.

That said, your plan is still a good one as you'll likely be nullifying his ability to make any progress towards the science victory without a collection of industrial cities to build the parts.