The Neighbourhood Watch Strategy

[Victoria]

Unless you are owning,
build a temple, just one little temple.
When you have enough faith, maybe 1000 faith suzerain Yerevan just for one turn so you can build heathen converting apostles.
Build one neighbourhood... or a few in one city.
Leave your apostles to watch for rebels produced by spies as these will be at least as good as your troops if not better, and convert these heathens.
A never ending supply of highly upgraded troops.
.. a fun idea, never tried.
Tx to @AsH2 for the inspiration and humour

 

[Moosus Maximus]

OMG that is delightful.

Here I was just accepting the partisans as free skillups, since the AI seems to hit the same city over and over. I just leave my 'response team' in place where the last one occured. I usually clear them with minimal or no losses. But *converting* them? Oh, that is delicious.

 

[blackcatatonic]

When life gives you lemons... I like it!

Will definitely give this a go next game. It particularly appeals as I've been caught out by the AI doing this at really inopportune moments in the past. Although sad to say, in my current game - my first since the September patch - I've got neighbourhoods left right and centre and haven't had the AI recruit partisans once. Sad times.

 

[Scaramanga]

One of the reasons I keep Boudica in conquered enemy capitals. At least on vanilla, I don't think civil unrest is a thing anymore.

 

[Victoria]

I don't think civil unrest is a thing anymore.

According to the XML it only happens at -6. Now getting to -6 is damn near impossible unless you are a very big city and I have not seen any for a while like you said. It seems they have replaced revolt with loyalty.

 

[Laurana Kanan]

According to the XML it only happens at -6. Now getting to -6 is damn near impossible unless you are a very big city and I have not seen any for a while like you said. It seems they have replaced revolt with loyalty.

I shifted this so revolts now happen at -4 and it's now harder to have positive happinesses. Also, increased the loyalty malus with the negative happinesses. Adds a bit more dynamism to my games.

Leave your apostles to watch for rebels produced by spies as these will be at least as good as your troops if not better, and convert these heathens.
A never ending supply of highly upgraded troops.

This strategy has been brought up on here from time to time. I've been doing it since Vanilla. It's a fun diversion to recruit partisans for the war effort.

 

[iammaxhailme]

Hmm, that's an interesting way to put up with one of my most hated aspects of this game (recruit partisans). Maybe I'll try it next time I play Kongo and have lots of neighborhoods...

 

[enKage]

This is my common use of Kongo apostles. i need 1-2 medics and the rest is pretty chance 1 per 3 times to get either relic or conversion. Mbanza helps to get units earlier than other civs

 

[Lily_Lancer]

According to the XML it only happens at -6. Now getting to -6 is damn near impossible unless you are a very big city and I have not seen any for a while like you said. It seems they have replaced revolt with loyalty.

When you're in starvation that gives a maybe -4 modifier, you can hand-make starvation by forcing citizens not to work for food, so it may be easier to get -6 under such circumstances.

 

[kb27787]

This is my common use of Kongo apostles. i need 1-2 medics and the rest is pretty chance 1 per 3 times to get either relic or conversion. Mbanza helps to get units earlier than other civs

And yet people downvote his leader ability as almost the worst in the game... I've so often gotten square rigging Eureka without even revealing nitre thanks to heathen conversion.

Partisans are one thing (although despite the sheer abundance of neighborhoods Kongo normally has, I can count just 3 times where I have had that done to me... Seems they would rather siphon funds since Kongo easily makes lots of money and has commercial hubs everywhere) it's the courser or crossbow barb hordes that swarm everything and all the other civs and CS prove helpless to them that I like using my apostles on. The promotion is rare enough to consider not wasting it on just 1-2 units.

 

[paxis]

Unless you are owning,
build a temple, just one little temple.
When you have enough faith, maybe 1000 faith suzerain Yerevan just for one turn so you can build heathen converting apostles.
Build one neighbourhood... or a few in one city.
Leave your apostles to watch for rebels produced by spies as these will be at least as good as your troops if not better, and convert these heathens.
A never ending supply of highly upgraded troops.
.. a fun idea, never tried.
Tx to @AsH2 for the inspiration and humour

Sorry, but I don't get it. Why do you need neighbourhoods?

 

[Tech Osen]

A bit related: can you use spies on pillaged neighborhoods? I always cringe when conquering cities with them.

 

[Victoria]

Sorry, but I don't get it. Why do you need neighbourhoods?

because enemy spies cause rebels to appear there, often these rebels are stronger than your own troops.

can you use spies on pillaged neighborhoods? I

As I understand it, if a spy is on a commercial hub and it becomes pillaged their mission continues but if the district is pillaged when you try to spy this fails. So probably the same for neighbourhoods but I will test tonight and post here.
On city capture naturally a mission is cancelled . I say naturally but it was a fix.

 

[Tech Osen]

Guess I'll just pillage them all. Although in my last game I left quite a few intact and like @blackcatatonic said: no partisans even though half the world hated me.

 

[paxis]

@Victoria, now it is clear for me. In my last game I've such a situation with the rebels and I've neighborhood. I've wonderd where they come from ...

 

[Victoria]

@Victoria, now it is clear for me. In my last game I've such a situation with the rebels and I've neighborhood. I've wonderd where they come from ...

Now you can look at it positively, leverage the situation. Of course in reality we are either not ready for the rebels or have 5 apostles and no enemy spies.

 

[Tech Osen]

Or no Yerevan.

 

[Victoria]

Or no Yerevan.

Well Moksha's Patron Saint promotion is another (albeit expensive) option to increase your chances. Mont St Michael also increases your chances.

 

[paxis]

World Builder ?

 

[Victoria]

World Builder ?

2ez