The power of a Citadel

[ColinTH]

1 - I culture bombed Arabia which took my borders to touching their Capital.
2 - I built a Citadel touching their Capital and plonked a warrior inside.
3 - Four turns later their work boat and Spearman were dead.

So it seems that the Citadel prevents healing even in the AI civilizations Capital!

EDIT
Some of you guys might have been aware that we can build a Citadel right next to an AI City, but this is a revelation to me. I might well be planning aggressive tactics around this strategy for future games.

 

[chazzycat]

hehe...cool. good usage of great artists.

 

[snarzberry]

Heh cool and quirky. Wait, his capital only had one hex of cultural border expansion in that direction and your border was right up against it?

 

[ColinTH]

This screen shot is a hundred or so turns on from when I built the Citadel and the same warrior is still there. The Capital has been building Pikemen, triremes and work boats every few turns and each time they are destroyed in four turns!

EDIT - I saw a thread some time back where MadDjin talked about Culture Bombing inside the perameters of the Great Wall thus eleviating the movement penalty, well this is along similar lines and I got the idea from that thread.

 

[Truthy]

1 - I culture bombed Arabia which took my borders to touching their Capital.
2 - I built a Citadel touching their Capital and plonked a warrior inside.
3 - Four turns later their work boat and Spearman were dead.

So it seems that the Citadel prevents healing even in the AI civilizations Capital!

EDIT
Some of you guys might have been aware that we can build a Citadel right next to an AI City, but this is a revelation to me. I might well be planning aggressive tactics around this strategy for future games.

. I didn't know about this.

 

[ColinTH]

Heh cool and quirky. Wait, his capital only had one hex of cultural border expansion in that direction and your border was right up against it?

On Deity level as you almost certainly are aware the AI start with two Settlers and both Cities are built within a turn or two of each other, on archipelago they are sometimes forced to build closer than normal.. The space just to the left of the fort belonged to Medina, the hex above (left) and the two below (left) belonged to the Capital.

After taking Medina which I had been attacking since 3,000 BC I had only one warrior one archer and three triremes surviving, I had Generals galore and was building the Hagia Sofia so I decided to take a Great Artist and put the plan into action. I could have got a domination victory very soon after building the Citadel, but I was kind of interested to see just how long the warrior could hold out, lets just say it held out long enough for me to get very bored!

 

[snarzberry]

Ah yes now I see it, I was having trouble picturing it but it was because my mind was locked into pangaea or continents mode. Cool stuff.

 

[ColinTH]

Ah yes now I see it, I was having trouble picturing it but it was because my mind was locked into pangaea or continents mode. Cool stuff.

I have on the odd occasion seen the AI unable to build their second City on Archipelago maps.
Just a thought - If we completed the Liberty tree and the Hagia Sofia about the same time and took two GA's to go with a Gret General we could then punch a very big hole in the borders of an established City!

 

[Valbuena]

nice !

 

[Blue Oyster]

Thanks! A tactic good enough perhaps to affect strategy!

 

[MadDjinn]

This screen shot is a hundred or so turns on from when I built the Citadel and the same warrior is still there. The Capital has been building Pikemen, triremes and work boats every few turns and each time they are destroyed in four turns!

EDIT - I saw a thread some time back where MadDjin talked about Culture Bombing inside the perameters of the Great Wall thus eleviating the movement penalty, well this is along similar lines and I got the idea from that thread.

great thinking

This might be especially fun if they managed to get walls and a castle in there, preventing you from taking the city any time soon. At least they won't be able to bother you for a while.

 

[Kevin J]

Nice idea! Clever strategy for a duel game too. I'd never considered putting a citadel right next to an enemy city like that.

 

[ColinTH]

great thinking

This might be especially fun if they managed to get walls and a castle in there, preventing you from taking the city any time soon. At least they won't be able to bother you for a while.

In my OP, I made a mistake when I mentioned spearmen, also I had been at war since turn three when I stole a worker (the full blown invasion started at about 3,000BC). I had been up against Pikemen (not spearmen) for quite some time, I had no iron and the only gold was coming from Barbarian camps. Building the Citadel gave me time to both research and build another City on iron (also to hold the AI back technologically).

Thanks to all you guys for your kind words.

 

[chazzycat]

I'm planning on trying this in my current immortal game. Siam my neighbor is growing way too powerful. He has too many elephants and the great wall so invasion will be quite tough. But, I was able to take a border city that gives me access to the capital with 1 GA. I have DOF & good relations with all other AIs nearby so if I can take Siam out, it will be a big turning point. Will let you know how it goes.

 

[ColinTH]

I'm planning on trying this in my current immortal game. Siam my neighbor is growing way too powerful. He has too many elephants and the great wall so invasion will be quite tough. But, I was able to take a border city that gives me access to the capital with 1 GA. I have DOF & good relations with all other AIs nearby so if I can take Siam out, it will be a big turning point. Will let you know how it goes.

Good luck - If you are planning on the double Great Artist and one Great General idea, you have to wait ten turns after the first culture bomb before enacting the second one, (unfortunately this would take away the element of surprise)!

 

[chazzycat]

I'm close enough to get there with 1 bomb, but thanks for the tip. Didn't get to play last night due to Giants-Phillies...will probably happen over the weekend.

 

[ShahJahanII]

This screen shot is a hundred or so turns on from when I built the Citadel and the same warrior is still there. The Capital has been building Pikemen, triremes and work boats every few turns and each time they are destroyed in four turns!

EDIT - I saw a thread some time back where MadDjin talked about Culture Bombing inside the perameters of the Great Wall thus eleviating the movement penalty, well this is along similar lines and I got the idea from that thread.

300+ Turns and your still in 460 AD?
I'm guessing you are playing marathon.
and that Trireme is heavily promoted.

 

[Mercade]

Very nice play. It's inspiring to see how people come up with these tactics to get the best out of the game mechanics. And there's little to nothing the opponent can do about it other than to culture bomb you back.

 

[ColinTH]

Very nice play. It's inspiring to see how people come up with these tactics to get the best out of the game mechanics. And there's little to nothing the opponent can do about it other than to culture bomb you back.

I have never seen the AI use a culture bomb in my 1,750hrs of playing thus far, if playing against a human I would keep a GA and a GG in reserve just in case!

I started this game with a plan in mind.

1 - To get a culture victory on Deity even in the CHEESIEST manner imaginable.

2 - To compare a victory time with One City as opposed to two, three, four and then five Cities. To accomplish these targets, I knew it would have to involve stagnating the AI civ thus enabling me to build all the Wonders in one City (they don't build any when they are loosing military units from the offset, and their Cities are under threat).

3 - This is going to take me about Eighty hours to complete, but I for one will be very interested to see the outcome. Mathematicians like vexing would be able to give me an answer, but I don't understand all the mathamatical jargon, anyway I am a "sad old git" and I enjoy doing things like this!

As a side note - I didn't expect to be able to build a Citadel right next to their Capital, and I certainly didn't expect their units to die after four turns.

I have no advanced options enabled, no world builder and no mods. When I have finished all of this I might try the same with Policy saving enabled!

 

[MadDjinn]

I have never seen the AI use a culture bomb in my 1,750hrs of playing thus far, if playing against a human I would keep a GA and a GG in reserve just in case!

They will culture bomb as needed, though it's rare. Askia did it to a CS in my china LP.