Time for a Culturebomb? - military strategy

[Jimmyballz]

Hi all-

I just started to take over another continent, and wiped out the closest civ. Now there is Saladins culture starting to surround my cities. I have a great artist but not sure when the best time to drop a culturebomb is, and where it should be dropped. From past experiences, it appears that you at least have to wait until the newly-captured city has it's unrest turns expired. When is the best time time for a culturebomb, & where?

Here's the situation: One of my cities is surrounded and the other is almost surrounded. Any advice? thanks!!
P.S. - Want to wait a bit before taking Saladin out...

 

[Quotey]

Suck it up- a culture bomb will do almost NOTHING, due to the way culture works.

Short: Total culture of a city is less of a factor than the culture which has been poured into a tile since the ancient ages.

 

[oranges]

If you don't have a better use for the GA, I would immediately use in the southernmost city to stop the revolt and immediately make us of those tiles not under Saladin's culture and increase the chances of gaining control over the ones in the first BFC ring, which appear far enough form his city to possibly be gained in the foreseeable future, but as Quotey said it is not overly effective. Culture bombing is really effective only early in the game. In any case, the northernmost one should have enough tiles as is and the middle one has no chance to gain some foothold.
Another possible element to consider is whether a great work of art prevents possible revolts. I seem to remember that form vanilla CIV, but I haven't used is in quite a while, so I cannot confirm whether it still works that way in BTS.

 

[Jimmyballz]

Here's what I found:

1. Before Culturebomb
2. After Culturebomb

 

[Jimmyballz]

Then I tried it with a city surrounded by another civ's culture:

1. Before Culturebomb
2. After Culturebomb

 

[Jimmyballz]

...finally tried a culturebomb in a city that was currently in a revolt after being captured.

1. Revolt City before Culturebomb
2. Revolt City after Culturebomb -No immediate difference in borders
3. Culture in Revolting City after Culturebomb 4000/1

 

[oranges]

It did not end the revolt? If so, it has become even more useless.

 

[Jimmyballz]

It did not end the revolt? If so, it has become even more useless.

Nope, still 4 more turns of revolting!

 

[oranges]

Poor GAs, they are now only good for cultural victories and golden ages.

 

[RaidforBBQ]

You're too close to the enemy cultural capital for the culture bomb to work.

ON a second thought, I believe that the use in post 5 is the most effective. It opened a backdoor and you can get more units in there without the -1 turn penalty.

 

[CheScott]

??? Am I missing something?

I always wait for the revolts to end, then drop the culture bomb in the deepest part of it, it's always worked for me. I realize that cultural influence is heavily weighted towards who's controlled the tile the longest. But, now that I think about it, in this case, Saladin hasn't been in control of those tiles very long either.

Never-the-less, even though you're surrounded for now it will even out some over a few turns and you should be able to carve out your own portion.

I think what may be going on here is that it takes a turn for it to take effect. For instance, in the last set you are 4000/1. Which means it hasn't yet grown. Next turn, it will. Some of the tiles will flip, even if they don't do so immediately.

 

[Jimmyballz]

Suck it up- a culture bomb will do almost NOTHING.

Well it did make a pretty big difference, especially in post #4. There was some territory that saladin could have settled in, now I got some time to get one of my own settlers there if needed. Also there are some units that I can move around, where they will remain in my territory and heal better. The GA's not the best for war, but they can be put to use (other than Golden Ages).

The culturebomb had no effect until the revolt was over.

 

[Kiwi Tyrant]

I agree with Oranges. Shame about GA's. They're only good relatively early in the game; and who actually actively angles to produce one early in the game when GP and GS are the priority!? They tend to be more of a byproduct now, often surplus to requirements....

 

[CheScott]

I just can't agree. While I'm not the most excited to see them, I've flipped more than enough cities with the help of a great artist to justify their existence.

 

[mike p]

Your best bet is to save the GA for a golden age. You have tanks. Saladin can't stop tanks. His cultural influence on your tiles is therefore only temporary anyway.

 

[oranges]

I just can't agree. While I'm not the most excited to see them, I've flipped more than enough cities with the help of a great artist to justify their existence.

With a well placed city and a GA it is entirely possible to flip 3-4 cities over time, but it has to be early in the game. I love searching for the spot if I (usually unexpectedly) receive one early enough.

However, once the culture is established, they do very little. If your city produces a lot of culture and is already pressuring your neighbor, the great work of art will make little difference, the city is usually already at 80 culture and you'll gain a few points in most tiles. If you're not exerting culture pressure before, GA will not make enough difference on a city that has 40 or especially 60 culture defense.

As a case in point, I've seen the AI use them in cites under my cultural pressure many times to no avail, they would gain a little in short time and before you know it, I'm back and gaining again. Mind you these are not culture victory games, just AI's ill-advised placement of cities. Even one wonder will make their cities pretty useless over time if placed just outside my border, not to mention 3 or 4.

Previously, GAs were at least moderately useful in late game non-culture games because you could end the revolt instantly and, unless completely surrounded by foreign culture, gain some tiles around conquered cities. Without ending the revolt, the mission and its results are really meager compared to what you can do with most other GPs. Great spies are probably comparable as the infiltration is a great boon early in the game, but in late game it's almost useless.

 

[CheScott]

Right, but if you use them in recently conquered areas, they can still be very effective in pushing back the encroach of a conquered enemy's neighbor, such as in this example.

I think that, if the tile has not been under the direct influence of the opposing force, they don't get the weight they would as if they had been for an age. Certinally not as effective as they might have been, but for my money effective enough to get a hold of some land for the city to get some production going.

 

[kniteowl]

I havent properly reed the thread. just skimmed it but from what I've understood it loosk like the cultuer bomb you are using does not end revolt after you've captureed a city, this is actually a bug in BTS, it was fixed with the 3.13 patch. Culture Bombs SHOULD END revolts.

btw are you playing the patched version fo the game?

 

[Grokent]

I thought GA Culture bombs were more effective if you turn the culture slider up to 100% for the turn that you use it? Doesn't it multiply the effective culture gained in the BFC?

 

[The Almighty dF]

I havent properly reed the thread. just skimmed it but from what I've understood it loosk like the cultuer bomb you are using does not end revolt after you've captureed a city, this is actually a bug in BTS, it was fixed with the 3.13 patch. Culture Bombs SHOULD END revolts.

btw are you playing the patched version fo the game?

Seconding.
Your game is bugged, you should patch it up to 3.13 then get the unofficial 3.13 patch.