What to do with cities outside your core area that want to join your Civ?

[alcibaides]

As your culture expands, you begin to get cities wanting to join your civilization. But if these cities are outside your core area then couldn't accepting them into your civ have a negative affect on your stability?

The solution that I have been using is to accept them into your civ but then gift them to another civ, preferably another civ that is not immediately adjacent to the city so that they do not get a cumulative boost to their cultural borders.

Is this a sensible or stupid strategy? I think that I may have read somewhere that gifting cities away actually has a negative affect on your stability?

 

[FromasterG]

It really depends. If the city is awful, then by all means refuse it and raze it to the ground. If the city is strategically good, then accept it.

You can't let moving out of your core area frighten you too badly, and just so you know, you lose stability for gifting a city to another civ.

In the end, I don't think all that many cities are going to revolt and join your side, so the instability of accepting them isn't going to make or break you in the long run. You have to learn your limits.

 

[blizzrd]

Really, don't worry so much about instability. If your stability becomes a problem (view the advisor screen to check on this often), there are many ways that you can improve it that will counter the effects of owning some land that is outside of your historical area.

 

[Baldyr]

And there is a stability cheat if you need one.