when do you annex?

[FaceUnderMask]

1) I never annex cities right away
2) If I can pull out 10-15 hammers in medieval right after annexing, and about 20 hammers in renessansce - I consider annexing it. If I wouldn't have less than -10 happiness after annexing and it didn't has a colliseum yet I will annex it in most cases. It would turn in a decent city 15-20 turns later. Also if city is 8 or more in size and I have a gold to rush buy a theatre I also annex it.

Summing it up, the reason for annexing a city is being able to fastly upgrade it into good production\science site. Look out for river sites, food-rich sites near mountains and so on.

 

[Usuno]

I usually make a judgement call once the city's done revolting, based on how good of a strategic location it is. If it's not in a spot where I say, "hm, I've got a specific plan for this city," then I'll just puppet and let the AI do its thing, or raze if it's too close to a better city or has no resources because AI civ is dumb.

I had a map where Beijing spawned at a perfect sized almost-island connected to the mainland by a long, curving 3-2 tile wide strip of land (it almost looks like the continent had a giant boner). Siam spawned at the base of this boner peninsula, and I conquered his capital and turned it into a defense base, annexed it so I could make it build Great Wall, pop a Citadel in it, put walls and castles and barracks+armory down, rush-buy location if things got hairy, etc... very good location. Built cities all along the peninsula and they never got bothered except for pirates. c:

 

[Mustakrakish]

Well, usually I puppet everything until I hit the happiness limit. When I can't squeeze any more happiness I annex and buy courthouses instantly (never annex unless I can buy the courthouse instantly). That alone gives a happiness boost. If need be, also buy happiness buildings in them. That is of course best done when you have Big ben and that one policy in commerce branch.

 

[duxup]

I'm puppeting more the more I'm playing. Not 100% of the time but more often than I have been.

Last night I clicked annex on accident with some worthless little town that I had taken that did a good job filling out the borders in a spot. BLARGH!

 

[Aoxomoxoa]

One of the most common reasons I've found to annex a city is to be able to purchase tiles... I don't annex very often, and I would venture to say that this reason would the at the top of the list as why I would annex, mainly because it tends to be the common situation that pops up after conquering a civ.

I've finished the war, but I would prefer to have those two river tiles than let your new capitol borders expand to them.

 

[brynolf]

I burn most cities that I don't feel I'll have a use for. Makes me feel badass.

 

[Creepy Old Man]

...
Also, puppets will build happy buildings if you have the tech and have issues,
but only after completing commerce buildings.
...

(My emphasis).

I wish the puppet governors would build happiness buildings [/i]before[/i] I have issues. I don't like riding the threshold. My puppets all grow like weeds 'till I'm no longer happy (since I am a big fan of maritime CSs), and then they start making colisseums.

It's perfectly normal for me to have size 22 puppets busy building hospitals, when they don't even have a colisseum. As long as happiness is green, the puppets don't build happiness.

What irks me even more is when I have Mandate of Heaven from the Piety tree, which means that a colisseum is worth 1.5 culture. Yet the puppet insists on building culture buildings all the way up to museum before they get around to happiness.

 

[Hammurbabble]

About the benefits of annexation for happiness, I can testify to that from a recent experiment which you can easily repeat, and it's NOT just that the AI doesn't build happy buildings. Try this:

1) When you capture a city, make it a puppet.
2) After the clenched fist goes away, open the city screen, note where your happy/unhappy is, and annex. Your unhappiness goes up.
3) Now buy a Courthouse. Your unhappiness goes down/happiness goes up -- to a point better than where you started.

In other words, although an annexed city without a courthouse his worse for unhappiness than a puppet, an annexed city with a courthouse is better for happiness than a puppet.

That being the case, the only reason I can see for not (eventually) annexing every city you take, is because it will slow down your SP progress. Which is more important, that or happiness? Depends on the game, obviously, but you should be aware of the happy benefits of annexing (when you have money to buy the courthouse) in order to balance that off against quicker SP progress if you leave them as puppets.

 

[joncnunn]

Note that if you puppet a city first and then want to raze it after the revolt, you then have to annex it; raising social city policy costs. I think if your going to raze it better to start that immediately.

One additional interesting choice you can make to an uninteresting city if it's not in an area you plan on keeping (say an area with lots of islands; no luxury resources) is puppet, then sell the city to another AI for a small profit.

Along with other posters, I agree with initially puppet cities you are keeping. If not going for a puppet induced cultural victory, then annex after the city has come out of revolt and you have the cash to rush a Court House; possibly waiting a few more turns for a social policy if it's due to come in a few turns after you have that cash.

I usually make a judgement call once the city's done revolting, based on how good of a strategic location it is. If it's not in a spot where I say, "hm, I've got a specific plan for this city," then I'll just puppet and let the AI do its thing, or raze if it's too close to a better city or has no resources because AI civ is dumb.

 

[Seek]

One additional interesting choice you can make to an uninteresting city if it's not in an area you plan on keeping (say an area with lots of islands; no luxury resources) is puppet, then sell the city to another AI for a small profit.

Selling it back to the AI you captured it from (after a ceasefire obviously) will net a huge profit. It's kind of absurd how much they're willing to pay.

But IRT the OP: Annexing the first (decent production) city captured on another continent is often useful for buying and building reinforcement troops. I'll rarely annex otherwise.

 

[lucifero]

i only annex if i have already a high happiness, and some cash to rush necessary buildings, like courthouse and maybe a happiness or culture building. in any other case i just raze the city. i usually wait until i complete my current policy bar before conquering. annexing does raise the culture needed for policy, but once u build enough structures it makes up for the gap.

less happiness and higher culture just means less golden ages and less policies.. it's actually impossible to go on a conquering spree and get something good out of it economically/culturally.