Do you keep your borders 'closed'?

[larsenex]

Although I have yet to get the game I am wondering. Do you keep your borders closed and open them up as a leverage point with AI players to gain alliances or do you just keep em closed to prevent sneak attacks?

[xxFlukexx]

I used to keep them closed, but not anymore. I find that the AI likes me more with open borders(usually get a +1 or +2 to relations) and that there isn't that much point to keeping closed borders. I still cut off the AI land-wise and then fill in my territory but since it is so hard to make so many settlers that AI settlers aren't much of a problem(at least on noble and prince) I also like open borders to send in my missionaries.

Oh yeah and you can't sneak attack anyways, if you declare war, all of your troops get automatically booted to the nearest freindly territory. And city trade routes with other AIs are also very lucrative.

[Common Sensei]

If I want to concentrate on expanding away from my capital while there is still a little land available near it, I keep them closed so that they do not go through and settle in the land I'm saving.

[kimmygibler]

There is rarely a reason to have them closed IMO

[Utwig]

Well, it is when your second city is closing off an isthmus leading to your capital with room for 6 more cities and you're not an economic powerhouse to support more than 2-3 cities initially.

[jdchambe]

as the other poster said, the reason to keep borders closed is if you have an area of land blocked off in the early or mid game that you want to use later for cities and you don't want the other player's settlers to access that land mass.

but there are huge benefits to opening borders: trade. if the borders with another civilization are open, then trade revenue will be able to pass between your cities. With trade open to distant lands, it frequently means you will be making considerably more money from trade than you would be making if you kept the borders closed and only allowed your cities to trade with them selves.

trade between cities is "automatic" btw. Each city has a fixed number of trade routes it can sustain and it automatically picks the most lucrative ones available.

[Omegalink]

I usually close my borders if i've built my culture borders so i've got a massive patch of land behind me and the only way the AI/Rival can get to it is to cross my borders. Free expansion!

[baboon]

In my current game my closest neighbours hate my guts, they never wanted open borders from the start on. So they can hardly move around, pretty nice.

With the others, I have open borders, but they don't wander around much close to me. The extra relations is pretty nice.

I'm pretty happy with this situation. I started a war against one angry neighbour, he's almost gone now. The other angry one will follow soon.

[Velociryx]

Not sure I agree with the notion of keeping borders closed to "save" land from the AI's.

If it is near you, let the AI build there....seems that it should be fairly easy to culturally absorb their city, and then THEY get to eat the 100h cost of the settler....

-=Vel=-
(of course, this comes with the tradeoff that they might not have built it EXACTLY where you would have....)

[padillah]

Originally posted by Velociryx
Not sure I agree with the notion of keeping borders closed to "save" land from the AI's.

If it is near you, let the AI build there....seems that it should be fairly easy to culturally absorb their city, and then THEY get to eat the 100h cost of the settler....

-=Vel=-
(of course, this comes with the tradeoff that they might not have built it EXACTLY where you would have....)

HEY, Vel!

Where have you been hiding? I looked for you to start a new stratagy guide but didn't find hide noir hair.

Tom P.

Sorry for being OT.

[Common Sensei]

Originally posted by Velociryx
Not sure I agree with the notion of keeping borders closed to "save" land from the AI's.

If it is near you, let the AI build there....seems that it should be fairly easy to culturally absorb their city, and then THEY get to eat the 100h cost of the settler....

-=Vel=-
(of course, this comes with the tradeoff that they might not have built it EXACTLY where you would have....)

The necessity of closed borders for this reason is mitigated by how close your neighbors are. Sometimes it's like the old arcade game Qix where you have to seal off the enemy with zones of influence. The earlier your neighbors zones are visible, the more necessary it seems to be.

[Velociryx]

Hey padillah! I've mostly been lurking in the Candle'Bre forums, but couldn't resist taking a bit of a break to try out the new game!

CS....agree to a point. The benefits of keeping those borders open, however, are pretty compelling. Mostly, I would contend that it depends on your preferred style of play.

I've got no reservations about seeing rivals marching thru my territory, and I'm happy for the boost in good relations with that Civ, and the opportunities for trade it could open up down the line.

Sure, there's a chance that said Civ will encroach on my territory a bit, but with strong culture, I'll get it back in the end.

Of course, sometimes you run across a situation that's too good to pass on. If you see a choke point, and you KNOW you can permanently stifle a rival's growth by plunking a city on it and denying him border access....

-=Vel=-

[Common Sensei]

Originally posted by Velociryx

Of course, sometimes you run across a situation that's too good to pass on. If you see a choke point, and you KNOW you can permanently stifle a rival's growth by plunking a city on it and denying him border access....

-=Vel=-

That's definitely the "Qix" scenario I use closed borders for.

It's usually only one rival I have to close borders for, the one closest to me.

[padillah]

Maybe it's me but I don't understand the impetus behind "Our close borders cause tension" gripe.

Why is being close a bad thing? The US is close to Canada and we couldn't care less. (I don't mean it like that I... Oh, heck.)

Tom P.

[DrFoxy]

Originally posted by padillah
Maybe it's me but I don't understand the impetus behind "Our close borders cause tension" gripe.

Why is being close a bad thing? The US is close to Canada and we couldn't care less. (I don't mean it like that I... Oh, heck.)

Tom P.

Its all about the culture war going on at the border. There is a natural tension there as both civs vie for control of the tiles. I've had a game where an AI went to war with me after I started to encroach on his border city. I bought him off after few turns of ineffctual fighting on both sides. A few turns later the threatened city revolted. Said AI attacked me again as he had to either drive my culture back or lose the city.

As for a real life example of the tension shared borders create, just see France and Germany for just about the entire time from the formation of Germany. There is a reason that both cultures exsist in Alsace-Lorraine.