Capital -- Should it ever be moved?

[Ghandis Khan]

You should move capital from the AI's bank account to your own as often as possible. A good way to do this is to maximize your martial potential and negociate for very favorable terms. For example, an interest free loan that does not have to be paid back.

[The keeper]

If all my expansion is uni-directional - I will think about moving my capital.

[unamablebuiler]

john AFAIK you can and i have then you move the capital to the other end you don't look at the wonders list yo look where the palace option normaly would be

[Calvin Vu]

I moved it once when I downloaded a game someone posted and asked for opinion on how to play since he and his friend lost several times no matter what they did.
The reason I moved was for better commerce. The original location had too many plain squares and only one crummy commerce resource.

This was done very early before the capitol got set up as the SS city though. I wouldn't think about moving after the capitol has been set up and has some of the tech-boosting wonders like the GL. Probably the pre-requisite in moving the capital in the early game is that the new location must have a fair number of trees to be chopped to get the palace up in a relatively short time without cripping early game expansion.

[rjmatsleepers]

Originally posted by platypotamus
Your misspelling choice had me laughing


On the subject at hand though, my brain sort of shuts off the concept of moving the capital. I know it's a choice, I know the palace is in the build menu, but I never actually acknowlege its presence.

Perhaps I should, that bureaucracy concept sounded good. I wonder if I'm underusing bureaucracy...

Whether you move your capital or not, you should go for bureaucracy. The 50% commerce bonus acts before all the other bonuses, so the impact in a high commerce city is very large (well 50% actually ) unlike the other bonusses that only add 50% of your base commerce.

(I'm not sure I expressed that very well, but try bureaucracy and you'll see what I mean.)

RJM at Sleeper's

[platypotamus]

Originally posted by rjmatsleepers


Whether you move your capital or not, you should go for bureaucracy. The 50% commerce bonus acts before all the other bonuses, so the impact in a high commerce city is very large (well 50% actually ) unlike the other bonusses that only add 50% of your base commerce.

(I'm not sure I expressed that very well, but try bureaucracy and you'll see what I mean.)

RJM at Sleeper's

I run it occasionally when I'm still small, but I usually feel like I want:

1. Vassalage, because I'm preparing for or at war.
or
2. Free Speech, because I'm going for cultural victory (the victory I find myself achieving most often).

Even when I'm not going for cultural victory, I feel like I have enough towns by the time free speech rolls around that I'm getting more money out of it than I am out of bureaucracy, particularly when the lower maintanence cost is considered as well.

I think the biggest reason that I run bureacracy so little though is actually due to two problems in my playstyle that I'm working to resolve:

First, I tend to enter longer, more protracted wars than I should, so I tend to end up keeping vassalage running for a lot longer than I should really need to. I think as I become better at preparing a large enough army in advance for precision strikes that are over in a few turns, I'll be able to be more slective in my civic there. I've historically done the same thing with theocracy, in times where organized or pacifism would have been much nicer.

Second, I tend to completely forget about changing civics except when new ones get researched. I'll realize that I haven't been at war for thirty turns, but I'm still in war civic mode.

Still, admitting I have the problem is the first step to solving it, right?

[rjmatsleepers]

Originally posted by platypotamus


I run it occasionally when I'm still small, but I usually feel like I want:

1. Vassalage, because I'm preparing for or at war.
or
2. Free Speech, because I'm going for cultural victory (the victory I find myself achieving most often).

Even when I'm not going for cultural victory, I feel like I have enough towns by the time free speech rolls around that I'm getting more money out of it than I am out of bureaucracy, particularly when the lower maintanence cost is considered as well.

I think the biggest reason that I run bureacracy so little though is actually due to two problems in my playstyle that I'm working to resolve:

First, I tend to enter longer, more protracted wars than I should, so I tend to end up keeping vassalage running for a lot longer than I should really need to. I think as I become better at preparing a large enough army in advance for precision strikes that are over in a few turns, I'll be able to be more slective in my civic there. I've historically done the same thing with theocracy, in times where organized or pacifism would have been much nicer.

Second, I tend to completely forget about changing civics except when new ones get researched. I'll realize that I haven't been at war for thirty turns, but I'm still in war civic mode.

Still, admitting I have the problem is the first step to solving it, right?

Yes, if you're going for a culture win, Free Speech has greater benefits.

And yes, if you're at war or preparing for it, a change of civics is helpful.

But when you need to churn out the beakers and you've built up your capital as a science city, bureaucracy really delivers the goods.

RJM at Sleeper's

[Son of David]

A 'capitol' is a BUILDING that houses a legislative assembly (according to the Oxford English Dictionary).

A 'capital' refers to a city which houses its country's 'seat of government and administrative centre'.

So you are likely to find a capitol inside a capital. Does that make any sense at all?

[Gueron]

Yes, it's pretty confusing...

A capital is the official seat of government in a political entity.
(American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language)

A capitol is a building where a states governement meets, the Capitol is the building in Washington, D.C. where the Congress of the United States meets.
(American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language)

So it was very confusing to me, who just happens to live in the United States, when I was younger and trying to differentiate the two.

G.

[Addled Platypus]

yes

when needed

if you gotta go...you gotta go

[Hermann the Lombard]

It's capital to have enough capital to build a capitol in your capital.

Who says English is hard?

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by platypotamus
1. Vassalage, because I'm preparing for or at war.
or
2. Free Speech, because I'm going for cultural victory (the victory I find myself achieving most often).

Bureaucracy should be the civic for most of the game. That's why the Civil Service slingshot was invented.

For me, Bureaucracy wins hands down over Vassalage because it is so much more versatile. You get more beakers so you get more advanced units faster. Also you can make your capital into a GP city, and GPs power wars more effectively than Vassalage (Great Merchant trade routes, etc.). Lastly, you can use the capital to grab wonders, particularly if you are playing Industrious.

If you want more experience for your units use Theocracy (and the Pentagon later on). Barracks + Theocracy = 6XP. Throw in the Pentagon and you get 8. Just a good fight or two will put your units at 10.

[Generaldoktor]

Originally posted by Son of David
A 'capitol' is a BUILDING that houses a legislative assembly (according to the Oxford English Dictionary).

A 'capital' refers to a city which houses its country's 'seat of government and administrative centre'.

So you are likely to find a capitol inside a capital. Does that make any sense at all?

Thank you literate Englishmen, I'm glad this is another proud tradition we have derived, (in some way ) from you, (suggested by the Oxford dictionary acknowledgement, read further, if you have nothing else to do .)

All American schoolchildren, beginning in the lower school grades are taught that they must spell "Capitol" when referring to the big building with the rotunda and the wings that the Congress of the United States has met in since mid-19th century or so. Otherwise you use "capital" and in small case, even when referring to Washington D.C. itself, various state (i.e. American provincial) capitals and foreign capitals, (Moscow, Ho Chi Minh City, whatever.) Spelling one like the other on the inevitable quiz questions got your hand rapped with the ruler .

Therefore the reference to spelling in the second choice of the poll was an inside joke that may not be clear if you didn't study English in Anglo-American schools or have access to an Oxford English dictionary. To those in the know , the poll choice was actually funny.

I am a little disappointed we spent half the existing thread clarifying the crack about spelling.

There has been only one mention of the obvious reason for moving the "capital," which is the game has gone against you and you are confronted with "INVASION." I guess everyone else here is proficient playing on Monarch or above and never is on the short end of the stick in a game-good for you!!

I just don't find the "commercial" reasons of themselves complelling enough to rebuild the da-n palace . There's always a shot at Versailles, plus the Forbidden Palace and if you end up with more than one great commerce center, including your original capital, more power to you. As someone noted, despite the initial fog, they are usually in a pretty good location and have had the longest time to grow.

[Son of David]

Well Generaldoktor, I was thinking about this last night and I've come to the conclusion that 'capitol' wins it by a technicality.

Because the 'capitol' is actually the palace, and by building a palace elsewhere you are moving your capitol.

You are not moving the 'capital' because it's impossible to physically move a city. You are simply designating a new capital.

So you move the capitol but not the capital.

[Brizey]

I would say that you move your capitol, which in effect, moves your capital.