Capitulation

[Addled Platypus]

In my one and only game so far

One AI has done this, waiting a couple more turns before I make up my mind if its a good or bad idea

[Solver]

Once they're willing to capitulate, they will also be if you decline and ask them to do so a few turns later. So think about it - capitulation isn't always a good thing to accept. Maybe you want to simply sign peace, taking some gold, rebuild for 10 turns, and take what remains of the Civ in a new strike.

I will personally not accept capitulation if the civ in question has any Holy Cities or Wonder cities remaining.

[GeoModder]

Originally posted by Solver
I will personally not accept capitulation if the civ in question has any Holy Cities or Wonder cities remaining.

Yeah, good advice. Here I was accepting capitulation from the Japanese, only to see him crawling back to independence and culturally obtaining a long captured city which give him the last needed population to become independent. Back to square one.

[MasterDave]

What I have seen is that an AI that I am conquering will capitulate to a different strong AI instead of me. All of the sudden, I find myself in a two front war. This possibility adds to the games overall challenge and uncertainty (and fun IMO). However, it also means that if you deny an offer to capitulate, that AI could very easily turn around and become someone else's vassal, instantly dragging a new player into the war.

Something to consider...

[Jaybe]

What's this with war being declared on a civ as soon as it becomes your vassal (peaceful or by capitulation)? Does this happen to everyone, or is it just my small sampling that gives me this impression?

Capitulator immediately attacked by my friend. Peaceful vassal immediately attacked by (my same) friend.

If it happens all the time, it's a bug. If it MIGHT occur, it's a feature adding strategic depth.

However, it also means that if you deny an offer to capitulate, that AI could very easily turn around and become someone else's vassal, instantly dragging a new player into the war.

I've had that happen too. I left them (the master) off the hook easily, however, after I finished my conquest.

[Jvstin]

Originally posted by MasterDave
What I have seen is that an AI that I am conquering will capitulate to a different strong AI instead of me. All of the sudden, I find myself in a two front war. This possibility adds to the games overall challenge and uncertainty (and fun IMO). However, it also means that if you deny an offer to capitulate, that AI could very easily turn around and become someone else's vassal, instantly dragging a new player into the war.

Something to consider...

And that capitulation to other AI's sounds like something that often happens in Galactic Civilizations II.

[Footie Mad]

I had a strange capitulation in a game of mine, at least in my eyes. Basically the second strongest Civ, Brennus was at war with the strongest Civ, Augusts Caesar. This is all based on total score, they had about the same amount of land though.

I was the third strongest and being opportunistic I declared war on Brennus after about 5 turns of the "big war". I was able to seize 2 cities and I got the message that Caesar conquered 2 as well. This left Brennus with a hefty land area, still larger than mine and his total score was still above mine.

Suddenly I got "You have made peace with Brennus" and it turns out he capitulated to Caesar with much of his land still intact. Was it really a good choice for Caesar to accept that when he had a clear shot at conquering all that land and get close to a domination victory?

I know vassalized land counts towards domination but it was obvious Brennus would break free soon with so much land intact, with a rebuilt army and a chance to challenge Caesar again.

[zeace]

Last night I encountered the same thing. I was finishing off Mansa when he become a vassal of Brennus, so I started fighting both of them. But it was taxing me, so I brought Capac (2nd place) in to help me. I finished off Mansa quickly and then tuned on Brennus. Just as I was about to take a bunch of cities, he captitualated to Capac. I was in no position to fight Capac, so the war ended. Initially I thought it sucked because all my units were kicked out of Brennus' land, but later I decided that I was actually just upset that Brennus had done something intelligent. I would have destroyed him easily, so he was right to give in to Capac.

This "better AI" we're always asking for can be a bit of a pain sometimes...

[monkspider]

I have found that AIs like to capitulate if you sack their capital. I once conquered maybe 30% or less of Spain, but captured Madrid, Isabella was begging for capitulation at that point.

Army size and other factors may play a role.

[dregor]

I've found that too. It really takes the oomph out of them to lose their capital.

[MoonWolf]

Hey, cool, didn't realize that! I've often been trying to take out my enemies capital when initating an assault (if possible) just for the show and that it's realistic to head for the capital in real warfare, but now it is quite useful (besides them losing a cultural city of course).

[LDiCesare]

How useful do you think capitulation is for the player?
I tend to think it's rather annoying to accept a capitulation considering the risk of the vassal being attacked by someone and dragging you into war. That and it might grow some culture and take some cities back from you, which is a pain?