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Colony Costs are Killing Me
I have a problem with colony costs.
In my current game my capital and founding city is on a coast overlooking a narrow channel with a sizable land mass on the other side to the south. As I was hemmed in on the north by rivals, much of my expansion was on the other side of this narrow channel.
But, it seems that even though these cities on the south side of the channel are in close proximity to my capital, as close as cities on my continent of origin, the game treats them as colonies and imposes additional maintenance costs that make them difficult to hold on to late in the game.
Adding to the frustration is the fact that when granting independence, the game allows no flexability but groups all cities on a given landmass together for independence. In my case, that meant I had to let go of cities in close proximity to my capital just across the narrow channel to relieve myself of the research crushing colony costs.
This is not right. Why isn't proximity to capital (not just separation by water, even a narrow channel) factored into the colony cost equation? And why can't one choose precisely which cities to let go of to reduce these costs?
This whole colony cost/independence mechanism seems poorly thought out. Because of the unique geography of my starting point, my expanding realm was unduly penalized and forced to cut itself in twain, despite the fact that all of the cities were as proximate to my capital as those in empires that were fortunate to be able to expand organically all on a single land mass.
Why should having one's core cities divided by a narrow channel of ocean impose such a penalty? And why is there so little flexability given to remediate it? I had to let go of a "colony" (but really an old core city) three spaces distant from my capital city across the channel to get out from under these colony costs. That's just not right.
Solver, can you get this fixed, please? Here's a simple solution: Impose colony expenses only when the water separation between "colony" continent territory and one's capital continent territory exceeds the distance a ship can travel in two turns.
I have a problem with colony costs.
In my current game my capital and founding city is on a coast overlooking a narrow channel with a sizable land mass on the other side to the south. As I was hemmed in on the north by rivals, much of my expansion was on the other side of this narrow channel.
But, it seems that even though these cities on the south side of the channel are in close proximity to my capital, as close as cities on my continent of origin, the game treats them as colonies and imposes additional maintenance costs that make them difficult to hold on to late in the game.
Adding to the frustration is the fact that when granting independence, the game allows no flexability but groups all cities on a given landmass together for independence. In my case, that meant I had to let go of cities in close proximity to my capital just across the narrow channel to relieve myself of the research crushing colony costs.
This is not right. Why isn't proximity to capital (not just separation by water, even a narrow channel) factored into the colony cost equation? And why can't one choose precisely which cities to let go of to reduce these costs?
This whole colony cost/independence mechanism seems poorly thought out. Because of the unique geography of my starting point, my expanding realm was unduly penalized and forced to cut itself in twain, despite the fact that all of the cities were as proximate to my capital as those in empires that were fortunate to be able to expand organically all on a single land mass.
Why should having one's core cities divided by a narrow channel of ocean impose such a penalty? And why is there so little flexability given to remediate it? I had to let go of a "colony" (but really an old core city) three spaces distant from my capital city across the channel to get out from under these colony costs. That's just not right.
Solver, can you get this fixed, please? Here's a simple solution: Impose colony expenses only when the water separation between "colony" continent territory and one's capital continent territory exceeds the distance a ship can travel in two turns.
(thats a joke for you stiffs 
One of the best reviews available! More detail than anywhere else that is not a strategy thread, and better than most of those.
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