"We don't do nation-building"

[Cheeris]

I have an open query - sorry about the Rumsfeld reference, but I thought it might grab people's attention and bring them in to a thread that probably has been covered elsewhere.

Basically, I wanted other people's thoughts on the best way to build back up the infrastructure of conquered cities. What do you do first? I find I have fallen into a habit of generally first building a Theatre, and then as many cultural improvements as I can afford to pay out for. On reflection, this doesn't seem like a particularly effective way (or maybe it is! )

Given a suitably large occupation force to stop the city going into revolt, what civic improvements would you recommend to quickly change a conquered city into a loyal and productive part of your empire?

[Jaybe]

To build the initial border, it is often more efficient to build CULTURE before any buildings.

Unless, of course, you have a Sid's Sushi, Creative Constructions or Civilized Jewelers executive available; then you can start with a courthouse if it didn't survive.

[Krill]

granary and theatre asap, then probably a forge if a walls aren't needed in that era of the game.

[johnmcd]

I tend to build libraries in preference to theatres. Less culture, but the science is worth more I think.

Otherwise it'll be granary, courthouse/ forge depending on distance and base production.

[The Priest]

This is why caste is such an important military civic. With it, as soon as you capture a city you can assign one or more artists, and very soon the borders expand giving you solid control. Without it, unless we are talking late game and you have the right corporations, you are battling to try to build a theatre or library which can take ages in a newly captured city.

[Krill]

Yeah, that is nice...but slaving a theatre with unhappy pop and then running two artists from teh theatre is arguably better and is more flexible. If you aren't spiritual of course, in which case the point is moot.

[The Priest]

Yes good point. I'm just too nice to run slavery in the mid- to late parts of the game.

Or more that since in the later parts of the game I am not going to want to whip my established cities, I never think of running slavery, but you are right - I must try running it just to whip those new conquests.

[eris]

My build order for conquered cities is Theater, (Lighthouse if needed), Library, Courthouse. I don't usually build a Granary unless it is early to mid game. I don't think you get back enough growth to warrant the hammers. If they finish all that, and if I have the Apostolic Palace (which I often work towards) then I add to the list the temple of my religion for one happiness, one culture and two hammers. I like that.

Sometimes they do not start with my state religion, so I always have a monastary or two to spread the good word, which helps a little on the culture. If I am still in Organized Religion, it helps with building all those buildings. (Plus there is another coin to the holy shrine!)

[egavactip]

Leaving aside civ-specific buildings, the theater seems like a no-brainer (or some poor substitute if you don't have it yet). Beyond that, surely, it depends a great deal on the circumstances. Early conquests you can view in the long term, building up the whole city infrastructure to suit your needs. Later conquests are not going be relevant for the long term, so your goals would presumably be 1) est minimum desired cultural output, if for no other reason than to secure the city and to help control more land mass percentage, and 2) reduce costs. So theaters, courthouses, relatively easy money-generators, etc. Often it might be desirable to make those later conquests into inefficient unit generators, so you also create a barracks, maybe a forge or factory, and start churning units out. In a late game conquest strategy, you can't be bothered trying to make New Moscow, you just want Old Moscow to give you a tank every now and then.

Similarly, you might have other military needs, such as an airport (for more staging of air units).

[snoopy369]

Granary is very useful in getting population in faster, which is a big help in getting a city to be YOUR city. It's also, of course, very useful if you whip population...

[Cheeris]

Originally posted by snoopy369
Granary is very useful in getting population in faster, which is a big help in getting a city to be YOUR city. It's also, of course, very useful if you whip population...

Good advice; I can honestly say though , I have NEVER whipped...

[Krill]

I think the only times a granary is not a good idea are if the city will never grow above size 1 (ice locked resource city), or if it's like the last 5 turns of the game. The rest is timing of the build; building a granary in a new city you just captured when the other player is about to atack it with a stack is a bad idea; walls are preferable...

[Krill]

Playing the game without whipping is like playing the game with one leg, one arm, and drunk; you can't get off the starting blocks as fast, you can't build up as quickly and you can;t react to events fast enough.

[wodan11]

Originally posted by Krill
Playing the game without whipping is like playing the game with one leg, one arm, and drunk; you can't get off the starting blocks as fast, you can't build up as quickly and you can;t react to events fast enough.

OTOH, you can generate a lot more commerce and/or beakers, gold, and GPP. It's a trade off... you have to decide if the early hammers or the early commerce is more important in that game.

Wodan

[Modo44]

Not really. If you whip correctly, i.e. with unhappy population, then you simply get to use more population on average than someone who doesn't whip at all. Or do you know other ways to actually use unhappy citizens?