Should I keep or should I raze?

[Arrian]

The AI just builds too many cities in worthless locations. They just aren't worth keeping.
If I'm at war with somebody, I really don't care if I take a diplo hit. It's not like they are ever going to be my buddy again You just have to make sure that you don't raze a holy city by accident...

Sometimes I do end up "buddies" with a civ I've fought a war against. Typically, this is a civ that attacked me. I fight off the attack, counterattack, and take cities. This civ may share my religion, making them a good candidate to be a "buddy." If I don't raze any of their cities, I have a very good shot at coming out of the war with a positive diplo situation. Soon enough, I've got open borders and trade going again.

I fight so that I may build. I'm happy to crush an AI civ mercilessly, but it's not my primary objective. It's a means to an end.

-Arrian

[joncnunn]

On the AI building too many cities in worthless locations, the folks over at Better AI say that with an unmodified AIHandicap.xml city at high difficulty levels (Emperor+) the locations aren't nearly as bad to the AI as people think.

[Ming]

While they may not be nearly as bad to the AI as people think, I know that many are worthless to me