City Bribing.

[markusf]

The cost for bribing an enemy city depends on a number of factors. The formula below contains all the details; it is taken from an alt.games.civ2 post by Daniël Proost:
Cost = ( ( enemy gold + 1000 ) / ( distance + 3 ) ) x citysize

I am not sure which distance is meant in this formula. It is probably the distance between the city and its capital. However, the cost depends on the square your Diplomat or Spy bribes from. It often pays to try to bribe from different squares - I have observed the cost vary by as much as 20%. At any rate, the distance is also influenced by the following factors:

Courthouse in city half distance
Enemy government is Communism max. distance is 10
Enemy has no palace distance = 32


The following (cumulative) modifiers apply to the cost for bribing:

City in disorder -50%
No units in city -50%
City was yours before -50%
Spy is bribing -16%
Veteran unit is bribing -33%

[rah]

Great library entry

http://apolyton.net/forums/Forum1/HTML/001678.html?36

RAH

[finbar]

That's the formula listed in the "Civ 2 Strategy Guide" by David Ellis. There are some other interesting bits and pieces. The distance is from the enemy's palace and diagonal squares count as 1.5 squares when figuring distance.

It has been noted prior to this that the bribe cost is affected by the direction from which you approach the city. But I've never understood why. Or, at least, why it can have such an effect. Presumably the difference between the various approaches amounts to the number of squares within the city radius, which aren't all that many. Or is the difference in bribe cost in this case related to something else altogether?

The book also lists the formula for the cost of bribing a unit:

Bribe Cost = ((enemy treasury + 750) / (distance + 2)) X (Enemy Unit Cost / 10)

Some of the other factors are the same as the forumla for bribing a city - distance calculation, 32 if there's no enemy Palace, 10 for Communism, etc. But the distance is a given 16 if the unit is a Barb, and the bribe cost is "Bribe Cost /2" if the unit is a Settler.

It should be noted that I've posted a couple of these formulae from the Strategy Guide over the years and some of the arithmetically-inclined posters have questioned them.

[ravagon]

I came to the conclusion some time ago that there was some sort of big price rise when trying to bribe a city away from a civ with a fundamentalist govt.
Can anybody else confirm/deny this?

[finbar]

There's no specific reference to Fundy in the modifiers. It's probably the fact that a Fundy government accumulates a really massive treasury, so the treasury figure in the equation would be monstrous.

[rah]

Originally posted by finbar
It has been noted prior to this that the bribe cost is affected by the direction from which you approach the city. But I've never understood why. Or, at least, why it can have such an effect. Presumably the difference between the various approaches amounts to the number of squares within the city radius, which aren't all that many. Or is the difference in bribe cost in this case related to something else altogether?

I believe it was determined that the distance component was calculated on the square the diplo was in when it entered the city. So depending on which side you entered the city from, the distance component could vary by as much as 3 squares (if diag.)
Depending on the other components, this along could make a significant difference on cost. So it was always considered best to bribe a city from the side of the city that was farthest from your opponents capital.

RAH

[DrFell]

Originally posted by ravagon
I came to the conclusion some time ago that there was some sort of big price rise when trying to bribe a city away from a civ with a fundamentalist govt.
Can anybody else confirm/deny this?

Fundie has 0 corruption so perhaps it counts palace distance as 0 in the calculation.

[WarHawk]

do you people use sliderules when you play. for all these calculations.. just wondering : )

[finbar]

The formulae are of arcane interest. The bottom line is - either you've got the cash to bribe, or you haven't.

[rah]

Yes, knowing what impacted the formulae just helps you figure what will be the cheapest without approaching the city and then finding you don't have enough money.

RAH

[Alexander's Horse]

Why are we even talking about city bribe - does anyone play this rule?

[rah]

Good point.
But someone did bring it up,
and posts count here.
RAH

[SlowwHand]

What do you mean, does anyone play this rule?

[rah]

He means, that most mp groups disallow city bribing and was wondering if there were many people that allow it in their mp games.

[Flatlander Fox]

I used to play city bribes, but then was appalled when I would lose entire civs to some trade-mongering ***hole who would wipe me out in a turn or two.

I need all the protection I can get .