Name your city in MP

[Xin Yu]

This should be the 1000th message for strategy category, unless somebody posts one at this moment.

I'd like to hear opinions about the following idea: In MP, name all your cities the same name. This way, even if a spy get into one of your cities, he will have no way to tell anything about your other cities; If he use the diplomatic screen to check your cities, he will see a bunch of cities with the same name!

You can always rename your cities at the beginning of each turn to avoid confusion, then at the end of the turn name them back to the common name.

[LeMay]

I think that the strategy forum hit critical mass a few days ago, and now people come here because there are always interesting topics being discussed, and they contribute, helping to keep the forum active. At least, that's what I hope. As to your idea, I'm not sure it would be worth the pain to rename everything each turn. Plus, the other players would kill you for taking 20 min. just to rename cities. However, if you could learn to live with it, it might be a smart strategy. A side note: in scenario games where events are attached to a certain city, renaming can be used to abusive effect. For instance, in Midgard, every time a race loses their capital, they receive a powerful unit nearby. However, since the event triggers on the name, it is possible to name all your cities the same name as your capital and thus get the unit any time a city is captured. Obviously, this is cheating of the worst degree, and I hope MPS undertakes to fix this bug sometime.

[SeanD]

Xin Yu, that sounds like a very useful idea, but it would make the game less fun for yourself and everyone else. Perhaps it should be 'good ettiquette' to give all your cities different name and not change them all the time

[Sergeant Sheets]

I like it. One note: It'd work well if you had 15-20 cities in close proximity but not if you had 60 cities tossed all over the globe. Also, you'd have to keep a sheet on hand telling you were this city 'Xin Yu' is at versus another city 'Xin Yu.' Also, trade routes would be a bear. I think this would work better: Name the cities as usual, then if your building a powerful wonder, and you suspect an enemy is on the prowl, rename every city the name of the city the wonder is being built in, or simply shuffle city names ever five or six turns.

[Xin Yu]

There are some variations to the naming scheme. First, do not give names to all of your cities; second, name your cities the same name of the nearest foreign city.

Yes, the naming also has effects on trading commodity menu. If you want to facilitate trading, just add to your city names the continent name, then you will see very clearly whether you can apply the two continent trading strategy.

[St Leo]

If I play multiplayer, I will be Borg with the capital of Borg with wonders in several cities named Borg.:-)

[Saganaga Canoer]

I hate to say this, but this is a really lame strategy. I'm surprised that naming all your cities the same is even allowed in the game. It certainly shouldn't be! Using a strategy like this will only create ill will and make people less likely to want to play you in the future. Just because you CAN do something, doesn't mean you SHOULD!

[barefootbadass]

As my cities become specialized, I like to rename them based on their function in my empire so I know right away what they are supposed to be doing.

[Ming]

Pretty sleazy trick Xin Yu...
I love it. The possibilities are indeed endless. But the Sarge is right, after 15 or so cities it could become a real pain in the neck. So I might use it selectivly.
And naming the city the same as the nearest foreign city... PRICELESS!
He he he he he he... I hope you're still interested in playing MP. I look forward to it whether we are on the same side or not.

[My Wife Hates CIV]

Reading everyones comments I'm thinking MP will be good. All of the methods here will be used. I might name my cities the same to confuse another player. It's all part of the game, and a big part is information. I think most of us will be careful as to what info we give out (and who gets it!). Those who are not will be wiped out.

[Prince_Pixie]

I intend to devise a complex mathematical algorithm to condense strateigic and geographic information about a city into a simple 15-character code. No, really.

[Sergeant Sheets]

'Bet I can do it in ten characters.

Another thing, when sending frieght to a certain city, rename the city something distinct, send the caravan, then rename the city what it originally was [this is for if you name all your cities the same].

[Orcus]

While I must agree that "All's fair in love and war", there will be no love from me for anyone using this dirty (and quite clever) exploitation of an oversight in the program. Granted, anyone can use it, but I hereby vow to utterly antagonize to death anyone foolish enough to attempt this in a game with me. (St. Leo, you can go ahead, cuz anyone callling themselves "BORG" is a threat already)

[gambler]

Do you want to get your opponents really confused?
Just use empty name for your cities.
In the Diplomacy screen they can't see how many cities you have!
I discovered it because in the italian version there is a bug in city.txt, Zulu' instead of Zulu, and so Zulu cities had all an empty name (Now I fixed the bug).

[Ming]

Orcus, get real! Any advantage you get over your fellow players is key. This isn't a tea party!
Gambler brings up a good way to confuse people. That's the whole idea behind winning.