Trading cities...

[Kuciwalker]

They are relocated to the capital of the civ that owned it before.

[vmxa1]

That can be used a speedy relocation method once in a great while.

[ftrooper93]

Those island/far off cities are good to keep for this reason. If you disband them, the land is free and someone else will settle it. If you keep it, build a temple only, you both deny the land to the other civs and the land mass total accrues to you for domination victories. If you have dom turned off but conquest on (like I play) it means you don't have to build or transport an invaision fleet later when teh new occupant of that land you abandoned gets in a fight with you (for what ever reason)

[BulMaster]

Originally posted by skywalker


Are you kidding? It was INCREDIBLY easy to get good cities from the AI in SMAC.

I aggree i used to trade the cities that were about to build a secrect project so i get it, then i send a prob team to get my city back or wait for the guy to declar war on me, I think in the entire CIV series the AI always goes to war with you no matter what. Anyway i prepare my drop hovertanks and drop them to defend my city with the project

[gunkulator]

I tend to give away island cities to get something worthwhile in exchange. As someone noted, they tend to be just 1 shield cities that add to your total above OCN.

I personally always have trouble holding islands. They are favorite AI attack points and you can never reinforce them quickly enough. Of course you can do the same thing. A neat trick is to empty the city, camp outside the border, give it to an AI, declare war and then quickly retake it. A few turns later sue for peace to pick up some gold, tech, resources, etc. As long as you don't lose any cities or too many units in the war, the AI will think it is losing and you'll get good terms.

[steven8r]

Originally posted by gunkulator
I personally always have trouble holding islands. They are favorite AI attack points and you can never reinforce them quickly enough.

Gunkulator,

Just put enough units/workers in the Island City to occupy every square on the Island. The AI won't be able to attack your city (Unless it has Berzerks or Marines) because there's nowhere to 'land' the invasion force.

Perhaps this is a 'cheap exploit', but it will keep your Islands safe.


Steven

[Tall Stranger]

Just a very minor correction: all you need are enough units/ workers to cover every COASTAL square (at least until Berzerks, Marines or Paratroopers). You don't need to cover EVERY square.

[gunkulator]

Yeah, I've done the fill-every-coastal-square trick. It's kind of a cheat since the AI would never do it. However if the island has, say, 12 land tiles, that's 12 units tied up to hold a 1 shield city at a cost of either 12 gpt or 24 gpt (assuming republic in ptw or c3c). Add to that the cost to rush build and then maintain city improvements (harbor, temple, barracks) and it starts to get pricey.

[steven8r]

Ah yes. I stand corrected, 'Coastal Tiles'.

It may be somewhat expensive, but you should have about that many Workers/Defenders on that island anyway (especially if there are Resources).

Don't think of it as '12-unit expense', think of it as the price of 'Island Defense'.

Steven

[TheArsenal]

Depending on the terrain, island size and how well roaded your empire is, when you see the ship coming you can use a handful (four or so) of fast moving units to rotate and follow the vessel along the shore to block potential landing points. This obviously only works if the AI is only sending a vessel or two, and for whatever reason, you don’t actually feel like letting them start a war by striking first – which is the only reason I’ve seen an AI place units on one of my islands that were completely covered by my civ’s culture.