" the contractor" strategy in civ3

[m_m_x]

i started a new game and i was waaaay behind all other civilizations in research,
so i built 4 smell cities in the desert and trade them for technological advances...hehe
so i decided to be a city contractor for other civs...now im ahead of every one else...

i think it was better if i posted that in strategy section...

[Moraelin]

Probably even better if you make them squeezed between cities of your own with very strong culture. Then you'll likely get your city back soon without a fight, too, and noone is any wiser.

[Seneca]

Dammit, I was going to post this

Last night I asked Alexander what he wanted for a size 2 tundra-ridden craphole, and to my surprise he offered me spices, printing press and 8 gold per turn

Now I'm sending settlers all over the arctic circle - we'll see how often this scam works...

[Grim Legacy]

And then the Tundra-ridden craphole that the AI payed so much for turned out to have 3 sources of Uranium nearby. Aw drats. :P

[manhattan82]

it's not that far off from reality... i mean, heck, people though Seward was nuts buying a giant piece of ice up north from the Russians. turns out Alaska is full of oil and furs. pretty ironic too that it was then used against the russians in the cold war as a strategic base as well.

[ThaddeusAlexander]

Smart idea!

You have to think about a few factors though ... you're losing 2 pop and it takes a certain number of shields to build the settler in the first place, and then support him while he gets to his destination.

What i like to do as a small twist is make sure my culture puts nearly every other civ in awe of mine ... then i create a small city in one of those 'empty' spots somewhere in the middle of my civ (of if none of these exist, on the outskirts but still in touch with my borders) and give it to them in trade, and just wait until they rise up and rejoin my civ

Works like a charm so far - a dozen times or so in my last game ... just thought i'd let you know !

Cheers! and good gaming everyone
~Alex