buying workers? When and How?

[wvfoos]

I bought 2 workers for the first time from the persians real early on in the game, but haven't seen any in the diplomacy screen since then. Can you only buy workers from a civ once? I know they've got tons of em, cause they are crawling all over my territory with a ROP.

I'd love to buy some more and free up some of my own to be sucked back into my cities. Plus, the gold I'll give them, I'm gonna get it back in a couple of centuries when i conquer them.

What's the deal on buying workers?

[Arrian]

You can only buy workers that are in a civ's capitol. Since that is relatively rare, it's hard to buy lots of workers.

-Arrian

[Catt]

I've never tested it myself but have also seen repeated assertions that you need to have a city on the same continent as the selling civ. Can't really think of any rhyme or reason for this restriction, but enough posters have stated it that it is either correct or has achieved that rare state of urban myth.

Catt

[Raion]

Capturing workers use to work.

[vmxa1]

Catt, I have not done it, but I would think as long as you have trade routes between capitols you should be able to do it.

[Catt]

Originally posted by vmxa1
Catt, I have not done it, but I would think as long as you have trade routes between capitols you should be able to do it.

Me too.

I haven't ever looked at it closely - I don't tend to buy many workers. But every time a "buying workers" thread comes up, someone always chimes in with "must have city on the same continent." I've seen it more than once from posters whose opinion I trust on their word, so I thought I'd throw it out as a possibility.

I would be grateful if anyone would run a test and report back as to whether this whole "sharing continent" vein is real or a figment of someone's imagination.

Catt

[bbaws]

I sell workers a lot. The only times I ever get the chance is if I have a city on the same continent as an opponent. I'm pretty sure it works for buying workers too. I don't know if you need cities on the same continent AND a viable trade route, but I'm pretty sure the trade route alone is not enough.