Courthouses...are they broke???

[shclo]

I decided to see how much corruption having a courthouse would remove, so I took note of a city that had a total of 17 production, but only 3 blue shields (the rest were red). I hurried up the improvement and checked back on the city the following turn. I was very happy to see that I now had 9 blue shields. I thought "that's great!" so I hurried production on some other cities relatively nearby and checked up on them the following turn. To my surprise there was NO improvement at all in either of the 2 cities -they both still only had 1 blue shield and 8-10 red shields. Are there other conditions for the courthouse to remove some corruption? Admittedly, the first city had a lot more people than the second two cities, so I'm wondering if courthouses only remove corruption after a base number of shields is produced...no?

[FNBrown]

I'm not sure of the exact formula for how Courthouses reduce corruption, but I know in large empires with distant cities, they're the effective equivalent of urinating on a forest fire.

If I really want to play a game with productive cities that are far away from my capitol, I add the "reduces corruption" flag to granaries, barracks, and temples. These are basic improvements that I usually put in all my cities and I can rush fairly cheaply. Usually, it's enough to pound the corruption levels down to make a far-away city actually worth having.

[Harovan]

Courthouses slightly reduce the corruption. but not much. You should not build Courthouses in cities, that aren't at least 33% effective. One shield cities will in most cases remain one shield cities, Courthouse or not. Later in the game, when you connected luxuries, the cities grow beyond size 12 (given you spend them a hospital, I would not) and you're a democracy, they eventually will make a couple more shields, say 3 or 4. But in this game state you'll have a very productive core and won't need to improve some crappy cities.

[Nor Me]

Originally posted by Sir Ralph
You should not build Courthouses in cities, that aren't at least 33% effective.

Not sure about that.
If you want exact formulae:Everything you wanted to know about corruption

[Theseus]

Courthouses are not the panacea that you would expect them to be. They need to be bolstered by all of the other corruption / waste reduction tools... I find WLT?D to be the best.

[Major Guz]

I thought court houses just reduced corruption in the city they were built in, and the FP reduces corruption as if it were your original palace.
If this is true, that makes a courthouse much more effective, cool!!!

[FNBrown]

Originally posted by Nor Me


Not sure about that.
If you want exact formulae:Everything you wanted to know about corruption

Thanks for sharing that link... very helpful!

[Big_Fish]

Originally posted by Major Guz
I thought court houses just reduced corruption in the city they were built in, and the FP reduces corruption as if it were your original palace.
If this is true, that makes a courthouse much more effective, cool!!!

Yes it is, that is why I usualy save my FP for things like other continets, and it is good to have a centralized palace, so don't be afraid to move it!!

[swagled]

Courthouses in combination with Police Stations seem to combat corruption reasonably well. But admittedly, that's an expensive fix.

Building cities out in the boonies is tough sometimes. I often make a courthouse the next thing after that first temple.

FWIW, I gave the courthouse 1 point of culture in my games. If you gotta pay for the darn things in practically every city, they should give a little more benefit. And I think it's rational to conclude that rule of law is a part of a strong culture.