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City conversion may not be a completely random event. In a recent game where I was playing the Americans and won by Space Race Victory, I had a border Aztec city that I was trying to convert for the longest time. I had successful defections with two other of Montezuma’s cities many hundreds of years before. My “cultural attacks” even included a concerted effort to build wonders really close to the border cities, actions which would seem counterintuitive in Civ I or II.
This one city was a real thorn in the side, because its presence made our national boundaries snake through the continent, creating a weak spot pointing to the center of the nation. I was unlucky with a long winding border with the Aztecs. Geography worked against me early on and I wasn’t able to secure a “choke point” on my continent. If this city turned, the border would consolidate.
After all the efforts dating back to the Ancient Era, the city finally converts in 2009, just before the launch of my spaceship in 2010 (the year we make contact). It was my first Space Race victory, and I wanted to see the graphics again, so I reloaded the autosaved game to watch them. Of course, I had to watch the AI moves and go through the motions of repeating my own moves. As the sequence of events unfolded, the offending city which held out so long once again converted.
I guess I’d have to do this a couple of times to see whether there’s only a chance the city converts or whether it’s predestined to happen in 2009. Could the probability of the city defecting have increased from a very low number to something close to a hundred percent?
I can think of two reasons why it happens in this year. I had built enough cultural momentum that the conversion chance increased greatly just that year, or perhaps the Aztecs in this one place reached a real low in their satisfaction index, and I missed it.
This one city was a real thorn in the side, because its presence made our national boundaries snake through the continent, creating a weak spot pointing to the center of the nation. I was unlucky with a long winding border with the Aztecs. Geography worked against me early on and I wasn’t able to secure a “choke point” on my continent. If this city turned, the border would consolidate.
After all the efforts dating back to the Ancient Era, the city finally converts in 2009, just before the launch of my spaceship in 2010 (the year we make contact). It was my first Space Race victory, and I wanted to see the graphics again, so I reloaded the autosaved game to watch them. Of course, I had to watch the AI moves and go through the motions of repeating my own moves. As the sequence of events unfolded, the offending city which held out so long once again converted.
I guess I’d have to do this a couple of times to see whether there’s only a chance the city converts or whether it’s predestined to happen in 2009. Could the probability of the city defecting have increased from a very low number to something close to a hundred percent?
I can think of two reasons why it happens in this year. I had built enough cultural momentum that the conversion chance increased greatly just that year, or perhaps the Aztecs in this one place reached a real low in their satisfaction index, and I missed it.
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