trading cities

[smellymummy]

Something I really like about the new diplomacy is being able to trade cities, and of course the incredible value placed on towns/cities/metros.

For me, it usually starts in the middle age when I research astronomy - which is my regular approach to the tech tree (disable great library and go for Copernicus). This gives me caravels, a handy unit for transporting armies. Trading techs, it doesn’t take long to get the best units available, and I load them up (knights/musket + cannons maybes).

I then send out the ships filled with units and find the best fortifiable land (mountain) near a city far away. It's then a 3 turn process (sometimes 2):

Turn 1- land my units, end turn. AI request removal or war. Declare war

Turn 2- take city, garrison city and protect weakened units, load unused units to boat or load all the units back to boat if you take city with a mobility 2 unit (i.e. knights).

Turn 3- remove all troops from area to boats. Sell city. Find new target and repeat - or wait for the city to revert to previous owner and repeat

The reward in this is selling the city and of course the challenge you pose to yourself to conquer cities. The AI pays plenty of cash for the cities so it's definitively worth it, and it’s very useful on leading enemy cis too.

Also a lesser approach of this is not via military conquest but by culture. The little towns (and +) sometimes gained by culture are very easily sold off. They eventually come back to you anyway, ready to be sold off again. See it as a "rental" of your own territory

I admit purely city selling doesn’t help you all the time to ultimately win (for example following the peaceful way), but it's fun and it really gives more excitement throughout the game.

Anyone else play like this? It would be interesting to read other experiences

[Skeeve]

Hi Smellymummy! I remember you from the CTP2 forums!

Anyway, to answer your query, yes I've been doing something similar with one main difference: Instead of conquering a city and selling it, I go and found a city with a settler in a ridiculous location (one I'd never choose myself - such as 2 squares away from an enemy civ), and then I sell it to a third party!

It works like a charm. I get Technology, Gold, Luxuries. It seems the AI just loves to buy useless real estate!

I've also monitored what goes on and it's quite interesting. Sometimes the stronger neighbor swallows up the city with their culture. At other times, the buyer becomes strong enough to maintain it and be a real thorn in the other civs side. Either way, not my problem!

[adaMada]

I thought of this tactic, but haven't had time to try it out yet. Plan to soon .

-- adaMada

[DarkMatter]

It's interesting to note, however, that unless a Civ is pushed up against the wall, or wanting to rob you blind, they won't sell one of their cities. I tried giving them all my additional techs (5), all gold left in my reserve (~4000), plus 200/turn, all for a size 1 city just founded the turn before (which was also not by any key resource), and they were insulted.

[ixnay]

The AI does pay for some useless stuff...I got about 20 gold/turn for selling nonessential, dead-end techs that only led to wonders that were already built.

[Skeeve]

Originally posted by DarkMatter
It's interesting to note, however, that unless a Civ is pushed up against the wall, or wanting to rob you blind, they won't sell one of their cities. I tried giving them all my additional techs (5), all gold left in my reserve (~4000), plus 200/turn, all for a size 1 city just founded the turn before (which was also not by any key resource), and they were insulted.

Yes, isn't that strange? You could give virtually 20 cities away for one of theirs and they'll still reject the trade!!

I love bullying them into giving me a city when I've got the upper hand in a war, though.

[HunterAssasin]

Wow, something really wierd happened to me. I had a useless cities from the egyptians I got when our war ended and I tried to sell it to the other people I know and no one wanted it! I even ask the babylonians what they would give for it, two things poped up and I clicked would you accept this and they were insulted!

That is really wierd seeing as I have sold cities in other games for a ton of stuff

[Easy Rhino]

When selling cities, I've noticed what I presume to be a (minor) bug.

I have to click "what will you offer me" and they offer a lot. But if I try to create my own deal manually, they will refuse pretty much everything.

weird.

ER

[Dom Pedro II]

I did something similar. I started this game (a rather unsuccessful game), and I found that basically the whole planet had been colonized with me being on a tiny little continent at the south pole. So, I built a city in a really bad location FAR from the homeland on a mountain surrounded by other mountains right in between two of the most powerful civilizations in the game. Now, I knew it was only a matter of time before ONE of them acquired it through cultural expansion, so right before it seemed imminent that the city would be lost, I sold it to the highest bidder of a sack of technologies, and I was quite pleased with myself.

[smellymummy]

it's true, buying cities is really hard. You can offer you're biggest city and the AI will refuse. However try using a peace treaty as leverage and it will probably accept - such as ending a war, or gambling that you won't start one...

I haven't bought enough to be sure though that this works all the time, like the million $ bug where you use the active peace treaty to force the AI into agreeing.

[gfrazieror]

I recently had a situation where I had the Russians up against the wall, noted that one of their distant little colony cities had oil in the radius, took Minsk, and offered to end the war and return Minsk if they gave me the city with the oil.

They took me up on the offer.

Then my French allies swooped down on unprotected Minsk, razing it.

Ka-ching!