Capital Isolation Problems

[dexters]

I recall reading a strategy about Capital isolation where we cut off all roads from the capital to the rest of the cities of a rival Civ.

I had tried to do this but it didn't seem to work.

Must we do it all in one turn?

Any insight on this?

[vmxa1]

What was that suppose to do for you other than prevent lux from making it to the city?

[dexters]

Yep. But none of the cities in the rival cities even went into revolt...

[stiel]

Hi there,

I'm the one who has mentioned this strategy and after a few tests I'm think you're right...

My strategy was based on a theory:
The theory that every resource has to go to the capital and then goes to the rest of your empire.

It seems that only lux resources are affected by this....

Anyone who can clarify this (firaxians??)


STIEL

[dexters]

bump

[saracen31]

I believe if you cut off the capital, they won't have access to the resources. They probably have a lot of military units already built up from before you axed the resources, and they can continue to build the units currently in production, but after they're used up that's it.

I could be wrong, but in my experience it's worked.

[Peoux]

No, any cities that are connected by road to a resource can use that resource. It is only for trade purposes that a resource has to be available in the capital. If your capital cannot access a resource, or the capital does not have a connection by road, harbor or airport to the other civilization, you cannot trade it to them.

[Jarouik]

Originally posted by Peoux
No, any cities that are connected by road to a resource can use that resource. It is only for trade purposes that a resource has to be available in the capital. If your capital cannot access a resource, or the capital does not have a connection by road, harbor or airport to the other civilization, you cannot trade it to them.

I concur - even though I think it was said somewhere in the game or the manual that luxury resources would need to be connected to your capital in order to be used, actually they can be used in any city connected to them directly - at least in my experience. Connection to capital is only required for trading.

[cort]

strategic or luxury resources can be used by any connected city.
capital connection only matters for trading issues.. i am sure of that.

[Arrian]

Even so, isolating the capitol can still be worthwhile. Many civs import some of their luxuries, and so cutting off trade means they lose those luxuries. I have cut the roads arround an opponent's cap. and seen a bunch of cities go into disorder the next turn. Depending on how the empire is set up, the local luxuries/strategic resources may be funnelled through the capitol from one side of the empire to the other. Cut that connection, and half the empire deprived of a luxury or say, Iron. This can be very useful for mopping up - dealing with spearmen instead of pikemen, etc.

-Arrian

[KielRandor]

Is Culture or Trade a Factor?

I think that what your seeing (Citie's going into disorder when the Capitol is Isolated) might be a combination of the Empire loosing access to a luxury, but also the Empire loosing contact with the Capitol itself. We know that the distance to the Capitol can determine the amount of curruption/civil disorder in a City. I think I recall reading that this factor can also be modified based on wether there is a road, river, or other trade network linking the Capitol to the other cities in the Empire.

For Example (these are hypothetical numbers not actual values from the game): Suppose you have 2 cities and a Capitol. Both Cities are 20 squares away from the Capitol, Both Cities were built the same turn and have access to similar resources, However One City is linked to the Capitol via a Trade route while the other City is Isolated from the Capitol. The City with the link to the Capitol will have less corruption than the City without because the city with the Trade Network is relatively closer to the Capitol than the City without. Therefore the City will be able to produce more with fewer Citizens working the City tiles allowing some Citizens to be used for Happy-brigade Duties.

So when your isolating the Capitol and you notice a bunch of Cities flip to disorder the next turn, maybe it's because they are facing greater curruption have fired some of the Happy-Brigade and put them back out in the fields in order to maintain the same level of production, however the result is that there are greater Unhappy folks. If the AI is more concerned with Production then this will happen. Just like if you have the Governor in your city set to manage your city workers with an emphasize on Happiness he will starve the City to keep the city from going into disorder. He will halt production to keep the city from going into disorder. I have seen this and havn't even considered setting the Governor to Emphasize Production, Maybe the AI isn't as concerned as I am.

Any thoughts?

Kiel