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Let me start out by saying that I hate captured foreign workers. They work at cross-purposes to my own objectives in every way. Whether it's a worker captured on the field of battle, or the surviving populace of another enmey city I have just sacked and razed, the effects of these units are in every way detrimental to my civilization as a whole.
Tell us something we don't know, Bob...
So, all this brings me to my point. To make a long story short... (too late
) In my current game (AU Mod, Random Map), I am the Chinese. I am in the process of rolling over the Egyptians with my Horde of Riders. Only Cleopatra shares a my small continent. Our lands are is rich with resources, and I covet my neighbor's goods. 
The AI, in its magnificent ineptitude, has chosen city locations that are so painfully bad, that I, as a true and incurable perfectionist
, cannot tolerate trying to make them work myself. I would rather start over. So, I have been razing each Egyptian city as I capture it. They have no Wonders, and the largest city was size 8 anyway...
This has left me with a major overabundance of captured workers. My own territory has been almost completely overworked by my own workers. Most of my cities approach or have reached size 12, and those that don't have issues that the addition of a hostile foreign worker as population won't help at all...
I am barely holding my own in tech, and have been looking for every advantage in my diplomatic negotiations. Remembering that you can trade workers to other civilizations if they are located in your capitol, I have sent every captured Egyptian worker directly there...
And then, I had an idea...
If I am not mistaken, a civilization cannot refuse a gift offered by another. whether or not that gift may be ultimately harmful. 
So, with all this in mind... what do you think would be the result of a massive deportation of these refugees and POW's to another nation? If I were to force feed say, 15-25 or even 50-60 successive waves of boat people to my dear and trusted neighbor, do you think the potential combined negative impact might, in the near-future, tip the balance in my favor over any immediate benefit they may gain? Given the performance of the Automate Worker AI choices, I doubt my (AI) opponent will use these "free" workers to their full potential...
Question
: I know the halved production for workers carries over to the new civ, but does the assimilation period for new citizens equally apply, or are they instantly absorbed into the dominant culture?
At any rate, the impact should be suitably impressive in either case. The very minimum result is that my oppnent(s) will be instantly out one GP for each and every worker I send. The drain on their economy alone could potentially reach into the low hundreds as I continue to send unwanted immigrants to their overcrowded shores.
Additionally, If they choose to add them as population to their cities (does the AI do this?), they suffer (in theory??? ) from the negative consequences of the cultural assimilation period. Certainly so if they are at war with the civ whose refugee population they are recieving. Strategic use of diplomacy to goad the civ in question into war before flooding their borders should be particularly effective here.
Finally, the kicker is:
As I turn my military wrath towards my unwilling benefactor(s), I should be able to scoop up most, if not all, of the workers I have previously given away as I conquer their territory. Additionally, I will gain new foreign workers as each of their cities fall. The impact on my next target will be even more profound, until finally, I predict I shall be able to inflict DEATH BY OVERPOPULATION!!!
I'll try it in my current game and report back...but meanwhile, what do you think, could it work?
-Bob
- As slave labor, they work at half pace, they malinger, and at times, they are even blamed for sabotage... (Aside: wouldn't it be cool if captured workers did occasionally perform acts of sabotage? Think: The French Resistance in WWII... )
- As new citizens of my vastly superior civilization, they are relocated to one of my many "workers' paradise" cities. They are the (undeserved) beneficiaries of millenia of cultural developments as well as many luxuries and entertainments, all designed to control (
ah, umm exalt, yeah, that's it...exalt 
) the masses, yet they still complain. At times the foreign element protests so loudly that they attract other malcontents and misfits, and instigate the rest of the otherwise peaceable (and productive ) citizenry into open revolt, delaying production schedules and requiring further expense in coin and productivity to placate the unruly crowds.
- As if that weren't enough, captured foreigners consume resources like any other unit or citizen in my society. As workers, I'm out one GP per turn (each) despite the reduced work output. As citizens, I must provide two food per turn (each) to prevent general starvation. (does anybody know if the foreigners are the first to go hungry? )
Tell us something we don't know, Bob...So, all this brings me to my point. To make a long story short... (too late
) In my current game (AU Mod, Random Map), I am the Chinese. I am in the process of rolling over the Egyptians with my Horde of Riders. Only Cleopatra shares a my small continent. Our lands are is rich with resources, and I covet my neighbor's goods. The AI, in its magnificent ineptitude, has chosen city locations that are so painfully bad, that I, as a true and incurable perfectionist
, cannot tolerate trying to make them work myself. I would rather start over. So, I have been razing each Egyptian city as I capture it. They have no Wonders, and the largest city was size 8 anyway... This has left me with a major overabundance of captured workers. My own territory has been almost completely overworked by my own workers. Most of my cities approach or have reached size 12, and those that don't have issues that the addition of a hostile foreign worker as population won't help at all...
I am barely holding my own in tech, and have been looking for every advantage in my diplomatic negotiations. Remembering that you can trade workers to other civilizations if they are located in your capitol, I have sent every captured Egyptian worker directly there...
And then, I had an idea...
If I am not mistaken, a civilization cannot refuse a gift offered by another. whether or not that gift may be ultimately harmful. So, with all this in mind... what do you think would be the result of a massive deportation of these refugees and POW's to another nation? If I were to force feed say, 15-25 or even 50-60 successive waves of boat people
to my dear and trusted neighbor, do you think the potential combined negative impact might, in the near-future, tip the balance in my favor over any immediate benefit they may gain? Given the performance of the Automate Worker AI choices, I doubt my (AI) opponent will use these "free" workers to their full potential... Question
: I know the halved production for workers carries over to the new civ, but does the assimilation period for new citizens equally apply, or are they instantly absorbed into the dominant culture?At any rate, the impact should be suitably impressive in either case. The very minimum result is that my oppnent(s) will be instantly out one GP for each and every worker I send. The drain on their economy alone could potentially reach into the low hundreds as I continue to send unwanted immigrants to their overcrowded shores.
Additionally, If they choose to add them as population to their cities (does the AI do this?), they suffer (in theory???
) from the negative consequences of the cultural assimilation period. Certainly so if they are at war with the civ whose refugee population they are recieving. Strategic use of diplomacy to goad the civ in question into war before flooding their borders should be particularly effective here. Finally, the kicker is:
As I turn my military wrath towards my unwilling benefactor(s), I should be able to scoop up most, if not all, of the workers I have previously given away as I conquer their territory. Additionally, I will gain new foreign workers as each of their cities fall. The impact on my next target will be even more profound, until finally, I predict I shall be able to inflict DEATH BY OVERPOPULATION!!!
I'll try it in my current game and report back...but meanwhile, what do you think, could it work?
-Bob
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