Culture flip work-around.

[Don Giovanni]

I have tried this strategy in a recent game on emperor/empress with great success:

While eliminating a strong civ (Russians) I was afraid that some cities would culture flip, although I tried to move fast forward with Artillery/Infantry/Cavalry (I wasn't yet aware of the settler trick).

I was temporarily at peace with the Zulu, as were the Russians, and I had a RoP with them - the Russians had not. The Zulu wasn't very strong and not so far away.

I didn't wan't to raze any of the newly captured Russian cities (I thought they could be useful), so I just gave them to the Zulu as a gift. By doing that I almost stopped the Russians from counterattacking (no RoP with Zulu) and the cities were not prone to culture flip. I also got the chance to transport wounded troops back to my capital (garrisoned in the city I gave away).

After eliminating the Russians, I went to war with the Zulu to get my Russian cities back

[fittstim]

OK...I'll bite...

What's the settler trick?

[Don Giovanni]

It's Moonsinger's Settler trick

[fittstim]

Oh that. Saw it before. Don't like it. Not really a trick.

Takes too much time (we're talking 5+ turns just to start bombarding).

1. 2 turns to move settler into position
2. One turn to build city.
3. One to five turns to build connecting road (in Moonslingers example, there was already a road built but this can't be counted on in most cases. Imagine how long it would take if you have to build through mountains).
4. One to five turns to build railroad.
5. Only now can you begin bombarding. By this time, the other civ should have brought up the big guns to counter attack and, with any luck, capture the 100+ artillery used in the example.

Plus, the weakest point of this strategy is that you need to have an available city slot. It would really suck to see that "Too Many Cities" window appear when you've moved your settler and 100+ artillery up into a vulnerable position. In my games (HUGE world), there are never available cities after about 500 A.D.

[Jaybe]

Originally posted by fittstim
...
Takes too much time (we're talking 5+ turns just to start bombarding).
...

If you are dealing with good terrain, and especially if you are industrious, then it would take few workers to effect.
I DO agree, however, that it is a technique I haven't used.

[jshelr]

"Takes too much time (we're talking 5+ turns just to start bombarding).

1. 2 turns to move settler into position"

Guys, you may not have understood the trick completely. It's most useful after RR. Then moving the settler one space beyond a captured city takes no turns at all.

So, far from slowing you down, the trick allows you bombard or blitz many cities on just one turn.

When blitzing with tanks, the trick vastly expands the number of cities that can be attacked per turn because tanks two-space move is a big problem.

With MA, the trick often allows an entire civ to be eliminated in one turn.

Moonsinger's thread was very good, but the trick actually has even wider uses than that thread suggests. And you can couple it with Aeson's recycling trick to complete your modern era tactical capability.

The settler is actually a very powerful military unit.

[vmxa1]

This trick is ok, but my question is, would you not do just as well and not need to wait for anything, if you made 100 troops (tanks/mi) instead of arties? Now I do not worry about defending them, they defend themselfs. I do not need to make a colony or do any RR. I feel pretty good above sending 100 units against 6 inf defenders, don't you? Yes the arties cost less shields and you started making them before you have MI/MA, but you could have made say Rifles and then upgrade them to Inf and finally MI. All the time those units could be useful. Anyway I can not image making 100 arties, I would have fallen asleep before then.

[DaveMcW]

The main reason to use arty over tanks/MA is because you are half an era behind in tech. Artillery, Infantry, and Cavalry are all on an upgrade path so you should already have the army you need need when you get replaceable parts. And the need for speed comes in because the AI will soon get MI, greatly increasing the failure rate of your artillery and cavalry (or even tanks).

[vmxa1]

I just could not stand to move and fire 100 arties more than once or twice, it is just too painful. I would rather have troops and takes some loses. Anyway if I had 100 arties and other units, why am I way behind in tech this late in the game?

[DaveMcW]

Probably because you are playing Diety, or if you played a less-than perfect early game. Of course your tech position would become worse while you take the time to build 200+ units, but the point is that once you reach the position of 100 arty vs. infantry defenders you have won the game. Won the game in theory at least; I agree that 100 bombards a turn gets boring fast.