Free Palace Jump

[DaveMcW]

After weeks of testing I have found the exact palace jump formula.

When the capital city is razed or abandonned, each city in the empire scores

• 1 point for each of your citizens
• 1/3 point for each foreign citizen
• 1/3 point for every neighbor town (1-6)
• 2/3 point for every neighbor city (7-12)
• 1 point for every neighbor metropolis (13+)

The city with the most points is the new capital!

Only your civ's cities within 8 squares (a 17x17 area) count as neighbors. The old capital does not count at all.

If there is a tie for the most points, the palace jumps to the first city in the database, which is usually the oldest city. After some old cities have been razed the database gets out of order and it's impossible to tell where the palace will go in a tie.

(Edit: Now takes foreign citizens into account)
(Edit2: Now takes cities and metropoli into account)

[DaveMcW]

Example

I finished the Forbidden Palace in Antium a few turns ago, now I want to jump my palace far away to Kyoto. I add my road-building crew to Kyoto, bringing it to size 5. Then I abandon Rome.



(5) Kyoto
(1/3) Ravenna 2
(1/3) Pisae 3
(1/3) Tokyo 5
6 points

(4) Neapolis
(1/3) Cumae 3
(1/3) Veii 4
(1/3) Antium 4
(1/3) Pompeii 7
(1/3) Tokyo 7
( 0 ) Nara 9
( 0 ) Pisae 9
5+2/3 points

(4) Veii
(1/3) Antium 3
(1/3) Neapolis 4
(1/3) Nara 5
(1/3) Pompeii 5
(1/3) Cumae 7
( 0 ) Tokyo 9
5+2/3 points

So Kyoto is the new capitol!



The southeast settler could have built a city, giving Veii and Neapolis another 1/3 point and causing a 3-way tie. Kyoto would still win because it was founded in 4000 B.C.

[Arrian]

After weeks of testing I have found the exact palace jump formula

Great job!

-Arrian

[alexman]

Great job! Thank you!

Your formula definitely agrees with my experience.

[BRC]

Nice work Dave! Definately helps the peaceful approach. I can't believe nobody else had searched for this yet (including me). This is very useful info.

[Dominae]

Very nice formula to know. Thanks for putting in the time and effort (weeks?!?). I assume you tested for effects of Culture as well? If so, it is really quite surprising that it has no effect (from personal experience, not from a game design perspective).


Dominae

[DaveMcW]

Originally posted by Dominae
I assume you tested for effects of Culture as well? If so, it is really quite surprising that it has no effect (from personal experience, not from a game design perspective).

Yes, most of the work was eliminating things that have no effect like culture, distance from old palace, and continents.

[Catt]

Let me add to the chorus of

Great work and thanks for sharing the info.

Catt

[badams52]

Maybe those folks over on CFC would like to know as well, Dave

[Hurricane]

Great work, Dave.

This info is also very good to have when capturing enemy cities. This way you can predict where the capital will jump and use it to your advantage.

[Chemical Ollie]

Now I just hope I can remember this when playing. But I rather use a great leader, as I normally want to keep the old capitol city even after the palace is moved.

[DeepO]

Thanks for this! I can imagine it took long to test...

DeepO

[Ephesos]

Brilliant!

I'll have to remember that one.

[Harovan]

Sounds like a hell lot of work!

Excellent job, thank you very much!

[Master Zen]

Really interesting DaveMcW

I think most of use took the "formula" for granted, not bothering to actually discover what it was. It's glad to know people like you dwell deep to find what appently looks like the most basic things.

Good job