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How can I reduce the size of my empire?

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  • How can I reduce the size of my empire?

    I've been working my way up through the difficulty levels and just finished a game on the hard setting. It's still too easy, so I suppose I'll try very hard next. Because (as noted by many others in these forums) conquest seems far to easy, I find myself unable to resist the temptation to roll my bombers and tanks over the world. It just seems to be the most obvious (and viscerally satisfying) path to success. The problem is that my empire becomes huge long before I am able to graduate into a government that will accomodate so many cities. At the end of this last game I did make it to Virtual Democracy but still had over 70 cities and had to work like crazy to keep everybody happy (It also took forever to get to this government because I was spending so many resources keeping up the happiness quotient). I have tried to get rid of cities by starving them to death (maxing out the science specialists and losing silos and granaries), but this is too slow. I need to get rid of them soon after they're conquered but can't think of any way to do this (it did occur to me that I could give them away, but this seems counterproductive). Any suggestions?

  • #2
    I usually get an ally and give the cities I don't want to him. Or you could mod the government text file to increase the number of cities you can have.

    ------------------
    Author of Diplomod. The mod to fix diplomacy.

    Rommell to a sub-commander outside Tobruk: "Those Australians are in there somewhere. But where? Let's advance and wait till they shoot, then shoot back."

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    • #3
      Try increasing the rations you give to your people to maximum? I think that reduces the food they have available for growth, and it also makes them more happy.

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      • #4
        Thats the whole purpose of city limits is to slow down military expansion.

        Doctor, doctor it hurts when I do this.....

        ------------------
        History is written by the victor.

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        • #5
          I agree, just conquer them, and give them to an enemy of your enemy. Especially if the recipient is tiny and the city is placed between those of his enemy.... WATCH EM GO!!!! (does require diplomod though)

          ------------------
          Nostalgia isn't what it used to be
          Nostalgia isn't what it used to be

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          • #6
            it seems to be like CTP 1, Very Hard level is like Chieftain level in CivII,..., playing against the AI in CTP 1-2 makes me laugh a lot !!

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            • #7
              quote:

              Originally posted by Alpha Wolf on 01-29-2001 07:44 PM
              Thats the whole purpose of city limits is to slow down military expansion.

              Doctor, doctor it hurts when I do this.....




              That may be, but conquest remains one of the four methods of achieving victory in CTP2. While a constraint on the number of cities may be an impediment when pursuing that goal, it can’t (or shouldn’t) be an insurmountable obstacle. There ought, therefore, to be practical strategies for successfully dealing with this inevitable corollary of imperialism.

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              • #8
                Depending on the year and type of government, its not realistic to conquer the world at any given point during the game. Personally I wish the government limits would start lower and increase with technological advances.

                ------------------
                History is written by the victor.

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                • #9
                  I agree Alpha Wolf.

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                  • #10
                    Well, the government limits do increase with government type... and, a little used feature, the penalty for violating those limits can be softened: instead of a -1 penalty per city over the limit, it can be changed in govern.txt to a -.25 penalty.

                    Perhaps the solution is just more government types?

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                    • #11
                      quote:

                      Originally posted by Alpha Wolf on 01-31-2001 01:59 AM
                      Depending on the year and type of government, its not realistic to conquer the world at any given point during the game. Personally I wish the government limits would start lower and increase with technological advances.




                      Hmm, how about the Roman Empire? It fell because of the excesses of its leaders, barbarian attacks and general corruption. Not because the people were unhappy that they were part of the most powerful nation in earth. It was a tyranny, but it sure had much more than the ten city limit.

                      Same with the modern-day Roman Empire...the former Soviet Union...again, it fell because of corruption and the excesses of its leaders.

                      I personally don't think that the people of a powerful empire should feel unhappy about it. If anything, they should be enthused with jingoistic pride.

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                      • #12
                        Hmm, I think you'll find that the Roman Empire fell because it was overstretched... just too big and containing too many disparate peoples.

                        But I agree that conquering 100-150 cities (to gain victory) should be possible if difficult.


                        ------------------
                        Nostalgia isn't what it used to be
                        Nostalgia isn't what it used to be

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                        • #13
                          Personally, Ive just doubled the cities allowed under each government .. seems to help ..

                          However, I actually agree with AlphaWolf on this, the technology available to you, should dictate how many cities can exist under any given government .. In an IT age, it is quite feasable to run a Tyranny the size of the USSR .. but to do so in the age of the Romans, would take a lot more skill .. simply cos you don't have the infrastrucure available to maintain the command.

                          I think the missing link in the game is the ability to create colonial cities, where it still belongs to another civ, but you control what goes on .. As in India, during the British Raj .. It looks like CIV3 is looking at this ..

                          Giving cities to the enemy is all very good, but its not possible once you reach a certain amount of cities .. as the list stops, and your forced to give a city closer to home ..



                          ------------------
                          "Wherever wood floats, you will find the British" . Napoleon
                          "Wherever wood floats, you will find the British" . Napoleon

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                          • #14
                            Actually, you'll find that the Romans were quite an advanced civilization. They had put in place loyal regional governors in all of their territories to keep the peace. In England, for example (please forgive my history being awfully rusty ) the Romans often went on rampages, terrorizing the local people, raping the women, etc. There was no need for them to do so but they had power and it went to their minds. The Queen of England led a small-scale revolt against the Romans and they were, for a small period, almost beaten out of England...I read this in my history books but excuse me for not having the exact dates and names of the leaders, but I'm sure I could find them.

                            Anyway. The point of my rant is that the city thresholds should be a lot higher than they are. I mean, 10 cities for a tyranny?! Only 35 for a communist dictatorship?!

                            Or perhaps if the AI was a little stronger everyone might stop being less militaristic.

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                            • #15
                              give your 3 biggest citys to the AI :E

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