Odd Loophole...

[Harry Tuttle]

I was fooling around with the CivCity utility and Civ 2 MGE the other day and I noticed that when I change one of my cities to another civ the units that were based in that city are supported by the other civ, yet I still controlled those units.

I then did some more experimenting with a new game. I only had one city and about 5 legions all using my one city as their home base. I saved the game, opened my one city in CivCity, and changed the ownership of my one city. Oddly enough, when I started the game up again I had no cities whatsoever and my only units, the legions, were still supported by that city, yet I still controlled the units. So basically I now have an army without a country to call home.

Has anyone ever noticed this before, and if so has this ever been used in a scenario?

Might be a neat idea for someone wishing to portray a mecenary army on the take, or maybe even rebellious citizens who leach off the system they wish to destroy....

[:) Smiley]

Shouldn't the owner then disband them from the city screen? Or is the AI too dumb to even do that?

A couple more questions:

Whose color to do those units carry, and what happens when you try to attack?

[Harry Tuttle]

The AI seems to ignore the obvious fact that they are paying for my units. They have not been disbanded after numerous turns of play.

The units still carry my shield color and are wholly controlled by me.

I can attack as usual with no hangups. When I retake my one city the control of that city simply goes back to me as always happens when you take a city. Though, of course, if I lose the city in combat my civ is finished and I lose the game as usual.

So basically, there is nothing irregular about this, except for the afformentioned fact that I am can operate normally without any cities under my control or the fact that the other civ is paying for my units.

Has anyone else tested this?

[POTUS]

I've had that happen before in mutiplayer.
However, the game crashed when the AI attacked.

[Harry Tuttle]

The AI has attacked me, but no crashes so far.

This might be a fun tool if someone wanted to depict squads or gangs in a scenario. Last guy to get arrested ends the riot... Last commando terminated ends the mission....

[Harry Tuttle]

Here's the save file. The legions are the units I created before the city was switched. the others were acquired through goody huts after the city was switched. The Japanses have already attacked me. Everything is normal, except for the fact that I cannot tax or research because I have no cities.

[:) Smiley]

wow this is interesting. Are there any special effects for caravans? Who gets the $$$?

[St Leo]

Using my spectacular programmer mind-powers, I predict that the controller of the caravan gets the money but the supplier of the caravan gets the trade arrows. Prove me wrong.

[curtsibling]

This opens up interesting Scenario opportunities...

[Harry Tuttle]

Hmmm, ok I tried the caravan idea out. I created a caravan next to the Japanese owned St. Petersburg and sent the unit in. As predicted I got the cash and the Japanese got the trade arrows, BUT the trade arrows were of 0 value.

I'll try it before I use CivCity to switch the cities... Yep, even if I create the caravan before I switch the cities the effect is the same. The 0 value trade arrows were probably given because the caravan is supported from the same city it is coming back to.

I haven't tried this with multiple civs in one game, but if it works, this could definately open up some new avenues of play. I think I'll use it in my AE scenario to depict a commando squad. In fact, I know I will. The squad will be a seperate civ, independent from Germany. That way the player won't be able to build new units or effect the rest of the game until his or her "mission" is complete. After its complete, simply change sides... The units will have to have a movement ceiling.... Hmmmmmm, oh yes, I'm liking this

[curtsibling]

Sounds awesome!

Also would be good to use a this idea for a group of units at the start of a scen, then have them conquer a city and build a civ as normal...

Great stuff!

[:) Smiley]

That could be done far more easily with NON units though, unless you really want to simulate the resource mooching part of it.