Disband enemy cities, or keep 'em? - Alpha Centauri Forums

  Alpha Centauri Forums
  Strategies and Tactics
  Disband enemy cities, or keep 'em?

profile | register | prefs | faq | search

Author Topic:   Disband enemy cities, or keep 'em?

BendingPine posted 04-22-99 05:33 PM ET
I'm in the middle of a game where only Myself, the Hive, Believers, and Spartans are left. Needless to say, they repealed the UN charter immediately.
I'm beginning to take some of their cities(none of them are over 5-6k population) and I'm wondering if it's smarter to just disband the cities (payback!)and start over (I'm playing Peacekeepers, so I'm starting at 3k pop) or leave them as is and deal with the (drone?) problems that pop up after you take over an enemy city.
sandworm posted 04-22-99 06:18 PM ET
Usually, keep em. Destroying them IS an atrocity (IF that's a problem for you, even w/o UN). They may have facilities already built that may be of use to you (Hiver perimeter defenses, for example, network nodes, biology labs, etc.) You can deal with most any drone problem simply by building a rec commons (unless you're playing transcend). The strategy was similar in CivII, capture an enemy city, and speed buy a temple to control unhappy citizens. If you can't keep the population happy, they'll starve themselves out, and you may be left with a city facility or two the survivors can use when the smoke clears.
However...
If the city doesn't have any facilities you can use, has low population, and you have plenty of colony pods (AND no moral objection to destroying imaginary people), hey, burn em' out.
Sorry for any discontinuities in the post, I'm hurrying.
Enjoy your game.
Fenryswulf posted 04-22-99 08:51 PM ET
I'm just curious- I've heard about disbanding a city, but I haven't been able to figure out how to do it. How is it done?
WyldKarde posted 04-22-99 08:55 PM ET
To disband a city peacefully, just have it keep pumping out colony pods. Each pod reduces the city's population by one, and the last one removes the city completely, leaving just that final pod in its spot.
To do it quickly and less peacefully, park a military unit in there and hit 'b'. The military then slaughter the entire population in a ruthless act which nets you some atrocity points. It's quicker than rabbitting the city to death though.
HolyWarrior posted 04-22-99 09:50 PM ET
I generally keep conquered cities unless they are too close to others and overlap several squares--the AI seems to do this way too often, IMO.
If the population is 1 or 2, rabbit them out. Otherwise wait for sunspots or repeal the UN. Or you can trade it to an ally.
Nell_Smith posted 04-22-99 10:04 PM ET
I always keep captured cities, unless it's obvious that the enemy will capture them back on the next turn and thereby steal energy or tech from me. (Actually, I don't capture a city if I'm in a position so weak that I can't hold onto it - better to hold off and wait until you can keep the thing!) Even if the drones riot so much that you have to convert two, three or all of them into happy-making specialists, and even if the city produces no resources or energy worth speaking of, frontline cities right next to, or within, enemy territory are invaluable bases for your military advance, especially if the enemy has already kindly roaded the city into the rest of his territory for you. Stick one or more of your best defenders in the city and pile your attack units in there. Setting the new city as these units' home base is a good idea if you're not in danger of losing the city again, as it releases much-needed resources at the units' original home bases.
Frontline cities are great spots for piling up needlejets/choppers etc and making quick airstrikes at nearby enemy troop units or cities, most of which will tend to be poorly defended once you've taken over the enemy's best frontline bases and he's spent his best troops defending them.
Frontline cities are also great (again, more so if they are roaded in) for use as recovery stops for damaged troops. Hurry a Command Centre (they're very cheap), if there isn't one already there, and use the base as a hospital stop-off for those 80% damaged Rovers.
One thing to beware of, though, is the high chance of the enemy faction inundating your newly acquired city with probe teams - Morgan and Miriam seem especially prone to this kind of behaviour. To avoid this, I usually wait until I have at least two high-morale probes within range before capturing a city, then move them straight in there to defend it against enemy probes (with the added bonus that my own probes can then make one-turn quick strikes at neighbouring enemy cities as well). If I don't have any spare probes hanging about, I station military units on all the roads in and out of the city, to stop fast enemy probe attacks... or at least to force the enemy to bribe my unit before getting to the city (though it always really annoys me when they do that!!)
And you'd be surprised how fast an apparently duff base can turn into a useful, productive city, given a bit of "hurrying" in the production queues and a few turns of terraforming.
Wow, I do waffle on, don't I
Nell... Forum-surfing between PBEM turns!
Koshko posted 04-22-99 11:54 PM ET
You can 'build' on top of an existing city upping thier population by 1. Mass-Build Colony Pods and then build on an existing city. Also there are cases where you 'moving' a city a square or two would be ideal.
btw, you can't disband a city this way at low levels.
1212 posted 04-23-99 12:39 AM ET
only obliterate when that base is going to be fough over repeatedly. Enemies gain tech you lose credits. only keep if you can garuntee that you keep them for the game. It reminds me of a game against the spartans. I defeated all their land bases and most sea bases(Diedre was protecting them). It got to the point where morgan diedre santiago and me were fighting over a size 3 city. i said screw it oblitirated it and got my sanctions. small price to pay for mass causualties like a the a bomb.
sandals posted 04-23-99 10:58 AM ET
When I take over a city, there are never any base facilities in it except SP/faction standard facilities. It sucks to have to rebuild from recycling tanks...
It always annoyed me, but I just figured that's the way it is. Am I missing something?
McGeorge posted 04-23-99 11:58 AM ET
sandals: I don't often get much in the way of facilities with conquered bases, but they show up sometimes. I think there are two reasons for this. First of all, some AI factions really seem to concentrate on units rather than improvements. In my somewhat limited experience the PK's, the U. and the Morganites tend to improve more than the Hive, Believers, and Spartans. I've never actually taken over a Gaian base; every time I decide to play raving conqueror instead of wily diplomat, someone else wipes her out first. The second reason is that I think base facilities get randomly destroyed during attacks on cities. I personally follow the "keep 'em unless they're crowded" philosophy. It is a pain rebuilding infra-structure, but I like to see that nice shiny border keep expanding with every base I get. Oooh, look at the pretty dotted lines.
"Space is blue, and birds fly through it."
Werner Heisenberg
ApcJK posted 04-23-99 02:11 PM ET
You can obliterate an unwanted enemy city by giving it enough time to build more defenders and destroy them one by one until the city's size 1. Then capture it and you've got no city left there. + you get that unit which captured the city repaired.
jhankla posted 04-23-99 09:10 PM ET
This is where a Pact stooge comes in handy!
Got a base you can't possible use nor want! Give it to them, the'll eat it up and thank you for it!
Knight_Errant posted 04-24-99 04:15 AM ET
In the last game I played. Deidre was second on the power list. I was first (UoP) and the others were scwabbling amongst themselves. It seems that the Morganites were Believer stooges. I had the Hive on a leash.

Santiago went nuts and I had to eliminate her, when I began the campaign Deidre took the opporunity to help out. She then began to think herself superior even though I did nothing to provoke her. She started a war with a sneak attak on one of the former Spartan bases. I defended and began a genocide campaign against her faction.

Now to the point of the thread. At one area of the world, I had a PSI gate which I used to warp in military units to attack Gaian settlements. I had moved a planet buster in on her city containing the PSI attack wonder (Dream Twister). She has over 100 worms and 100+ isles.
She continued to sue for peace then sneak attack my cities. So, as a lesson, I executed 90,000 Gaians. (read obliterate base) Of course, she became upset and pressed the attack. I obliterated another base. By the time I obliterated three gaian bases, she aquiesced.

So, to answer your question. To obliterate or to keep. It depends on your needs. The bases I took from the Gaians were neither strategically important, nor particularly harmful.
Matlaf posted 04-26-99 06:57 AM ET
Obliteration or not.
That is a question which bothers me sometimes, because the AI is to dumb to build bases in a way that they can grow without stealing resources from other bases. Last game peaceceepers built 5 cities in a 9x9 square. When i attacked them i had to whipe out 2 bases and got a 30-year trading ban for it. that's not fair.
But this AI problem exists since Civ 1 (what does this tell about game design?)
The point is, if you don't like a base obliterate it and take the consequences.
Matlaf
To close this thread, click here (moderator or admin only).


Hop to:

Contact Us | Alpha Centauri Home

Powered by: Ultimate Bulletin Board, Version 5.18
© Madrona Park, Inc., 1998.

Author	Topic: Disband enemy cities, or keep 'em?
BendingPine	posted 04-22-99 05:33 PM ET I'm in the middle of a game where only Myself, the Hive, Believers, and Spartans are left. Needless to say, they repealed the UN charter immediately. I'm beginning to take some of their cities(none of them are over 5-6k population) and I'm wondering if it's smarter to just disband the cities (payback!)and start over (I'm playing Peacekeepers, so I'm starting at 3k pop) or leave them as is and deal with the (drone?) problems that pop up after you take over an enemy city.
sandworm	posted 04-22-99 06:18 PM ET Usually, keep em. Destroying them IS an atrocity (IF that's a problem for you, even w/o UN). They may have facilities already built that may be of use to you (Hiver perimeter defenses, for example, network nodes, biology labs, etc.) You can deal with most any drone problem simply by building a rec commons (unless you're playing transcend). The strategy was similar in CivII, capture an enemy city, and speed buy a temple to control unhappy citizens. If you can't keep the population happy, they'll starve themselves out, and you may be left with a city facility or two the survivors can use when the smoke clears. However... If the city doesn't have any facilities you can use, has low population, and you have plenty of colony pods (AND no moral objection to destroying imaginary people), hey, burn em' out. Sorry for any discontinuities in the post, I'm hurrying. Enjoy your game.
Fenryswulf	posted 04-22-99 08:51 PM ET I'm just curious- I've heard about disbanding a city, but I haven't been able to figure out how to do it. How is it done?
WyldKarde	posted 04-22-99 08:55 PM ET To disband a city peacefully, just have it keep pumping out colony pods. Each pod reduces the city's population by one, and the last one removes the city completely, leaving just that final pod in its spot. To do it quickly and less peacefully, park a military unit in there and hit 'b'. The military then slaughter the entire population in a ruthless act which nets you some atrocity points. It's quicker than rabbitting the city to death though.
HolyWarrior	posted 04-22-99 09:50 PM ET I generally keep conquered cities unless they are too close to others and overlap several squares--the AI seems to do this way too often, IMO. If the population is 1 or 2, rabbit them out. Otherwise wait for sunspots or repeal the UN. Or you can trade it to an ally.
Nell_Smith	posted 04-22-99 10:04 PM ET I always keep captured cities, unless it's obvious that the enemy will capture them back on the next turn and thereby steal energy or tech from me. (Actually, I don't capture a city if I'm in a position so weak that I can't hold onto it - better to hold off and wait until you can keep the thing!) Even if the drones riot so much that you have to convert two, three or all of them into happy-making specialists, and even if the city produces no resources or energy worth speaking of, frontline cities right next to, or within, enemy territory are invaluable bases for your military advance, especially if the enemy has already kindly roaded the city into the rest of his territory for you. Stick one or more of your best defenders in the city and pile your attack units in there. Setting the new city as these units' home base is a good idea if you're not in danger of losing the city again, as it releases much-needed resources at the units' original home bases. Frontline cities are great spots for piling up needlejets/choppers etc and making quick airstrikes at nearby enemy troop units or cities, most of which will tend to be poorly defended once you've taken over the enemy's best frontline bases and he's spent his best troops defending them. Frontline cities are also great (again, more so if they are roaded in) for use as recovery stops for damaged troops. Hurry a Command Centre (they're very cheap), if there isn't one already there, and use the base as a hospital stop-off for those 80% damaged Rovers. One thing to beware of, though, is the high chance of the enemy faction inundating your newly acquired city with probe teams - Morgan and Miriam seem especially prone to this kind of behaviour. To avoid this, I usually wait until I have at least two high-morale probes within range before capturing a city, then move them straight in there to defend it against enemy probes (with the added bonus that my own probes can then make one-turn quick strikes at neighbouring enemy cities as well). If I don't have any spare probes hanging about, I station military units on all the roads in and out of the city, to stop fast enemy probe attacks... or at least to force the enemy to bribe my unit before getting to the city (though it always really annoys me when they do that!!) And you'd be surprised how fast an apparently duff base can turn into a useful, productive city, given a bit of "hurrying" in the production queues and a few turns of terraforming. Wow, I do waffle on, don't I Nell... Forum-surfing between PBEM turns!
Koshko	posted 04-22-99 11:54 PM ET You can 'build' on top of an existing city upping thier population by 1. Mass-Build Colony Pods and then build on an existing city. Also there are cases where you 'moving' a city a square or two would be ideal. btw, you can't disband a city this way at low levels.
1212	posted 04-23-99 12:39 AM ET only obliterate when that base is going to be fough over repeatedly. Enemies gain tech you lose credits. only keep if you can garuntee that you keep them for the game. It reminds me of a game against the spartans. I defeated all their land bases and most sea bases(Diedre was protecting them). It got to the point where morgan diedre santiago and me were fighting over a size 3 city. i said screw it oblitirated it and got my sanctions. small price to pay for mass causualties like a the a bomb.
sandals	posted 04-23-99 10:58 AM ET When I take over a city, there are never any base facilities in it except SP/faction standard facilities. It sucks to have to rebuild from recycling tanks... It always annoyed me, but I just figured that's the way it is. Am I missing something?
McGeorge	posted 04-23-99 11:58 AM ET sandals: I don't often get much in the way of facilities with conquered bases, but they show up sometimes. I think there are two reasons for this. First of all, some AI factions really seem to concentrate on units rather than improvements. In my somewhat limited experience the PK's, the U. and the Morganites tend to improve more than the Hive, Believers, and Spartans. I've never actually taken over a Gaian base; every time I decide to play raving conqueror instead of wily diplomat, someone else wipes her out first. The second reason is that I think base facilities get randomly destroyed during attacks on cities. I personally follow the "keep 'em unless they're crowded" philosophy. It is a pain rebuilding infra-structure, but I like to see that nice shiny border keep expanding with every base I get. Oooh, look at the pretty dotted lines. "Space is blue, and birds fly through it." Werner Heisenberg
ApcJK	posted 04-23-99 02:11 PM ET You can obliterate an unwanted enemy city by giving it enough time to build more defenders and destroy them one by one until the city's size 1. Then capture it and you've got no city left there. + you get that unit which captured the city repaired.
jhankla	posted 04-23-99 09:10 PM ET This is where a Pact stooge comes in handy! Got a base you can't possible use nor want! Give it to them, the'll eat it up and thank you for it!
Knight_Errant	posted 04-24-99 04:15 AM ET In the last game I played. Deidre was second on the power list. I was first (UoP) and the others were scwabbling amongst themselves. It seems that the Morganites were Believer stooges. I had the Hive on a leash. Santiago went nuts and I had to eliminate her, when I began the campaign Deidre took the opporunity to help out. She then began to think herself superior even though I did nothing to provoke her. She started a war with a sneak attak on one of the former Spartan bases. I defended and began a genocide campaign against her faction. Now to the point of the thread. At one area of the world, I had a PSI gate which I used to warp in military units to attack Gaian settlements. I had moved a planet buster in on her city containing the PSI attack wonder (Dream Twister). She has over 100 worms and 100+ isles. She continued to sue for peace then sneak attack my cities. So, as a lesson, I executed 90,000 Gaians. (read obliterate base) Of course, she became upset and pressed the attack. I obliterated another base. By the time I obliterated three gaian bases, she aquiesced. So, to answer your question. To obliterate or to keep. It depends on your needs. The bases I took from the Gaians were neither strategically important, nor particularly harmful.
Matlaf	posted 04-26-99 06:57 AM ET Obliteration or not. That is a question which bothers me sometimes, because the AI is to dumb to build bases in a way that they can grow without stealing resources from other bases. Last game peaceceepers built 5 cities in a 9x9 square. When i attacked them i had to whipe out 2 bases and got a 30-year trading ban for it. that's not fair. But this AI problem exists since Civ 1 (what does this tell about game design?) The point is, if you don't like a base obliterate it and take the consequences. Matlaf