Does anybody ever move?

Dom Pedro II · October 13, 2000, 19:13

I wondering... the player is able to move their capital from one city to another, but I rarely if ever use such a method. I never saw a purpose to it unless some terrible situation had occurred in which I felt it was threatened by an enemy. I was just wondering if anyone else ever finds a reason (short of AI invasion) when moving the capital is desirable or necessary. Or has anyone ever swung the entire heart of their civilization (capital and all) to another location building it up as the new sort of "homeland"?

By that I mean moving the capital and building up city improvements and tile improvements in a new place making it a new center of production, science and trade.

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"...The highest realization of warfare is to attack the enemy's plans; next is to attack their alliances; next to attack their army; and the lowest is to attack their fortified cities." - Sun Tzu

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Smash · October 13, 2000, 19:54

Yes.I moved my capitol in my very first deity game.Just before launch,in preparation of an ai onslaught.Moved it to a size 1 city without walls

Those were the days.Don't see much need to nowadays.

Have done it several times in MP games.More of defensive move than a logistical change.Its not so good to have your capitol on a border in a MP game.Trust me.

The ai seems to love moving it's cap sometimes.Probably some tiny glitch that sends it in a loop.

Christantine The Great · October 13, 2000, 21:19

Every once in a while the AIs start to go on an insane moving streak. They usually go nuts for a couple of centuries and calm down. I never moved my capital though.

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finbar · October 13, 2000, 22:10

The Babylonians - or other Civs of that colour - seem particularly to enjoy moving their capital around. Who knows? Maybe the citizens are fussy buggers.

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cavebear · October 14, 2000, 17:01

I've moved my capital in 2 situations. The first is after I've launched a spaceship. The other is when I have found that my entire civ has been built off in one direction and my Capital is of the perimeter. Sometimes I've done that because my Capital was directly threatened by another civ, but more often (and it is still very few times) that it was easier to relocate my Capital than it was to eliminate the corruptuion caused by most of my cities being too far away from it. In those cases, I had ended up building my civ on a different continent than where I started the game.

It's rare, but it does happen.

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Mercantile · October 15, 2000, 03:26

Its always nice for your capital to be well protected, but as Cavebear stated, sometimes your capital is the cornerstone literally of your empire. Nothing worse than being continually harrassed by the ai in your capital. It always disrupts the flow of production. Can be a real waste of shields and science. Sometimes barbarians have this annoying habit as well, even when you set up a killing zone.

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Dom Pedro II · October 15, 2000, 19:56

I rarely have a problem with my capital being on the border of my empire. Even when its a coastal city, it is rarely ever harassed by enemies. I usually have at least some cities between me and an enemy, and even then, I usually just take their border cities to make an even larger buffer zone.

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"...The highest realization of warfare is to attack the enemy's plans; next is to attack their alliances; next to attack their army; and the lowest is to attack their fortified cities." - Sun Tzu

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Bohlen · October 16, 2000, 09:11

It might be a good idea to move your capital if you are planning on building a SSC and find a better spot for one than what you initial found for your first city. The new and improved spot could be far from the original capital, which means production waste in wonder and improvement building and trade and beaker waste once it becomes a SSC. I've done that myself a few time just to cut down on waste in my SSC.

I've done some capital moving similar to what cavebear describes. When fighting a war with a civ on another continent, I have moved my capital to the first city captured on the enemy continent in order to prevent city bribing by the AI and keep a stronghold on the continent. I have also moved my capital to a captured AI city that was 3 squares away from an AI capital. It allowed me to keep a great strategic position until I built up enough forces to move in and capture the AI capital and the U.N.. Of course my other cities suffered from more waste in both of these instances, but I felt it was worth it.

Shogun Gunner · October 16, 2000, 11:35

What's cool about Civilization is how it mirrors real life!

Remember, several countries in history have moved their capital, Brazil, Peru, Germany, Israel to name a few.

Yes, I will move the capital for economic or strategic reasons. Have done it willingly less than twenty times in several hundred games

Dom Pedro II · October 16, 2000, 17:33

quote:

Remember, several countries in history have moved their capital, Brazil, Peru, Germany, Israel to name a few.

Brasilia, ha! Its about time they moved it back to Rio!

The thing that made me post this topic was that someone had suggested that it was important to lay down the first cities in a tight pack at the beginning of the game. While a good strategy in the beginning, eventually those cities will come into conflict as their fields overlap. So I would assume that would mean relocation of the capital to an area stronger in resources with a farther spacing for large cities.

quote:

I have also moved my capital to a captured AI city that was 3 squares away from an AI capital.

Bohlen, a dangerous manuever. I assume you pretty heavily fortify the city... Otherwise you could find your capital quickly being taken back. What exactly are the benefits of moving a capital to the frontlines?

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"...The highest realization of warfare is to attack the enemy's plans; next is to attack their alliances; next to attack their army; and the lowest is to attack their fortified cities." - Sun Tzu

Dom Pedro II.... aka Hannibal3

Dom Pedro II - 2nd and last Emperor of the Empire of Brazil (1831 - 1889).

SCG · October 17, 2000, 08:23

quote:

Originally posted by Dom Pedro II on 10-16-2000 05:33 PM

Bohlen, a dangerous manuever. I assume you pretty heavily fortify the city... Otherwise you could find your capital quickly being taken back. What exactly are the benefits of moving a capital to the frontlines?

one reason might be that it would be unbribable (assuming you aren't already in democracy). If this was your only city near that AI civ, that would be very important that your staging area for all your troops was immune to switching sides

Secondly, even if it wasn't your only city, having all your troops very close to the capital would increase the bribery cost of your other units. Thirdly, if you had a spy/diplomat expelled, it goes to your capital. having it nearby basically eliminates the advantages of expelling them

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Bohlen · October 17, 2000, 09:58

quote:

Originally posted by SCG on 10-17-2000 08:23 AM
one reason might be that it would be unbribable

That's the main reason right there. This game was a while ago, but I believe I was running on fundy and the AI was bribing like crazy. I was getting fed up with all the capture, then AI bribe, so I thought this move of the capital would be just the thing that would allow me to keep a stronghold in the middle of the AI continent. I had no waste problem with moving it my capital in this instance because of fundy and science was surprisingly not bad either. When the tech rolled around that allowed more dangerous offensive units, I rolled my tanks and artillery down the roads that were already built on the mountains around the AI capital and went to town. After that, I took the remaining cities very quickly.

The terrain was brutal around the capital, so what I had created was a city that could not be bribed and was at a location that could reach the AI capital with ease because of the forts and roads that the AI had already built.

Dom Pedro II · October 17, 2000, 18:56

I never have any trouble with bribing really. It was occasionally a problem, but it never involved more than a few units. My AIs haven't been all too clever in that respect.

The only other reasons that for me would be something definite rather than just a precaution would be if I had a lower government in the earlier years, or having spies sent back only a little bit. The benifit to moving the capital to the frontlines in early wartime is that the frontline cities have no corruption and are better at producing units.

Crustacian · October 17, 2000, 20:29

unless because of a SS, or some other unusual defensive reason I would only move my capitol if it were a cheaper and more effective way to reduce corruption.