Border Cities

[Executor]

Probably already been discussed (what hasn't?), but what will happen if a city is right on the border of another's territory, so that the border passes through the city's squares? Will it be like SMAC, where it will be unable to utilize those tiles, or if the other civ is not using those tiles and they are not at war, then the city can use them?

[old dog]

It's my impression that each tile will be marked definitively as belonging to one or the other civ... and that this will be heavily influenced by culture.

[Skanky Burns]

Also, if your new city doesn't increase its culture, then it runs the risk of being 'influenced' into joining the other civilization that is near it. There are three main ways to prevent a cultural takeover.
1) Obvious - build culture-producing improvements in the city
2) Have a LARGE military presence in your city(s) near a culturally superior foreign civilization.
3) Have a higher total culture compared to your neighbouring civ.

[Akron]

Originally posted by Skanky Burns
Also, if your new city doesn't increase its culture, then it runs the risk of being 'influenced' into joining the other civilization that is near it. There are three main ways to prevent a cultural takeover.
1) Obvious - build culture-producing improvements in the city
2) Have a LARGE military presence in your city(s) near a culturally superior foreign civilization.
3) Have a higher total culture compared to your neighbouring civ.

He's right.

I wonder, though, how powerful culture will be in assimilating foreign civ's cities. I would also imagine that a lone settlement city on another civ's contintent will be much easier to take over than a city on the border of that civ's mainland. Its quite likely that distance from the capital and happiness also play a role in the cultural takeover.

[Oligarf]

I can understand that cities will like it to join another Civ, if that one has a higher culture. Everything else said, I understand too. But should the chance of leaving the mother-civ also depend on what improvements the city has?

I think that the chance that a city joins another Civ increases if it has some intellectual buildings, which will provide intelligent people to feed a revolt. I don't think that missing culture only could make cities join other civs. They might be not intelligent enough to think of such.

More important is the relation between the city and the rest of the empire. If a city feels important within the empire it will probably stay, whatever culture may be. Contradictionary, if it's just another colony, they might be more willing to join another Civilization.