Should I Conquer small cities on my island?

[DeletedUser]

(Q 1052) Should I Conquer (Clear?) small cities on my island? Are Conquering and Clearing the same thing?

This seems contrary to what others have suggested; to only go after cities on different islands because by conquering on your own island you’re competing for resources(?). And, only go after cities which have at least 1500-2000 points.

• My island has places for 20 cities
• 19 have cities built on them
• 3 cities (myself and 2 others) are in an alliance with 1 city on an adjacent island (who is the leader)
• 1 city on the island is associated with a different alliance
• Remaining 14 have points from 175 (7 of them) to 300 (1 of them)

The alliance leader has said that he will post Objectives on a daily basis. His first suggested Objective is: Clear every small city on your Island and make sure they are inactive. If we do this they can be used for resources and maybe BP.

 

[DeletedUser]

Clearing is a term that generally means "attacking and ensuring there are no enemy troops left". Or, to put it simply, you are 'clearing' the city of enemy troops. It is not the same as conquering. Conquering is when you use a Colony Ship and take control of the city.

The answer to your main question is no, you don't want to conquer small cities on your island, for two reasons. The first reason is that conquering on the same island as a city you already own is usually a bad idea, as it restricts your resource gains from farming villages. The second reason is that you should never conquer a city below 750 points, as this is the score of a 'founded' city (a city created when sending a Colony Ship to found a city in an empty island position).

 

[DeletedUser]

Thank you, that raises a couple of additional questions.

(Q 1053) Should I then Clear small cities on my island? If Conquering and Clearing the NOT same thing, then what are the steps for clearing, or are they the same as an Attack, just that if I create an attack on a city not on my island, it is considered conquering?

I read that it is better to Take or Conquer cities of 1500+ rather than colonize a new city. What are your thoughts?

 

[DeletedUser]

If the cities are only 175 point, it is highly likely they are inactive, and therefore won't have any troops and are already 'clear'. Clearing is just attacking, it's merely a different way of referring to it.

Personally I'd agree with what you've read, that conquering 1500+ point cities is better. Colonizing a new city starts you at 750 points, so you are required to spend the additional resources and, more importantly, the additional time to get it up to a decent size. Conquering a decent size city means that it may already have acceptable resource levels/a barracks/temple/market/etc.

 

[DeletedUser]

Am confused by this surely it is better to wipe these small cities out. Sort of if you like raise them to the ground ? This way any other potential enermy can't get a foot hold on your island. Thus saving having to potentially lose resources of the farms to another civilisation/race/alliance ?

 

[DeletedUser]

Clearing- Attacking a city and making sure that there are no troops left.
This is usually then followed by farming which is when you send regular attacks to take a city's resources.

It is good to try to clear all of the cities on your island if possible. For the smaller ones, spying isn't too necessary but it is for the large ones and you don't want to loose all of your men needlessly! Also- watch for morale if you are playing a world with that setting activated as it will affect you if you are attacking smaller players.

Conquering is when you are taking another city, either by starting a revolt and landing a colony ship 12 hours later (time changes based on world speed) or by landing a CS and defending it for 12 hours (time changes based on world speed).

In order to conquer a city you must first clear it.


It is NOT worth conquering smaller cities (but this is not to say that you should never do it, some times it will benefit you to do so).
I would also say that it is not bad to conquer on the same island... It helps when defending a city as your support will take less time to arrive. In Theta i had 5 cities on one island! And some players take all of an island.

There is no real way to raise a city unless you keep on bolting it and destroying one building level at a time. It happens naturally over the course of a few weeks. If a city is totally destroyed it is replaced by an 'anchor point' which anyone can colonise on.