Civ 5: War & Peace Guide
Annexing, Puppeting and Razing Cities
| War & Peace | Combat Bonuses | Fighting & Capturing | Annex, Raze, & Puppet |
| Melee | Ranged | Siege | Mounted & Armor | Naval | Aircraft & Missiles |
When you conquer a City, there is a percent chance for each Building to be destroyed in the process. Gold gained is based on the Civ's current Gold on hand and the size of the City. Landsknechts from the Commerce Policy Tree will get Double Gold and keep that benefit when Upgraded to Lancers. You will capture all Great Works stored in the City. The AI may move them to another City if they have slots available, and you should too if one of your Cities is going to be taken. The City's Population will be cut in half, then the City will Revolt a number of Turns equal to this Population - a 16 Pop City will become 8 and Revolt for 8 Turns. Wonders are never destroyed, so you are sure to control those. The % chance loss of a building is based on the building. But, the question for Warmongers when capturing them is whether to Annex, Raze, or Puppet Cities.
Different levels of Tourism Influence affect the number of Turns a City will be in Revolt and the loss of Population. Certain Ideological Tenets may make it easier to add these Cities to your empire. Police State from Autocracy gives +3 Happiness for Courthouses and allows you to build them in half the usual time. Order's Iron Curtain provides a Free Courthouse upon City Capture while also boosting Internal Trade Routes by 50%. This allows you to give more Food to captured Cities to help them grow to be more useful, but is best used in your big Cities.
This is stated elsewhere in the Guide, but you should be aware that each City you add to your Empire adds 5% to Tech Costs. Each City you Annex will add 10% to Social Policy Costs. These two help you decide what to do with each City. It's not wise to have a large empire of Annexed Cities, though you do get complete control. If you Annex too many Cities, you will not be able to adopt as many Social Policies. For example, just because Police State gives you +3 Happiness for Courthouses, Annexing all Cities would cause you to choose fewer Social Policies in the late game.
Be aware of Unhappiness generated by Cities, so you can do the math and know how much a City would add to your Empire. All Cities you own will generate 3 Unhappiness plus one per Population, but you must cut the Population in half if you're taking it by Conquest. So, a 14-pop City would be cut to 7 through Conquest with no Tourism Influence Modifiers, then generate 10 Unhappiness (7+3). As stated before, Cities acquired through Trade Deals and Peace Treaties do not suffer a Population hit, so it would remain the same when changing hands. If you're Razing a City, it will temporarily cause a hit to Happiness that depletes by 1 as its population falls.
Annex
Annexing a City puts it under your control, but there is a short-term drawback aside from Cultural costs. An Annexed City will add 1.34 Unhappiness per Population plus 5 Unhappiness to your Empire, enough to cause a riseup of Barbarian units. Putting a Courthouse in the City will make it behave just like any of your other Cities. It is sometimes preferable to buy the Courthouse (600 Gold) outright rather than suffer the amount of turns it would take the City to build the Courthouse. Annexing is a pretty big deal. You only want to Annex the very best Cities, like Capitals, and you never want to Annex a City immediately upon capture as it is unable to produce anything - meaning it will tank your Civ's Happiness until the Revolt is over.
Annex Cities that have good lands around - capable of high Production or massive growth. Capitals are generally the only Cities I Annex in my games, as the AI will typically have built Wonders there. You get the benefit of any Wonders and buildings inside anyway, but these Cities have a lot of Potential and allowing the AI to Focus on Gold there is a waste when it could contribute a lot to the Civ's Science output or be an excellent production center for Military Units.
Puppet
Puppeting a City will make it yours, though it will construct buildings on its own. They focus on Gold through Citizen Management, meaning they will have a low potential for growth unless the tiles with Gold also have good Food output. Puppets can never grow to great heights because of this. Their main purpose is to secure the land for you, give you benefits of extra Gold income, and contribute to the Scientific output of your empire (a bit). To keep Puppets from growing and consuming too much of your Happiness, you can replace any Farms with Trading Posts. This makes them more useful, and with Rationalism you can get +1 Science per Trading Post.
I puppet about half the Cities I take, a few get Annexed and others Razed. The AI can place Cities in horrible spots, and those have to go. You can settle the lands later and put it in a better spot, or let other Cities' borders expand to fill in the gap. Always Puppet Cities that can function as bases for your Military - you need a place to heal your forces and prevent the AI from retaking that land. Puppets serve as excellent forward staging grounds for future battles. Sometimes a City is in such a good position that it has to be kept for the purposes of defense. Puppets add 5% to Science costs and their Population prevents your other Cities from growing if you have low Happiness. Thankfully, Puppets will eventually get around to building Happiness buildings just as they do Markets and Banks.
Raze
Razing Cities burns them to the ground. When the City's Captured, half its population will be gone. The remainder will determine how many turns it will take for the City to be razed - 1 Turn per remaining Population. As a City is Razed, you are able to sell one building per turn. Sell the most expensive buildings first, as when it's gone, everything inside is gone too.
Many Cities deserve to be Razed. Any that are in Snow/Desert/Tundra with poor food, or just settled in awful locations, like one tile from the coast, need to go. Consider your Civilizations' current and future Happiness when deciding whether to Raze or not. Even a decent City needs to burn if it will put you at -10 Happiness and you're unable to support it. If you can take the Happiness hit or resolve it soon, then Puppet the City. Keep it if valuable resources are within its borders, such as unique Luxuries you do not yet have access to or Strategic Resources. Capitals cannot be Razed.
While it would be foolish to Raze Cities that have Wonders inside, given you will get their benefits, the situation may arise. Know that when you Raze a City any Wonders inside will be lost forever with no one able to rebuild them, just as many have been destroyed historically. Great Works will be lost, too, if you're unable to move them to another City.
If you want a City for Strategic or Luxury Resources alone, be aware that you can choose to Raze it, drop its Population down and choose Stop Razing when it gets to the level you desire - say, 1 Population so that you get the Aluminum or Oil nearby, control the land, and have a minimal happiness hit to your Empire. To Stop Razing, simply select it on the City Screen.
| War & Peace | Combat Bonuses & Penalties | Fighting Wars & Capturing Cities | Annexing, Razing, & Puppeting |
Share Tips and FAQs (9)
Our Sims Forum is the place to go for faster answers to questions and discussions about the game. Use the form below to share your own experiences and provide helpful tips to other readers.
Reply
Flag
18