Tip O' the day

[troymclure]

As the thread title suggests....
Don't forgot to move your capital!

After a hundred years or so of conquering you may notice that your having trouble with rebellions on the edge of your empire. Well distance to capital can greatly affect public order. So after you've done some conquering don't forget to move and centralize your capital (it costs nothing, doesn't even take any time) and enjoy the benefits.

[sapi]

Never! Constantinople will always stay my capital :D

[Barny Bangs]

I just can't imagine giving up London as my ENglish capital. Moving it to France seems like heresy :inquisitive:

[Spartiate]

When playing as Milan or Venice i refuse to move capitals as these were particularly proud city states who wouldn't stand for having their status taken away from them.How realistic is it to move capitals anyway.I think there should be a high risk of civil war for 10/20 turns if you move your capital outside of your indiginous or historical areas of population/control.Imagine the english if the capital got moved from london to paris.Oui??

[econ21]

How realistic is it to move capitals anyway.

For the kind of massive Empire you will have to build to get 45 provinces, I think it is realistic. One example is the emergence of Byzantium as the centre of gravity in the Roman Empire moved east. Indeed, even in the Western Roman Empire, Rome started to become less important as an administrative centre - it was too far from the action on the frontiers to be a sensible place to command the Empire.

Capitals are often just administrative centres and so can be plonked down in places that are chosen for logistical reasons, rather than because they were large population centres - Canbera, Washington DC, Abuja, Bonn (ex-capital), Beijing etc may all be examples of this. Several of these are also examples of capitals moving (Abuja, Bonn, Beijing).

[Spartiate]

For the kind of massive Empire you will have to build to get 45 provinces, I think it is realistic. One example is the emergence of Byzantium as the centre of gravity in the Roman Empire moved east. Indeed, even in the Western Roman Empire, Rome started to become less important as an administrative centre - it was too far from the action on the frontiers to be a sensible place to command the Empire.

Capitals are often just administrative centres and so can be plonked down in places that are chosen for logistical reasons, rather than because they were large population centres - Canbera, Washington DC, Abuja, Bonn (ex-capital), Beijing etc may all be examples of this. Several of these are also examples of capitals moving (Abuja, Bonn, Beijing).

Valid points but not really applicable for the medieval period (imho).Bonn, Abuja and Canberra are all examples of the modern period were democracies built new federal capitals (due to destruction in the case of Bonn/Berlin).Also i felt Washington D.C was the result of a relatively young nation choosing were it's capital should be after moving it twice and again this was a democracy in times much different than the medieval period.

Beijing is nearer to the period in question i suppose but it was also the capital of several Dynasties and has remained the capital of the entire country for the last millenium (i think).

Last but not least i think that Constantinople actually proves my point about it not being realistic to easily move your capital without disaffecting the populace.The roman empire ceased to be a single cohesive entity for most of the remainder of its' life span after this event with two realms of influence and control evolving.I really feel that in the game, for instance, if the english move capitals from london to milan, there should be massive consequences to deal with regarding loyalty and the like BEFORE all the cities just settle down because the capital is now in a central location in the empire.

Just for the record i'm not disagreeing with you that it happens and may be necessary.I just feel it's not realistically handled in the game.Please don't come out with 20 instances were this happened in antiquity with no diverse consequences or i will feel a right fool. ~:)

[Darth Nihilus]

All valid points, but it would depend on what faction I was for roleplaying. If I'm playing as the Byzantines, I couldn't fathom moving the capitol from Constantinople. If I was, say...... the Moors, it wouldn't matter as much too me. Some factions are identified by their great capitols, like Milan, and Constantinople.

[IrishArmenian]

As the Novgorod Rus, it would be hard to change my capital, but I will, probably to Vilnius because of its central location in my Empire. Later, I will more than likely move it to Kiev though. After I knock of Poland (They only have Madesburg which is broken down, thank you army of assassins) and the Danes, Kiev will be my capital for a few reasons:
A) An Ongoing Hungarian war that seems like less of a war and more of a pain in the ass to me. They besiege Kiev, I destroy them with gunpowder.

[Captainrave]

Not only that, but remember to move it each time you reload a game....aka the merchant bug!!! MY merchants should be early approx 10000 a turn....if I dont move my capital (and then move it back) my merchants only earn 1000....thats alot over a few turns!

[Orda Khan]

Can't see the point. Moving your Capital to avoid unrest on distant borders just encourages unrest nearer home. I don't consider it realistic, most of the time if a Capital was moved it was usually due to the fact that the old one had fallen

........Orda

[troymclure]

I agree that there should be some kind of negative for moving your capitol.

When i did it, i was Russia, moved from novgorod or whatever is up there to kiev. Which quelled the riots in constantinople and denmark quite nicely but was still placed close enough to home not too cause any riots back there.

[Sir SillyDuck]

Not valid to put it in historical context. The kind of empire-building we do in our campaigns is pretty a-historical.. (if we are succesfull). Maybe only the Turkish expansion in the late Medieval period (knocking on the door of Vienna) or the Russian Consolidation of lands is to be compared.. And, suprisingly, those two nations DID relocate their Capitals (well, I don't know if Istanbul became the Turkish capital, but it did become their foremost city).

[Shahed]

There's too much penalty for distance from capital. Right now Baghdad is giving me 30% penalty and my capital is Iconium... err ?