Moving your capital?

[Treverer]

Hello there,

My question is exactly this one:

"Do you move your capital to a 'central province' when your empire grows or do stick with your original capital?"

There are the pro and con about moving:
- pro => distance = less unrest, and
- con => roleplay aspect, as "(insert your capital) caput mundi".

How do YOU decide? And WHY do you decide so?

Thanks in advance for answers.

Yours,
Treverer

[JeffSteel]

When I play as the Selukids, the first thing (well second, after activating the script) I do right at the start of the campaign is to move my capitol to Selukia. Makes holding onto the Iranian provinces possible and saves me +2,000 mina per turn in corruption penalties. Plus, I wont need to move it again after that, for it becomes Selukia, the eternal city, in the center of the Empire, which in turn is the center of the world. Has a nice decadent universalism to it.

[iceman7291]

I never move my capital no matter how big my empire gets. It is Rome and shall remain Rome, THE TRUE capital of the world.

[konny]

I don't think that anyone would move his capital as Romani or Karthago. With, for example, the Sweboz or Pontos I move my capital in many campaigns - but often leave it afterwards where I have chosen.

[Treverer]

I don't think that anyone would move his capital as Romani or Karthago. With, for example, the Sweboz or Pontos I move my capital in many campaigns - but often leave it afterwards where I have chosen.

Where exactly do you move your capital when playing Pontos? Eastwards or westwards? Just of curiousity from a regular player of Pontos ...

[CirdanDharix]

I don't think that anyone would move his capital as Romani or Karthago. With, for example, the Sweboz or Pontos I move my capital in many campaigns - but often leave it afterwards where I have chosen.

With Kart-Hadast, I once had to move it to Taras. Only way to keep hold of Hamilcar Barca's conquests in Asia Minor.

[konny]

Where exactly do you move your capital when playing Pontos? Eastwards or westwards? Just of curiousity from a regular player of Pontos ...

I usually expand west in the beginning and place it in Nikomedia. That helps me a little to keep the Thracians and Pergamons from rebelling as long as I don't even have the money for pacification. Since it is still homelands, I would say it is ok from the roleplaying point of view.

[Elminster12]

I always keep it in Amaseia. Can't leave the tombs of our glorious ancestors!
I have moved it with the Sauromatae, but it hardly matters for them...

[Pharnakes]

I usualy move to Sinope as the Pontics, then Babylon once I have "liberated" the old achemnid noblity.

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

I nearly always keep my capital the same. The few acceptions are one time with Epirus I moved it to Pella to show I was the true heir of Alexander; and one time when I rebuilt the Persian Empire with Hayasdan I move it to Babylon, which I rebuilt as a huge capital.

[Redmeth]

When playing as Sauromatae I moved it around quite a bit, try to achieve their VCs without it... wonderful campaign. I shipped 6 units of Indian archers and went with them and some Steppe nobles, HAs and Drapanai all lead by my Steppe "Hannibal" (a promising young general I raised in Seleukeia where an academy existed and gave him the best ancillaries). With them I raided Patavium, Bononia, Viennos and Swebotraustamnoz hiring a few mercenary Gauls when my armies were low... ahh what a campaign... It all ended in 170 I believe.

[Olaf The Great]

As KH I Always move my Capitol to whoever the Faction leaders city is, which after the first generic spartan guy dies, is usually an Athenian(I like'em better)

As Pontos, Ancrya ends up being my capitol once I complete the conquest of Anatolia, mainly because its a central city.

As Casse its almost always Camulnosadae(the start city) because its basically London.

As Sweboz, I always choose Scandinavia, heh for obvious reasons.

As Arverni/Aedui its a central position, mainly because of the Generic Tribal structure, and because I have no idea where their capitol is.


Lustotanna-Whoever's the faction leader's city.

Seluekia-Antioch or Seleukia

Armenia-The oringinal capitol or whatever keeps peace.

Getai-Whatever keeps peace

Baktria-Alexandros(the city a lil' south of baktra) once I get it and build it up

Sakae/Sarmatians-Eh, I dunno

Carthage/Rome-Carthage/rome

Ptolemy-Alexandria, all the time.

Saba-Harder choice, Petra after I get it.

[Thaatu]

Pahlavi has a lot of historical options for a capital. They switched it quite a few times.

[CaesarAugustus]

When playing as the Romans, I keep my capital at Roma no matter what. There is something very symbolic about the city on seven hills, I'd feel like a "traitor" if I moved the capital.

[Little Legioner]

Fellas related with this problem i just want to change "distance to capital" penalty. Which document related with this issue?

[Watchman]

Yeah, it varies by faction IMO. For something like Rome or Carthage (or the Saba for that matter) it's pretty obvious why the "home city" ought to stay as the faction capital, and it'd be a little strange for the Ptolemaioi one to be moved out of the Nile delta region. Ditto for the Seleucids and the Antioch-Seleukeia-Persis axis, and the Macedonians and Epirotes with their respective royal homelands.

The others are a more laissez-faire bag. The Koinon Hellenon are basically a confederacy of more-or-less independent cities and their respective spheres of interest, and about any large province with a type I or II gov located reasonably centrally should be a legitimate option. Ditto, more or less, for the Sweboz, Lusotannan and various Celts - any central location with type I or II gov seems good. The Getai might conceivably tend to stick to their starting capital or, once they capture it, Sarmisgethusomethingorother instead.

As far as the Hayasdan go, they're practically a feudal kingdom centered first on Armavir and later more generally on the Caucasus "Homeland" region with a longer-term "neo-Persia" bent. As RP goes, Armavir is obviously the premier choice but any of the Homeland provinces would probably seem legit after the Pan-Caucasus Reform - and *not* shifting the capital to Persis once you get that far would really just not be trying.
Pontos appears rather similar but more strongly centered on their starting home city - still, any Homeland region with the appropriate governement type would strike me as OK.

Baktria ought presumably chiefly stick to Central Asia and the Indian provinces, unless it goes and takes over the Seleukids wholesale of course.

And the steppe guys should just stick it where they feel like it serves a purpose - these folks tended not be too hung up on formal fixed locales anyway, and the Pahlava for their part are in the business of turning from a steppe empire to a settlesd one via conquest and should as such "creep" their adminstrative centre forwards in pace with their territorial aquisitions.

Fellas related with this problem i just want to change "distance to capital" penalty. Which document related with this issue?

Hardcoded, AFAIK.

[Geoffrey S]

I find it a shame that moving the capital in RTW doesn't incur some temporary penalty; some preperation time with high cost, and decreased income for a few turns after the fact would have been nice.

[Plebe]

When playing as the Romans, I keep my capital at Roma no matter what. There is something very symbolic about the city on seven hills, I'd feel like a "traitor" if I moved the capital.

Agreed, True Romans come from Rome.

[Megas Methuselah]

In my baktrian campaign, it's Babylon. I'm rebuilding the Persian Empire(have been since 1.0 came out). First it was Baktra, then it was Hekatompylos, then Susa, then finally(forever more) Babylon.

[Narhon]

I keep my capital in Roma, the city where all roads lead too.

[konny]

As KH I Always move my Capitol to whoever the Faction leaders city is

That is something I do with the Sweboz too. I have no idea what some kind of Germanic empire would have looked like, but I suppose it would have been very federal, like the Mediavel German Empire. In one campaign I roleplayed it so far that I changed the capital everytime the king enters another town, representing a court moving from Pfalz to Pfalz.

[Leão magno]

For the factions I play, Carthage, Epeiros, it makes not much sense for me (in rg terms) to change capital, believe the same for Romans and Ptolemais

[russia almighty]

Carthage- Carthage or Sidon
Rome- Rome
Parthia- Persepolis
Sweboz-where ever
Pontus-Babylon or Nicomedia depending if I feel hellenic or persian
Armenia-Armavir then Babylon
The Successors + Baktria and Epieros sans Seleucia . There starter then Pella if I conqueror it with the nearby successors .

[Watchman]

I'm fairly sure Babylon was never a major adminstrative and political center for the Achaemenid Persians though; although of course its sheer size and wealth and location in Mesopotamia made it very important, it was AFAIK never heavily associated with the Persian concept of kingship itself. That was the purview of Persis proper, the original capital of the Persians around which their empire was built.

[Justiciar]

I moved my capital to Sinope as Pontos. Not really any benefits.. it's just what they did in reality upon seizing it. Plus if you're going to build a naval super-power, you should probably have your centre of power within eye-shot of the ocean, no?

[Treverer]

I'm fairly sure Babylon was never a major adminstrative and political center for the Achaemenid Persians though; ... That was the purview of Persis proper, the original capital of the Persians around which their empire was built.

IIRC, their capital was first Susa, then Persepolis. If I'm wrong, correct me!

T.

[iamphet]

I'm trying to keep Rome in the middle of my expansion area :)

[Parkev]

I can see in the future that, as the Casse begin to dominate Gaul, the capital would be moved, especially if a member of the continental tribes asserts status as the Brenn. Although I do like konny's idea of moving the capital with the Faction Leader, might work that in somewhere.

[Leão magno]

Carthage- Carthage or Sidon
Rome- Rome

Interesting ideas to return the power to the original lands of the Phoenincians Though it may make dificult to administrate Iberian holdings

[johnhughthom]

Didn't some of the later Roman emperors move the capital away from Rome? If I'm not wrong (and I may well be) it wouldn't necessarily be that ahistoric to move the Roman capital, especially after the Augustan reforms.
I agree it would be nice to be able to put in some penalties for moving capital, such as having to build an expensive palace in the new capital, unrest in the old capital etc and it would be even nicer to have big penalties for losing your capital.