City Strategies

[Novelty]

I have noticed in my pbem games that people would rather place a city piece 2 tiles away from my city and play a knight to it in the hopes that they will be able to connect to my city and share the points, instead of completing a city which is only occupied by their knights.  Why would anyone want to do this?  Won't it be better to complete your own cities and get the points instead?

Another strategy I've always wondered about is if it is wise to add city segments to someone else's city near the beginning or the middle of the game to prevent them from completing their city.  I mean, that's still eventually adding 1 point to them anyways at the end of the game?  What's the strategy behind that?

[scotty13]

If its a 2 player game and your apponent has a big city going it might be a good idea so you cancell the points out, or use your big dude to try and steal it. 
I taught my son to do this and he does it very well, for roads and farms to.

[Joff]

I don't mind sharing a city with the player who is not currently the leader, but to share with the leader is a big no-no!

[Novelty]

I don't mind sharing a city with the player who is not currently the leader, but to share with the leader is a big no-no!

What if he has a city and you want to join your city to his?

[tribepride]

I don't mind sharing a city with the player who is not currently the leader, but to share with the leader is a big no-no!

i see what you're saying, but you're not always playing for first.  if the leader looks to take it and you can come in second by piggy backing, why not?

[Novelty]

The other thing is that you might want to finish that city to prevent the leader from joining it to his other city so that you get no points.  I decided to do that in my pbem game.  Equal points with the leader is better than only points for the leader.

[kevhoffer]

There are so many reasons why someone might want to jump in "your" city, but I would find it more advantageous to close my own city before investing meeples in contesting, as you might threaten "my" city with the same tactic.  Of course, if it looks like my city is not able to be "stolen" without some awful luck, then I might make sure you can't close yours, or yours is at least threatened which puts you on the defensive and gives me a shot at equaling points and making it a wash.  But the amount of players involved has a lot to do with this discussion as a 2 player game is just so cut throat and different from 3 or more.