absorb city states? improve loyalty?

[similarly]

I bought Civ VI on release but only played about 5 hours until yesterday.

QUESTION: Is there a way to absorb city states without attacking them?
The reason I ask is that several times now (I've started over a few times) I've lost my own cities, having them become city-states, and then they are almost immediately taken over by another country. In one game, I lost two cities that way, one to England and one to Germany.

Yet, I've got 7-9 envoys in a few cities and it doesn't seem to do anything.

QUESTION: How can I improve loyalty?
My border cities keep falling every couple of turns. I put governors there. I put troops there. The areas around them are completely developed with farms, etc. But I can't seem to hold onto them. YET ... I know that if I just leave it a city-state, in a couple of turns, it will belong to England. How do I prevent that? Or should I just give up?

I'm not new to Civ. I had about 80 hours on Civ 5 and loved it, and I played the original Civ and Civ 2 way, way back in the early 90s. I even recall playing "Civilization" when it was a board game. But obviously Civ VI does some things differently, like loyalty.

Advice would be appreciated.

[SLG]

Are you assigning governors when you first see the warning about a city rebelling? It takes 5 turns before a governor is in place. If the warning shows a city has about 10 turns before it rebels, you need to assign a governor right now. Also make sure that you assign governors that get you a bigger loyalty.

[Oaks]

Originally posted by SLGray:

Are you assigning governors when you first see the warning about a city rebelling? It takes 5 turns before a governor is in place. If the warning shows a city has about 10 turns before it rebels, you need to assign a governor right now. Also make sure that you assign governors that get you a bigger loyalty.

I believe however the loyalty bonus of governors happens instantly and not when they arrive five turns later.

Op, when you go to settle a new city, you can see from the settler lens where loyalty pressure is being exert so, so try to avoid those places that are -20 or -10.

Maybe take a peek here to brush up on how it works:
https://civilization.fandom.com/wiki/Loyalty_(Civ6)

[similarly]

Originally posted by Oaks:

Originally posted by SLGray:

Are you assigning governors when you first see the warning about a city rebelling? It takes 5 turns before a governor is in place. If the warning shows a city has about 10 turns before it rebels, you need to assign a governor right now. Also make sure that you assign governors that get you a bigger loyalty.

I believe however the loyalty bonus of governors happens instantly and not when they arrive five turns later.

Op, when you go to settle a new city, you can see from the settler lens where loyalty pressure is being exert so, so try to avoid those places that are -20 or -10.

Maybe take a peek here to brush up on how it works:
https://civilization.fandom.com/wiki/Loyalty_(Civ6)

Thank you! I was NOT using lenses. This is helpful.

I'll read through that article later, and probably will favorite that wiki so I can refer to it. Thank you.

[plaguepenguin]

When you lose a city to loyalty pressure, it becomes a Free City, not a City State. The color scheme is similar, but they behave differently, especially in terms of loyalty. City States (almost) never succumb to loyalty pressure to flip to Free Cities, and then to a civ that is exerting loyalty pressure on them. You can therefore absorb Free Cities without conquest, unlike City States, but the only way is to exert enough loyalty pressure on them, and if you lost them to Free City status in the first place because you lacked the loyalty pressure to even hold them, it's not terribly likely you will get them back that way, unless you introduce a new element.

More pop in the cites close to these cities will exert more pressure. Conquering other nearby cities creates more pressure for your civ, and reduces it for the civ that you took the city from. Civs in a golden age exert more such pressure. Victor and Amani have promotions that give them pressure even on nearby cites they don't occupy. Some policy cards give greater loyalty. Entertainment Complexes allow a city project that creates greater pressure. One spy mission reduces loyalty, and another removes governors, which doesn't apply to Free Cities, only to the cites of other civs.

[That Crazy Squirrel]

Originally posted by similarly:

QUESTION: Is there a way to absorb city states without attacking them?
The reason I ask is that several times now (I've started over a few times) I've lost my own cities, having them become city-states, and then they are almost immediately taken over by another country. In one game, I lost two cities that way, one to England and one to Germany.

Yes, but it's nearly impossible, mostly because city states have a massive loyalty bonus because of questions like this.
You'd need to play as a civ that have a lot of bonuses towards loyalty (like Eleanor), play your cards right, place the right districs, surround a city-state with your own cities and have enough population in those cities to overwhelm a city state's loyalty and even then it's a "good luck fam" kind of stuff.

Originally posted by similarly:

QUESTION: How can I improve loyalty?

Amenities, grab different luxury resources and place a entertainment district between a few cities. The entertainment district (and the water park if you have the DLC) have an area of effect around them (I think it is a 6 tile bubble, I can't remember right now) so you don't have to place them in EVERY city, just a strategic spot to cover as many as you can. [/quote]

[similarly]

Originally posted by plaguepenguin:

When you lose a city to loyalty pressure, it becomes a Free City, not a City State. The color scheme is similar, but they behave differently, especially in terms of loyalty. City States (almost) never succumb to loyalty pressure to flip to Free Cities, and then to a civ that is exerting loyalty pressure on them. You can therefore absorb Free Cities without conquest, unlike City States, but the only way is to exert enough loyalty pressure on them, and if you lost them to Free City status in the first place because you lacked the loyalty pressure to even hold them, it's not terribly likely you will get them back that way, unless you introduce a new element.

More pop in the cites close to these cities will exert more pressure. Conquering other nearby cities creates more pressure for your civ, and reduces it for the civ that you took the city from. Civs in a golden age exert more such pressure. Victor and Amani have promotions that give them pressure even on nearby cites they don't occupy. Some policy cards give greater loyalty. Entertainment Complexes allow a city project that creates greater pressure. One spy mission reduces loyalty, and another removes governors, which doesn't apply to Free Cities, only to the cites of other civs.

Thank you for explaining the difference and how that works. I appreciate it.

[similarly]

Originally posted by Orgunis:

Originally posted by similarly:

QUESTION: Is there a way to absorb city states without attacking them?
The reason I ask is that several times now (I've started over a few times) I've lost my own cities, having them become city-states, and then they are almost immediately taken over by another country. In one game, I lost two cities that way, one to England and one to Germany.

Yes, but it's nearly impossible, mostly because city states have a massive loyalty bonus because of questions like this.
You'd need to play as a civ that have a lot of bonuses towards loyalty (like Eleanor), play your cards right, place the right districs, surround a city-state with your own cities and have enough population in those cities to overwhelm a city state's loyalty and even then it's a "good luck fam" kind of stuff.

Originally posted by similarly:

QUESTION: How can I improve loyalty?

Amenities, grab different luxury resources and place a entertainment district between a few cities. The entertainment district (and the water park if you have the DLC) have an area of effect around them (I think it is a 6 tile bubble, I can't remember right now) so you don't have to place them in EVERY city, just a strategic spot to cover as many as you can.

[/quote]
That's very good advice. Thank you.