Even to destroy/abandon cities you already control?  You can't just...hit a button?  There are some really lousy cities I inherited here...terribly placed, theyre nothing but a liability.

Thanks for the answer, btw!

Thank you for the answer!

For what it's worth then, this seems like a basic feature, not something you should have to research, anymore than you should have to research the ability to save and load a game.  Obviously, something that has a measurable benefit when invading (like raze a city for cash instead of occupying) is a valid tech, but in nearly every other strategy game I can think of, there are basic means for disposing of unwanted troops, cities, buildings, even if it isn't pretty, like starving out your population.

In this case, it seems as if it is possible to get into an economic hole that there is no apparent immediate remedy for. Cant sell off an army (it consists of my Lord, a summoned bear, and a couple hero units), and the offending cities have few if any buildings to demolish. Can't wait it out, because the economy seems to have nothing to do with increasing population, and there are no buildings available to build that would make a difference in income.  By the time I research the raze tech, economy will be in triple digit negatives.

Anyway, it's probably something I'm just not understanding about the current game build. Clearly my traditional 4X instincts don't work well for this game.  I'll start another game, and this time just stare angrily and hurl insults at the AI as it builds cities around a single resource tile on my borders.

Thanks again for the replies, and I look forward to seeing the finished version of the game next month.

Suggestion, add an Abandon city option.

Raising a city should give you plenty of cash, and resources that are linked, it would be like a massive looting exercise took place, say random 25-50% of all resources that went into the city and 5 turns of its output. I'm not sure what you do get for raising one, but it always seems a little low. Most of the wealth from wars came from sacking and raising cities.

Abandon should be available from the start, you get nothing, but it is wiped off the map.

This is along the lines I was expecting, yes.

Just by way to clarify my situation though, I have started over, and this time I am making money hand over fist.  Two things are different this time from the last:

1) I picked a standard human Kingdom this time, and not a Fallen empire like last time. Perhaps I am imagining it, but there seems to be many more economic buildings available for the Kingdoms, and ways to shore up their infrastructure.  Perhaps the Fallen are designed more for conquest, however I still managed to bankrupt myself with conquest as the Fallen.

2)Rather than found an early city in my meager starting resources, I simply conquered the first rival city I found with my Lord and Hero recruits. That bastard was sitting on double goldmines, double great libraries, a food square and an iron deposit all within level 2 city range.  He has also built up the infrastructure there for me, sparing me the cost of doing so.

It seems clear to me that founding a city right off the bat is a sucker bet. With exploration there is usually a better option, and its not like you have the tech to build the most helpful buildings early on anyways.  Perhaps this varies on larger maps however.

Thanks for all the replies!