you know at the beggining of a game everybody is fine with you and go with open borders. But at a certain time they all come in a time window of 5-6 turns to ask you to stop trading with another particular civ.

So i'm not that good of a player I play on Warlord level...the one before noble I think. so at first I always say no to everybody until I can see which civ have the same religion as me or if I start next to alexander or an agressive civ i'll agree to everything to not get a war in the expansion part of the game. but what do you guys do ? the think is I'll get -2 to everybody for the entire game . do you choose a civ you'll be friend right at beginning or do like me ?

Well, it helps to know what's going on diplomatically BEFORE you get a demand to stop trading or join a war.

In the Foreign Advisor UI or in the diplomacy menus, you can find out how each civ feels about the other (I prefer the diplomacy menus, myself). Keep track of which civs are friendly to each other, and which are enemies - you will have to choose sides eventually.

A good rule of thumb, if you have the highest score, is to make friends with the 3rd, 4th, and possibly 5th highest scores at the expense of #2. Then you can get them to support you in a war against #2 if that time comes. Also, not trading with your closest rival can their growth a bit.

You can call up the Foreign Advisor UI while they are asking you. You can then check out who you should be friends with and who to blow off. When someone is talking to you their religion if they have one is in the upper left corner.

It is usually best to be enemies with the biggest AI civilization. If it comes down to a UN vote and you are friendly with the AI that you are running against, because they are the first or second biggest, then they can't vote for you anyway.

its just that at the beggining scores are always very close. but sometimes someone having the same religion as you (lets say seond on score) ask you to stop trading with someone without any religion...I never know what to do...anyway I didnt know we could get off the discussion with a leader and open another window...how do we do it

its just that at the beggining scores are always very close. but sometimes someone having the same religion as you (lets say seond on score) ask you to stop trading with someone without any religion...I never know what to do...anyway I didnt know we could get off the discussion with a leader and open another window...how do we do it


the F4 key

its just that at the beggining scores are always very close. but sometimes someone having the same religion as you (lets say seond on score) ask you to stop trading with someone without any religion...I never know what to do...

I would say that as a rule of thumb, early on in the game you should decline all requests to stop trading. The penalty you get from the civ who asked is only -1, whereas if you do stop trading, you lose all active deals (including the "open borders" bonus which can be pretty important in the early game), get a "you stopped trading with us" penalty and lose the opportunity to trade with the other civ, sometimes for many, many turns.

You should consider going along with it if the civ that is asking is very nearby, more powerful than you and angry at you, and the one you are being asked to stop trading with is very far away, weak and not a good trading partner anyway.

J.

Personally, once I get to that stage, I've always tried to pick out who is going to be an ally, and who is going to be dead. That makes it easy to decide what demands to accede to - help friends, and enemies can go stick their head in a bucket (unless I need to buy them off to avoid a war I'm not ready for).

Very early on, I decline open borders offers. Once it's settled down just a little bit, I'll start offering open borders to civs that I think will be important, and hopefully without stepping on anyone's toes. You can refuse the offer once or twice without too much trouble, but eventually, you're going to have to pick sides.

Very early on, I decline open borders offers. Once it's settled down just a little bit, I'll start offering open borders to civs that I think will be important, and hopefully without stepping on anyone's toes. You can refuse the offer once or twice without too much trouble, but eventually, you're going to have to pick sides.

That's what I do, too. There's little to no benefit to an early open borders, until it gives you a foreign trade route, or if you need to scout their land before an invasion. Just refuse all open borders until you can tell how the diplomacy situation is going to be that game.

That's what I do, too. There's little to no benefit to an early open borders, until it gives you a foreign trade route, or if you need to scout their land before an invasion. Just refuse all open borders until you can tell how the diplomacy situation is going to be that game.

well...you are right I always accepted open borders. I should refuse so they dont think i'm their friend. I bet they wont ask me to stop trading if I dont trade with anybody! lol

And then you've ensured that nobody likes you, so you'll be dogpiled.

Being friends with everybody can very rarely be accomplished. And being friends with nobody guarantees that you'll be attacked any time an AI sees an opening. In order to succeed with diplomacy, you'll have to suck it up and make enemies in order to make some good friends as well.

So I actually sign open borders as soon as the diplomatic situation becomes clear, with all the civs I want to cultivate. Even if there isn't any possibility of actual trade, it still helps to start piling up +'s ASAP. Ticks off the civs I've designated as enemies, but that's hardly a bad thing since war was coming anyway.

well It's actually when do you know who'll be your friend and who will not that is hard to decide...

actually my last game I got friend with alexander right at the beggining and wow I must say he saved my ass 2-3 times in early wars before I catch up and finished by capturing the entire continent plus half the other one. I usually finishes the small civs with the final blow but i have to admit that for the first time I decided to not attack him and wait for the diplomatic victory...yes I got sentimental with a computer...:)

Agree with (edit: Beamups) post. The benefits of open borders outweigh the risk of being asked to cancel deals with other AIs, having to decline and getting a -1.

Open borders improve your trade routes, help the spread of religion, let you spy out your neighbours' lands and, if maintained for a while, get you a +1 "brought us closer together" diplo-mod.

The latter is especially important if you are playing the agressive AI option, where you have very few options in the early game to become friends with anyone. On that note, gifting ressources you don't need and cannot trade also helps in this; getting you a "appreciate the ressources" bonus.

The easiest thumbrule :
The bad guys love each other and the good guys love each other.