This may sound silly, but one of my biggest frustrations in Civ IV is the enemy entering my lands and destroying resources, farms, buildings, etc. Is there a good way to help prevent this? Is the only way to station units on every tile at all borders? I tend to have psychopath neighbors who all attack at once. :-)

My ideal situation would be if some kind of fort could be built where they would need to attack first (with, say, a safety range of a 3 tiles) prior to entering.

No Huge-Zone-of-Control-Über-Fort blocking half the map out there, unfortunaltely.

However, if you have a well garrissoned fort, near the boarder, there is a good chance they will attack the fort, before moving deeper in your land. This is not failafe however.

When at war you should look to take the initiative - move out to they land, attack they cities and pillage they stuff rather than letting yours to be pillaged.

Keeping some counter-units (Promoted to deal with incursions in the field) within own boarders does help as well.

No Huge-Zone-of-Control-Über-Fort blocking half the map out there, unfortunaltely.

That was godly hilarious in Civ2, to see that one enemy unit traverse the entire length of your fort and back again, looking for a way in.

If your referring to barbarians, you can build the great wall and it will keep all barbarians outside of your culture borders forever.

If your referring to other civs whom your at war with, there's no way to keep them out of your culture borders besides killing their units as they enter your borders.

Alternatively if your bring the fight to the AI hard enough they'll be too busy defending to bring many units into your borders.

Not much you can do, I usually would have plenty of offensive units in my border cities which will be able to take out pillagers quickly to minimize damage. Remember that until the modern age, mounted units are generally the only ones that can move and pillage on the same turn, so keep track of who has horses! I also make sure to keep a group of workers around especially if the city has an important resource that may be pillaged- in that case make sure you fortify a few units on the resource itself.

Pillaged towns or farms arent too big of deal generally, nothing that cant be rebuilt in time.

The key is ACTIVE DEFENSE!

Thanks for the replies! Yes, I'm talking about other civilizations. I've had times where my 2-3 neighbors suddenly start rampaging through my lands in a psychotic frenzy. It just gets frustrating at times.

Probably a big reason I play on islands generally. Gives me some time to fortify before the latter stages of the game. :-)

From what I've seen, basically they're only going to do this if they see you as weaker than they are. They'll launch spoiler attacks, they're not seriously trying to destroy you, just weaken you -- why? 'cause they can. So... build up a decent army and most of the AI won't do that. It's also a reason that you want to expand carefully so that you're not surrounded by AI's--having your back on the ocean will help. Or you can turn a neighbor or two into vassals so they become buffers.
Dick

You need a mixed defence. Units like archers, longbows, etc are good for defending cities and hills, but if you don't want your terrain improvements razed then you need a mobile defence so you can intercept enemy units before they can do too much damage. Keep offensive units in your border cities and build an extensive network of roads to improve movement in the countryside.

From what I've seen, basically they're only going to do this if they see you as weaker than they are. They'll launch spoiler attacks, they're not seriously trying to destroy you, just weaken you -- why? 'cause they can. So... build up a decent army and most of the AI won't do that. It's also a reason that you want to expand carefully so that you're not surrounded by AI's--having your back on the ocean will help. Or you can turn a neighbor or two into vassals so they become buffers.
Dick

Maybe I'm just not diplomatic enough. I tend to ignore the computer most of the time, especially their requests to pass through my lands, make me follow their religion, etc. I see those more as nuisances. Maybe I should be trying the vassal route more. That sounds like a great option (if doable).

You are totally correct. I definitely like as little border contact with other civilizations as possible. Thus my island approach. :-)

You need a mixed defence. Units like archers, longbows, etc are good for defending cities and hills, but if you don't want your terrain improvements razed then you need a mobile defence so you can intercept enemy units before they can do too much damage. Keep offensive units in your border cities and build an extensive network of roads to improve movement in the countryside.

I think that's another point of confusion for me. So many units that do so many different things. Tends to be more work than it's worth for me to keep them all straight. :-)

I put spare units at my borders on good defensable positions when barbarian enter clear spots i attack them, otherwise i hope they attack me. If your unit is too(gets too) strong it wont attack however.

Maybe I'm just not diplomatic enough. I tend to ignore the computer most of the time, especially their requests to pass through my lands,

Having 2-3 enemies at once is generally a sign of diplomatic failure. As a rule, you should accept Open Borders agreements. They not only improve diplomatic relations, but also boost trade income for your cities.

Having 2-3 enemies at once is generally a sign of diplomatic failure. As a rule, you should accept Open Borders agreements. They not only improve diplomatic relations, but also boost trade income for your cities.

Good advice. I rarely accept these. I consider myself a very defensive player, so naturally I'm not keen on inviting the "enemy" in, even if it is on friendly terms. Maybe that's why I get attacked more frequently. Better diplomacy is probably the largest key here.

Better diplomacy is probably the largest key here.

That is really true. At the beginning I was also like this, like "what the f**k do you want with me again, go away" every time I had a request. But if there is one thing that I learned from these board, it's to let go my pride. Now, I see every diplomatic trade/request as an exchange. If it's forced (like tribute), I'll just do with it, but chose the best option: what are my options? What does each option give/cost me? Is this so important?

One could think that giving a tech to an AI is acting weak. But if that tech is not *critical* and can get me a good diplo modifier, why not? Even more if they ask me for theater or music and have no borders ith me ;)

Aside from the risk of settlers passing through or, is those odds cases where you have non-cultured land in the middle of you culture, open borders give the AI minimal tactical advantage, but provide massive benefits to diplomacy and trade.

Keep in mind that trade routes only exists between cities with open borders so you are sacrificing a significant chunk of change (especially on an islands maps) by keeping borders closed.

This may sound silly, but one of my biggest frustrations in Civ IV is the enemy entering my lands and destroying resources, farms, buildings, etc. Is there a good way to help prevent this? Is the only way to station units on every tile at all borders? I tend to have psychopath neighbors who all attack at once. :-)

My ideal situation would be if some kind of fort could be built where they would need to attack first (with, say, a safety range of a 3 tiles) prior to entering.

This is what your military is for.

If your forces are strong enough, move them out of the city and intercept the enemy's army before they can pillage your stuff. You won't get defensive bonuses, but if you can sacrifice a few units that do collateral damage like cannons or catapults (always try to keep a few of these in cities) you can soften up the opponent's army, then move your troops out to finish them off.

I try to do this whenever possible in war because it's annoying trying to rebuild, but only do this if you're sure your troops are strong enough to take them without a defensive bonus. If they aren't and you can't negotiate peace, you'll just have to accept the consequences of war. It sucks losing a town in a single turn, but it's much worse losing your city.

very minor tip.....if terrain allows try to build cottage cities in the interior and farm based cities on your borders . A pillaged farm is no big deal but a pillaged town takes ages to re build.

Totally agree re. requests for resorces/techs. In many ways its just a free opportunity to get some positive diplomacy modifiers. I keep a few non strategic resources spare in the hope that another civ comes asking for it....this may be crap advice by the way , I`m not too sure.

Or forget all of this and have an A grade military.....I quote the military advisor from Civ 3 "with a bigger army we can achieve ALL our goals".....wise man

Thanks, all. Really appreciate all the good comments. I started installed Civ IV again last night and started a new game. So far, so good. I'm really expansionist, but have put more focus into open borders and giving myself adequate military protection too.

Should be a fun game!

It's always good to keep closed borders when you control a strategic point, at least until you control all land behind that point. Last game I had, I encountered Ethiopia and managed to pop a city down on a tile that let me go between sides of my peninsula. The better thing is Ethiopia was friendly to me--meaning that they automatically became my land buffer when an attack is about to occur. Playing as Rome also gave me the advantage of having Praets--meaning that on the city connecting sides of my peninsula I had great defense. Few hammers, but great defense.

Once you get most/all of the land, open borders and have fun with Sustained Peace bonuses. Then, you just have to worry about "Stop trading with our worst enemy" messages that constantly plague you, especially when they start wars. Oh well--it's usually for the best.

Always try to build more terrain improvements than you really need on threatened borders connected by roads to your cities - even improve tiles 3 or more spaces away from your cities that can't be worked. The AI loves to pillage and this buys you time to bring your mobile defence force into position and occupy good defensive positions.

Another benefit to this tactic is that the AI will gain much less gold for pillaging tiles that have never been worked than ones you are actually using.

Conversely, where you have little culture be prepared to hole up inside the city and avoid building cottages as you will struggle to prevent them being pillaged whilst maintaining a strong military.

After briefly reading the responses, my suggestion is check your power standing. If you are first or second on the power chart, the AI will leave you alone. If you are not, they will declare war on you to pillage and annoy you. They may not ever attack your cities, but they will stifle your growth and happiness.

Two ways to prevent this. The first, easiest, and best way is to increase your strength. Build more units. Upgrade your existing units. Strength is based on the number of units as well as the type of units. Every city of mine usually has 2-3 bows and 1 axeman. The cities that border enemies have 3 bows, 1 axe, and 1 horse unit. The horses can reach the enemy quickly and destroy them before they pillage too much.

The second way to prevent loosing your tile improvements is just to build as many horse units as possible and try and kill as many enemies as possible before they can pillage. This is kind of a secondary response to having a weak military and while it will increase your power standings, it is better to build a well rounded military as you advance.