I'm just curious what I should do given the following scenario:

I'm stuck between Brennus and Shaka, friends with both. After a vote in the Apostolic Palace forced everyone to stop trading with Brennus, Shaka suddenly declared war on Brennus.

Brennus is on the coast and Shaka is inland with my land directly in between, borders touching both civs from north to south.

Should I break open borders with either civ and risk getting caught in a war I'm not ready for? Do I let Shaka take a shot at Brennus knowing that if Brennus falls, I'm screwed as Shaka can attack from two fronts.

Most of my military is well to the north of the fight preparing an assault against Saladin in the next 15-20 turns. DO I abandon that and be prepared in case Brennus or Shaka get a wild hair and attack me?

Now you got Stealer's Wheel stuck in my head... :band::banana::banana::dance::rockon:

As for your situation... I dunno dude. You should abandon everything and attack and vigorously pursue a campaign of city burning, people stampeding, and cattle raping in Survy's land. :mischief:

1) Save game!
2) Bring your troops to your border with Brennus, but leave them in your territory to defend only.
3) When Shaka reaches the border with Brennus, declare war on Brennus, let Shaka do the fighting.
4) If you find it convenient, "steal" a couple border cities. (ie. let Shaka bring the city down to one or two wounded defenders, then make your attack and take the city for yourself - the AI has done this to me a few times lol )
5) If this brings you absolute misery, reload from save point and try another strategy :)

LM

If this brings you absolute misery, reload from save point and try another strategy

Good idea, i'm currently on the fourth attempt at my current game, i refuse to believe i can't win as Ragnar when i have a start which starts me on a river plains hill with two river gems, two ivory and wheat in the BFC.

If you aren't ready for a war, stay out of it. Players away from each other never send big armies, so usually no cities get taken at all.

i suggest taking out shaka as soon as possible. You should wait till his troops are within Brennus border. Your stack should be at the border with shaka(don't forget to have some good defenders near where shaka's stack is.) now go and take Shaka's city's.

I'd back-stab Shaka too. No way you want him hanging on your border, let alone running a split Civ with you in the middle.

Now you got Stealer's Wheel stuck in my head... :band::banana::banana::dance::rockon: ...

Clowns to the left of me, Jokers to the right ... :lol:

I would join in the war with Shaka as soon as his stacks pass and weaken each others armies! Then Destroy Brennus because its obvious nobody likes him. Then when Shaka is weak from the war Vassal Brennus and turn your guns on shaka!

The two civs are going to build up lots of troops because they are at war, and lose almost none of them because they're too far apart to have a proper bloodbath.

Sit back and stay out of it. You don't want to end up fighting hordes of troops that were originally built for another target that they could never reach. Just let the maintenance costs of their armies break their backs. If peace breaks out, see if you can bribe them into redecalring.

Monkey might have a point if there is a very large distance between the two. How many spaces are we talking about here?

I would attack Shaka whilst he is away attacking Brennus and form an alliance with Brennus who will be weakened anyway thereby giving you the upper hand when you get rid of Shaka. Then you will be in a far better position.

I would join in the war with Shaka as soon as his stacks pass and weaken each others armies! Then Destroy Brennus because its obvious nobody likes him. Then when Shaka is weak from the war Vassal Brennus and turn your guns on shaka!

Odd thing is he was friendly with half the civs. There is a very big split between civs. It looks like Saladin, Bismark and Roosevelt are against the rest of us. Then Shaka decided he was pissed that his trade with Brennus was broken. So he attacked Brennus when it was Bismark's fault for calling the AP vote.

Bismark is really stirring the pot. The very next vote was to stop trading with my vassal which somehow failed?

Monkey might have a point if there is a very large distance between the two. How many spaces are we talking about here?

From border to border I would say about 12-15 spaces.

I would attack Shaka whilst he is away attacking Brennus and form an alliance with Brennus who will be weakened anyway thereby giving you the upper hand when you get rid of Shaka. Then you will be in a far better position.

Unfortunately I'm not in position to attack Shaka. My forces are centered on Saladin.