If you are constantly having to survive multiple DOWs then I'd say your diplomacy needs a polish. On Emperor you can get away with building no units, but you must not anger anyone. DOWing multiple times, capturing cities, capturing CS will get you pariahed. Proposing your religion will make you hated by 4 other civs. Forward settling a civ will get you hated by them as will rush buying tiles.
Do any of the above and you must build units and plenty of them so you are not last in military. Don't want to build units then you need to consider every WC proposal, I suggest World's Fair first as most civs like that. Early war is a no no as with every civ you have met can get you minor warmonger hate from a single DOW. Another tactic is to sell things cheaper than the AI is willing to pay for stuff, although this doesn't stack for multiple trades so do a one off free lux. Voting for a another civ to be host will get them to like you more, sometimes they may even vote for you next time! Lastly be first in tech asap, having the ability to build XCOMs when the AI has muskets will make even the most bloodthirsty AI think twice about DOWing you. Also tech leader tends get more DOFs for RAs, especially if you have a high gpt(so they can ask you for it).
