SimpleMonkey
King
In times past, the way I've almost always declared war was to move my troops just outside the soon-to-be enemy's borders, make sure we didn't have any agreements going (I hate trashing my rep), then delcare war and try to move in with as many fast units as I could. The whole goal is to take as many cities as possible in every turn (slow work in AA, a thing of beauty when combining rails and arty in Industrial and Modern). However, it also occurs to me that it might also make sense to declare war, then wait for the AI to invade, pick off his troops inside your border, and only move into his territory once he's depleted his resources. Of course, neither way is always best, but here's my question. What are the guidelines for deciding on a defensive war or an offensive one?