Warmonger penalty

All,

Is there a way to start a war and not get a warmonger penalty?

I assumed that denouncing someone before attacking would help but does it really matter?

What about city states?

Thx
jonpfl

Bribe the AI's you care about to go to war with the civ you plan to attack. Bribe the civ you plan to attack to go to war with other AI's. Attack an AI that is already at war with everybody. The warmonger penalty for capturing cities will be significantly reduced and you'll get a big bonus for fighting a common enemy.

Also do something nice for the other civs before your denounce. Give them something for free or propose a world congress resolution that they really like. That way when you issue your denouncement they like you better than the other civ, which will denounce you back.

This probably isn't what you're looking for, but there is a mod on Steam called "Less warmonger hate". You might want to check it out.

you should just find an aggressive AI CIV and take back a city state or another CIV's city and liberate it

I LOVE when I start a game and there is a weak neighbor who is going heavy wonders. you rush them and take their capital, immediately everyone hates you and is worried about you as a warmonger.

so go find that city to liberate, and it will completely wipe away that penalty. 100 percent. and this is even with a capital. I then leave their other city for that civ to be totally garbage but also a friend and someone to take the brunt of an attack/be the spot of a choke point when another AI attacks

personally I think warmonger penalty is fair. if I am going to take another city I should feel some wrath for it.

or just make the trade for peace, and take their city that way. you don't have many issues if they were the ones who declared war or if you are able to get a group denouncement on that civ it can really help. in my last game I took a capital, liberated a city state, then made a peace deal for another city. I was left with no warmonger penalty, and I was the one who declared war.

Just go all conan on there puny civilizations.

Does the AI ever forget the warmonger penalty?

It's realistic that after a certain amount of turns they forget. I'm sure there's plenty of examples about countries which no longer go to war or stay neutral which used to be warlike centuries ago. E.g. Mongolia/Scandinavia

That being said, when I think of Germany, I think of the 2 world wars, and I am wary of their tendency to go to war, but I know they will most likely not get involved in any wars directly for a long long time.

jonpfl said:

...Is there a way to start a war and not get a warmonger penalty?...

Click to expand...

Yes gain allies before you capture cities and liberate cities after you've captured your objective(s). One trick I like to use is to get the target to DOW the whole world by paying what they ask. On the same turn I then denounce and then DOW....

jonpfl said:

...What about city states?...

Click to expand...

Never take a CS. If you want to see what happens have Genghis in your game and you'll see why you don't.

revelation216 said:

Does the AI ever forget the warmonger penalty?...

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It is the score which results in the hate that decays over time. This on average is 20 times larger than normal hate. Technically the AI will eventually forget warmonger hate but it won't forget it has denounced you every 30turns for the entire game, or DOWed you continuously.