Don't worry - my troops are just passing through

[Creepy Old Man]

So how long 'till I can declare war without breaking my word? Anyone know?

 

[marconos]

On your next turn.

 

[/solar/]

As far as I cant tell that conversation is completely irrelevant.

However I suspect that by the time they say that to you, they start building up troops there to defend. Could be wrong, but it looks like thats what they do.

 

[Creepy Old Man]

No, because if I attack a few turns later, I get the speech about "You've broken your word. The other civilizations will hear about this." But if I attack him without first alarming him, I don't get that speech.

 

[orangecape]

I think it is a while, at least 10 turns. If you want to avoid the massive reputation hit (and thus more civs declaring war on you randomly) then declare war when you are a few tiles away from their territory.

However, the fact that they will often move a scout directly beside your army and then pose that question, meaning you can't attack them for a long time for absolutely no reason, is idiotic.

Random units that are exploring are not "our borders".

 

[Eberon]

Forever. You can wait 100 turns and then attack and get the you lied message.

 

[DaveGold]

The AI seems to have an idea about when it's own promises expire, such as when they can start settling near you again. The AI also sometimes thinks that your promises shouldn't expire.

My advice - well I haven't any. You can't make rational replies to satisfy irrational AI.

 

[TheMeInTeam]

The gameplay rules are hidden. That is all.

 

[Bandit17]

This one is also a complete mystery to me. My first time I remember I waited 10 turns only to piss off the world. Next time I waited 30 turns only to piss off the world. I have yet to get that warning and see it disipate with no recourse from the ai. I am convinced it's just another "broken" element of diplomacy.

If your army is strong enough it should prevent others from attacking you but you will have to deal with crappy trade deals for a bit.

 

[UknowsI]

I have found it to help greatly to keep your units one tile away from the border. I've never got the warning as long as I keep them 1 tile away even though I bring my entire army. Might be luck, but that's my experience so far.

 

[demidyad]

@UknowsI

Fog of war kicks in more than one tile away from the border. So unless units are on the hex right next to border they cannot be seen (not accounting for any unit sightlines). This is true for both humans and AI

 

[mihaifx]

As far as I cant tell that conversation is completely irrelevant.

It's not irrelevant. You get a diplomatic penalty (with the other civs) if you do declare war after saying that. The other civs are more likely to dislike you after this.

 

[Bandit17]

I have found it to help greatly to keep your units one tile away from the border. I've never got the warning as long as I keep them 1 tile away even though I bring my entire army. Might be luck, but that's my experience so far.

Your right in the sense that this does help as it worked for me for awhile. I think it was modern army I had and seen this technique fail. The other problem is when your in a war with so and so's neighbor and your troops cause a warning and 100 turns later or whatever you attack the civ only to get the "The whole world will know your treachery!"

 

[kaltorak]

It's not working right. On my last game I was at war with india, and my troops passed near an ottoman city. He asked me if i was just passing by or attacking him. I said I was just passing by which was the truth.

I finished the war with india. I was rebuilding and saw an ottoman settler not only close to my cities, but even between them. I talked to him, asked to not settle nearby, and he still did. So if I were the AI I could declare on the player for doing this, but when I did, I got bad reputation for attacking a smaller nation, AND was called a lier for saying my troops were just passing by.

First, if you are a small nation, and a big one warns you to not settle near, don't do it, and if you do, don't give the attacekr a bad reputation, he even warned you.
And second, if I tell you my troops are passing by, and attack 400 years later, than I am not a lier, my troops were really just passing by.

 

[ardandy]

I didn't get this lie thing in this situation?

Although I did ask him for a few cities I knew he wouldn't give up before declaring war, making him realy annoyed at me first.

 

[AriochIV]

Since the diplomacy system is a black box, there's not way to know whether this has any impact on your relations with other civilizations.

My guess is that even if it doesn't it doesn't matter enough to justify letting your enemy attack you first. Especially since ALL of the other civilizations will eventually attack you anyway.

 

[fed1943]

Yes, but to be attacked now by one, then a lot of turns later by other is not the same thing than
be attacked at the same time by several.

 

[KingMackem]

The only times I ever get this message is when I'm about to steam-roller the ai so I always tell the truth about my intentions. Don't think I've ever said t'other option...

 

[kaltorak]

The only times I ever get this message is when I'm about to steam-roller the ai so I always tell the truth about my intentions. Don't think I've ever said t'other option...

Well, having the first turn on the battle is a huge advance. It can grant you a city on that same turn.

And I get the message even if the oponent is much larger than me. Maybe you declare without putting all your units around the city you plan to capture first? If I have 5 units and he has 20, and I put my 5 units on the frontier of his city, I always get the messsage.

I think this is a nice feature, which is kind of useless right now. But if they make relationships matter next patch, such awareness of your troops by the AI will be cool.

 

[Paradigne]

I have absolutely nothing to back this up, but I would think that if you never move the units away from their area you would be breaking your word.

Move your units 3 spaces from your opponent, then move them back when ready to declare. When I tried this I didn't get the message. It could have been luck though.