how to cause a rift between nations?

[marrstians]

playing a noble game and had a few questions about diplomacy. i started on a continent with isy and the dutch. destroyed isy early so it was just the two of us for a while. when i finally found the other continent there were 4 civs, tightly packed together, all sharing a religion (that i cannot convert to). problem is, everybody is friendly with each other. if i try to attack any of them, i'm afraid that i'll have to fight all 5 civs at once. i can't bribe anybody to goto war or stop trading with anybody, even though i'm a little ahead in tech, points, and land. i feel like i can win this one, but i noticed that one of the civs (just I) has already started on his space race. normally i could goto war or bribe someone else to fight them so i can get the upper hand and delay their space pursuit, but i feel like i'm gonna be screwed here. i have nukes so i could wipe half his cities off the map, but then everyone will hate me and i'll be in a pickle. what are some successful ways of making other civs not like eachother? i usually try the "triangle" of friends method, but everyone is buddy buddy with each other...

 

[kossin]

You can ask a small amount of gold (10) to the other nations to get a 10 turn-forced peace before declaring war. That should give you enough time to get a foothold on the continent, possibly capitulating him (and then the others maybe).

Otherwise, use spies: spread another religion (yours for example) and force him into that religion. Also works with civics (i.e. Free Religion). That might negate the love-fest somewhat allowing you to bribe other AIs.

 

[Silu]

Can't you just wipe out Willem and go to space with your massive land area (-> hopefully tech) advantage? If he's getting dangerously close to launching, mass up an army ready to take his capital after he launches (this aborts the mission).

 

[marrstians]

didn't think of the forced peace for 10 turns... might be helpful... i never had a religion and have been running free religion for a while.

he's not quite close to launching yet, just didn't want him to get far enough ahead to where i didn't have a chance. i didn't want to go for a space race win, so i haven't even started putting mine together yet... i might have to start. but i didn't know that you could negate their space ship by taking their capitol... that could prove to be usefull info...

 

[dirtyparrot]

I agree with Kossin and Silu's advice. If you want to divide one of them from the rest, spread another religion to one of their cities and convert them to that religion. Then attack and repeat as desired. No need to bring artillery with nukes (and warships/fighters). Just make sure to get a good idea of what you're facing before launching your invasion.