Preventing an Inevitable War

[JerryvonKramer]

In my current game it's 1858. I'm playing as the Maya on a nice big map with about 22 Civs. I've been in the Top 2 or 3 Civs Culture and Tech wise since the start of the game. My major rivals -- Willem van Orange and Suryavaram -- have also been my key allies and trading partners for most of the game. Suryavaram has always been a lot friendlier and more generous with techs, for one reason or another.

Anyway, after years of peaceful building and teching, in the 1700s I sailed a big army to the primitive Zulu island and wiped out Shaka, thereby doubling the size of my empire.

I founded Bhuddism, Confucianism and Taoism which combined bring in 163 gold per turn. Plus, more recently I built Broadway (in Mutal) and Rock 'n' Roll (in Lakahma) and duly flogged them for 10-6 gold each per turn to every Civ that could pay -- which brings in another 150 or so gold per turn. I am just about to complete the Eifel Tower and feel I am well placed for either a cultural or Space Race win.

However, all of a sudden Willem, who has been "Cautious" with me for most of the game has other plans and around 1860-2 he declares war.

Here, I'll need a map to paint the full picture (from an autosave in 1858):



I have a North border with China which is Willem's vassal, so they declare war on me too. Not long ago I gained the Chinese city of Xuzhou through flipping so my relations with Mao took a hit. Incidentally, I have 40% culture in 2 of Willem's cities. East of China and North of Holland lies the Khymer empire, with whom I have a defence pact. To my South West are the Sumerians who are "Pleased" with me but wont be drawn in to the war -- they are probably the only other Civ on the continent who are on par with techs.

The Dutch can bring in the Kublai Khan and Churchill, but they are far behind on techs and quite far away. I can bring in Bismaarck, who is the same.

Problem is, when the Dutch invade, Willem brings a stack with about 30 units in it, ranging from infantry, cavalry and riflemen to crossbowmen and elephants, at least 6 or 7 of them are canons. They land on this square:



By 1860 I can upgrade all my riflemen to infantry and get about 8-12 of them into Lakahma. Trouble is, despite putting up a good fight they get overwhelmed because Willem's stack has so many units. The elephant ends up taking the city!

My question is: HOW CAN THIS WAR BE PREVENTED?

From what I can see, it's a battle that I can't win. Not unless I rewind about 20 years, forget building Rock and Roll and the Eifel Tower and concentrate building military. I don't really want to do that! I could also switch to Nationhood, but I don't particularly want to do that either.

But is there anything I can do to stop Willem declaring the war? He's on "Cautious" one turn and then invades without warning. Is there definitely something that triggers that or is it as simple as him working out that he can take that city?

Please help! I don't want this silly war ruining my game. I don't think I could win that city back, or get enough units to defend my capital in the short time.

What are my options here?

 

[BalbanesBeoulve]

He decided to attack you a long time ago. Check what it says when you try to bribe him to war a few turns before he dows you. More than likely it says "we have enough on your hands." If you want to stop him from attacking you, you'd need to reload auto saves far back enough to where it says something different, like "we would have nothing to gain" or "we just dont like you enough."

The only other option would be to bribe someone to declare on him before he declares on you. If you can do that, he'll drop his current plans and focus on the new threat. If you know where he's going to attack, you could sacrifice that city, let him move his troops in, and then destroy them with your own artillery, and wipe out his entire offence at once.

 

[Minmaster]

check to see from previous reloads if he demands anything. i've had numerous cases when i knew the AI was about to launch an attack on me (from his buildup visible on the border) with his overwhelming forces, but he makes the mistake of making a demand and i happily give in, giving me 10 guaranteed turns of peace which i use to stock my border cities with units, allowing me to fight off the inevitable attack.

 

[JerryvonKramer]

check to see from previous reloads if he demands anything. i've had numerous cases when i knew the AI was about to launch an attack on me (from his buildup visible on the border) with his overwhelming forces, but he makes the mistake of making a demand and i happily give in, giving me 10 guaranteed turns of peace which i use to stock my border cities with units, allowing me to fight off the inevitable attack.

From what I recall he demands both tribute of some sort plus tries to get me to war with someone else. Both of which I refused.

It's a bit annoying actually as I'm fairly sure that with an extra 20 turns or so I could obliterate him! Is it worth sacrificing the Eifel Tower for this?

 

[Refar]

Unless you can bribe someone to go to war with Willem, you must fight.

Better loosing the Tower, than loosing the game...

 

[Revenant27]

fortify defenses in nearby cities raise a counter stack and retake the city, fortify, rinse and repeat except crush the unruly dutch and burn their civilization to the ground

 

[InvisibleStalke]

From what I recall he demands both tribute of some sort plus tries to get me to war with someone else. Both of which I refused.

It's a bit annoying actually as I'm fairly sure that with an extra 20 turns or so I could obliterate him! Is it worth sacrificing the Eifel Tower for this?

Refusing his demand was the mistake. If you are only cautious and you have a tiny army in a city which he can reach in two turns you are asking for trouble. The demand was your cue that he thinks he can own you any day of the week. If you weren't ready to take him on you should have given in. The 10 turns peace would let you straighten your defenses out.

More machine guns would help a lot. And a few more cannon to suicide against any attacking army.

 

[Minmaster]

^^ true words. you should just give the tribute. that buys you 10 turns of peace. you don't have to give into going to war, just pay the damn tribute, build up your army during the guaranteed peace time and make a preemptive strike on his stack of doom the turn before he's about to attack, and try to thwart the invasion.