"Afraid" Status

[Dux1]

Is it just me, or is "Afraid" status in BNW reserved only for when you have a nuclear weapon and the AI does not? You can have an army that could annihilate anyone. You can take over 95% of the planet. None of this will make the fearless AI fear you. But the INSTANT you build a single atomic bomb, the AI all tremble with terror!

Has anyone had a different experience (i.e., have you seen "Afraid" status from a major civ outside of the nuclear weapons context described above)? If not, I have to say, I find this binary fear test based entirely on nuclear weapon status to be utterly inadequate and quite disappointing.

 

[Chemical Toilet]

I believe I had someone afraid at the beginning of a game, they had one unit and I had... Well, more than them.

But in the last several games I've played, the only time I remember anyone being afraid was after I had built an atomic bomb. Sweden became afraid, and then I built a missle, and whoever my other neighbor was became afraid.

Weird thing is, both of those civs were my closest allies. We had the same ideology and everything. Very strange.

 

[Yzman]

Only certain civs are even likely to ever show the afraid. I think they are Montezuma and Maria (Austria).

 

[Callonia]

It just depends on your military might and the world's current military might. Although sometimes your diplomatic manuvers can make people afraid of you.

I once hit eight civs with 8 denouncements immediately after all eight denounced me... then Hiawatha became afraid of me. Even when he's stronger than me XD

 

[GIO888]

I scared the bejeesus out of Gandhi in about 1000 BCE with two archers. That's Gandhi for you....

I used to love the "Watch it matey our words are backed by nukes" message u used to get back in the glory days of Civ II. Its nice they get afraid once you acquire them in Civ v tho - I think there should be more groveling in civ v, the time it takes to get to the modern era now!!

 

[Mesix]

I had a CS which was afraid of me in my last game.

...and I won in the Industrial Era, so no nukes in the game at all.

 

[VisageTDI]

Only certain civs are even likely to ever show the afraid. I think they are Montezuma and Maria (Austria).

It's silly to even think this information might be true.

 

[Arilian]

I have the same experience.
I bough a nuclear missile, just to have some potencial, and the whole world was AFRAID instantly.

 

[Dux1]

I had a CS which was afraid of me in my last game.

...and I won in the Industrial Era, so no nukes in the game at all.

City-states are different. They get "afraid" based on a very clear system that is based on global military strength and military strength near their border. Major civs seem to never be afraid unless you build a nuclear weapon. You can literally have 10x the military strength rating of the next highest civ, and this scares no one. Seems broken to me.

 

[Mesix]

I've had an early game civ be afraid when I had 4-6 units at about turn 30-40. This was in G&K, so I'm note sure if BNW has changed the mechanic at all.

 

[Shafi-is-back]

I had Persia afraid of me in the early game. I had killed all its units and taken its capital as well. MY army at this point consisted of 3 spearmen + 3 CB's + 1 swordsman. Their military rating was 0 in the demographic screen.

 

[ltccone]

The Ethiopians were afraid of my Brits in Scramble For Africa.

 

[Inhalaattori]

Arabia was afraid of me, but I didnt have A-bomb or big army. What I had was huge cultural influence over him. I dont remember if it was dominant (200% tourism vs. his culture), but it must have been pretty close.

 

[Hieschen]

Ai is fearless, never saw an afraid message in BNW even when i utterly destroyed shakas army and he offered all of his cities besides cap as peace deal. Stole a tech 5 turns later and rubbed it in my face....

 

[DuseCutter]

I've had Austria afraid of me late game when we were neighbors. I don't understand why. We were of equal power and both had just taken bites out of Byzantium as allies. I then parked my units on the border and settled down for a SV. I didn't build nukes.

 

[VainoValkea]

Only certain civs are even likely to ever show the afraid. I think they are Montezuma and Maria (Austria).

I just had Brazil and Carthage afraid of me, and the Byzantines in my earlier game. And yeah, this happened right after I pumped out my first A-bomb. They haven't learned to love the bomb.

 

[azzaman333]

Seems pretty random to me when it pops up.

 

[nenya]

I've seen this a few times. Does it actually affect the AI's diplomatic behavior? I haven't had an AI afraid long enough to experiment.

 

[VainoValkea]

I've seen this a few times. Does it actually affect the AI's diplomatic behavior? I haven't had an AI afraid long enough to experiment.

They do send you a lovely message about you being the paragon of virtuous leadership or something like that. I think it also allows you to successfully demand tribute from the AI, although not just anything (Maria Theresa wasn't willing to give "such a large bounty" to me when I requested her to vote me in the world leader election).

 

[eldiablonoche]

I too have gotten the Afraid status from AIs in BNW and don't think I've built a single nuke yet...