AI DoW mechanics

[Sleeping Dragon]

Does anyone have a list of the factors an AI needs to take into account when determining who it can declare war on? In my current game as Justinian, I'm on a continent with Huayna Capac to my east and Shaka to the south, with Zululand attached to the rest of the continent by a narrow strip of land. Recently Shaka founded a city on that narrow strip and shortly afterwards went into WHEOOHRN. Of the two of us, I'm far closer to Shaka, but I haven't fully explored Zululand and the land around it yet so I'm hoping there's a fourth Civ that Shaka's intending to go . None of my tiles actually border Shaka's (yet) but I don't know to what extent that affects AI DoW decisions. Any help would be appreciated as I'm not sure whether I can continue with my previous strategy or whether I need to start pumping axes pronto!

(I'm at work so I can't post a save or screenshot...will put them up when I get in.)

 

[r_rolo1]

Try to give a look at this . Probably a little too detailed for what you want, but it is all there

 

[Ghpstage]

The mechanics were explained in detail in post by DanF5771 in this thread, its pretty much the holy grail of DoW knowledge.

Edit- **Beaten to the punch

 

[Sleeping Dragon]

Cheers - I thought I remembered a post like that but couldn't find it with a search.

If I'm interpreting this correctly (which I'm quite possibly not...) the fact that I have no land plots bordering Shaka's means that I'm safe. Is this right?

Save's attached if anyone wants to have a look (no spoilers please)

 

[dirtyparrot]

The new patch has changed a few things, but DanF's breakdown is a very good launching point. The factors considered are still the same.

 

[Ghpstage]

If I'm interpreting this correctly (which I'm quite possibly not...) the fact that I have no land plots bordering Shaka's means that I'm safe. Is this right?

Touching borders (land target) is something that makes it much more likely to be a target, BUT it isn't necessary.
I looked at the save and I think its either you or an as of yet hidden AI.

Shakas swordsman sitting just outside your borders strongly suggests to me that you are his target unfortunately.

 

[Gumbolt]

Cheers - I thought I remembered a post like that but couldn't find it with a search.

If I'm interpreting this correctly (which I'm quite possibly not...) the fact that I have no land plots bordering Shaka's means that I'm safe. Is this right?

Save's attached if anyone wants to have a look (no spoilers please)

That is brave one chariot per city with shaka as a neighbour with his impi!! For me too few workers and too much forest left. Over whipping capital is a killer for 625bc.

I would start chopping 3-4 axes to absorb the coming attack. Chariots wont last 5 seconds against swords.

 

[Sleeping Dragon]

Yep, Shaka DoWed me in 325 BC. Figured that he would and in the mean time plonked a city down near the cows-spices site and chopped & produced lots of axes (14 running around in my territory atm.) Have fortified some axes with Woodsman in the chokepoint forest tiles north of kwaDuzuka (or whatever) which he'll need to hack his way through. His stack is only 2 Swords, 2 Axes, 2 Archers, and 1 Impi (killed 1 Impi at the start of the war) so I should be ok.

That is brave one chariot per city with shaka as a neighbour with his impi!! For me too few workers and too much forest left. Over whipping capital is a killer for 625bc.

I would start chopping 3-4 axes to absorb the coming attack. Chariots wont last 5 seconds against swords.

Hehe, I thought the same about the chariots but I only met Shaka fairly recently and couldn't produce any metal units until I settled Antioch. I made a big mistake with my early exploration by not sending a unit down that narrow strip. This meant I thought it was just me and Huayna Capac until about 1200 BC and I focussed on blocking him off (which I think I've done reasonably well.)

 

[Gumbolt]

Yep, Shaka DoWed me in 325 BC. Figured that he would and in the mean time plonked a city down near the cows-spices site and chopped & produced lots of axes (14 running around in my territory atm.) Have fortified some axes with Woodsman in the chokepoint forest tiles north of kwaDuzuka (or whatever) which he'll need to hack his way through. His stack is only 2 Swords, 2 Axes, 2 Archers, and 1 Impi (killed 1 Impi at the start of the war) so I should be ok.



Hehe, I thought the same about the chariots but I only met Shaka fairly recently and couldn't produce any metal units until I settled Antioch. I made a big mistake with my early exploration by not sending a unit down that narrow strip. This meant I thought it was just me and Huayna Capac until about 1200 BC and I focussed on blocking him off (which I think I've done reasonably well.)

The AI is not too bad on Monarch level. Shaka is not the worst of unit pumpers compared to Nappy or Ragnar. Still a pain!!! The slim channel to your cities was a great blocking point. The Ai isn't great at war and a small stack on a forest would of been ample to stop a melee based stack. Shaka will be a pain if he has lots of land below to expand into. Once you get pults taking him down wouldn't be a bad thing.

 

[Sleeping Dragon]

Ground him down in a fairly easy stalemate war - I moved the units to the jungle directly north of kwaDukuza and he never bothered attacking out, eventually giving me derisory tribute (5 gold) for peace.

I've secured a pretty good piece of land and have some good hammer cities, but Huayna is turning into a beast and is far ahead of me tech wise. I made a stupid decision to tech Mathematics instead of Alphabet early on (as I thought it was just me and Huayna and tech trading would be off the table until I got him to Friendly.) Shaka won't trade techs with me and Huayna's got everything I do and more, but I'm starting to turn it around. Going to go for Guilds + Caste System for strong early workshops and will Cataphract stomp Huayna and Shaka to death (have to go for HC first, he's friends with Shaka and controls the Apostolic Palace so if I went after Shaka first I'd have to deal with loads of stop the war resolutions.)