AI plotting against someone

[mrwho]

What's been your success rate with the AI telling you someone is plotting against you? In some games I've probably had everyone, including friends, supposedly plotting against me at some point, and it's rare that something comes of it. That's even when I ignore the message and don't take precautionary measures.

How reliable is this piece of intelligence in your games?

 

[Yzman]

Plotting doesn't mean much. It just means the AI is considering it, but may or may not do it.

There are 3 different levels.

Plotting against you
Building up an army against you
Marching an army towards you

I believe the last one is the only totally reliable one. I would take plotting with a grain of salt.

 

[Karmah]

I know I haven t convinced anyone but I really think that plotting just means 'having a spy in your house'

 

[VicRatlhead5199]

I think plotting just means they intend to attack eventually if you let your guard down but they don't have any opening to take advantage of at the time. As long as your military presence near them is strong they won't attack but if you pull your forces out to invade some one else then there's a good chance they'll attack.

 

[Rohili]

I usually take it as a sign that the AI is looking for an opportunity to attack me but has no specific plans. Sometimes the attack will come 50 turns later, sometimes not at all. But it is useful as a piece of info that you need to put up your guard against someone (especially if that person is your "friend").

 

[Jampine]

hmm, don't think I've ever had an AI tell me someone else is plotting against me at all. However, I like to keep an eye on enemy border activity if possible and have a spy in their cap if I'm not on good terms with them, so its pretty obvious if they're planning to attack me or a neighbour

 

[joncnunn]

There's also building a fleet with Transports; its just like marching but it's when the target is on a different landmass.

 

[Lord Yanaek]

hmm, don't think I've ever had an AI tell me someone else is plotting against me at all.

It will happen if you keep some AIs friendly long enough. Even in G&K it would happen sometimes, and AIs are less likely to backstab you in BNW.

As for what it means, well, i don't care cause most of the time no attack will come. Also, some AIs spend their time plotting against every other Civs (try putting a spy/diplomat in Shaka's capital for a laugh ). I will always warn other AIs when i see someone is plotting against them as it gives me positive diplo, but that's where the usefulness of the info ends.

 

[Strategist83]

Almost all civs are actively "plotting against you" at all times - you can safely assume this to be the case. Only super-peaceful civs like India won't be constantly plotting, but even Gandhi can surprise. If you let down your guard at any point and run with a less-than-average military strength, even your 'friends' will start plotting. Even so, the AI weighs the pros and cons of going to war with you, so even despite this non-stop plotting you won't often be assaulted by your 'friends'. The Civ V world is truly cutthroat, and nobody is ever really your friend. Then again, this is a lot like real-life politics.

As for the OP's question about how reliable this "plotting" information is: It's completely reliable - it's just that for above mentioned reason an attack won't always be executed. Rest assured, however, that if you completely neglect your military strength, your diplomatic relations will fade and war be declared sooner or later. If you start getting many of these "plotting" messages, it means the AI considers you a possible target due to perceived military weakness (perceived as opposed to actual, since you can beat the AI even with a vastly inferior army due to the AI's tactical ineptitude) and you should consider expanding your military if you wish to maintain relations.

 

[iamdanno]

Somewhat related; I think if a civ asks you to declare war on another civ, that should be intrigue you can share with the target. Right now, you can't do that.

 

[Magma_Dragoon]

I've rarely seen an AI attack on its own when I turn down its request to attack a third party together.

 

[MarshalN]

Marching an army is 100% reliable, but if you act too quickly to negate the local weakness the AI sometimes back off.

 

[Walter R]

I've rarely seen an AI attack on its own when I turn down its request to attack a third party together.

Just shows how variable civ is - I see this a lot, maybe even most of the time. Even in Dom victories I'm rarely an aggressor in the first part of the game (unless playing as Alex etc.) and will nearly always turn down war requests - the requesting civ usually goes ahead on it's own but invariably after a few more turns (presumably to further bolster army).

 

[Atinuviel]

Marching an army is 100% reliable, but if you act too quickly to negate the local weakness the AI sometimes back off.

I can personally attest to that last night. Got the message that Suleiman was marching on Barcelona, so I embarked all my units to flank his nearby city. He responded by asking me why I was on his border, and I answered that I was just passing by. You can literally see him shifting his unit from my border to where my troops are stationed, and like after 30 turns he gave up and just attacked Arabia instead.