Any way to prevent random war?

[automator]

After playing Civ titles for ... well, too long, you think I'd know that a leader isn't to be trusted. But they always seem to be my downfall.

Current game: I'm Russia, Stalin. Started off really nicely. Made nice with my neighbors to the east, Kublai Khan, Mehmed and Ragnar. Acted in a passive-aggresive way with the west: Ethiopia, Roosevelt, and one other that I've forgotten, but who never takes an important role. To the north lies the Byzantines, who I drive back to two cities in the axe/sword era. After a short peace, Kublai declares on him, takes the capitol, then invites me to join him in finishing off the Byzantines.

Then I entered the world of diplomacy. The east and I shared Hinduism, the west shared Judaism. I backed the east in their wars, though I primarily built my military, culture and scientific progress.

Then one morning I wake up to Kublai declaring war. Yeah. I'm pretty sure I can fight him off, though I'm likely to lose and regain my best science and production cities in the process.

Besides "kill everyone before the middle ages", any tips on avoiding war with a friend?

 

[r_rolo1]

First, there is no such thing as "random wars". AI in BtS are calculist ( well, besides Monty... ) and normally they only wage war if they are strong enough to do so ( or bribed or AP forced... )

That leads to your second question: the best way to avoid a war with a "friend" is to be strong enough to impose respect, a thing that it looks that you weren't ( by your description )

And BTW never trust in any of the Khans.... they simply don't deserve it

 

[Lil_Yospeck]

Ultimately some people will just fight you. In nearly every game I play I'm not diplomatic enough to hold off on Monty or Shaka. Besides, you could gift them everything and do everything they ask, and they'll still probably attack...

If you have Defensive Pacts then you can USUALLY coast for quite a while without having anyone attack you.

Ultimately it comes down to schoolyard tactics. If you give into the bully they will keep on bullying you, so either get big and strong enough to make them think twice, or smash them... smash them right in their bloody face.

 

[Willem]

Besides "kill everyone before the middle ages", any tips on avoiding war with a friend?

"Walk softly but carry a big stick."

 

[Silence101]

Besides "kill everyone before the middle ages", any tips on avoiding war with a friend?

Keep your enemies close and your friends closer.

Okay, the truth is that you'll probably have some idiot declare war on you in every game. Your job is to be prepared for it and make sure that you can win. It's been said already, but it's worth repeating - it doesn't matter if you're life long friends with every other civ in the game, that should never be an excuse for neglecting your military. The preparation in itself will prevent many wars, but not all of them.

When some civ declares war on you, be powerful enough to use this to your advantage... after all, you don't get diplomatic penalties for declarations of war on you, and the war weariness isn't as bad for battles fought on your land... and once you've cleaned up their primary stacks, take what's left of your massive military and wipe them off the map.

 

[Supr49er]

...Besides "kill everyone before the middle ages", any tips on avoiding war with a friend?

Trust No One. Mulder

 

[pi-r8]

I think it's the case that if an AI is friendly with you, they'll never declare war on you (unless they have to, from a defensive pact, or something). I'm not completely sure about this, though.

 

[Willem]

I think it's the case that if an AI is friendly with you, they'll never declare war on you (unless they have to, from a defensive pact, or something). I'm not completely sure about this, though.

No, that's not true. Monty certainly will.

 

[magicalsushi]

No, that's not true. Monty certainly will.

Also not true. The only AI who will choose to declare war on you while friendly is Catherine, and even then she'll only do it if someone bribes her to. If Monty - or anyone else - attacks you while friendly, it means he made the decision to do so before he became friendly. Any AI who would consider attacking you while pleased is a potential candidate for doing this, not just Monty.

Basically, Monty will never *decide* to attack you while friendly, and can't be bribed to either, but he will carry on with any plans he made while pleased.

 

[Sueff]

Interesting magicalsushi...where did you get that information, could you point me to this list.

As for "he made the decision to do so before he became friendly", I remember something about the AI not planning anything but having a wider line of sight and consider all options again at every turn. But I might be wrong.

 

[CliftonBazaar]

Agree with the above post that there is no such thing as a 'random' war - they all have their motivations.

Lizzy will always attack in the late game - and she will have a huge army to back her up.

 

[magicalsushi]

Interesting magicalsushi...where did you get that information, could you point me to this list.

I don't recall mentioning a list, but there's some very straightforward XML that determines at what level of relations an AI leader will like someone so much that they will refuse to declare war on them if asked ("we couldn't betray our close friends"). For most AIs, it's pleased or below; for Catherine alone, it's friendly. There are also %s determining how likely the AI will be to declare war on their own initiative at a particular attitude. For all leaders, this is 0% at friendly. A couple of enterprising people have made spreadsheets that summarise this and tonnes of other information about all of the leaders. I can't understand why some people still don't use these.

As for "he made the decision to do so before he became friendly", I remember something about the AI not planning anything but having a wider line of sight and consider all options again at every turn. But I might be wrong.

I'm afraid you are. The AI will sometimes make a "DoWar" decision. When this happens, they'll start preparing to invade their chosen target, which basically means building up troops and then sending them towards the border. When the troops reach the border, the AI finally declares war properly. You don't really think the AI thinks "oh look, some of my troops happen to have gathered right next to an opponents border by coincidence; this might be a good time to declare war", do you? It's planned in advance.

There may be situations under which the AI will make an immediate decision to declare war; I think refusing tribute can sometimes trigger this, for starters. My understanding though is that the normal procedure is for the AI to spend a few turns preparing. Once the decision is made, there aren't many things that can stop it, not even improved relations or temporary ceasefires (the latter only delay the inevitable). Once a leader starts telling you they "have enough on our hands right now", they're definitely about to invade someone; the only question is when.