Bad Blood

[atc_chief]

So about 1,500 years ago I played the "Just Passing Through" card on Arabia after he had backstabbed me. I was trying to get my retaliation army in better position. So, I pull the trigger and attack when I'm ready, and literally for the next millennium this action shows up as a red flag for every civ. Some get over it, and some don't because I'm able to get Friendly relations with a few civs.

Anyway, Washington wants to go to war with Greece, and I ask for 10 turns to prep. I'm actually Friendly w/ Washington at this point. Greece sees me coming and calls me out, so to avoid the penalty for "Just Passing Through" I admit that I'm going to declare war.

After this, I check the Diplo status screen and now Washington is pissed at me again. I would have thought that 1) fighting the civ he wanted to fight would have made him happy, or 2) since I didn't sneak attack I wouldn't have a negative relationship issue.

To make matters worse, I got peace w/ Greece after about 8 turns, and then turn 10 comes and Washington asks if I'm ready to declare war on Greece. I said "NO" (should have said "YES" to see if it would have even let me since I just had a 10 turn peace treaty w/ Greece but I was too quick on the trigger). So now Washington is even more mad because I changed my mind about attacking a common foe.

I think Washington took my attack on Greece as "warmongering". Odd...

 

[PhilBowles]

Yes, you can declare war whenever another civ asks you to - you don't have to wait for the peace treaty to expire (unlike bribing a civ to declare war, which you can't do until any pre-existing peace treaty is up). But that's an odd situation since you shouldn't now get a warmonger penalty for going to war, only for taking cities.

As an aside, unfortunately, "just passing through" is forever - it never expires in BNW. I was just forced to declare war on Kamehameha prematurely to avoid that very fate. I don't know why they changed it, but it's not a welcome change.

Presumably it expires if they declare war on you and subsequently make peace, so trying to upset them as much as possible to provoke a war may help.

 

[joelzhl]

The effect expires in 50 turns.

 

[dexters]

50 turns and 1,500 years is nothing in the early game. Give turncounts.

 

[KrikkitTwo]

a non-sneak attack still has problems.. just not as severe as a sneak attack

 

[Socratatus]

Anyway, Washington wants to go to war with Greece, and I ask for 10 turns to prep. I'm actually Friendly w/ Washington at this point. Greece sees me coming and calls me out, so to avoid the penalty for "Just Passing Through" I admit that I'm going to declare war.

After this, I check the Diplo status screen and now Washington is pissed at me again. I would have thought that 1) fighting the civ he wanted to fight would have made him happy,

I agree here. Washington wanted a war and even asked you to help him. The fact that you STARTED the war a littl early actually makes Washington look less like the bad guy and still shows a keen commitment. You have done part of his job for him. So Washington should be very happy about it.

This aspect of the AI needs to be better programmed so that the AI understands when something has actually worked to its benefit, even if not the way it first expected.

 

[Louis XXIV]

The just passing through option allows the AI to resume peaceful play rather than gear up for war. Because of this and the advantages of lying, the consequences of lying are severe. On the other hand, the consequences of telling the truth are only mild diplomatically. It's a compromise to prevent the player from causing the AI to stagnate by simply moving units to the border constantly.

You knew you were getting an advantage, it's why you decided to say you were passing through. The consequences of this advantage might suck, but you could evaluate that when you made the decision in the first place. And I don't think the AI is misplaced for continuing to distrust you after you've been shown to not be trustworthy.