but I didn't *do* anything!

[Master Shake]

I just had a game in which I thought I was doing reasonably well. The game is still around 1000 or 500 BC or so. Not all borders have met as of yet...

Anyway, two countries halfway around the world from me signed a military alliance against me. I had had hardly any dealings with either of these countries. They just decided out of the blue that I should die.

But I wasn't worried--it would take them forever to get here anyway and I can easily defend myself. Just to be safe I made a military alliance with my strongest neighbor against one of the two.

But a few turns later, my other neighbor joined in on the alliance against me. Still not a big deal, I can handle this neighbor militarily.

Then a few turns later, the one who *I* had made an alliance with signed a peace treaty with our mutual enemy, then signed a military alliance against me, declaring war against me!

And this all just kept on... eventually *every single country* in the world has declared war against me. And I never did anything to anyone! It just came purely out of the blue.

What might I have done to bring this down on myself? Or is this jsut something that randomly happens sometimes?

Or what?

-mS

PS I am playing on Regent... I have implemented in this game for the first time a heavy-tech-trading strategy. I have managed to stay in the top two on the tech heiarchy as a result... could this have anything to do with everyone deciding to hate me?

 

[MaximusParthas]

Once any country declares war on you for whatever reason, if they have funds, techs or resources then they'll start calling on others to help. I'm in a situation like that now. SOP for me is whenever a civ declares war on me, I try to get all my neighbors in an alliance against the offending civ. Even if I can handle them it still saves alot of grief.

 

[Master Shake]

Thanks, I'll have to keep that in mind in the future.

Any ideas as to why two countries with whom I had dealt hardly at all would decide to sign a military alliance against me in the first place?

-mS

 

[Jaybe]

Originally posted by Master Shake
Any ideas as to why two countries with whom I had dealt hardly at all would decide to sign a military alliance against me in the first place?

Check out Bamspeedy's article on AI Attitude (in the war academy).

I would wager that you were really weak militarily. Check with your F3 and you may find that your military is weak compared to the war instigator.

 

[Chieftess]

Originally posted by Master Shake
Thanks, I'll have to keep that in mind in the future.

Any ideas as to why two countries with whom I had dealt hardly at all would decide to sign a military alliance against me in the first place?

-mS

Did you take every possible gpt, resources, etc. from them? They might've declared war just to break the treaties. Also, once the AI is in war mode, all it knows is, "Take cities, sign alliances".

 

[general_kill]

Make them all suffer by turtling!!!

 

[Pongui]

I don't know how AI risk assessment works, but maybe those far-off civs entered war against you because they assessed no risk in doing so, yet, as Chieftess suggested, they saw a short-term gain. I imagine fools jumping there. The AI may not weigh the inevitable cost of buying military alliances, when it decides to start a war.

 

[Spike59]

I have been in the same boat where every civilization has declared war on me, just like you describe in a cascading manner. It’s frustrating. First time it happened to me I had no hope and quit the game. Now I try to get alliances with the civs around the civ who declared war and my neighbors against the offending civ. It’s not so much a way to crush them, that’s just a side benefit. The main reason is so the other civs do not form an alliance against me. It’s sort of expensive, but worth it. It also seems that if there are enough civs allied with you, others will hesitate to declare war on you.

 

[Raijer]

Originally posted by Chieftess
Did you take every possible gpt, resources, etc. from them?

True. Beware those ridiculously high GPT trades with other civs. If they're making offers that are too good to be true, they probably are. I've made huge deals with Civs where I sold them a tech for many GPT only to have them declare war on me two or three turns later, and thus re-negging on the deal.
One way to prevent this, I've found, is to offer GTP to other civs, instead of money up front. It helps keep the wolves at bay cuz they like your steady income.

 

[Pongui]

Cascading does happen alright. Maybe civs are more willing to join war against another, if they know that civ is already beset from all sides. I know this type of valuing effects other kinds of trades, why not diplomatic agreements?

 

[jeremiahrounds]

Agreed its prolly military.

But!
The original question was sort of in the vein of "Does this make sense?" Sense being "would a human be so mean."

I have to tell you it does. First thing you should note is your strategic resources and your luxurys. I have aggressed over not having a resource. Then i look for the easiest target with it and go to town on them. Also if you control several types of luxurys your a target. Luxurys are uber powerful for happiness in a large empire.

Basically if you own good stuff (strategic/luxury) your a target whether or not your a nice guy. If you dont own strategic assets and luxurys then your not a target but you prolly already lost.

So the original question might have been:
Why is the AI wasting resources to get nothing from me? But in reality you prolly controlled something valuable, more valuable then your ability to protect it and didnt know it so the AI wasnt wasting resources for nothing.

Or it might be random when your weak... lol. But atleast if a human was in control it would make sense~

 

[jeremiahrounds]

hmm might have to start changing my play if the computer really aggresses over gpt deals. I use em alot though and so far all ive noticed is the AI starts making demands. I usually give into those demands instead of getting hooty with em if im protecting a gpt.