This regards those crucial early wars. (I'm a marathon Monarch player, FYI)
Most civs make a decent show of defending themselves.
Some Civs start to spam archers and other units as soon as you declare on them, never stopping, always whipping when possible, and generally making their conquest not worth it.
But then sometimes I encounter a Civ that seems to lack the will to live. They simply do not build any defenders, often having a single Archer per city...
It is this last scenario I find fascinating.
Which factors influence this happening?
Does it happen more with some leaders? Certain civilizations? Does it have to do with the techs that civ have? Resources?
At one point I thought it must be because the civ started on a Wonder, and couldn't let go; but that would only explain their capital acting this way, not the other cities...
Is there any way of predicting when this will happen?
It would be most useful to know when you could conquer a whole kingdom with only three or four units... normally, it would be a waste to declare war with such few units (except if you can steal workers) because you would simply not gain any cities.
But when this phenomenon happens it would be criminal to abstain from taking the cities of such a feeble leader!
Most civs make a decent show of defending themselves.
Some Civs start to spam archers and other units as soon as you declare on them, never stopping, always whipping when possible, and generally making their conquest not worth it.
But then sometimes I encounter a Civ that seems to lack the will to live. They simply do not build any defenders, often having a single Archer per city...

It is this last scenario I find fascinating.
Which factors influence this happening?
Does it happen more with some leaders? Certain civilizations? Does it have to do with the techs that civ have? Resources?
At one point I thought it must be because the civ started on a Wonder, and couldn't let go; but that would only explain their capital acting this way, not the other cities...
Is there any way of predicting when this will happen?

It would be most useful to know when you could conquer a whole kingdom with only three or four units... normally, it would be a waste to declare war with such few units (except if you can steal workers) because you would simply not gain any cities.
But when this phenomenon happens it would be criminal to abstain from taking the cities of such a feeble leader!