Confusion: How to declare war without getting a bad reputation?

[Ultraworld]

How do I declare war without getting a bad reputation?

(I asked this in the newbie-thread but I got contradicting answers. It is all very confusing for me.)

 

[Chieftess]

1 - Don't be inside of the AI's territory when you declare war.
2 - Make sure you have no active treaties with that civ.
3 - Make sure any active trade routes do not run through their borders (i.e., out of their harbor, or over their road network to another civ).

 

[Ultraworld]

Thanks Chieftess but does this hold for every version?

 

[Ville]

Every version

 

[Moulton]

Inside the Borders is considered a sneak attack... I did that without thinking in one game (They said get out or declare war, so I declared war -- and it was just one unit trying cross) Next turn everyone else cancelled their ROP with me. "After you sneak attacked..." But they were willing to resign, if I gave them Iron, or Incense, or tech...l

 

[bru]

If the troops are outside when war is declared, do you have to wait until the next turn or can the troops move in after the declaration?

 

[ivory]

Depends if they have moved already this turn. So move them to the border, end of turn. Next turn start by declaring war and move in.

 

[The Last Conformist]

Question on breaking treaties: Does declaring war on a civ with which you've got a ROP damage your reputation if you don't have any troops in their territory? I thought it did - you break the treaty before 20 turns afterall - but in my present game I've got no trouble getting ROPs even after pulling this one off a couple of times. Even the civ I did this to, which is Furious with me, happily signed a new ROP a couple of turns after the war ended.

 

[gladius]

RoP IS a treaty, so it does damage your rep.

 

[Bamspeedy]

AI attitude

Breaking a ROP treaty:
+4 If you have no units in their territory when declaring war with a ROP treaty in place, other AI will add +1, but will still sign ROP with you. +6 If you have any units in their territory when you break the ROP treaty, and other civs won’t sign ROP with you anymore and will add +2.
:

So with no units are in their territory when you declare war, it doesn't ruin your 'rep', but still does worsen other AI's attitude towards you. If you do have units in their territory, your 'rep' IS ruined, and AI attitude towards you is worsened even more.

Declaring war:
You should do it with no units in their territory, or any deals currently going on with that civ (and make sure the civ you declare war on isn't between you and a civ you are trading with, which would cut the trade route). Declaring war 'honorably' won't ruin your rep, but will still worsen AI attitude towards you slightly. Attitude and rep are two different things.

 

[Mr Black]

Hmm, I always make sure my troops are not in their territory, then declare war. Then I still keep my troops outside their territories and I don't attack any of their units. I end the turn without any actual combat. In effect, the AI gets the first strike, but of course I'm prepared, since I started the war. Is this neccessary of am I being TOO honorable???

 

[TheTruth]

Originally posted by Mr Black
Hmm, I always make sure my troops are not in their territory, then declare war. Then I still keep my troops outside their territories and I don't attack any of their units. I end the turn without any actual combat. In effect, the AI gets the first strike, but of course I'm prepared, since I started the war. Is this neccessary of am I being TOO honorable???

This is very neccessary. I learned the hard way by declaring war and the same turn enter into their borders. After doing it this way for so long and wondering why I always got a bad rep, I decided to wait 1 turn after declaring war. This solves the rep hit, but like the guy above said the AI gets first strike. Just be prepared.

 

[ivory]

I 'm glad this solves your reputation problems, but in my experience it makes no difference reputation-wise. Indeed, it gives the AI the first shot.
I used to go to the Active screen, remove any RoP or other deals and then declare war. But later I became lazier and stopped doing this. And from what I can tell, the other civ's do not like me less.

 

[The Last Conformist]

I've never had any perceptible ill effects of attacking in the same turn I declared war per se. Once MPPs are in play, however waiting a turn is usually adviceable to make the pacts kick in your way.

 

[Moulton]

I carelessly declared war while in enemy territory... actually they demanded that I leave, but I was just passing through, and I said, well, war, then.
I did not have any treaties with this civ except peace.
Everyone cancelled their ROP with me next turn... example, Celt: "Well, since you sneak attacked Poland while under protection of this treaty, how can we trust you." Now, How did my ROP with Celt protect Poland or me ??? However, if I gave them Iron, they were then willing to trust me ....

 

[trumpeteer]

Declare war without hurting your rep? Kinda like going swimming without getting wet. Unless you can get a few strong allies in the war...

Get a few very reliable(not like Mongols or Zulu), very strong allies on another continent to use as yes-men for all your wars. Sign RoP's, MPP's, MA's, CIA's, FBI's, CNN's, ESPN's, MOO's, and anything else to keep your rep up.

Just don't sign with any future prey that you plan on attacking.

The biggest thing to remember...(I like doing this just because I can...)

Always celebrate National Jump-Roping Sheep Day.

 

[Renata]

Attacking the same turn you declare war (provided you have no units in enemy territory before declaration, you're not breaking any deals, yadda yadda) definitely does not harm your reputation.*

I'm not sure whether or not it has an effect on AI attitude towards you (except of course for the attitude of the civ you attack, which always gets worse), but if it does, the effect is very minor.

Renata

* As stated above, you do have to be extremely careful in the ancient/ middle ages especially. Make sure you know where your trade routes run, and how many redundancies there are (for example, you might be able to trade with a civ on the other side of the continent via your and their harbors (going around either side of the continent), and/or by land routes through various other civs' territories). In general, the more redundancies, the safer your reputation is -- less chance that shifting alliances might break all of them at once.

 

[Stapel]

I have never thought of it before, but will declaring war, while having a one-sided treaty, affect my rep?

What if an AI pays 10 gpt to me, with 10 turns to go, and I declare war. It saves him money!

Another Q: will having gpt treaties (me giving gpt to AI) stop the AI demanding stuff? Or decrease the chance to declare war?

 

[Doshin]

I have a question about declaring war and reputation hits:

If you demand, say, 50G and a WM of a civ and they agree..

...and that very turn you declare war. What happens?

Do you take more of a rep. hit than if you just simply declared war? I imagine that that particular civ's attitude towards you after the war is more negative, but will it harm your overall rep?

 

[betazed]

Originally posted by Doshin
I have a question about declaring war and reputation hits:

If you demand, say, 50G and a WM of a civ and they agree..

...and that very turn you declare war. What happens?

Do you take more of a rep. hit than if you just simply declared war? I imagine that that particular civ's attitude towards you after the war is more negative, but will it harm your overall rep?

IIRC You should get a rep hit. Because, for all practical purposes you are signing a peace treaty for 20 turns. If you are declaring war you are breaking the treaty.

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Oh and by the way! If you have a really strong military who gives a hoot about what the hell anyone else's attitude is. Just roll over them.