declaring war v. getting attacked

[Puppeteer]

Do you know if trades are involved in the decision making??
I mean, does the AI attack more when it has to give you GPT in a trade. And does the AI from attacking you when you're giving GPT in a trade??

I'm not sure about before the decision, but it seems pretty clear there are times when the AI has decided to attack you but hadn't declared yet, and after the decision you can't change it. I've actually gotten some cheap tech that way. AI SoD enters my borders for no conceivable reason other than to attack me; I buy all tech I can for huge gpt an only have to pay 1-3 turns before he declares.

I seem to recall thinking if the AI goes bankrupt he declares on you to get out of a gpt deal, but I'm not sure about that, and I may be thinking of Alpha Centauri and not Civ 3. Or maybe it was a gpt for peace deal in which the peace broke with the bank.

(They will also peacefully send their whole freakin' army through your civ to get to a barb camp on one dark tile on the far side of your lands, so look for barbs they may be hunting. On the other hand I've seen them head for an enemy on the other side of me, make peace while they're in the middle of my lands and then figure, hey, while we're here let's start a war with Puppeteer!)

 

[RedKi-rr]

@Ataxerxes, Thanks a lot for explanation)

Could you please do the same with my situation?
I played Deity PtW, I had one of the best power ratings among other civs. I had some cavalries, I was at war with weak Greece, I had some nice trades with Romans (our power raings were about equal and they were pleased). However, Romans came with stack of longbowmans/piks/knights, entered my territory and declared...If I stop to attack Greece I could defend well against Romans. Eventually Romans captured my border city with four Spices.

So, AI were at pleased, and have the same power but attacked me. Why? Is there any other reason besides this Spice city?

 

[Lord Emsworth]

@Ataxerxes, Thanks a lot for explanation)

Could you please do the same with my situation?
I played Deity PtW, I had one of the best power ratings among other civs. I had some cavalries, I was at war with weak Greece, I had some nice trades with Romans (our power raings were about equal and they were pleased). However, Romans came with stack of longbowmans/piks/knights, entered my territory and declared...If I stop to attack Greece I could defend well against Romans. Eventually Romans captured my border city with four Spices.

So, AI were at pleased, and have the same power but attacked me. Why? Is there any other reason besides this Spice city?

There is always a chance that civ attacks you even if they are yet so small and yet so gracious. It is all more or less about the likelyhood. It is also very hard to test if and how much attitude, strength and so on, have to do with the likelyhood of an attack. I tend to think, for example, that if an AI receives per turn money from you it really lowers the chance of an attack. Same with keeping AIs busy fighting wars amongst themselves. But how much of that is actually true and how much merely wishful thinking ... I have no idea.

 

[Puppeteer]

I have noticed on more than one occasion that an AI will go from a foul mood to polite or gracious for no reason when they are about to attack me, as if to fake me out for a more effective sneak attack. I don't think it always happens, but I'm convinced it happens sometimes.

A small civ eventually tries to war with someone to get bigger, and who better than the civ with a strat or lux resource on their border?

 

[Ataxerxes]

@Ataxerxes, Thanks a lot for explanation)

Could you please do the same with my situation?
I played Deity PtW, I had one of the best power ratings among other civs. I had some cavalries, I was at war with weak Greece, I had some nice trades with Romans (our power raings were about equal and they were pleased). However, Romans came with stack of longbowmans/piks/knights, entered my territory and declared...If I stop to attack Greece I could defend well against Romans. Eventually Romans captured my border city with four Spices.

So, AI were at pleased, and have the same power but attacked me. Why? Is there any other reason besides this Spice city?

You can only reduce the likelihood of a war declaration. It's very hard to eliminate the danger altogether. Sometimes the AI just goes insane. There's a random chance that any AI will attack you at any time. Equal power ratings means a higher chance. Even Gracious doesn't protect you always.

Here's one way I've found almost guarantees an attack. Have an undefended city the AI thinks it can reach. In Republic sometimes my inner cities have no military. If you EVER give an AI Open Borders you will get a ROP-Rape at that city. Before I learned this, I had an ROP with some weak Civ I had roughly 4x the power of. He immediately took one of my interior cities, despite the power rating telling him (a) he couldn't hold the city for two turns and (b) I would destroy him. I never trust the AI, they aren't your friends, they're your opponents. I've also used the undefended city the AI can see but can't quite reach in one turn to get a DOW. They send their military at that city and prepare to attack next turn. I then beef up the defenses but the AI seems to go ahead with it's plan.

In your case, it's very possible Greece got Rome to go to war against you. Sometimes it's better to sign a military alliance with Rome against Greece immediately.

 

[Smellincoffee]

thanks coffee

what is your guy's strategy for conquest? do you attack your weaker opponents first or take out your biggest rival 1st?

is it wise to have mutual protect pact?

MPPs are usually a bad idea. The AI will declare war willy-nilly, and it's almost a certainty that you will be dragged into wars not of your choosing. However, the same is true for the AI, and that is why I will use one. Say there are two powers on another continent, both strong rivals. It would be advantageous for me if they went to war with one another, but they trade luxuries so neither would be interested if I declared on one and tried a military alliance with the other. However, if I get Power A into an MPP with me, then get Power B to attack me, I've arranged for them to fight. I dive out of the MPP as soon as possible, hope my enemy doesn't buy allies against A in the meantime, and watch my rivals destroy themselves.

I prefer lightening-quick wars. I essentially sucker-punch a neighbor by throwing a lot of force at him at once, then generously offer peace before they've climbed to their feet and switched production priorities to war. I demand tech, gold, cities -- and depending on how successful I've been, I'll get it. Then twenty turns later I strike again. I might even sucker-punch another neighbor during those twenty turns and expand on another frontier.

My priorities will vary in every war in every game. Sometimes I just want to make a few border acquisitions: other times I only want to hit them to gain a tech. Another potential war aim is disabling a potential rival by ravaging their core, taking and destroying their best cities. If I'm engaged in a war with alliances, my aim is to usually adjust the balance of power to take down a killer AI. However, I don't want one AI becoming a killer by making lots of gains as part of an alliance with me. That's happened before: I spawned far away from most of the civs (being on an island, when they were on a massive continent), and I built a great alliance aimed against the dominating power Portugal. This was supposed to lead into a diplomatic victory for me (as Portugal owned most of the continent and would be my diplo opponent), but America made so many gains that I had to drop out of the alliance and begin selling supplies to the Portuguese just to make sure Henry didn't lose so much land to Lincoln that I ran against an ally instead of an enemy in the UN vote.