Does war weariness cause issues even with no actual fighting?

[iwn]

Hi,

I'm fairly new (playing warlord level) and I only have started a war when I intended on finishing it. Now I want to try different strategies that involve snagging a few cities and creating a stalemate through entrenchment, or signing an early peace treaty. In the case of the stalemate I want to know if I'm going to be facing greater unhappiness and lower production if the war isn't formally concluded.

Thanks for any suggestions.

 

[mintegar]

The AI builds defensive troops for its cities first, and once those are finished it tends to build up one offensive stack. If you manage to snag a few cities, that implies that you killed that stack at some point. At that point, the AI is usually a sitting duck. You can just leave a few defenders in conquered cities, build a couple more catapults/trebuchets/cannons and take the rest.

Deliberately staying in stalemate doesn't make much sense. Of course you can do it. I don't know what happens with War Weariness if no battles take place. It will only rise very slowly, if at all. I have had some long wars and WW was never really a big problem. Just make sure you win most of the fights, loosing troops is one thing that will raise WW quickly. Attack with Siege & Mounted troops first, that will weaken the enemy stacks so much that you should have very little losses with other troops.

 

[vandermerwe]

War weariness only arises if your troops are killed outside your territory. There used to be an article in the War Academy here explaining exactly how much and for how long, but it seems to have disappeared. Anyway, fighting a purely defensive war won't cause any.

That said, deliberately stalemating a war does look like an odd strategy. I suppose there might be some merit in forcing an AI to build hordes of inferior units that promptly get slaughtered - but nowhere near as much as for just conquering them, either completely or enough to get a favourable peace deal. If you do need a pause in offensive operations and can't get a peace deal, better to use it to pillage enemy resources and roads, and limit their ability to fight on.

 

[pob]

Here's an old war weariness strategy guide for vanilla, the comments extend to BTS.

 

[iwn]

I can see a stalemate being preferable to a peace treaty. I just finished a game where a civilization that was almost as powerful as me and couldn't be taken by land without great expense could have easily been blockaded by sea, seriously disrupting their economy.

Also I noticed that sometimes the opposing leader doesn't want to talk, so peace treaty isn't even an option.

 

[elmurcis]

Currently I'm playing game where I had the same situation - got in war early (with like 6 HArchers and few axes) to get AI (Alexander) Copper city... had no power at that moment to move forward (enough for counterattack but nothing more). But i had neigbhour #2 (Zara) with who I already got -1 diplo (you declared on our friend).. So instead of 2nd war I kept 1st on until got Construction and with Elepults finished this war.. And I played with no-tech trading and Currency wasn't there yet and Alexander for peace wanted that city back... yeah, right
So sometimes ongoing war isn't too bad (if don't forget about it... AI can send some sneaky galley with 2 chariots to take undefended city next to stronghold border city..)

 

[civvver]

they won't talk because you haven't had enough war success vs them yet. Once you kill off a bunch of their units or take a city they'll talk again

 

[Timsup2nothin]

I've gotten in situations where some nitwit on another continent declares war on me and there's really nothing either one of us can do about it. That "war" might last for millennia without having any particular war weariness effects, other than me getting tired of it personally.

 

[Mizar]

War weariness only arises if your troops are killed outside your territory.

No,
War Weariness is (mainly) caused by fighting on tiles were your tile culture is lower than your opponent's.
Once that condition is met, even wins causes WW (albeit less).

And it slowly decreases over time, and ceases when you make peace.

 

[Testhero]

Stalemating a war so you can improve your diplomatic bonus for Mutual struggle can be well worth while.
thanks Mizar I was wondering why my WW was raising during a long string of unbroken victories.

Handy to know when you worker steal from Napoleon in 3000BC and he is still fuming in the 1900's