Down, boy, down!

[Random Passerby]

Any tips on how to avert an imminent war that you're not particularly interested in fighting? I was at war with Egypt once in the late Ancient Era, and all of a sudden I spot about 10 Chinese swordsmen crossing the border and stacking themselves outside a few of my cities. Not wanting to fight a two-fronted battle, I went to the diplomacy screen and quickly saw the problem: Mao's two iron sources had both run out, and he was looking to snag one of mine. So I gave Mao a nice lump-sum present, free iron and free ivory to boot, my world map and a couple of workers, plus most of my per-turn income... and the swordsmen kept advancing anyways! So eventually I ended up just going to war with China and let my allies take care of Egypt, the end result being that I didn't get half as much territory as I was set up to conquer before Mao's attack. Is there ANYTHING that will get a war-hungry civilization to call off its dogs?

 

[Warlord Sam]

Having a bigger stick than the war-mongers. At all times, maintain a huge army.

 

[Zouave]

Yea, that's it. I suppose the degree of aggression is based on the Power ratio of you to them, and that surely includes many military units.

But how in Hell does the other guy KNOW just how much of a military you have???

They certainly don't have any kind of good Intelligence as once, about 500 AD, the Persians kept coming against my Egyptian city that was loaded with offensive units. When they finally declared war I wiped them out, no sweat.

So, how can an enemy know enough about your military to assume you're not strong enough - but at the same time have no idea what is in the city it is massing against to attack??

Not good, Sid.

 

[Cunobelin Of Hippo]

Originally posted by Zouave

So, how can an enemy know enough about your military to assume you're not strong enough - but at the same time have no idea what is in the city it is massing against to attack??

Not good, Sid.

1. By establishing an embassy with you and checking out your military as we do in the 'Military' guy screen.
2. Because they didn't have enough money to investigate the city via espionage.

 

[CivAl]

The idea is, unless they do espionage, any AI with an embassy in your capital knows +/-5 exactly how many military units you have, but they don't know what TYPE. Unfortunately, workers and settlers are counted as MU's, and of course you could have an "army" of 21 workers, and no enemies! And unless the AI sends "worker spies" (the kind that never leave when you tell 'em to) over to your side, they also don't know if your units are Warriors or Modern Armor.