First Impressions when meeting a new civ?

[phizuol]

When you first encounter a civ what determines their initial mood with you? Sometimes they are annoyed or polite right away when its even only a few turns into the game. I always play on Regent but sometimes it just seems like the AI civs want to gang up against you right from the start and all you see all game is scowling faces. I have won diplomatic victories in the past so dealing with the AI is not something I don't understand, but last night was just one of those times... I started a new game and every civ I meet wants to fight, and those that don't are already annoyed the first time we meet. I play fair and don't break agreements plus I had a good army, was beating the enemy soundly even when being attacked by 4 civs simultaneously, and even gaining a lot of territory... but still, the AI wants to bug me and threaten me for tribute. What gives?

 

[EQandcivfanatic]

yeah, I have been curoius about this for a while, I think it may have something to do with the relative position of your nation to theirs. I.E. more techs than them, more gold, etc. That's my theory, not sure if it is right though

 

[Eclectic99]

The AI is not logical. Playing Persia, game began on a continent with Zulus and Babs, whom I cleaned out. Indians, Greeks and Japanese were on larger continent, and Indians cleaned out the Japanese. Then, instead of finishing conquering their own continent by cleaning out the Greeks, they declared war on me for no reason I could see and began sending convoys across the ocean. Go figure.

 

[anonymous4401]

Similar thing happened. During my war w/ French, the Russians from the other side of the world declared war on me. After cleaning up the French, didn't see a single Russian unit. For about twenty turns I didn't see any effort by Russia to invade me. So I extorted some gold out of them for 'peace'.

 

[Fulcrum]

i suffer the same problem with all u guys.. especially with the Germans... some how they're just too eager to get wiped out..
In my game i had the strongest military of all. Yet i was playing fair and nice to all the civs.. but Germany demanded for some tech that i had and got refused.. and they decleared war on me straight away. the battle was mainly their longbowman and spearman vs my riders... they didn't last very long since both being outnumberd and out strengthed.....
Although i won the war.. all the other civ that was all "polite "with me turned annoyed..and i never been offered a fair exchange since.....
Can some1 plz give me advise on how to deal with Germany????

 

[Illustrious]

Originally posted by Eclectic99
The AI is not logical. Playing Persia, game began on a continent with Zulus and Babs, whom I cleaned out. Indians, Greeks and Japanese were on larger continent, and Indians cleaned out the Japanese. Then, instead of finishing conquering their own continent by cleaning out the Greeks, they declared war on me for no reason I could see and began sending convoys across the ocean. Go figure.

It's that old thing that people have noted before: the AI's number 1 objective appears not to be "to win", but "to prevent the human from winning". So, given the choice of doing something to help themselves or something to hurt you, they go for the latter.

 

[Karlisna]

I don't have any problems with the AI, I can usually get by with only fighting 1 war in the entire game, which is usually initiated my me for fun. Of course, being the super-kind person I am, I give back all the cities I've conquered. Hehe.

 

[[GoD]Toxic]

I also tend to think that the Ai is mad because you are better than them. Like Illustrious said: the Ai number one objective is to prevent you from winning - being better than them is against their strategi

 

[phizuol]

I'm starting to notice this too.. the AI seems to automatically dislike you if you're much more powerful or much weaker than them unless you are doing something positive like trading with them.

 

[Rabid Pop Tart]

A lot depends on what you've done in the game. Usually at the beginning, some civs will be cautious, some annoyed. Usually never polite or furious right away. I always thought whether they were annoyed or cautious was based on their agressiveness (usually Greece, India, etc. are usually cautious to polite after the first trade and people like Persia and Germany are annoyed and stay that way). Also, if you ruined your rep, that might carry over. One time on the world map I got to America, Iroquois, and the Aztecs first, and was polite with them. Then I sold contact with them off, and once the other civs informed them of my treachery they were all furious. So it all depends. And if you're weak, they see you as annoying.

 

[JMK]

Bamspeedy has written a very nice thread that should help you to understand initial mood of your first encountered Civs.

CIVILIZATION III > Civ3 - Strategy & Tips > Civ3 Strategy Articles > AI attitude