Friendly Attackers?

[sharonanne]

I am totally lame at this game. I did fine on the lower levels but I am stuck on noble. I've won a couple of games but most end in an AI attacking me and either wiping me out or undermining my progress to the point where another AI wins.

I've been trying to keep the AIs happy by watching the relationship, keeping religion the same or converting. I've even taken a bath on trades or given gifts to keep them happy. I won't trade a tech that progresses them TOO much but otherwise I have done what I can to keep them happy.

Just for fun I played a custom game with all Catherines including myself. I had them all happy and still one attacked me. She was even friendly with the negative modifier for being at war!

I'm guessing the AI attacks me in spite of being friendly because they are going for the conquest victory but it just seems so annoying.

Basically I go for the Catherine, spam cottages strategy. I build enough farms to keep the city happy. I used to have 2 cities spamming warriors or archers and sending them to the other cities which specialize in commerce or production. Lately I've been building troops in all cities (with barracks) because I keep getting attacked. I also usually ignore the religion techs at first so I can save converting to a religion to help with relationships.

I play great plains, standard or smaller maps.

Any comments that might help?

 

[Glinka]

There are hidden personality traits for all leaders. Some are more tolerant of perceived weakness than others, while some civs will attack you if offered half a chance, even if they really like you. Tokugawa is mendacious like that. I can't speak to Catherine--but are you far behind in military units? That could be a clue, right there.

 

[ticktockclok]

I'm playing with Catherine too, Standard Map, Pangaea, Noble. Basically, I rushed and eliminated one of my neighbors with axemen, then teamed up with another AI and attacked. I played isolationist the whole game, never opened borders. I stuck with my own religion the whole game and everyone hates me. Basically, I found you have to watch out for the person who forms a strong religion. In my game, Asoka was making a horsehockyload off his buddhism holy city, and was halfway across the globe. So I started beelining to all the naval techs, built up an attack force of marines tanks destroyers and transports, and sent them all to delhi, which was luckily near the coast. I razed delhi and started rampaging all his towns, so now he's been sent down about 200 gnp. I find that youll really have a hard time playing peacefully, and at some point you must attack/counterattack. I can win any way I want right now, and I've got about a 1000 pt lead over next person.

 

[JerichoHill]

Military attack is just one of many ways to win.

I almost never have to go to war, but I maintain a good military. I call it the Swiss Strategy. A warring nation will just bypass me on the way to someone weaker.

 

[LawLessOne]

You dare not appear too weak. That is in both numbers of units and military technology. One strategy I use is not to open my borders to Civs that are stronger and/or more advanced than me. Station your best units on the borders so everyone can see them and fear you. Talk softly but carry a big stick.

 

[Shillen]

I don't think the AI declares war or not based on them walking through your territory and seeing what units you have in each city. You're giving the AI too much credit. Keeping borders closed only makes it more likely they'll attack you because they don't like when you keep borders closed.

 

[LawLessOne]

I don't think the AI declares war or not based on them walking through your territory and seeing what units you have in each city. You're giving the AI too much credit. Keeping borders closed only makes it more likely they'll attack you because they don't like when you keep borders closed.

Maybe but I seldom get attacked. I do think they size you up when they travel through your territory. Giving the AI to much smarts? Perhaps.

I do know that being the lowest ranked Civ is a disaster. The other Civs almost always attack the weakest ranked one.

 

[azzkicar]

Continents Map
Standard Size

I had a game where 4 of us (including me) were in the large continent. Malinese to the west, Caesar to the north, Napolean in the middle, and myself to the East.

The first time I played it I got attacked by Napoleon very quickly (I had 4 cities), even though I didn't open borders or anything and gave into his demands. He had axemen, I only had 2 warriors at my western city = no chance. He took my city, then proceeded to pillage my other cities.

I restarted that game, focussed on getting the copper resource quicker and devoting 1-2 cities in pumping out axemen as soon as I can make them. My western town now has 2-3 axemen. I even opened borders and refused to give in to Napoleon, but he didn't declare war on me. I even bribed the Malinese with technology to declare war on Napoleon! LOL. That turned out to be a very smart move because it kept Napoleon weak, his armies spread out on both east and west. He is essentially pinned down.

Once I got Construction I built some catapults and exacted sweet revenge on Napoleon hehe. Because his armies were spread out I captured Paris, Orleans, and Marseilles with minimal loss (2-3 units).

Lessons learned:
- Get that copper or iron resource fast and pump axemen. Do NOT rely on archers or he'll just pillage you all over.
- Even if you have no plans for war, always have enough units so war is a option.
- Neighbors are good friends, but better enemies.
- Getting an AI to declare war on your neighbors is a good idea, even if it costs you some technology. I've proceeded to crush both Napoleon and Caesar, and I'm poised to attack them hehe.

 

[Amourek]

Maintain a good-sized army even if you never plan on using it. If your military is weak, the AI more often than not will attack you whether your relations are good or not. They can smell weakness.

 

[automator]

I had a game once where I was someone ... I think Napoleon. Next door neighbors where the Malinese guy and Peter of Russia. I'd gotten a great start re: religion and great artists, so my culture was fantastic and every city on my continent had confusianism. Both neighbors were my friends ...

However, due to my settling pattern and Peter's settling pattern, he ended up with just a string of cities along the coast and basically no resource (except stone and horses). He was always friendly, we traded nicely (though I kept iron, copper and military techs out of his hands). Then I started dropping Great Artist bombs along the borders and caused two of his cities to revolt into my hands. That peeved him. He kept declaring war, then paying for peace after I'd decimated his attackers and taken a town. Happened three times before I finally wiped him out.

 

[jupiterkris]

I don't open borders with any nearby civ .
Doing so allows them to scout ur territory for desirable resources and weak cities .
And also allows settlers into open pockets of ur territory leading to detrimental border tensions .
I instead open borders with distant civs for higher trade income from trade routes, without the above penalties .

I ensure minimal power disparity with nearby civs . I check this with the Civ Power Graph, an option available at the info screen, producing more units if necessary .
I also upgrade my border city units the moment a rival military unit is seen nearby, to deter invasion.

I stop trading out a potential military resource when the other civ's tech research reaches capability for its use .
Example Ivory and Construction, with potential for War Elephants . (Learnt this the hard way ...)

I've actually encountered a "Pleased Attacker" before . hehe
Theodore Roosevelt (Pleased) : "Vary soon, I shall destroy U wiv mah maighty War Olifants ."

If I wanted a really peaceful game, I would spam Ghandhis rather than Cats .
Cat is also noted for 'er trickiness in the CIV forums .

 

[Astax]

azzkicar: How is that gettign revange? In the second game after restart Napoleon did nothing to you except mayeb try to get a few free-bees. Way I see it you are the bully!

One good game I had I was able to exactly predict when a guy who I was very friendly with was about to attack thanks to my religion being in his city which he was using to launch the attack. I just moved my whole army from other side of coninent and waited till he landed. Then in 3 turns I destroyed his whole army and counter-invaded his continent!

It's good to have good intelligence, you can usually tell of impending attack. However unless you have a strong army on standby, the news may come too late to save you.

 

[Tourmalyn]

I'm guessing the AI attacks me in spite of being friendly because they are going for the conquest victory but it just seems so annoying.

I'm sure that you won't wait to be negative with another civ to attack. You will probably get really friendly with another civ, place your troops in strategic spots along their border, then attack without hesitation. I think it is cool that a game's AI will still launch an attack against you even when everything you know about them says they won't.

 

[BigCMan]

Most likely reason the AI attacks you is that you are very weak. I had this trouble in the first couple of games I played on Noble. Noble isn't too difficult though if you dedicate just one city to building nothing but military units (and also improvements like forges, ironworks, factories, etc.). A city that can turn a military unit out every turn will help keep your opponents from attacking you (and may give you the power to attack them if you so choose).

As has been mentioned, some AIs will be more likely to attack. I know that Tokugawa can be a real pain if you aren't on par with him. That means numbers of units and technology. I once was far superior in technology, but ended up getting overwhelmed by Tokugawa with a lot more units.

 

[VeXeD]

Remember that the AI also has to win as well.

They are out to play, not all the AI's can be diplomatic, if you get an aggressive AI, you cannot really ever hope for peace. SUre you can prolong it, but sonner or later someone will attack you(found that out the hard way as well). They all have different stratagies. :-( and they will not really conform to yours all the time!

 

[automator]

I'm sure that you won't wait to be negative with another civ to attack

I do. I don't like to run the risk that I'll end up on the small side of a world war just for attacking my best buddy. If I plan on sometime attacking a neighbor, I don't begin with good relations. If I do a trade, it will be in my favor. No open borders. I choose a few friends (who will hopefully also be friends with some work) and attack everyone else.