getting the AI to attack you

web25

Warlord
Joined
Sep 12, 2011
Messages
186
i dont want to start a war. what have you guys found out that will get the AI to declare war?

im interested in hearing your stories with this as well.

thanks.
 
Most often I get the AI to start a war by waiting until one of his units strays into my territory and asking him to leave. It sometimes pays to make him furious with you first - demanding he give you a city will do that.
 
Unprotected border city as bait is the obvious one.

Unprotected workers near the border sometimes works.

Asking him to leave when you have poor relations often works.

Planting a spy (and him getting caught) or performing a spy mission that fails if he is furious with you normally triggers a war.

Surrounding an island/costal city with Submarines and letting his merchants stumble into them is instant war.

Other than that a trigger for someone declaring on me is usually a 3rd party signing them upto a military alliance.
 
Why don't you want to start the war?

You only take a reputation hit if you start a war while one of your units is inside enemy territory when the war starts. When you start a war on your own turn, you get first chance at creating military alliances with other civilizations.

There are good reasons to entice an AI opponent to start the war. You might be able to get the AI to trash its own reputation. You might want to get the AI to trigger your allies' responsibilities under a mutual protection pact. You may have just bought all of an opponent's technology for 1,000 gpt, and need to get them to break the deal.

But unless you have a situation like that set up, declare war at the diplomacy screen and go at it. I would think that usually you are better off choosing the site of the first battle.
 
But unless you have a situation like that set up, declare war at the diplomacy screen and go at it. I would think that usually you are better off choosing the site of the first battle.

OK is it best to go through the diplomatic meeting first and cancel the peace proccess or just move one of your combat units onto his? Does the 2nd impact my reputation? Only time I would usually go through the diplomacy screen/renegotiate peace is if im after a significant tribute.
 
I will go through great pains to get the AI to declare when I want to go to war. Repeatedly telling them to leave my territory (land or sea) is usually the starting point. Offering a deal that insults/enrages them will work as a kicker. Then back to "Leave or declare!". The longer the AI takes to think about it's answer to you, the closer it is to declaring.

If the AI will not declare, I offer them a chance to give me something for free, and if they refuse, I will declare. This, of course, is in situations where I want or need to go to war.
 
If the AI declares war on you, you get war happiness. If you can get the AI to declare on you when it is your turn, you can have all the advantages of being declared upon plus all the advantages of declaring first. Dalgo's method works pretty reliably. You can use gpt to buy stuff first if you like. (Personally, I feel this is an exploit if the AI is not intending to declare on me already - just passing through, for example - but is fine if the AI is clearly intending to declare war - for example, if an AI has just landed troops on my shores by the capital.)
 
OK is it best to go through the diplomatic meeting first and cancel the peace proccess or just move one of your combat units onto his? Does the 2nd impact my reputation? Only time I would usually go through the diplomacy screen/renegotiate peace is if im after a significant tribute.

I was re-reading the AI Attitude Study in the War Academy to quote it. Actually it appears I could be wrong and you can take a reputation hit merely from declaring a war.
 
whenever you get the option to say 'get out or declare war' when they have troops in your borders, click it

they will remove their troops

then go back into conversation and the option will still be there, click it again

they will agree, even though they have already moved their troops, but their attitude will go down

keep doing this repeatedly, and they will eventually declare war on you

no negative repercussions
 
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