Has anyone not been DoW'd by the first civ they meet?

[Ferocitus]

Um... I'm yet to meet a civ that would DoW me on right away so I'm buffled by all the "complaining" (not really complaining) about early DoWs. In fact rarely did I get a DoW at all (I mean ancient to medieval phase when they are "active", they turn full passive afterwards). I played on king and emperor so far.

Same here. And I've only had dow's from very close civs on GEM Ludicrous-size maps.

BTW: we should all be grateful to you for inventing the excellent word "buffled".

 

[isau]

Send them a Diplomat the turn you meet them. It will greatly cut down on their hostility.

I actually try not to explore on turns where I don't have 25 gold on hand, just in case I meet someone. That early diplomat for 25 gold is very important.

 

[SammyKhalifa]

Send them a Diplomat the turn you meet them. It will greatly cut down on their hostility.

I actually try not to explore on turns where I don't have 25 gold on hand, just in case I meet someone. That early diplomat for 25 gold is very important.

They never accept mine. :/

 

[Ryika]

They will usually accept if you sent one immediately after meeting them.
Wait a few turns, and the relationship status is already too negative on high difficulties.

 

[miaasma]

my problem isn't so much AI over-aggressiveness as much as it is AI nonsense in general. i'm playing a game right now as japan and i just met america, who is across the world, at like turn 110 or something. i send him a delegation, and the next turn he declares war on me. what?

i had a scout near one of his cities. did that do it? why do scouts near cities count as negative "troop near borders" modifiers anyway? moreover, even in the context of AIs declaring war, this seems excessively random and nonsensical since there's no conceivable way this war will benefit america in any way. in fact, he'll probably end up asking me for peace and offering a bunch of gold or whatever since my army is larger than his. i understand the AI has always been kind of silly but this pushes it to a whole new level for me

slightly more reasonably but still weirdly, in the same game, i meet kongo who is quite nearby. i spread my religion to him and send him a trade route, which makes him friendly. like two turns after he becomes friendly he declares war on me. keep in mind that i have a stronger military than him, so it's not bloodthirsty AI opportunism driving this.

as an aside, and this seems to be some sort of bug, when america declared war on me it was labeled a "formal war". the screen fades out, and then my own leader (hojo tokimune) shows up and also declares war on me. apparently i declared war on myself? i'm equal parts confused and laughing. i have no idea what's going on

 

[isau]

They will usually accept if you sent one immediately after meeting them.
Wait a few turns, and the relationship status is already too negative on high difficulties.

Exactly this. It's what made me start to think there is a hidden diplo meter that's being adjusted by your + - on screen over time. You need to send the Diplomat the same turn you meet them or they will often quickly become too upset to accept it. What causes this is the "First Impression" random roll, which causes higher difficulty AIs to be more likely to attack you. You need to quickly offset the negative of the First Meet penalty or they will turn on you very quickly. Sending a diplomat the exact turn you meet is, over time, probably one of the best gold investments you can make, unless you plan to attack them anyway (in which case its wasted).

 

[Azedenkae]

In all the games I played, I've only been DOWed once, ever. XD

 

[dwarfling]

Instantly? No. Maybe because my usual build order is full-on archer carpet production. And I play on Deity. Eventually someone, even without common borders, does DoW me. But I'm usually the first one to engage so I can get my first batch of (conquered) cities. They can hate me and DoW all they want after I get my Arrow Storm archers/xbows.

 

[Francis Xavier]

Edit - forgot to quote the person who said something about Catherine being easy to get along with on page one.

I have no idea how you get Catherine to get along with you. Her and I have a weird history I guess. She was the first civ I got when I loaded the game (random), and beat my first game with her. Then I random'd again and got her again. Then she had a habit of being my neighbor in games and I'd steamroll her.

Now on the first turn in games she just instantly hates me.

It's even gotten to this (a literal reason after first meeting her, I laughed so hard) :

 

[KmDubya]

I did not mean an instant, you just met them and they DoW you but a you meet them, they mass troops along the border, are unfriendly and denounce you. Once I see a mass of troops I'll declare to get the first shots in. Three archers can drop a warrior or wound several enough that they won't attack your archers in good terrain. If I let them strike first my archers will be severely wounded before they can strike back and then die in the next counterattack.

I guess technically I've declared every war except for the very first war in my first game, maybe I'm the warmonger

I've tried the send a delegate first thing and they still end up unfriendly and moving troops on me. If I have a military type civ with early war plans I don't mind but it gets annoying when I'm trying to get a religion or just plain start in a bad location.

 

[Lucius_]

This was happening almost every game. I've switched up now to being more aggressive early and I tend to be the one to DoW now. Of course, after a few cities, that usually causes my other neighbor to DoW me and show up at my weakest city with about 85 units. The AI unit spam is ridiculous. Firaxis really needs to teach the AI how to use their army better and cut back their production bonuses. When it takes 20+ turns just to clear out their units, it makes wars such a chore and a major drag in the early game against civs like Rome who just constantly spam units every turn.

 

[Francis Xavier]

Deity Rome vs. War-cart spam is an interesting slog-fest.

 

[mnf]

Don't have to be higher difficulty. I only play on Prince and I get DoWed (not necessarily by the first Civ I meet) in every game before the end of the Ancient Era. There's this sense of urgency with the AI, "hey we gotta DoW man, we gotta DoW, otherwise the Ancient Era is gonna pass!" I'm fine with it now since it gives me the Inspiration moment for Defensive Tactics. Now I keep my initial military units low on purpose to get that DoW.

What I'm not fine with is Civs I've never met declaring joint war on me. You can't end the war until you meet them. IMO it should not be possible to DoW on someone you haven't met.

 

[stormtrooper412]

no but I did get denounced by Monty once after only meeting them a turn before

 

[Francis Xavier]

Civ's you haven't met DOWing you in a joint war is so bizarre. I haven't had it happen in almost a dozen games so far, I'd have never known that was even possible. Actually, I don't think I've had a single joint war declaration against me yet on Immortal / Deity.

 

[Mustakrakish]

Same here. And I've only had dow's from very close civs on GEM Ludicrous-size maps.

BTW: we should all be grateful to you for inventing the excellent word "buffled".

I'm pretty sure I heard that word many times before somewhere and didn't just pull it out my arse... right? Right?!

 

[dturtle1]

Yes, Playing Inland Sea i got DOWed for the first time in the game 10 turns before my Culture Victory by my long time friend Phillip the 2nd. I proceeded to farm his Conquistador and Knight Armies(most were either corps or Armies) with 2 rushed Tanks, one of the Field cannon's that i upgraded for the Eureka, a Helicopter that i upgraded from a lone Horeseman, plus a battleship that a GA gave me which I Drake'd into an Armada. It t'was a nice ending for an entirely peaceful game due to spawning with big ass mountain walls and no close neighbours .

 

[mnf]

Civ's you haven't met DOWing you in a joint war is so bizarre.

It is indeed, and since you haven't met the civ, the game uses your leaderhead animations to declare war on you. So you'll see yourself giving you the war declaration. It's confusing as hell the first time it happens.

 

[smartcanuck1988]

I don't think first impressions have much to do with it. I met Norway then England in my new game. I sent both a delegation immediately. In fact England asked for declaration of friendship not 10 turns or so later. Then both declared joint war on my without any warning 1 turn after England friendship.

The war ended shortly later because AI is dumb. They both gave me everything they owned. And now we are best friends again.

 

[redwings1340]

Sometimes they DOW the other AIs instead of me. It's almost impossible to go through the early game without a war, but its not always against you.

That said, I've found that the early game is by far the best time to capture some cities, since when midieval walls come in to play, cities generally get a bit tougher.