how can I start a war?

[oldgamer]

I have played every civ so far. It was always easy to attack another civ. NOw with civ4 and these colored country boundaries, how can I attack when and where I want to. I usually have the biggest civ and the AI's are nice to me. They all want open borders and I say no every time. I didn't like it in civ3 where settlers were always coming in to find a spot to settle.

In the diplomacy interface with other civs, they may be mad at me but never declare war. How can I declare war on someone out of the blue? In the begining of the game as you meet each AI, there is a line like- "your head would look nice on a pole". I like to attack from strength. I have found if you attack too early, you're always playing catch-up-trying to crank out soldiers and build up your civ at the same time.

Would appreciate any and all suggestions.

 

[Duelingground]

If you don't have Open Borders, merely trying to move into an enemy's territory will give you the option of declaring war.

During diplomacy, choose the "Let's talk about something else" option to declare war.

 

[Dragonlor]

Hold ALT, click on the name of the guy you want to kill. (on the lower right where the scores are listed)

 

[rjjb]

Since units in enemy territory are removed when you declare war (not necessarily to the best location), your best bet would be to build up your invasion stacks on the ideal tiles just outside their border. Then you can safely declare war (with a method as mentioned above) and move your units in.

It's really easy to take border cities if your cultural borders are pushing right up to an enemy's city tiles. You can just declare war and capture/raze them the same turn if you were careful enough to build a proper invasion stack adjacent to the city.

Jeremy.