How Do I Prevent The AI From Encroaching Through My Borders

[Rosicrucian]

the AI ALWAYS walks around in my borders and builds cities in my tiny gaps. How do I prevent this without declaring war on t hem.

 

[Rosicrucian]

The Germans are in my borders right now and I tried diplomacy but there is no option to get them to leave! Help.

 

[runaway]

Declare war on them if they're in your territory.
Ignore the crap cities they found in the spaces in your territory... you'll convert them eventually.

 

[Fierro1816]

To prevent the incursions of those nasty neighbors in your territory just put a chain of troops or workers on the border. Then the incursions will be an act of war. And they will be the one to blame for all...

I do this even if I hav a right of passage pact. That way it works one way...

 

[Rosicrucian]

wow, put guys along every square of your border? Sounds like it would work but that's expensive.

 

[Magnus]

OR

You can just place troops in the squares they desire, this works well if those 'open' areas within your borders are smaller than your entire border. Also build up your culture a little - 100 points of culture (50 turns of owning a temple) goes a long, long way.

 

[Fierro1816]

Magnus is right. I didn´t get the question:crazyeyes:. I thought you were talking of incursions in your territory (Creating a city in your territory IS an act of war). With troops stationed in the way you will stop right-of-passage-treaty civs, but thats not the trouble here.

Troops on the 'open' territory should solve the trouble, but...

don´t you forget an inch
because the AI it´s a b*tch.

 

[Moeniir]

Another suggestion - keep your maps to yourself! Never, ever share your map with the AI. I've found that as soon as I do, the AI is swarming around my borders, heading for the gaps. When I keep maps to myself, they often dont' find the gaps before I fill them in (with culture or a city of my own). If you want to see the AI's map, pay cash or tech.

I also find that by trading often, I keep the other civs happy with me (polite). When they are polite, they are much less likely to cross my borders to get a look around (without the map) and more likely to leave when I ask if they do wander across my borders.

 

[Wondian]

In addition to all the tips above, I build several galleys to occupy some strategic three-step movement squares of rivals preventing their galleys (typically loaded with a warrior and a settler) from passing to my territory (if map is convenient, of course). This works very well until sea squares became available. Also, building The Great Lighthouse contributes to this tactic.

For those who invade through land: I sometimes find it useful to accompany AI units with a settler and when they arrive at an appropriate square to build a city, I build a city there beforehand and keep them within my borders. Then I could use diplomacy to request AI to withdraw its troops. (a note BTW, this diplomacy option sometimes energizes AI units to a far and (unfairly) more convenient spot into my territory!!! I think it should ask me for an option..)

 

[scadam]

Here's a copy of my reply to someone asking the same question elsewhere:

I haven't had any trouble getting any enemy units to leave my territory and there IS a consistent way to do it.

First, you don't use the dipomacy screen - you right-click on the enemy unit that's in your territory and ask them to leave. The other civ's leader will pop up and say that of course he'll move the unit. I've never seen them actually follow through and do it though...

Anyway, the key to this is that on your NEXT turn (assuming the enemy unit is still in your territory), you again right-click on that same enemy unit, and this time you have the option to tell the enemy leader to "remove unit or declare war". Unless that unit was intended to start a war, he will remove it (and all his other units) to the nearest edge of your border. I've done this many times and the same formula always applies - the first time you ask politely, the second time he has to start a war to stay.

Essentially the only way the enemy can pass through your territory without you allowing it is if he only has to spend one of your turns parked on your land (or you're simply not paying attention). This is critical to know in the early game when your neighbours keep trying to build cities in "your" area.

The last game I played, I set up cities with overlapping culture to cut my half of the continent off as quickly as possible. The guy I shared the continent with tried sending MANY settlers my way but couldn't make it through until he used a boat and dropped a settler off behind me. By then I owned most of the land and simply absorbed his city culturally after a while. It was funny stopping him from sending workers and city defenders to his new city (not sure why he didn't just use the boat again).

 

[Heffalump]

Yeah the AI civ isn't the most clever in this aspect. If it gets a city at the opposite end of your empire it will often send streams of workers through your territory in an attempt to develop it. In my current game I'd often let the workers get 5 or 6 turns into my territory and then order them out. Repeating this for centuries on end tied up a number of their workers in fruitless expeditions and wasted time.

 

[Ghengis Brom]

Originally posted by scadam
The last game I played, I set up cities with overlapping culture to cut my half of the continent off as quickly as possible. The guy I shared the continent with tried sending MANY settlers my way but couldn't make it through until he used a boat and dropped a settler off behind me. By then I owned most of the land and simply absorbed his city culturally after a while. It was funny stopping him from sending workers and city defenders to his new city (not sure why he didn't just use the boat again).

I did the exact same thing and had the Aztecs and Greeks sail a galley around to land a settler. I took the Aztec city because they're relatively weak neighbors. I'll probably leave the Greek city for asorbtion but I'm worried about them dropping the dreaded "Culture Bomb".

Me at work --->