how do you declare war without damaging your reputation?

[rizone]

Hi all....i think the title explains it all......

 

[Moff Jerjerrod]

What I do is call up the diplomacy screen with the intended target. Go to active deals and renegotiate peace treaty. Then instead of offering anything simply cancel the deal. You are now at war and there is no penalty for this.

 

[rizone]

Ah thanks dude!

 

[Bartleby]

you must be sure you have no troops within their borders when you declare war. Then just open diplomacy and say "That's it, prepare for WAR"

edit:
besides not having troops in their territory, you don't want to have active deals with them too, but that goes without saying, doesn't it?

 

[alamo]

Also watch for active MPP's that will trigger war that breaks a deal you have with another civ.

 

[microbe]

What I do is call up the diplomacy screen with the intended target. Go to active deals and renegotiate peace treaty. Then instead of offering anything simply cancel the deal. You are now at war and there is no penalty for this.

Hmm? It's the same as declaring war. I don't understand what you could achieve by doing this.

 

[dmanakho]

you must be sure you have no troops within their borders when you declare war. Then just open diplomacy and say "That's it, prepare for WAR"

edit:
besides not having troops in their territory, you don't want to have active deals with them too, but that goes without saying, doesn't it?

Not just troops but also any other units including workers, settlers, explorers.

 

[Moff Jerjerrod]

Hmm? It's the same as declaring war. I don't understand what you could achieve by doing this.

I read a thread a long time ago here that if you press the "declare war" button on the main diplo screen you get a rep hit.

It was suggested to renegotiate peace treaties and then let the deal fall through, i.e. cancel it at last minute, to avoid rep hits.

Can anyone validate my claim?

 

[nullspace]

I read a thread a long time ago here that if you press the "declare war" button on the main diplo screen you get a rep hit.

It was suggested to renegotiate peace treaties and then let the deal fall through, i.e. cancel it at last minute, to avoid rep hits.

Can anyone validate my claim?

The "Declare War" button only causes a rep hit if you've got units in that civs's territory or if declaring war breaks a deal. Starting a war by renegotiating peace might be a convenient way to avoid a rep hit just because it helps you avoid breaking deals. You can only renegotiate peace if there is no 20-turn peace deal, and looking at the "active deals" screen makes it clear if there are any ongoing commitments between the 2 civs. But failing to negotiate peace is exactly the same as declaring war.

 

[microbe]

I read a thread a long time ago here that if you press the "declare war" button on the main diplo screen you get a rep hit.

There are two possible penalties when you declare war:
1. if you owe gpt payment, you get a trade rep hit
2. if your units are inside AI territory, you get an RoP rep hit

Otherwise you get no penalty.

How you declare war, directly or by renegotiating peace treaty is totally irrelevant.

 

[Smellincoffee]

You can always try planting a spy Immediately. You almost always fail and the AI typically decalres war on YOU.

 

[Aggie]

You can always try planting a spy Immediately. You almost always fail and the AI typically decalres war on YOU.

This is the best way to get your war while you still have active deals with the opponent. This is a common tactic in a lot of games I followed.

 

[kb2tvl]

Do you have to wait a turn or can you move troops onto their territory that turn? After declaring war.

 

[Aggie]

You don't have to wait a turn.

 

[sabo]

There are two possible penalties when you declare war:
1. if you owe gpt payment, you get a trade rep hit
2. if your units are inside AI territory, you get an RoP rep hit

Otherwise you get no penalty.

How you declare war, directly or by renegotiating peace treaty is totally irrelevant.

You don't get a rep hit for declaring war, just be aware of what Microbe said and what alamo said "Also watch for active MPP's that will trigger war that breaks a deal you have with another civ."

 

[denyd]

One other thing to note: If you have an existing trade deal going with anyone else on the map for resources, be sure you can still trace a route from your capital to your trading partners capital or else you'll be breaking that trade deal.

Comments on that:
To use a water route you both must have harbors.
Before Astronomy the water route must use only coastal tiles.
Before Magnetism or Navigation you can only use coastal & sea tiles

If the route is entirely land based (via roads and/or rails) it must not pass through any tiles belonging to your adversary.

Once you have flight, airports can be used as connection points.

Be careful for this situation:

Pre-Astronomy. Using the world map, you are France and have 8 turns left on a dyes for furs deal with Russia. You declare war on England. You lose your water route to Russia because England is in the Middle East and the tip of Africa. You've still got a land route to Russia so no problems. Then England gets Germany to join her against you. All of a sudden there is no land route to Russia and so the deal is broken and your rep is trashed.

There's another even nastier scenario where the world is at peace and you've got that deal with Russia and suddenly Germany & Russia are at war. If you've got no route to Russia, your deal is broke and you get blamed.

 

[Yiannis]

You can always try planting a spy Immediately. You almost always fail and the AI typically decalres war on YOU.

I'm not quite sure.I don't remember ever trying putting a spy carefully or safely but I had a 50%-60% success (for one spy per turn,not more).I also thought that if a nation declares war to you after a failed spy mission you will get damage in your reputation-I never proved this with an experiement,I just had that impression.