How do you get the AI to declare war?

[Igmod]

I am trying to win a Diplo Victory but I have to invade a neighbor to get Rubber. I read BamSpeedy's excellent AI article but it is not clear to me if making the single AI furious is enough to make them attack me. I am trying to do it with the least rep hit from other civs so I am thinking repeated Espionage may do the trick.

How do you get them to declare war?

 

[Beanzy]

What I do is first, make sure they're furious and that we have no outstanding deals. Then, I build a settler and build a city right on their border (no defenders). Within a few turns, the AI will show up and raze that city (they can't resist). It's simple and efficient.

 

[marceagleye]

If you're going for a diplo victory why do you need to attack for rubber? It seems to me you're only hurting your chances by provoking the AI to war. If you think your chances for a diplo victory are good then you shouldn't have trouble trading for the rubber.

Also why can't you just declare war yourself... what does BamSpeedy say about that? As far as I know rep hits are not a consequence unless the declaration of war results in a broken deal of some kind.

 

[Lord Beverage]

Do you have right of passage with them? Is your military 'weak' compared to thiers? If so wait until they have a few units in your territory, cancel the ROP, and demand thier withdrawl or war. More than likely you'll have a war on your hands that you did not start.

 

[thedirk]

If you are going for diplo. victory, the rep. hit from war will hurt your chances. Trade for rubber if you possibly can.

 

[CPU]

This is what i do, wait until they have a unit inside there border then go into negotiations whith them and start demanding things like cities, they will never give u cities unless its for a peace treaty and if your beating them up real bad, but anyways just keep demanding untill there furious, then just keep demanding some more and then demand that they remove there troops or declare war, and they will almost ALWAYS declare war, that's how i always do it.

 

[Doshin]

You could repeatedly fail spy missions over and over, but then that's dishonourable and I'd never recommend such a thing

 

[barron of ideas]

Why do you want them to declare war on you?

If you are ready for war, there is no reason not to declare yourself and get the first attack in. Likely you can get some workers and find his marchers outside his cities as easier targets. If he declares first, you have to weather his first attack. If you have miscalculated, you might even lose a city, or something you would not have in danger if you were carrying the war to his territory.

History shows (IMHO) being the agressor is the first step to success, at least tactically. Whether the war is a good idea strategically is another question. Ask the Japanese about Pearl Harbor. Or Napoleon about attacking Russia. BUt if you want intial success with a war, unless you are taking tanks against spears, it seems to me you would be better off attacking first, not waiting until after you are attacked.

 

[Japanrocks12]

Why do people make such a fuss with tanks fighting spears?

 

[Puzzlinon]

It matters to war-weariness and sometimes to reputations (if deals are being broken) who declares a war.

In terms of tactical advantage, I think it's not so much who declares war that matters, but who gets to move first.

The best situation is probably the one created when you say "Get out or declare war" and they declare war. Because you get first crack at them, but they're the aggressor, which helps your war-weariness, and they're the deal-breaker.

The problem with the spy-angering gambit is that the AI might get furious, but wait to declare war in its time rather than immediately.

Now, the AI usually isn't very good at exploiting first-mover advantage (it spreads out its attacks too much - it'll try and fail to take two different targets, when it could have succeeded in a concentrated attack on one.) But when it's strong it can still do a lot of damage and take the initiative.

I don't like to goad the AI into starting a war if it does so in a way that leaves me reacting to its moves, unless I'm so much stronger that it doesn't matter.

Clean wars don't necessarily hurt your chances of a diplo victory, if you can control alliances. The war-related attitude calculations, except for the "trustworthiness" ones to do with credit and ROP's, are mostly just between combatants. You're not going to get a vote from someone who's rubber you steal, of course, but you knew that already

There's fun to be had in situations where you've tried to play a clean, friendly game with diplo victory in mind, and some other civ grabs the U.N. ahead of you. Often, if you've been making nicey-nice all game, you've probably gotten a little behind the front-runners in power (and sometimes tech), so you might not even be a candidate in the early votes, unless you can kit yourself out with nukes in a big hurry.

The challenge becomes taking that U.N. city from whoever built it, and taking it fast enough so that there's no conclusive vote until you're a candidate (and can win), but without relying on alliances that can spiral out of control and ruin your popularity.

Since the UN-building AI may very well have postured itself for a diplo win (usually with the dead-men-can't-vote policy), it can get interesting.

 

[Clown2TheLeft]

Spy them into a fury, sign a couple of embargoes against 'em, and keep a worker near the border as a sacrificial lamb.

Lather, rinse, repeat as desired.


Later!

--The Clown to the Left