How do you make friends with AI Civs?

[doublex55]

I have been practicing a lot about being proactive in the early game about securing my own city locations forcefully, but i have been neglecting the diplomatic part of my game, so i rarely get allies and only when the ai offers because they are super friendly.


1. What are the benefits having positive relations with other Civs? This includes research agreements, defensive pacts, trade partners, world congress support. What else am I missing?

2. What do you do proactively in your games to make lasting beneficial relationships in your games?

3. What specific tips do you have for making allies when you are:
a) playing peacefully b) warmongering or c) in between?

 

[Txurce]

I have been practicing a lot about being proactive in the early game about securing my own city locations forcefully, but i have been neglecting the diplomatic part of my game, so i rarely get allies and only when the ai offers because they are super friendly.


1. What are the benefits having positive relations with other Civs? This includes research agreements, defensive pacts, trade partners, world congress support. What else am I missing?

2. What do you do proactively in your games to make lasting beneficial relationships in your games?

3. What specific tips do you have for making allies when you are:
a) playing peacefully b) warmongering or c) in between?

Essential: have a substantial military.
Also important: don't be a major warmonger.
Additional: embassies; trade; open borders; diplomatic alignment (specifics fully laid out by toggling transparent diplomacy) including denouncing the prospective ally's enemies (usually easy), don't compete for CS or GW's (harder), etc.

I'll stress playing a few games with transparent diplomacy. It's a real-time tutorial on diplomacy.

 

[Ziad]

The easiest way is to send trade routes, provide gifts, and denounce/fight a common enemy. Even if playing peaceful, warfare is a very useful tool in actually reinforcing or forming alliances.

Coalitions form almost inevitably in every game, as you're more likely than not to please/piss off certain civs. At least by trying to make friends early on, you can control the map a little better.

Don't try to make friends with everyone. They will eventually fight among themselves.

If playing peaceful, try to make friends with your neighbors. This gives you a buffer zone to work with. If aggressive, make friends with civs that are far away and attack those that are between you.

 

[doublex55]

By providing gifts, you mean just trade them a resource for free?

 

[Beniito]

By providing gifts, you mean just trade them a resource for free?

Doesn't have to be free! every deal has a value to the AI.
you can trade embassy for 1 gold per turn and it'll be acceptable to them, meaning there'll be no diplomatic benefit from that trade.
If you do the same deal but offer them for example 10 gold per turn, the value of the deal will increase significantly and therefor you'll get "you're trade partners" diplomatic points with that civ! however, there is a limit to "you're trade partners", 35 points~
So don't gift them too much, it'll be a waste!

 

[neo_arcadia]

1. What are the benefits having positive relations with other Civs? This includes research agreements, defensive pacts, trade partners, world congress support. What else am I missing?

I think the feel of security is also substantial. When you are very friendly with one neighbor civ you don't need to split your army for potential attack from them. Meaning you can concentrate your military effort somewhere else. Also, when you are very friendly with each other, even ideological differences will not shatter your friendship. Sometimes you are in a situation when your best friend picking Freedom while you prefer Order. With high positive modifier you only need to worry about happiness penalty while not caring much on diplomatic relationships.

As @Txurce have mentioned, turn your diplomatic transparency on. Usually green text snowball into another green text. Without turning diplomatic transparency on though, you can be sure that particular civ likes you if they give you technology or luxury resources.

Also, take note on barbarian encampment holding another civ's worker. The diplomatic reward for freeing worker (and settler) is very high. Of course you don't give their settler back, just worker.

 

[matlajs]

I try play diplomatic games also, doing whatever possible to not get red modifiers but i would advice you, do not try become friendly with AIs, which with you are in bad shape already. Never use Don't settle near thing, because they never forget it- they transmit this information from father to son, from dynasty to dynasty, that you dared do this. And finally, yes you can have a good friend, but do not expect it will last 4ever. Once you are score leader, or undirectly competing for something, backstab will happen. If you pursue cultural victory(a peacefull one), expect literally every Ai will try pick another ideology just for you getting -50% tourism penalty, which also means -70 diplo points. On behalf of cultural victory, now that gazebo removed possitive ,,having fewer cities'' modifier, i don't understand what we have got instead for having at least chance influence someone before travel ban and ideologies come in place.

 

[Dawnpromise]

I try play diplomatic games also, doing whatever possible to not get red modifiers but i would advice you, do not try become friendly with AIs, which with you are in bad shape already. Never use Don't settle near thing, because they never forget it- they transmit this information from father to son, from dynasty to dynasty, that you dared do this.

Yeah I kinda wish some of those 'don't settle near me' and "don't spy on me" requests would wear off over time. What I mean to say is "Give me a few generations to establish myself". Not: "GET OFF MY LAWN AND STAY OFF YA VARMINTS!"

 

[lunker]

I have been practicing a lot about being proactive in the early game about securing my own city locations forcefully, but i have been neglecting the diplomatic part of my game, so i rarely get allies and only when the ai offers because they are super friendly.


1. What are the benefits having positive relations with other Civs? This includes research agreements, defensive pacts, trade partners, world congress support. What else am I missing?

2. What do you do proactively in your games to make lasting beneficial relationships in your games?

3. What specific tips do you have for making allies when you are:
a) playing peacefully b) warmongering or c) in between?

1. The single most important benefit for me is knowing that the AI won't go to war with me without ending our friendship first.

2. Avoiding getting on AI's nerves usually helps me gain a few friends by itself. Some proactive things I do are: giving them favourable trades (500+ trade deal value usually), send trade routes, and going to war with someone they are at war with. I rarely ever denounce as that usually causes more long term problems for me than any short term benefit. Going to war with common enemy usually gets me the friendship instantly.

3. a) Focus on allying your neighbours. Do not ally unpopular civs.
b) Try going for vassalage rather than capitals. You can always betray your vassals later.
c) Get familiar with AI personality and judge whether or not a friendship is worthwhile. I find Austria offers great trade deals, gets me into a circle of friends, and rarely ever betrays me. Someone like China is a lot more unreliable.

If you are doing very well slowly losing your friends is normal.

 

[Gazebo]

If you are doing very well slowly losing your friends is normal.

 

[matlajs]

I suggest to make some positive modifiers more stack able. Perhaps Liberating their people and being good trade partner. Fighting common enemy would be good too, but it is too exploitable. The goal would be make a diplomacy little more active, while give to player a chance somehow contradict a casual negative modifiers like border tension,cs competing and some others, which appear no matter what we do. Also have a tool how improve a relations with Ai somehow player-friendly and not force him to go for modifiers, which are known for yielding most, while little killing immersion and roleplay.

 

[Ziad]

Trade would be even more exploitable. You could throw a few gpt their way and be done.

Liberation though, I agree on. You are not only helping them but giving substantial power back. That needs to be respected.

In my current Japan game, Persia declared war on me after I had liberated 6 entire cities for him. He had no army so it was probably someone bribing him.

That felt a little too game-y.