How to Avoid War?

[Fading Captain]

I am not a player that expects or likes to play the whole game peacefully. I usually declare war once or twice in a game, but, for the most part, I am a builder. I'm also playing on a pretty low difficulty, Warlord.

Usually, what happens in my current games is that I race to lthe ead in wonders, empire size, and population. I have the highest score, and then, at the start of the middle ages, the AI gangs up on me. I have been playing on huge maps with eighteen civs.

My question is how can I avoid having other civilizations declare war on me? Is it a simple matter of having a big army? If so, how big of an army? Do defense pacts help? Any help would be appreciated.

 

[uberfish]

On Warlord you can also build a large army as deterrent, but if you are focusing heavily on wonders and expansion, your army will not be large enough. Try these:

Don't adopt a state religion unless the majority of your neighbours do.

Pay minor tribute if requested, you can easily give a spare resource and cancel it 10 turns later.

Look for opportunities to bribe the aggressive AIs to attack other AIs, this keeps them off your back.

 

[Atlas]

the AI gangs up on me

This is telling, it means that you have no friends. What do you need to do to get friends.

1) Give into demands that are not a monopoly tech; so other techs, resources and gold.

2) You won't be friends with everyone, it won't happen. So pick some friends and pick them wisely. Wait at least until Conf. or Tao. is founded before declaring an official religion. This will prevent people from hating you when you are weakest and give you the opportunity to choose who you want to befriend.

3)Try and learn a bit more about the AI personalities. You can observe this by monitoring why people like and don't like you. Who cares about religion (Issabella, Monty, Saladin...) and who doesn't (Mao). Who is very difficult to befriend (Tokugawa) and who is easy (Mansa or Alex). Know what different leader's favorite civics are http://www.civfanatics.com/civ4/warlords/ and that sort of stuff. Just take the time to look and it will tell why you are disliked or liked.

 

[KMadCandy]

the more AIs on the map, the more they can distract each other and potentially leave you alone. however, it also adds to the chances that you'll have traded with someone's worst enemy without even knowing it, which drives me up a tree!!!

i downloaded a nifty excel worksheet that lists leader traits, but also their personality coding, that helps me a lot. CBA to find the link atm, sorry. it might help you, depending on how much you've already gotten a feel for who likes you more if you trade with them more, who really doesn't care, etc.

good luck! you're a braver man than me as far as "I have been playing on huge maps with eighteen civs." then again, i'm not a man so that's ok!

 

[Michelangelo]

You've probably got a relatively small army. A good indication is on the demographic screen. The AI is programmed to be opportunistic. So if it sees a chance for an easy victory it takes it, which is good, as you and I would probably do the same.

I also agree to the above posts that religion is a key factor. Once choosing one, you'll befriend the civ with the same religion and make enemies of the others.

 

[jerVL/kg]

The most important statistic in the game is your Power Score. Click the graph icon in the upper right-hand corner (or hit F10) and select "Power" from the drop-down menu on the graph screen. Ideally, you want your ranking to be at or near the top. There are ways to improve your Power aside from building units -- research military techs like Iron Working, Construction, Gunpowder, etc. Build a barracks in EVERY city. Make sure you have at least TWO defenders per city, 3-4 in your border cities (if you're next door to an aggressive civ, make it 5-6) and keep them up to date. If you're short on hammers, build catapults -- they're dirt cheap, and have a long shelf life. Dedicate one or two cities exclusively to building military while the rest work on those shiny Wonders.

Like others said, you need to work on making friends. Spread your religion to any civ that doesn't have it -- sometimes all you need is a single missionary in their capital to convert them for life. Don't attempt to befriend everyone, though -- with xenophobic civs like Tokugawa or Isabella, it's probably best to Terminate With Extreme Prejudice (best defense being a good offense and all that.)

18 civs?? That's a recipe for war. If you're a serious Builder, you might consider playing with fewer opponents -- or even engineer an "isolated" island start, where you don't have to worry about military at all!

 

[futurehermit]

army, diplomacy, and bribing aggressors to attack someone else.

 

[PieceOfMind]

-Power. As jerVL/kg noted, this is IMO the most important thing to worry about. AIs are more willing to declare war on you if they out-power you. There are nice tricks to keep your power up though. As well as units, barracks/walls/castles also contribute nicely as far as I know.
-Wonders are often targets for AIs. If possible, avoid having your wonder cities at your borders, or make sure they are well defended if they are.
-Keep at least one city dedicated to pumping out military (or building useful buildings for that purpose like barracks, forge, factory, Heroic Epic etc.). This is in accordance with the principle of specialising cities for specific roles, which even builders should follow.
-And yes, with that many civs you won't be friends with everyone. Pick your friends wisely and be most mindful of those whom you share borders with. Some leaders like Monty or Tokugawa, you should always consider a threat and be ready to repel an attack.