"I don't want to talk to you no more, you empty-headed animal food trough wiper!" (Diplomacy problem)

[PenforPrez]

Howdy! Wanted to use my first post here to ask about an issue I had playing Civ IV today. I know if you make another leader angry, they won't talk to you for awhile, but has anyone had that happen for like half the game??

My situation was, my American civilization was hemmed in by a mountain range and an expansionist Isabella, who was next door to Gandhi. I wanted to move settlers beyond them to create more cities, so open borders was vital. Thing was, every single player asked me to cut off relations with Gandhi. They wouldn't stop. I've never seen that happen. Finally, I got so tired of their whining, so I did. No big deal, quickly set relations back up with Gandhi. Shortly thereafter, Isabella forced me to cut off relations with Gandhi again. Well, everyone else quit bugging me, but Gandhi (who was Pleased with me) would not talk. For about two eras, and it really dampened my game.

Has anyone else seen this go on this long? Is there a way around that?

 

[antimony]

It is usually extremely long to get the leader to talk again if you agree to such demand to cut them off.

 

[AcaMetis]

As I recall there's a random component to how long an AI you close borders with will refuse to talk to you, and given that it can take an eternity and a half. In those situations (barring other circumstances, like the one you mentioned) it can be important to recognize who is going to be a diplomatic pariah and not open borders with them in the first place, since the rest of the board will be making stop trade demands near constantly.

 

[urbestfriend]

It's Gandhi. The guy who doesn't build units. And everyone hates him.
Protip: Settlers are not the only way to get more cities.

 

[elmurcis]

Even in case of worst enemy of many one can open borders for 10 turns (lenght of contract before can cancel) and move units across. Right after (10T) that cancel deal - AI can't demand to cancel deal that can't be cancelled manually.
There can be weird scenario where you technically stopped trading from demand but there is still some very recent contract (for example resource trade) still going on that won't be cancelled.