Is declaring a "fake" war on AI make AI less likely to build wonders?

[Fine_Distinction]

I have read somewhere that AI is less likely to build (start? finish?) wonders when at war. Is this true?

If so, perhaps we can use it strategically sometimes? For example, in the game I am playing currently I do not care much about diploids demerits with an IND AI that is likely to build some wonders ahead of me. So I was considering declaring a war on him (just declaring, not actual fighting) to make him build more defenses/units. Sounds like it should work like that - code should make at-war AI prioritize defense? Ah, unfortunately his military is much stronger (0.6), so maybe he will not be fooled. He is on another continent and does not have astro, so other than diplo hits, nor risk. Now that I think about it, if that work it should be a common strategy, but never heard of it

 

[FlyinJohnnyL]

I have no idea, but I do know in Sulla's AI Survivor series, I've seen AI's declare war and then continue building wonders anyway. But that's with Aggressive AI on, so it may have some impact.

 

[AcaMetis]

As far as I understand things AIs would be less likely to start building wonders, since when an AI is at war they will (generally) focus on building units, but they will not necessarily cancel ongoing projects even if a city is under siege. Another detail (IIRC) is that if there's four or less turns to go on a build the AI will never cancel it unless it's a Settler and they're in financial trouble. So a sudden DoW wouldn't cancel projects that are just about to finish, regardless.

 

[ArchGhost]

Technically yes, though in practical terms it's not useful. AI won't cancel a wonder building project unless you directly threaten the city it's being built in, and even then, they may still not give it up.

Being at war simply means the the AI's weighting on building units vs. Research or whatever else gets shifted. It doesn't mean they'll actually start building those things with any guarantee. For instance if they already think they have enough units they may just continue on building research or infra even under attack, something common with low unit threshold leaders.

Wars you declare but don't to fight in order to control AI behavior are more useful form a diplomatic standpoint, either to gain mutual military struggle boni (useful when someone is being dogpiled) or to prevent a target AI from attacking anybody (such as a remote/isolated/trapped by closed border AI you don't want picking fights or crushing his neighbor); it's also useful to prevent wars this way to keep others from teching military as fast and end up softer targets later for you.

Another detail (IIRC) is that if there's four or less turns to go on a build the AI will never cancel it unless it's a Settler and they're in financial trouble.

Doesn't seem to be true from the AI vs match I set up and watched yesterday. Mansa got to 4 turns left on SoL in pop 21 Timbuktu (he got it down to needing 26 pop to whip it) and then gave it up to whip Muskets as Justininan closed in on Timbuktu, allowing Willem to slowly finish it 11 turns later while Mansa collapsed.

Perhaps the threshold is less than 4 turns? I also know they really like to whip wonders to completion (no idea about restrictions on how much they'll whip or threshold for when they will), and all AIs always know the progress of every wonder in the world at all times (and 1st to research tech boni too), which can trigger this behavior. I've set it up in worldbuilder several times and if an AI can whip to beat you, they will, but will refrain if your slow build progress won't beat them. This suggests chopping wonders near the end of the build is safer.

The settler thing is also super weird because they will randomly stop building settlers at all stages to suddenly start on a building or missionary, even super early when financial strain seems unlikely. When watching AI matches it's not uncommon to see a few settlers in the city bar with hammers invested.

 

[Fippy]

They sometimes queue other builds (units) above thou, not 100% sure if above wonders too but possible.

 

[Tobiyogi]

Interesting thought. From my experience and AI observation, I would rather say that AI stick to their initial projects and these are not always intelligent neither flexible. I have been at war with AI who continued to spam wonders or go for Drama and Music even though Feudalism was only 1 tech away. Maybe my armies didn't impress them enough?