Is there a random element to AI declaring war?

[diamond geezer]

I'm guessing the answer must be yes, as yesterday Persia had a +12 opinion of me, was much weaker in power and is actually across a sea (as it cannot go through the Hittites), and yet suddenly it declares war. But again, I might be missing something.

 

[Mesix]

There may be a diplomatic push to declare war (from one of your opponents).

 

[diamond geezer]

I wasn't at war with anyone else, except one of the Tribes. Can you do that?

 

[Solver]

Yes, there's a random element. There's a difference too between "war offers" and "war declarations" in the game. A war offer is when the AI considers declaring war on you and you get an event that gives you a way out of the war, like by paying tribute. A war declaration is just that, they just declare war.

+12 opinion is just the default Cautious range (0-99 opinion). That's neutral and allows them to declare war. If you go to Friendly, they will not declare surprise war though may still make war demands.

 

[diamond geezer]

Yes, that's as I understood it. But I was questioning why?

I mean I sunk several of their Biremes with my Longbowmen, so they sent a small army the long way round and then after (literally) one attack doing 3HP damage they offered peace.

I understand that an AI might start a war to stop you winning (but we're a long way from that) or because they thought you were weak (which as I noted is not the case), or had a negative opinion of you even (also not the case), but declaring for no reason doesn't make sense to me. Or is it just to create problems for the human player, so they have to be prepared for sudden random declarations of war?

 

[Solver]

Well, I can't say why without looking at the specific save, but one likely explanation would be they had an aggressive leader. Certain archetypes are more aggressive, and that can with an (un)lucky random roll override other considerations, so the nation would declare war even without bordering you.

 

[diamond geezer]

Thanks. That makes sense. I need to take greater note of other rulers traits.

 

[Quintillus]

Another possibility is that they had an impulsive leader. I recently had an impulsive leader who had too much to drink at a party and declared war on the Macedonians.

Thankfully after looking at the situation from a more sober perspective, she sent a messenger seeking to undeclare war, and the Macedonians accepted. Perhaps the Persians had a similar sequence of events. We often like to think that world leaders are always making rational, even-keeled decisions, but that isn't always the case.

 

[diamond geezer]

Another possibility is that they had an impulsive leader. I recently had an impulsive leader who had too much to drink at a party and declared war on the Macedonians.

Thankfully after looking at the situation from a more sober perspective, she sent a messenger seeking to undeclare war, and the Macedonians accepted. Perhaps the Persians had a similar sequence of events. We often like to think that world leaders are always making rational, even-keeled decisions, but that isn't always the case.

Well, we certainly know that, these days.

 

[PiR]

We often like to think that world leaders are always making rational, even-keeled decisions, but that isn't always the case.