Maybe I'm thick but...

...how do I declare war on a country that won't talk to me???

I'm sure there is a very simpe answer to this, but I can't find it. In Civ 3 it was a simple matter of walking up to one of their units and saying 'yes, I want to declare war' when you tried to occupy the same tile, but now it seems to be all done through the diplomacy screen.

Problem is that the country I want to annihilate (because they will win the Space race if I don't and I have a much bigger army) aren't talking to me and we have closed borders, so there seems to be no way for me to get a war started other than wait till they start talking again?? Help please, cos it's driving me nuts!

 

you can move your dudes into their territory and the message pops up saying "does this mean war" or whatever, that's usually how i do it!

nin9abadga

 

I've tried that but my units just do nothing if I tell them to move into the other country - I guess because we have closed borders?

 

If you try and move a unit into a country that you have closed boarders with you should get the "This means war" prompt...at least I always have...

 

Move your mouse over their name on the score list in the bottom right. You'll notice that at the bottom it says Alt-left-click to declare war.

This game has a ton of great hotkey and interface combos to really speed up the GUI. They're all listed in the back of the manual. Very worthwhile.

 

cheers #5 - I figured it was because I was being thick!! I had tried the alt-left-click thing but not whilst over their score-list name. It's off to war then...

 

"Have fun storming the castle!"
-- The Princess Bride

 

Even though your question has been answered, I can tell you this. It's probably because you're trying to move your unist to the middle of their territory. Try moving the units onto one of their tiles just across the border. (It has to be adjacent with the border.)

 

Further to this answer, I've found that if I use the 'G' key to cross the border (in order to get the Declare War prompt) that it doesn't work.
Using the Numpad does though.

 

Targeting one of his cities with one of your Nukes should do the trick

 

Do you have a Peace Treaty for 10 turns?

 

Numpad always moves to an adjacent tile. I think if you use "G," then click a tile just inside the enemy border, it will work. (But I've not got Civ going now so can't check to be sure.)

 

It Does NOT!

 

I hate that the 10-turn peace treaty can't be broken. That's dumb. It should be a ridiculous reputation hit if you do it, but it should still be possible.

 

if you want to do things that way Helmling use ceasefire

 

If you have the score list open, it should tell you holding either Ctrl or Alt when clicking on the AI's name would declare war.
I however had a habit of mixing things up using that setup, but usually that would declare war under any situation.
the_dong146: have you sen the ceasefire thing in diplomatic screen?
Helmling: IIRC Civ 3 had a 20 turn peace treaty.

 

Then you must be stuck in a 10 turn peace treaty. You can check this in the Diplo screen under the active tab.