EgonSpengler
Deity
- Joined
- Jun 26, 2014
- Messages
- 11,685
Normally, I come into a game of Civ looking to kick butt and chew bubblegum, and I’m always out of bubblegum*, but with a lot of interesting talk around these forums about warmonger penalties and AI sneak attacks and all the rest, I thought it would be interesting to try some deliberately peaceful games. I did two, with varying degrees of success, and I thought I’d share what I found.
My game settings: No changes from my usual settings. Emperor, Continents, Standard, Standard.
My house-rules for a peaceful game
A lot of the strategies that apply to a normal, violent game apply just as well to a peaceful game. I won’t bother going into that stuff. Likewise, there’s some stuff that is obviously useless or counter-productive; I won’t address that stuff specifically, either. But feel free to ask about anything I haven’t mentioned here. It’s probable that I’ve overlooked something, or haven’t thought something through all the way.
Decent civs for a peaceful game: Most of them. France/Catherine is probably Captain Obvious’ choice. I had a very successful peaceful game playing Germany/Barbarossa. I may try Azteca/Montezuma for my next peaceful game.
Mediocre civs for a peaceful game: Spain/Phillip; Scythia/Tomyris. I say “mediocre”, but not “bad”, because a peaceful game can be played with any civ. Phillip’s Treasure Fleets and Missions, for instance, suit peaceful play just fine.
A Cultural Victory probably benefits the most from peaceful play, and of course a Domination victory is out of the question. A Religious Victory may be tough to pull off in a peaceful game, but it’s probably doable.
Being peaceful doesn’t mean being pacifist or isolationist. Either of those things will probably make the game more challenging. Go ahead if you want, but they’re not necessary.
The difference between starting a war and provoking a war may be splitting hairs for some, and a core component of foreign policy for others. I leave it up to you to decide for yourself, and as with everything else it may vary from game to game. By about halfway through my Barbarossa game, I was great friends with a couple of civs and a bitter antagonist of a couple others. I never got tired of throwing a diplomatic elbow at Pericles and fought two wars with him.
In prioritizing peace and positive relationships, you’ll probably have to make some concessions or let some things slide that will leave a bitter taste in your mouth. No one ever said turning the other cheek was easy. Try to look at the big picture. Gifting a resource to an AI Civ can win you a lot of goodwill, even though it’s a “bad” trade when looked at in isolation.
Being peaceful also doesn’t mean getting everyone to like you. That’s probably impossible anyway. You’re going to encounter some Jokers who just want to see the world burn**, and you’ll have to deal with them or die in the fire.
You aren’t the monarch, president, or prime minister of the world, and being peaceful doesn’t mean buoying up every other civ and city-state. You’re the leader of your nation, and you’re still trying to win a game of civ here. Kick their butts, just do it without killing them or vandalizing their stuff.
I don’t use religions very much anyway, but I’m thinking that not founding a religion may be a fine strategy for a peaceful game. You can get some positive diplomacy modifiers for having a majority of your cities adopt someone else’s religion, and some civs will denounce you for being a heathen or for converting their cities. Add in the opportunity cost of building Holy Sites so early, and it may be better to just skip founding a religion of your own.
Some specific tips
Maintain your military, both in size and technology. It may be counter-intuitive, but a strong military is vital to a peaceful game. Some AIs will launch a sneak attack if they think they can destroy you, and some will denounce you for being a pushover. Conversely, some AIs will admire the size of your military and/or territory, and of course Barbarians can be a real pain if you let them run riot.
Since you won’t be capturing any cities, it’s all the more important to stake out the territory you want as early as possible. Plot your early cities to “wall off” some land, and switch to Settler view to see which hexes are green (or grey) and which are red. An AI civ can and will build a city in a single green hex directly between two of your cities (I don’t know if they go for grey hexes). Normally, when an AI does this I just declare war and take the city, but in a game of peace you can’t do that. You can, however, park a unit in that hex to block AI settlers from moving there (you could build a few Scouts just for this purpose, to keep your costs down).
Scouting out your immediate neighbors is always important, but remember that if you get too close with a military unit you’ll incur a small diplomatic penalty. It’s only -2 or -3, but early in the game it can set a bad precedent and these things can snowball.
International Trade Routes provide a small diplomatic benefit, and there are a number of government policies that make them very good, especially in the late game.
Pay attention to the suzerains of City-States right near you. Since you can’t capture them, any inconveniently-located City-States will just be a thorn in your side for the entire game. In my Barbarossa game, I had Carthage right in the middle of my country, like Lesotho in South Africa. I didn’t want to be their Suzerain, but Pericles did, and Pericles kept screwing with me. So I had to keep sending Envoys to Carthage just to keep the Carthaginian army from being a problem if (when) Pericles declared war on me.
All right, I think that’s all I have for now. I’m going to try another peaceful game at some point, so I’ll add more later. Feel free to comment or question, or share your own discoveries or insights.
* They Live (1988)
** The Dark Knight (2008)
My game settings: No changes from my usual settings. Emperor, Continents, Standard, Standard.
My house-rules for a peaceful game
- never declare war;
- never capture an AI city, or accept one in a peace deal, except to liberate the city to the custody of its original owner;
- never pillage any hex improvements or roads;
- never capture civilian units. Yes, if an enemy military unit shares a hex with a civilian unit, I will not kill it with melee or cavalry – they’re using “human shields” and I have to hold up;
- never send armies into enemy territory except to intimidate the AI into accepting a peace agreement, or to liberate a city to the custody of its original owner; and
- always accept a peace treaty on the turn it’s offered. I will negotiate a deal that will send them into bankruptcy and ruin, but if they approach me to end a war, I will never send them away from the negotiating table without some kind of treaty.
A lot of the strategies that apply to a normal, violent game apply just as well to a peaceful game. I won’t bother going into that stuff. Likewise, there’s some stuff that is obviously useless or counter-productive; I won’t address that stuff specifically, either. But feel free to ask about anything I haven’t mentioned here. It’s probable that I’ve overlooked something, or haven’t thought something through all the way.
Decent civs for a peaceful game: Most of them. France/Catherine is probably Captain Obvious’ choice. I had a very successful peaceful game playing Germany/Barbarossa. I may try Azteca/Montezuma for my next peaceful game.
Mediocre civs for a peaceful game: Spain/Phillip; Scythia/Tomyris. I say “mediocre”, but not “bad”, because a peaceful game can be played with any civ. Phillip’s Treasure Fleets and Missions, for instance, suit peaceful play just fine.
A Cultural Victory probably benefits the most from peaceful play, and of course a Domination victory is out of the question. A Religious Victory may be tough to pull off in a peaceful game, but it’s probably doable.
Being peaceful doesn’t mean being pacifist or isolationist. Either of those things will probably make the game more challenging. Go ahead if you want, but they’re not necessary.
The difference between starting a war and provoking a war may be splitting hairs for some, and a core component of foreign policy for others. I leave it up to you to decide for yourself, and as with everything else it may vary from game to game. By about halfway through my Barbarossa game, I was great friends with a couple of civs and a bitter antagonist of a couple others. I never got tired of throwing a diplomatic elbow at Pericles and fought two wars with him.
In prioritizing peace and positive relationships, you’ll probably have to make some concessions or let some things slide that will leave a bitter taste in your mouth. No one ever said turning the other cheek was easy. Try to look at the big picture. Gifting a resource to an AI Civ can win you a lot of goodwill, even though it’s a “bad” trade when looked at in isolation.
Being peaceful also doesn’t mean getting everyone to like you. That’s probably impossible anyway. You’re going to encounter some Jokers who just want to see the world burn**, and you’ll have to deal with them or die in the fire.
You aren’t the monarch, president, or prime minister of the world, and being peaceful doesn’t mean buoying up every other civ and city-state. You’re the leader of your nation, and you’re still trying to win a game of civ here. Kick their butts, just do it without killing them or vandalizing their stuff.
I don’t use religions very much anyway, but I’m thinking that not founding a religion may be a fine strategy for a peaceful game. You can get some positive diplomacy modifiers for having a majority of your cities adopt someone else’s religion, and some civs will denounce you for being a heathen or for converting their cities. Add in the opportunity cost of building Holy Sites so early, and it may be better to just skip founding a religion of your own.
Some specific tips
Maintain your military, both in size and technology. It may be counter-intuitive, but a strong military is vital to a peaceful game. Some AIs will launch a sneak attack if they think they can destroy you, and some will denounce you for being a pushover. Conversely, some AIs will admire the size of your military and/or territory, and of course Barbarians can be a real pain if you let them run riot.
Since you won’t be capturing any cities, it’s all the more important to stake out the territory you want as early as possible. Plot your early cities to “wall off” some land, and switch to Settler view to see which hexes are green (or grey) and which are red. An AI civ can and will build a city in a single green hex directly between two of your cities (I don’t know if they go for grey hexes). Normally, when an AI does this I just declare war and take the city, but in a game of peace you can’t do that. You can, however, park a unit in that hex to block AI settlers from moving there (you could build a few Scouts just for this purpose, to keep your costs down).
Scouting out your immediate neighbors is always important, but remember that if you get too close with a military unit you’ll incur a small diplomatic penalty. It’s only -2 or -3, but early in the game it can set a bad precedent and these things can snowball.
International Trade Routes provide a small diplomatic benefit, and there are a number of government policies that make them very good, especially in the late game.
Pay attention to the suzerains of City-States right near you. Since you can’t capture them, any inconveniently-located City-States will just be a thorn in your side for the entire game. In my Barbarossa game, I had Carthage right in the middle of my country, like Lesotho in South Africa. I didn’t want to be their Suzerain, but Pericles did, and Pericles kept screwing with me. So I had to keep sending Envoys to Carthage just to keep the Carthaginian army from being a problem if (when) Pericles declared war on me.
All right, I think that’s all I have for now. I’m going to try another peaceful game at some point, so I’ll add more later. Feel free to comment or question, or share your own discoveries or insights.
* They Live (1988)
** The Dark Knight (2008)
That sounds underhanded, but I like it. If you return a city in a peace deal, does that reverse the warmonger penalty for having taken it in the first place?
