Peaceful Victories

[Brucha]

Strangely, I am not a fan of militaristic CIV games. I prefer to play a more peaceful game, as it seems rather too easy to simply take over the entire map. That being said, I do run into some common problems. In several games, I shared a border with India. I did everything in my power to stay on good terms with India, never attacked, always traded, etc. In each game, i actually had less resources than India, and even went as far as to help in mutual wars started by India. I also did not expand by conquest.

However, each time, India (who i thought was listed as a more peaceful nation than aggressive) attacked me - usually as soon as infantry were developed.

Similar events have occured in other games where I try to play a peaceful nation. It seems that the game will not uphold alliances, protection pacts, etc.

Is the game set up to not favor a peaceful approach, or am I doing something wrong in my strategy?

 

[vmxa]

Once the game gets to the point where little free land is available, everyone will be forced to consider conquest. So eventually the AI will have no choice, but to attack you.

This will even occur, if you are much stronger than a given AI.

 

[scoutsout]

Is the game set up to not favor a peaceful approach, or am I doing something wrong in my strategy?

There are certain "vagaries" of the game that almost preclude a peaceful game ... even when pursuing a "peaceful" victory condition.

First, the spaceship win. It's resource dependent. To ensure you have all the necessary resources, you've generally got to kick some AI booty.

Then there's the "diplomatic" win. Build the UN... or make sure you've got 25% of the planet to make sure you're on the ballot. Again:

Let's see... can't win conquest or domination without warmongering...

Oh yeah... cultural wins...

To win 100k, you've got to build lots of temples and libraries... which is easier if you've got lots of towns in lots of conquered lands to build lots of temples and libraries....

Here's the obligatory

As far as 20k goes... you can't afford to let another civ get a powerful city....

Look in Succession Games for Bede's Celtic Spaceshot game (TGOM 02). That was a Demi-God training game with a "peaceful" win condition. Have a look at how peaceful the game was...

 

[gmaharriet]

Look in Succession Games for Bede's Celtic Spaceshot game (TGOM 02). That was a Demi-God training game with a "peaceful" win condition. Have a look at how peaceful the game was...

Um, Scout, that was TGOM 03. http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=140887 . I guess it became peaceful AFTER the Celts left for Alpha Centauri, huh?

 

[Quintillus]

The AI is more likely to invade you if your military is weak compared to theirs.. So if you have a very small army, the chances of invasion are higher. When India researches Replaceable Parts and upgrades all their Riflemen, their army strength takes a sudden jump - not only absolutely, but also relative to yours. So if your army is weak, you go from being a somewhat attractive nation to conquer to a very attractive nation to conquer and - what do you know - Gandhi says, "You fools! Prepare for war!"

 

[Brucha]

The AI is more likely to invade you if your military is weak compared to theirs.. So if you have a very small army, the chances of invasion are higher. When India researches Replaceable Parts and upgrades all their Riflemen, their army strength takes a sudden jump - not only absolutely, but also relative to yours. So if your army is weak, you go from being a somewhat attractive nation to conquer to a very attractive nation to conquer and - what do you know - Gandhi says, "You fools! Prepare for war!"

If I can get an understanding of this, even to be peaceful, you must have a powerful military to discourage other civ's from attacking regardless of past relations with them. The reason I mention this is that I read a thread on another forum of a diplomatic win with only 1 city and no military. Of course it was tough but it was done.

I have tried to build a miltary on my borders to stop invasions, but it did not seem to help. I always get the same message, you are building up on our border.....

 

[Delphi456]

Strangely, I am not a fan of militaristic CIV games. I prefer to play a more peaceful game, as it seems rather too easy to simply take over the entire map.

If that's the case, why don't you move up a level or two for a challenge??

 

[JDAllison]

I have tried to build a miltary on my borders to stop invasions, but it did not seem to help. I always get the same message, you are building up on our border.....

Not quite sure of what you speak here, as I've never had anyone complain about my SoD sitting right outside their territory. Right inside their territory, yes. But not outside.

Second, the AI respects offensive units a lot more than defensive ones. That is good, because it is cheaper for you. Instead of building a defending unit for every city (especially after railroads), build only a few defensive units and a ton of offensive units. Yes, you will have a bunch of undefended cities. Resist the urge to put a unit there! You see, by building mostly offensive units, you will be able to attack an invading army before they can do any real damage, you will be able to be very flexible in how you use your forces, and it will open up new areas of strategy for you. Keep them upgraded, and keep the AI in fear.

 

[AutomatedTeller]

The AI will attack for, really, no reason.

In a recent game, I had a huge empire (140+ cities), going for 100K, a decent military and had been trading with Isabella for about 2000 years, giving her 3 luxes and horses for her gems. I had roman and english forces all over my land, going off to kill each other, and some spanish. To keep them from just randomly taking one of my empty cities, EVERY city had an infantry in it (I was in communism by that point, so it helped for happiness. Spain was weak to me and was at war with England, with whom I was weak. I believe I was her only trading partner... 4 spanish cavalry STILL attacked my iron city and took it. They held it until the next turn and were gone in 20 turns.

 

[Brucha]

Besides winning by a UN vote, how hard is it to win by victory points or by a cultural victory when playing a peaceful game?

 

[CommandoBob]

Besides winning by a UN vote, how hard is it to win by victory points of by a cultural victory when playing a peaceful game?

A better question might be:

Is it possible to win a cultural victory without declaring war?

I think it can be done, but you must have the biggest, baddest military machine in the world so that you don't have to go to war.

The AI lives in a fantasy world and truly believes that Spears can always beat Tanks. It will declare war at any time and for no apparent reason.

 

[AutomatedTeller]

It is possible to win a 20K cultural victory without ever declaring war. You might have on declared on you several times, but you can do it.

I don't think that, on higher levels, you can win a 100K without declaring war - I think demigod and higher AI's expand SO fast that you have to take their territory to get enough towns to win. And then, you might have to war on the leaders to keep their culture to less than half of yours.

I have never played a culture game that didn't have war, nor have I played a diplo game without war. I did play a diplo game where the only war was persia declaring early. They got spanked, of course.