Pledge to protect

[seamus2010]

The pledge should work like a defensive pact, which makes it so that if the CS gets attacked, you have the option of going to war with the aggressor civ without suffering warmongerer penalty. Right now, it's very hard to make the AI DOW on you. I don't like to DOW myself because it makes others hate me, but I can't seem to provoke one particular AI civ to DOW on me

 

[dexters]

In a way they are. Ai will demand tribute and bully your protected CS if they don't like you and you're sometimes forced to respond and either take a relationship penalty with the bully or your CS ally. And no, it shouldn't work like a defense pact.

Pledging to protect is a game play mechanism that signals to the Ai your interests and for the Ai to signal theirs.

This part of the diplomatic game works quite well actually. No need to mess it up.

What you're suggesting will only benefit human players, as you noted to get the Ai to Dow so you don't get a rep hit. That's breaking an otherwise good part of the game.

Edit: bully/demand tribute from a CS the Ai is protecting and they would eventually Dow as it will negatively impact relationship with the Ai. But it's not guaranteed and you could still suffer diplomatic penalties from other civs

 

[otaman1]

You want an AI to declare war on you? Tell 'em they're disgusting, tell 'em to not settle near you, tell 'em to stop spying on you, tell 'em stick their flag up their ass, denounce them, don't make friends with them, demand from them, and last but not least, settle 18 cities near them

 

[Dissonance]

Just gift them some powerful units. A few cannons and crossbowmen can make quite the difference. And you can keep cashing in on trade routes in the mean time.

 

[pthieu1986]

i sometimes save up gold and just leave my army without upgrades even when entering a new era, the AIs should look down on my army and prepare for a war. Then, I upgrade all of my troops & piss them off