The game? Civ3 Conquests v1.22. The level? Emperor. The country? Greece.
The situation? Playing as Greece, and trying for either a diplomatic or space race win. Persia is the big bad AI player because, well, because they're Persia, and started with Iron in their capital city radius, and they are about twice the size of me. Been making nicey nice with them for a while now (okay, since they started out right next door, the whole dadgum game), and am doing okay tech and research wise (only one with Electricity and Sanitation, though AI's have Communism and Facism, I'm making a beeline for Sci. Method and ToE to get to Hoover), and just waiting for the right time to build a big enough military to stick the knife in their back and turn them into the rogue state, preferably after I've had time to build a few tanks & infantry & shortly before the potential U.N. vote, since that's who I'll be up against provided I build the U.N. So anyway, I'm chugging along, minding my own business, and all of a sudden, Arabia (to my north) declares war for no apparent reason. I've taken a few of their cities, just to teach them a little bit of a lesson, and because I'd rather have Persia with me than against me, given the sheer volume and proximity of it, brought them in on board -- but not anyone else, hoping that everyone else might take Arabia's side and declare war on me and persia, and thereby wear on Persia seeing as how they're totally insulating me. Alas, it was Persia who wound up turning Arabia into the rogue state.
So with the attached screenshot in mind, my question is thus. Arabia would be a good AI to have around to help deal with Persia when the time comes, because it (along with me) is splitting their empire in half... get the outside guys (Scandinavia, India) to join in, and it'd go over well. However, they've been reduced to only 5-6 core cities at this point, and the alliances go for about 10-11 more turns. Do y'all think it'll be more advantageous in the long run for me to go in there and take their territory for myself, or stop attacking and hope they survive in hopes of having them as a bird dog/strategic ally down the road, and let them kill Persians for a little while? I'm leaning toward finishing them off myself, because A) they've got some nice luxury items I could use so I can stop trading for them, though that's not necessary as I have a decent enough tech lead that when I sell them I get whatever I need in return. And B) because having been to war with both Persia and me twice, Arabia is a "Abstain" waiting to happen come UN time. That said, it would be nice to have another "friend" if Persia needs to go down. Opinions?
The situation? Playing as Greece, and trying for either a diplomatic or space race win. Persia is the big bad AI player because, well, because they're Persia, and started with Iron in their capital city radius, and they are about twice the size of me. Been making nicey nice with them for a while now (okay, since they started out right next door, the whole dadgum game), and am doing okay tech and research wise (only one with Electricity and Sanitation, though AI's have Communism and Facism, I'm making a beeline for Sci. Method and ToE to get to Hoover), and just waiting for the right time to build a big enough military to stick the knife in their back and turn them into the rogue state, preferably after I've had time to build a few tanks & infantry & shortly before the potential U.N. vote, since that's who I'll be up against provided I build the U.N. So anyway, I'm chugging along, minding my own business, and all of a sudden, Arabia (to my north) declares war for no apparent reason. I've taken a few of their cities, just to teach them a little bit of a lesson, and because I'd rather have Persia with me than against me, given the sheer volume and proximity of it, brought them in on board -- but not anyone else, hoping that everyone else might take Arabia's side and declare war on me and persia, and thereby wear on Persia seeing as how they're totally insulating me. Alas, it was Persia who wound up turning Arabia into the rogue state.
So with the attached screenshot in mind, my question is thus. Arabia would be a good AI to have around to help deal with Persia when the time comes, because it (along with me) is splitting their empire in half... get the outside guys (Scandinavia, India) to join in, and it'd go over well. However, they've been reduced to only 5-6 core cities at this point, and the alliances go for about 10-11 more turns. Do y'all think it'll be more advantageous in the long run for me to go in there and take their territory for myself, or stop attacking and hope they survive in hopes of having them as a bird dog/strategic ally down the road, and let them kill Persians for a little while? I'm leaning toward finishing them off myself, because A) they've got some nice luxury items I could use so I can stop trading for them, though that's not necessary as I have a decent enough tech lead that when I sell them I get whatever I need in return. And B) because having been to war with both Persia and me twice, Arabia is a "Abstain" waiting to happen come UN time. That said, it would be nice to have another "friend" if Persia needs to go down. Opinions?
Unfortunately for them, I should say, because before they could, I'd managed to get a stack of 53 Arty and 30 tanks, plus the turn they declared, I entered the modern age, got Computers, and Shift-U'd all my infantry to Mech Infantry. 
I had to transition to Communism during the war 'cause the unhappiness was getting nuts (even with US), but I quickly turned them into the rogue state, and am in the process of tearing Persia a new one with 5 fully-loaded tank armies. No worries on the "Who it will be" question, they still have 54% of the territory, so it'll be them... but I'm only 3 or 4 turns from fusion now, and am pre-building the UN... 
