Q: How to make the AI attack you?

[Second]

I'd like to know your thoughts on how to make the AI attack you (or atleast break off any peace treaties).

I know that more people would be interested in the opposite, but what the heck.

My experience is that it's very hard to predict wheather the AI will go to war with you, no matter what you do. I've tried to massively violate the territory of three different civilizations (all of equal size, culture, army etc, all "polite") in the same game, and the result was that none of them wanted to go to war with me. Two of them became "annoyed" though.

The only way I could go to war with any of them (not breaking the peace myself, that is) was to performe large amounts of spy-operations, and make sure that the spy would fail. Even so, I only managed to make one civilization attack me. And that same civilization later refused to go to war with me for the same reason (10 turns later, after I had taken one of his cities and signed a peace treaty).

Are there any other ways to make the otherwise so predictable AI attack you?

[edit]
The civilization which finally attacked me was the zulus, are militaristic civilizations more prone to attack even when they are inferior?
[/edit]

 

[Jimmicus]

I managed it this way, it's a bit unrealistic but still fun.

Go to the diplomacy screen and make an outragreous demand to the civ you want ot war with, e.g. demand three of his cities. He'll tell you where to go, but just keep clicking repeatedly. When I did this, the AI wouldn't declare war on the screen, but when I came out of this demand and then demanded that he remove troops from my territory, he went right for it.

Don't know if this will be fixed in a patch, but at the moment it is a fabulous way to stave off war weariness as you're not the one that started it.

 

[arnel]

try inserting a spy on the civ and hope it fails. when it fails, it will fail all the time for that turn so jsut keep repeating it and sure enough, the AI will declare war on you. This method does cause a lot of money though - it sometimes takes me 5 to 6 attempts before the AI declares war.

 

[eMarkM]

I take it you want to provoke in order not to hurt your rep. Keep in mind that your rep will not be hurt if you break a treaty that's not under the "20 turn" limit. Eg, if you're beating on a neighbor and eventually sign a peace treaty than you can't break the treaty in the first 20 turns w/o rep damage. Go to the "Active" trades screen to see where you stand w/ them. It will have a number in parens in it's still under the initial 20 turns. This also applies to trades that you may have w/ them if they're per turn based, like lux trading. If it's not under a per turn limitation, you're free to break treaty "peacefully" and start a war and no damage done to rep. I got hung up on this at first, too, and was always trying to provoke war. Now I'll just attack if I'm not in any 20 turn limit.

If you're under the 20 turn limit and want to provoke, than you can quickly get them furious at you by demanding tribute. If they are real weak, they'll give it to you. If they're just strong enough, they'll may take the bait. But at some point they just refuse to cooporate. Sometimes it's best to just wait the 20 turns and than go on the offensive.

e

 

[Fierro1816]

I used to hav that problem (peace)...

But in monach level the civs tend to be more "pragmatic" and declare war without even asking them to do it.

The best way to pick on civs its repeated outrageous demands (all the cities, his sister, that lamp, ALL...). Eventually they will make you pay your misconduct.

 

[aiya]

1. Nuke one civ. I think all other civs that is not at war with that civ will declare war on you.

2. Have a military much much smaller than theirs. The AI will see you as an easy target. Thus, threatening you all the time with demands and ultimately declare war.

 

[Sam_Catchem]

Aiya,

1) that is horrible way to keep your rep up.

2) that is just plain silly? Keeping your military down means when they do come you are unprepared. It works..but isn;t a very good strategy.

You are joking, right?

anyways...

The best way is to keep demanding more and more and more! They get ticked when you do this. Sometimes though..you just have to declare war...and take the reputation hit.

What I wonder is that if you keep having to tell your soon to be opponent to get off your land enough times..and they are repeat offenders..do you take a hit in your rep if you just declare war? It would seem logical that it wouldn't..they are constantly violating your borders..that is an act of war! Does anybody here know?

 

[Flynn]

Reputation and attitude are terribly undocumented. I really wish the game would provide more insight into this.

For example, in a game I'm playing now, I've given the Americans over 6 cities and 8 techs in the last 100 years, along with a Right of Passage. I went to war with their enemies until those enemies signed peace treaties with the Americans. Yet still, they're mad at me. I have no idea what for. I have defended them left and right, and given back several cities that were taken from them by the English and the Germans.

*sigh*

I *think* they're mad at me because I'm so obviously more powerful than they. One of the attitudes that isn't really expressed by other civilizations is "afraid."

You can be afraid of someone, and therefore bow and scrape before them, or you can be afraid of someone, and therefore bluster and fume before them. I wish I could tell which the computer was doing.

 

[Second]

Originally posted by Flynn
Reputation and attitude are terribly undocumented. I really wish the game would provide more insight into this.

...

You can be afraid of someone, and therefore bow and scrape before them, or you can be afraid of someone, and therefore bluster and fume before them. I wish I could tell which the computer was doing.

I agree; Firaxis has done a great job in making diplomacy such a vital part of the game, but there are so many thing concerning it that are unclear or simply confusing.

For example, a great feature to have would be a combined trade/diplomacy screen, where one could see all the resources currently available for trade, all the ongoing treaties, when they end (what year!), economical statistics, your reputation (a little more than we do today please) etc etc.

I don't want to turn this thread into a "I want this feature!"-fest, but I sure hope that Firaxis someday would be so nice to perfect this could-be-great feature.

 

[Polonius]

The Official Stregy Guide p.71 (yeah yeah... OK...but I've never played a civ game before and I'm trying to catch up on those lost years...) recommends a similar strategy to Jimmicus. Just keep bugging them for a city and they'll eventually get pissed enough at you to declare war (preserving your rep).

 

[Reo]

Originally posted by Jimmicus
I managed it this way, it's a bit unrealistic but still fun.

Go to the diplomacy screen and make an outragreous demand to the civ you want ot war with, e.g. demand three of his cities. He'll tell you where to go, but just keep clicking repeatedly. When I did this, the AI wouldn't declare war on the screen, but when I came out of this demand and then demanded that he remove troops from my territory, he went right for it.

Don't know if this will be fixed in a patch, but at the moment it is a fabulous way to stave off war weariness as you're not the one that started it.

Early in the game, you can take the AI shipping lanes and block his roads, especialy if he's dependant on trade.

 

[RagnarD]

Sometimes, it suits your needs nearly as well to just be attacked first, rather than having war declared upon you.

Last night, both England (the sole proprieter of oil in my neighborhood) and myself had MPPs with China. Since China was on the other side of England, and shared a huge border with her, I wanted China to join a war with me against England. To make this happen, I moved troops into England's territory. On the AI turn, England told me to move and I declared war. England then attacked my troops. Since England actually attacked first, China came in on my side.

Sure, I had the usual war weariness issues, but I only stayed fighting long enough to get the cities I needed, and then I left Chian and England to beat each other up for a few more decades.

It worked out rather nicely, I thought.