Reason for declaring war

[Blazer6]

At what point or for whatever reason do you declare war during the early, middle and late games?

I wait until a settler is sent outside an enemy border and then wait for the escort to leave during the early ages.

 

[Dragonlor]

My reasons for war...

Early:
- To snag an early Worker
- To stop AI expansion
- If I'm unable to expand

Middle:
- If I need more land
- Grabbing resources
- Slow the progress of someone ahead of me
- Secure an island/continent to myself if I have the chance

Late:
- If I need more land
- Grabbing resources
- Annihilate anyone ahead of me

 

[1989]

My Reasons..

Early:
-A.I. Expansion
-Early Dominance Of Small Continent
-Military Intimidation
-Mufuga got's in ma way

Middle:
-Sea Routes/Conveniece
-Resources
-Land
-Slowing Down Points Of A.I.
-Mufuga Got's in ma way

Late:
-Mufuga get's in ma way

 

[anton_z1]

My resons re:
Early.
1) I have just got iron. time to expand my empire.
2) Ghenghis Khan Got horses. Time to bring down his empire.
3) I always need land.

Middle.
1) Usually not much. Techs go too fast. Usually to get rid of old units.

Later.
1) Land lang and more land.

 

[AmnesiaA]

Early:
- Stop A.I expansion
- Take out any weaker civilizations early
- Secure resources and defensive lines
- Keep civilizations in check with mass pillaging

Middle:
- Self defense
- Ruin cultural cities with a single huge attack
- Secure distant colonies and islands
- Keep civilizations in check with mass pillaging

Late:
- Prevent a nation from winning the space race
- Take out whatever pillaged civilization is left with powerful modern warfare
- Go for the win

 

[Joh]

Early: land grab

Middle:
- stop civs getting strong UU's (like cossaks).
- boost research and get world maps (for example, decisive wars over a century can boost your treasury tremednously, and afterwards you can trade wth the loser for all thier research and world map)

Late: win, and stop others from completing space race.

 

[FenrysWulf]

There come certain times in the game when I have built all the city improvements so I have nothing to do but build units, and then eventually those units need something to do, thus war ensues. That's why most of them happen.

 

[Kavatar]

Usually I don't declare war unless I'm going for a domination/conquest victory, but otherwise, it's usually either for revenge on a civ for a previous war, or if I share a continent with one other civ and want to control the whole continent for myself.

 

[duxup]

My reasons are always the same, to obtain a resource, take a strategic point, or the always popular reason breathing room.

 

[Ex-Cop]

I start wars as soon as I get Iron. My primary reason for doing so is genocide. Its the only way I can win on Monarch or higher.

 

[Phyr_Negator]

Early:
-I got copper/Iron=>overwhelm enemies
-They got greener grass
-Blood for the Blood God must flow!
Middle:
-Slowing down those who didn't suffer from my neighboorhood.
-Pillaging to compensate support cost.
Late:
-Pleasing Blood God even further.

 

[-Warmonger-]

I don't need a reason... I built up a bunch of units, I'm not just going to sit there and stare at them.

 

[Proteus]

-Enemy has a resource I need (and I can´t get it through peaceful expansion)
-Enemy has a city at a strategic location which would be extremly useful for me
-Enemy has attacked me in the past and is likely to attack me in the future, good reason to keep him small
-Some friendly nation asks me to join a war against a certain nation and there are no reasons which speak against declaring war

 

[LAnkou]

i'm usually a peacefull builder, but anyone who declare war on me must be taken out

if i aim conquest or domination, i declare war when i feel it's time (good economy, tech lead, i'm a low level player)

usually, when i declare war, there is no peace with the other civ (ie, there won't be any peace treaty between me and them before the end of the wer!!! ) so i need to have some advantage over them

 

[R3dKnight]

usually it depends on early age.
should i manage to impose a decent 3 town setup and a weak neighbour, I will definitely strike conquest mode on till I can't pay for my army anymore.

middle age, i'd start things up with knights but should i remain peaceful, i know i can count on Cavalry when i tech rush.. Usually if u remain peaceful, u'll get slapped with a war declaration out of nowhere. M-Tradition D-Pacts helps if u got a nice neighbour.

By Middle ages, i usually picked a permanent ally for myself to back up. no matter how crappy he plays.

my peaceful approach in my current game is a bit frustrating to say the least on the conqust front. I have cavalry, but the lands taken results in a lot of lost units and even if i captured them, they still end up in a culture lock. pretty much my only gripes of a faraway conquest.

 

[cfacosta]

Reasons I declare war

Early:
-I have not yet won a domination victory
Middle:
-I have not yet won a domination victory
Late:
-I have not yet won a domination victory

that about sums it up...

 

[Eagle_Seven]

Early:
1. They've place a settler somewhere I was going to.
2. I've got an early production city.
3. Ghandi's got only one warrior guarding his capital?????

Mid:
1. Set back a powerful rival.
2. Coal/Iron/Oil (if I Don't have it and he does)

Late:
1. My bomber pilots are bored.
2. To set back any AI close to victory (Space Race, Culture, Diplo)
3. Because I like the Nuclear Explosion Animation!

 

[colony]

Most of these have already benn said, but anyway:

Early
- If I get blocked in by an AI
- If I find I don't have either Iron or Horses
- To get more land

Middle:
- When I get catapults
- If any neighbouring AI is weak
- As soon as I can build Cavalry
- To claim the rest of a medium sized continent to myself

Late:
- If for some reason I didn't get enough land to get some oil I'll grab the nearest patch
- When I finish researching Artillery and I can upgrade all my old siege weapons
- If I haven't guarenteed a win yet, either through having to finish off a domination, or by crippling all the AIs enough to make sure I can win the space race easily

Of course this is only based on the 5 games I've played so far, (1 Noble, 1 Prince, 2 Monarch, and a OCC Prince game, which has definately been a different and very interesting game), so I still haven't got rid of my Civ3 way of doing things yet

 

[Psycho Mantis]

Early:
-I got copper/Iron=>overwhelm enemies
-They got greener grass
-Blood for the Blood God must flow!
Middle:
-Slowing down those who didn't suffer from my neighboorhood.
-Pillaging to compensate support cost.
Late:
-Pleasing Blood God even further.

This made me chuckle.

As for me:

Early:
-Unfounded paranoia
-Regular paranoia
-They had the misfortune of starting next to me
Middle:
-To punish them for not complying with my every command and whim
-I'm bored
-Stupid Isabella, you go dead now!
-More paranoia
Late:
-To distract public attention away from my poor performance as leader
-Gotta nuke something.

 

[AmnesiaA]

Early:
- Why send settlers into the scary unknown when you can just take an established city?

Middle:
- OK, there isn't any scary unknown left anymore. Guess you have to take a city now.

Late:
- Modern war is so cool.