Starting a war, but without blame :)

[maddskillz]

I am have located a city on the same Island as the Japanese. They have most of the gems on the Island within their city borders. Currently we are at peace, and they have a pact with the Iroquois, which if I start a war both jump in. I am a democracy and cannot deal with being labled the war monger due to war weariness and what-not.

So . . .. I want to buy off the Iroquois and start a war with the Japanese and take the gems for my own (GREEDY). What is the best manner? I have tried annoying them but they remain polite, they know I have a good size military and on that island I have over 30 units in one city. Just waiting, hoping, I must have those GEMS!

Help!

 

[Moff Jerjerrod]

One thing you might want to try (but this will only work if you have a tech that they don't have) is to outright refuse to give them a tech or world map that they demand. Sometimes, particularly if they want a hot tech, when you refuse their demands they will declare war on you.

Or if they have any units in your territory then make a demand for them to leave.

Or don't waste time bribing the Iroquois. Find another civ who you can give gifts to and get all buddy buddy with and then ask them if they will join a military alliance against the Japanese.

Well hope these ideas help you out.

 

[eyrei]

I would sign a MPP with the Iroquois. If the Japanese gems are within the grasp of the conquest of a couple cities, I would then declare war, station a unit in Japanese territory without attacking, and when the Japanese attack first, the Iroquios will be forced into the war on your side. If you anticipate a long war, you should probably switch governments to monarchy or communism first. The time you spend in anarchy will be made up for pretty quickly if you have another luxury, and the ability to trade extra gems to other civs.

 

[Cerryl]

What kinda pisses me off, is when I get a message that A rival was caught trying to plant a spy, but doesn't say I have the right to declare war and asks if I would like to, like Civ2 did.

 

[Troyens]

You could do worse. How about having an iron colony that disappears when a rival's city expands? If you leave a military unit there you get labelled a warmonger. Or, you have another civ's workers wandering around your territory and they won't leave. You attack them - YOU get labelled a war monger!

Yes, the game has problems.

 

[black_adder2]

Ok, here is a 'cheat' I tried yesterday...

I had the Iroqouis border with me (Babylon), sharing 1 nice large continent... which I played on taking... eventually (read: once I got Cavalry).

So I played Mister niceguy, wheeling and dealing... just biding my time... I knew I was out-teching and out-culturing the Injuns...

It winds up there is a city of theirs inside my territory... I culturally took two of their cities and it wound up like that.

So anyways, they run a spearman and settler combo through my land... no right of passage... but when they are trapped they will go for it anyways.

So I boxed them in... surrounded by 6 units

I have found in EVERY case when I ask a civ 'Leave or declare WAR', as opposed to the 'You must leave immediately' option - they ALWAYS declare war, if the unit is too deep to escape the next turn.

Well, when I tried out my theory many many turns later, they 'poofed'.... the Iroqouis agreed! The units moved automatically.

Damnit... well I declared war and raped them in about 20 turns completely (Huge, Regent) - had some flips on the way, had to raze 3 or 4 cities...

I even tried to setup a reservation for them. They had an island city in pure tundra with no resources whatsoever... So I blockaded it and setup units surrounding it... Then gave them peace... figured I can easily bend them to my will for the UN later on, but like an ass I gave them a mutual protection pact.

The greedy French attack that 1 lame city... mayby for the Indian Casino, whatever... So they draw me into war with the French, a significant power

As if that wasn't enough... on that very same turn one of the big 10 cities flips back!!! I had invested temple, cathedral, library for cash into it too...

Enough is enough.. No more mister nice guy. I wiped out the Iratating-quois once and for all.

Now I just got to make it up to the French... Mayby Ill give Joan some nice Indian workers as a gift

 

[Salvor]

I recently had a potential nightmare situation turn into a sweet deal. I was trying to expand to the American border and soak up as much space as I could before he got it, so my border cities were pretty weak, and not yet hooked up to my trade network. The two outermost cities had like 2 spearmen each.

All of a sudden two stacks of 12 Zulus each appeared on my border. The Zulu were all the way on the other side of the Americans, and got there with a ROP. So I asked them to leave, knowing full well they would declare war on me. Once they did, I bought an alliance with the Americans (it was pre-Nationalism, so I couldn't proactively get a MPP and didn't really want one anyway).

The Zulu did attack, but only with two units, just enough to beat up one spearman who barely survived and turn the other one into an elite. Then he turned around and ravaged the Americans, razing city after city, and leaving plenty of nice open partially-improved terrain for my settlers to move up on. And the Americans were so busy fighting the Zulus they couldn't even think about any expansion of their own, so I ended up with the whole area. That city that nearly fell to the Zulu now houses my Forbidden Palace, and the whole area is doing quite nicely. The Americans got pushed about 15 squares back, but they did manage to beat the Zulu down to only 3 cities, effectively no threat to anyone.