Subverting the AI?

[1940LaSalle]

Is there a (reasonably) reliable way to scam the AI into declaring war such that a rival nation bears the entire burden of guilt for starting the conflict? Without too much detail, I'm operating as Bismarck, and one neighbor (China, to be specific) has a few squares that are eerily analogous to the Polish Corridor of the '30s. Moreover, those few squares are not developed/don't have anything remarkable or outstanding in terms of resources or cities, and are on the periphery of Chinese territory.

I'm unaware of any existing alliances, so I don't believe there would be complications along those lines.

Put simply, I want that corridor for (how many times has this been said?) security reasons--and at the same time, if the opportunity is presented to obliterate a two-bit rival painlessly, I'm not above taking full advantage of it.

Do I get points for being brutally honest?

 

[Bartleby]

Some ways to get the AI to declare war on you:

a) Trap one of their units in your territory, make sure they are furious (demand lots of stuff) and then issue a boot order. Extremely high chance they will declare.

b) Find one of their boats and put lots of subs nearby. Before long the AI wil stumble on the subs and declare war. Other AI may also accidentally declare war this way.

c) Station a Privateer in a city with no other units; apparently the AI will send frigates to bombard it and this is a declaration of war. (I haven't tried this but it has been reported as a bug)

d) Re-negotiate peace tied to a per-turn deal that they will break. Most people use a military alliance for this purpose. You can't guarantee they'll renege but if/when they do it's a declaration of war.

 

[TheHaze]

If you have espionage, you can try to plant spies or conduct spy missions. If they catch your spy, they might declare on you.
You can use this to try to steal techs carelessly. If you succeed, good on you, if you fail, at least you get the dow.

 

[Optional]

Do I get points for being brutally honest?

You just get a tiny attitude hit when you declare, but attitude plays such a marginal role in the game that it's not worth bothering about, so perhaps you just want to declare if you want those towns.
The tricks that Bartleby presented are mainly used to get the war happiness.
You do not get war happiness if a civ declares on you for a failed spy mission.

 

[1940LaSalle]

Forgot: I should have mentioned that I've had a republic for quite some time now; if I recall correctly, the republic makes me particularly susceptible to war weariness, does it not?

 

[Snarkhunter]

Forgot: I should have mentioned that I've had a republic for quite some time now; if I recall correctly, the republic makes me particularly susceptible to war weariness, does it not?

I don't know about "particularly", but you are subject to the effects of WW. but if well managed, you should be able to go 20 turns without any real problems. You can take an awful lot of territory in 20 turns. If you resort to more lux slider, hiring a few clowns, grabbing a few more luxes, rushing a market here and there in a core town you can cope even longer if needed. If you are careful never to lose a town or a unit, never to allow AI units to exist in your territory at the end of a turn, & avoid being attacked, you can reduce the rate at which WW accumulates as well, meaning you can fight longer wars.

This is all for "active" wars. For wars in which nothing much happens, you can go 100's of turns without a problem.

And we haven't even mentioned trying for war happiness!