Suggestions on getting the AI to attack

[Daaraa]

I know in civ 2 there were numerous ways to get the Ai to attack you. (Bully them in forign affairs, send in caravans to block roads etc.) I have yet to get the AI to attack me in civ 3 past the ancient era.
Just wondering what most of you have done or tried.

 

[eMarkM]

A few things to try:

1) Keep trespassing on his territory with military units.

2) Demand tribute in diplo screen. Ask for a luxury or tech and give nothing in return.

3) Plant a city in open space within his empire which will steal a little of his territory.

4) Have access to a resource they desparately need (ok, hard to do intentionally)

5) Join Mutual Protect Pact w/ their rival and you'll go to war if they attack their rival.

Many of these will get them "furious". But, if your military is far more powerful than theirs, there's almost nothing you can do to induce them to start a war. I had the always aggressive Zulus as my neighbors and kept trying to goad them into war by trespassing and demanding tribute. They never budged. This is actually a good sign you have them beat--I wiped them out easily when I finally attacked. But I had to be the one to start the aggression.

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[Daaraa]

That's usually my problem as I'm usually the biggest bully on the block.

I guess I need to hone my diplo skills to talk other into war first and follow throught protection pacts.

 

[knowltok]

I would suspect that if you are much stronger than your opponent, you will not be able to goad them into a war. Exactly what could the US do to say, Mexico to get them to try and invade? That's extreme, but you get the point. They aren't going to declare war unless the think they can win.

 

[Cyrik]

ok, here´s how you get them to think they are stronger if they aren´t:
the comp thinks that every unit in the game is as good as every other unit, even workers. so you have to disband very little warrior you still have in modern times and so on. even disband some workers, you can build them fast anyway.
the point where they attack you is when your military nouse advicer tells you that your soontobe enemy is stronger then you and you realy anoy them. to anoy(sp?) them it´s easiest to use spies but being a good "diplomat" does wonders to.
btw has someone tested if aggrasiv civs attack you when you have "equal" military as they have?

 

[stravaig]

I goaded the Indians into attacking me.
I think they might have had a more powerful (at best equal) military, but that was only based on total unit counts. I had a far superior military in terms of quality (Gandhi hadn't upgraded any of his spearmen, and I was sitting on a /ton/ of mech infantry).
All I had to do was piss him off by demanding in the negotition screen (got him furious) and then try a bit of spying. He declared war and has been paying the price ever since.

Kinda reminds me of standard politics. I was really after his Oil and Silks. So, instead of declaring war on him, I got him to declare war on me, in order to justify the conflict to my 'touchy' democratic populace. He he he.

- Stravaig