Territorial Authority - Firaxis fix it! It stinks!!!!

[Lt. 'Killer' M.]

Yes they had to pay me 1 Gpt for a Tech and I sold thema lux for 5! So if I declare war, I get the hit! That's why io wanted them to leave or declare war!

As for paying lump - that one is even worse if it comes to avoinding me-against-them, since the AI DO usually respect treaties. Note: usually

 

[joespaniel]

Send a lone warrior and he can wander farther and deeper than most other units. Let a Modern Armour touch a blade of Egyptian grass though and the ultimatums fly.

So true.

I agree with you Lt. M. It is another one of those unfair advantages the AI gets over the human. Just like the unsinkable AI trireme from Civ2.

You have to sacrifice a weak unit to block the attacker before it nears your cities. Sometimes it works, sometimes they go around it.

I do wish there were stiffer penalties for back-stabbing AI civs, like the other Civs refusing RoPs and such for 40 turns or so.
Just my 2 cents.

 

[Mad Bomber]

Killer M:

I think that you need a unit in proximity (2 tiles) or next to a city in order to get the "or declare war" option, I always have a unit or two trailing an AI transgressor just for that purpose.

 

[Crow T Robot]

Originally posted by Mad Bomber
Killer M:

I think that you need a unit in proximity (2 tiles) or next to a city in order to get the "or declare war" option, I always have a unit or two trailing an AI transgressor just for that purpose.

I think it is pretty clear something more complex than mere city proximity is the trigger. About the only way to explain how a warrior can get closer than 1-2 swordsman who in turn can get much closer than a tank is some sort of formula which includes distance and/or attacking power. I am sure the AI's current attitude (gracious-polite-spikey) factors in as well.

The threat posed by a horseman 1 or 2 tiles away from a city is *much* different than that of a Mech Infantry and radar artillery and it seems the AI would almost certainly consider the threat posed (which again explains why Explorers and workers can wander all over - they have no attack strength).

The only AI "advantage" is that it surely knows the ultimatum 'formula' trigger and plans it's encroachments accordingly.

 

[Mad Bomber]

I'm not arguing that a horseman is not considered the same threat as a tank, I am simply saying that if you have units close to the transgressor it will give you the "declare war" option much sooner than if you just let him go through your territory w/o a reaction. I have been able to stalemate civ's simply by shadowing his units, forcing him to remove, A.I will try again, and again... I also find that if you have sizable troops on their border they will stop this nonsense.

 

[ModestX]

It's truly an annoyance, leftover from the CivII gameplay. There too, incidences like that occured, which convinced me that the Diplomacy interface appears to pass different messages to the AI compared to the ones toward the human player. For example the message 'Remove your forces' towards the AI may be a different object oriented directive than the reverse from the AI to the human player. It would be nice if the company fixes that in a patch sometimes in the future, but one could potentially exploit those features to his advantage. For example in CivII, one could use the opponents' infrastructure (roads-railroads) regardless of the relationship status. A human player could exploit that to invade enemy territory to large depths and deliver a death blow to the enemy capital. In CivIII such strategy is difficult to maintain, unless you attack during ROP, which damages your reputation blah blah... BUT... now there is a defensive advantage. Let's say enemy units roam within your borders under ROP or not. Let them...If your cities are moderately garissoned, then in the case of war the enemy's units (within your cultural borders) are in the mercy of your counterattack. Your mobility within your cultural borders will always surpass the AI's especially when a railroad system is in place. This is not the panachea of solutions of course. A large enemy force within your borders is at the very least annoying, at the very worst catastrophic if your armies are doing battles at another continent. In the end you might loose some, you might (hope) to gain some....