The AI are Cheats and Liars

[rysingsun]

although they are never trustworthy and i dont think there is a way to modify this inclination of theirs i do think there are some things you can do to reduce the chances they will excercise this untrustworthyness against YOU.

1) make embassies. it improves their attitude toward you.
2) build culture. if yours is greater than theirs it also improves their attitude.
3) keep your word and preserve your own reputation. do not get into the attitude that they are untrustworthy so your own reputation doesnt matter. it still matters.
4) trade with them a lot.
5) if you are especially worried about one country give them small gifts. even one gold helps but one gold per turn gives them a reason to not attack you.
6) military strength helps. or wait, it doesnt help. or ... who knows ... on high level games i cant afford to build a military during the expansion phase or for quite a while afterward and they usually leave me alone. sometimes they attack shortly after i start building a military as if they know they need to take me out while they have a chance.

there is a silver lining to their untrustworthiness. as the game progresses they hate each other more and more and eventually end up getting involved in endless wars with each other. these wars deplete their militaries which helps you. you CAN encourage them to backstab each other. when you are attacked you can pay off a power to ally with you without hurting your own reputation .. yet it may very well hurt his own reputation. every time you find yourself at war always buy allies. almost always. well a lot of the time. it seems an ai power almost cannot be at war without eventually hurting his own rep by negotiating peace early. keeping your own rep good over the long haul is an art well worth practicing because it allows you (to some extent) to pick and choose your wars later on.

7) (edit) always give in to their demands unless you dont mind going to war. swallow your pride.

 

[Aggie]

Out of the top of my head, you can add the following to rysingsun's excellent list:

-never leave towns undefended. The AI will probably be more willing to attack otherwise.
-unless you WANT to be attacked, don't have more resources and luxuries connected than you can use yourself or trade way. AI will try to take that iron source that thye lack and you do not use. They will at least demand it from you and then you have to choose between giving it or war.
-Get MA's with the AI vs a hostile civ before the AI can. They will probably not stick to it for the full 20 turns, but then just get a new MA if you need it. Pay a MA gpt. Then it doesn't hurt that much when it is broken.

 

[Turner]

-Get MA's with the AI vs a hostile civ before the AI can. They will probably not stick to it for the full 20 turns, but then just get a new MA if you need it. Pay a MA gpt. Then it doesn't hurt that much when it is broken.

I'd like to expand on this a bit... Ganging up on the AI is an excellent way to get unit longevity. The more fronts they have, the more they have to commit units elsewhere. Which means that you suddenly have to defend against that many less units. Or attack. When the AI breaks the deal and you choose not to renegotiate, then you have that many less units in your path. They've either been destroyed, or are out of position. By this time, you should have conquered a couple of cities (at least) and have a bigger buffer for your core production cities.

Never ever ever have I failed to come out on top of all the AI when using this tactic.