The Ai doesn't declare war a lot

[Lonecat Nekophrodite]

But in a big game with so many players. If you're ally, and if your ally goes war against anyone. and you choose to join Alliance War, you can have World War. literally.

Basically Hatshepsuit is also at war against Napoleon as a newly allied element. while King Frederick II of Prussia waged war against Tsarina Ekaterina of Russia.

 

[vorlon_mi]

In my last game (Lafayette), I made alliances with two leaders that seemed to like me. I was looking forward to some good endeavours.

Then one declared war on the other. I got this fascinating screen -- clearly they had anticipated this possibility in the UI -- with 3 choices: support faction A, remain neutral, support faction B. If I chose either of the ones on the ends, I would break the alliance and declare war on the other. Remaining neutral would break both alliances, but not get me into war.

One of the two (Napoleon) was geographically closer, so more of a threat for a land invasion. Even though I had better endeavours with the other (Friedrich), I chose to go to war with him, using my navy to attack his coastal settlements.

Yes, I have also noted that the AI tends to enter into 2-nation alliances. Any war declarations bring in the partner, so that 4 of the 8 civs in the game end up fighting.

 

[vorlon_mi]

In my current Civ6 game (as Teddy Rough Rider), I've got a large lead going into Atomic Era. 3 of the AI have linked up in alliances, so that when one gets declared on, the other two pile on. Agree, that none of them are declaring on *me*, even though they all have denounced me.

 

[DrZero]

I've found in my experience that in Civ VI, Civ's are quite reluctant to declare war on you if you have a stronger military. I've had games where I broke promises (religion conversion, settling/military units near borders, spying), made demands, etc. all on one Civ yet they do nothing, and I believe it is because I had the bigger military strength number. It's been years, but I remember in Civ V Civs would declare war on you no matter how futile the endeavor would be. Wasn't there flavor dialogue where they would say something along the lines of "Yeah, we probably aren't going to win, but we declare war out of principle." in those cases?

Anyway, I think that's the key deterrent at AI aggression. I'm only an Immortal Player, but that's what I see.

 

[Oberinspektor Derrick]

I've found in my experience that in Civ VI, Civ's are quite reluctant to declare war on you if you have a stronger military. I've had games where I broke promises (religion conversion, settling/military units near borders, spying), made demands, etc. all on one Civ yet they do nothing, and I believe it is because I had the bigger military strength number. It's been years, but I remember in Civ V Civs would declare war on you no matter how futile the endeavor would be. Wasn't there flavor dialogue where they would say something along the lines of "Yeah, we probably aren't going to win, but we declare war out of principle." in those cases?

Anyway, I think that's the key deterrent at AI aggression. I'm only an Immortal Player, but that's what I see.

Its the same on all difficulties, even deity, and its a real shame since a surprise war is generally the biggest threat you will face in a game.
The AI bases their decision to declare war mostly on its relative military strength compared to yours, where "military strength" is the military score you see in the upper left corner.
That method by itself is extremely flawed, and can be abused to keep the AI at bay even though you have "nothing" army wise resist them.
Civ V was much more interesting in that regard, and I have especially fond memories of playing on continents, sailing over to the new continent and see that one AI had essentially subjugated all its neighbours and thus created an actually strong rival for me to contend with.

 

[Snowygerry]

Does overstacking the map with civs help in this regard ?

I've noticed if I try that several civs are eliminated before I even make contact - but since it all happens in the fog it is hard to tell what kills them off, could be barbarians too.

 

[Askia Muhammad]

Does overstacking the map with civs help in this regard ?

I've noticed if I try that several civs are eliminated before I even make contact - but since it all happens in the fog it is hard to tell what kills them off, could be barbarians too.

It can make them a bit more aggressive in my experience but in general everyone will also be weaker due to having less yields to leverage in potential wars. Some civs are particularly strong because their bonuses apply without any need of strategy. I find AI Gaul, AI Byzantium, and if they survive early game AI Babylon can become quite fierce.

Something else I also find pretty disappointing is once you’ve killed their first wave there often isn’t a second. The war is effectively over at that point.