the ai gangs up on me

[lordmacroer]

Is there any way to prevent the AI from ganging up on the human in single player mode? Smaller civilizations will demand stuff from me, and I will not give it so they start a war. They will send in like a legion army or two; it is pretty pathetic. This does not become a problem untill I have like 5 nations all at war with me because i did not give in to their demands.

In short, how do you make allies? and how can you prevent other nations from demanding stuff from you?

 

[Kadazzle]

There is no way you can make the AI's not gang up on you, unless you give into their demands. The game is about early war, and always war. Try to go to war early to strain and enemies' resources.

If you want to attempt to make a friend, stick with Alexander. He starts with Democracy, so he'll rarely ever declare war on anyone.

 

[Dumanios]

Didn't Firaxis patch that for the 360 for the AI to more likely declare war on others instead of all gang up on you.

 

[steeemer]

Based upon my experience, the better you are doing the more they will come after you. It can be a pain at times, but it keeps it somewhat interesting and challenging.

I selectively give into demands. I try not to give techs to enemies that they will be able to use against. I also try to keep tabs on how those civs are doing. If they are last place in the technology race, I will generally meet their demands. If an enemy is clear across the map or across water I am less likely to do anything that they say.

The other key is not to panic. I used to start making drastic / wild changes in response to a declaration of war. Treat is as a way of life and be mindful of it, but don't freak out. Remember, if they are on your doorstep you can always hit diplomacy and meet their demands to buy yourself some time as a last resort.

Don't forget to try and pit your enemies against each other.

 

[lordmacroer]

Don't forget to try and pit your enemies against each other.

Yea, pay a thousand gold and all the AI does is send a single warrior into the opponents territory and beg for peace before it gets destroyed.

 

[Petrucci]

Do wish there was more of a diplomacy edge to the game so I'd be able to be sneaky and pit civs against each other however the game is still fun though, love warring so works for me

 

[Zubbus]

1) Keep your military at least about on par with most civs. If your army is puny, then yes everyone will push you around because, and frankly they want to invade you in the first place.
They will still demand stuff, but a lot less freuqently.

2) When AI civs fight each other, you won't be able to please everyone. So you got to pick a side of the conflict and stay friends with those guys. And hopefully your friends get the upper hand. But that'sa lot easier if you actually help them as well.

When you get both of those right, most civs will stay cautious or better even if you don't give them any free stuff. And you definitely won't be friends with all of them, but you can expect to be peaceful with at least half of them. That's more than enough.

 

[Rodman49]

2) When AI civs fight each other, you won't be able to please everyone. So you got to pick a side of the conflict and stay friends with those guys. And hopefully your friends get the upper hand. But that'sa lot easier if you actually help them as well.

Our main man Zubbus has the right idea here. Do not try to be friends with everyone. Pick a few civs that have positive reactions and keep them as friends. That means sometimes giving them some cash or a tech.

 

[GGrayson]

I disagree:

Don't be friend's with anyone. Never give into their demands. Unless they are gonna take your city in the next turn, don't ever ever ever give into their demands.

They will ask for any good tech you get, and pretty much any GP you get. This just means you're better off than them. Just defend soundly, expand a lot, and you'll be ok.

There is something to point out though, if they just straight up declare war on you instead of demanding something, they probably just know that you don't have many units in your cities. If this is the case, be extra sure to create defenders. This is the only time when the AI really thinks it has an advantage over you, otherwise most of the time when it's demanding something, it just means you've got something they don't.

It's often beneficial to be at war with them, especially if you are winning in tech and in democracy, then it's to your advantage to always be at war so you can attack while still reaping the benefits of democracy.

You should be the one demanding peace, and that ususally is when you want them off your squares, or if you want to raise some gold by selling them some tech. Other than that, be at war with them, who cares. Just defend well, choke them out of the map, and you'll be fine. You'll learn more by being at war all the time and being pressed than you will by giving things to the AI, or just being peaceful.

Online, even if you are at peace with another player, that doesn't mean anything, at the drop of a hat, the human player will declare war. You don't need allies in this game, you just need to make life hard for the other players.

 

[ericball]

The Great Wall will stop the other Civs from declaring war on you; at least until one of them researches Engineering.

I agree with GGrayson - don't appease anyone unless they are about to take one of your cities. 90% of the time you can ignore them completely - you'll never even see one of their units in your territory. (Heck, Mao kept declaring war on my wife, marching in all his forces, then requesting peace before attacking or being attacked.) A couple of armies of current defensive units plus an offensive army (for killing undefended offensive units) and a spy ring will usually keep a city safe from attack.

In the late game, watch the announcements for Civs changing from Democracy to Fundamentalism or Communism as an indication the Civ will be going to war.

Watch the other Civs' technology level (n/48 on the diplomacy screen) so you know who has current units.

 

[SirGreenDay]

Do wish there was more of a diplomacy edge to the game so I'd be able to be sneaky and pit civs against each other however the game is still fun though, love warring so works for me

Umm, u can do this. Many times I have had 1 civ take out or declare war against a 3rd civ. Maybe u r talking about something else.

 

[ScottieX]

In Civ 2 I protected my reputation carefully but in this game it seems you might as well be at war almost all the time. The stupid AI smashes against your armies hidden behind walls in your key defensive city (hah) and offer peace almost all the time for just a tech a great swap if you were just about to loose a good city.

I tend to try to be at war even if just so that they might build more military units and less useful things - I presume it makes a difference.

 

[Terrapin]

In Civ 2 I protected my reputation carefully but in this game it seems you might as well be at war almost all the time. The stupid AI smashes against your armies hidden behind walls in your key defensive city (hah) and offer peace almost all the time for just a tech a great swap if you were just about to loose a good city.

I tend to try to be at war even if just so that they might build more military units and less useful things - I presume it makes a difference.

Civ2 is radically different because you research costs were tied to how far ahead or behind you were in the tech race. It was actually worth your while to give civs techs. No such mechanic here. I only give in when I have to.

What you said about being at war all the time is right on. Once I have good defenders settled on choke points or in exposed cities, I care very little if I am at war. The AI will spend lots and lots of its production building attacking units which have no real chance of taking my cities. I am amused to no end when the AI tries to throw Horse and Legion armies at my Pikemen armies. Best of all, they will stupidly feed my units some victories with their inferior units so that I get some upgrades for when the Knight armies (or Catapult armies) show up. An added bonus is that when I am ready to unleash my rush, all those attackers either at my border or swarming around my territory make excellent fodder to get my Knights or Tanks the upgrades they need to take enemy cities.

 

[Tecibbar]

Half of the civs won't war you at pleased, bribe the other half to attack each other. Learn diplomacy, and you won't need a large army to defend yourself.

 

[lordmacroer]

Yea, pay a thousand gold and all the AI does is send a single warrior into the opponents territory and beg for peace before it gets destroyed.

but hey at least if they are fighting eachother they are out of you'r hair for alitte while

 

[karlaug]

......

 

[Cedbird]

Hey ! I have been playing for a while and I don t see a way to get out of that . I have the Same Strategy of Never give in to a Bullys Demands unless you really need to buy some time then you Hit them up side the Head for being a Bully. But if you notice the More you say no the More Angrier they get. I think the Programmers put it in that the Ai to be more Aggressive toward you or it Could be My Paranoid Side . Lol .
But The only thing you can do is pay Attention to who is Cautious or Angry at you . Try to Open Borders or have Trade with them. Give them a little Gold if you can spare it. I don t go that far though. But if I am not Secure enought with my Standing and Don t want to go to War I make sure that I do not Trade with Nations that He is Angry With . They get alot madder if you notice your Relations with them it will say " You traded with my Worst Enemy " and send you messages like " I will Encourage you to stop Trading with my Ex Girlfriend " Lol. Have Fun

 

[parachute4u]

It´s no problem to give in to demands... At the start of the game, I usually pick my allies... If I meet Shaka on turn 100 and he asks for all my gold on turn 101, he will be my friend or my enemy for the rest of the game (depending on how much gold "all my gold" is... lol)
When I started to play Civ, I turned down every demand... But giving in to demands can be really helpful! As I said, I usually pick ONE guy at the start of the game and I never turn down anything he wants me to do. Convert? -- OK! Gift a tech? -- No problem! Adopt civic? -- Sure! Join a war? -- Of course! By doing this, I get an ally that I can rely on (after a while!). This ally will NOT backstab me, sometimes (very rare) he gets bribed to attack me, but well, that´s bad luck. Having one "friend" is a powerful position. Much better than turning down (and ultimately fighting) everyone...

Making "friends" with the aggressive guys is usually quite funny ^^ The will demand A LOT. But I had a couple of games when Shaka or Toku were the best allies that I could hope for. They were demanding a lot, but they were fighting a lot too! And they were fighting the dangerous guys ^^

 

[canvashat]

Don't forget to try and pit your enemies against each other.

Put troops around a capital.

Make cities that guard your cities, and the opponent must hate them.

Sell them.

Watch them do your dirty work.

 

[Link]

Is there any way to prevent the AI from ganging up on the human in single player mode? Smaller civilizations will demand stuff from me, and I will not give it so they start a war. They will send in like a legion army or two; it is pretty pathetic. This does not become a problem untill I have like 5 nations all at war with me because i did not give in to their demands.

In short, how do you make allies? and how can you prevent other nations from demanding stuff from you?

You play civ 4.