These jokers won't get the hint

[1940LaSalle]

I'm sure everyone here has had instances where troops from the AI will come across the border. You know the drill: tell 'em to get lost and maybe work a deal/maybe not, and they back off--usually. Recently I ran into a situation where one of the AI civs (the Dutch, if that matters) came back a second time, got thrown out, and it didn't end there. I kept throwing them out, and ultimately they declared war.

Now, since it was early on, I was far more interested in building an infrastructure and getting to some reasonable point in technology (e.g., gunpowder) as opposed to getting distracted by some nuisance war that would only cost time and money--and yield the further nuisances of war weariness since I had the republic in effect. Ultimately I negotiated a treaty that was pretty much a wash. But within a few turns, those same bozos started it again, and I wound up with a second war that was every bit the pain in the *** as the first one, even though a couple of Dutch cities got leveled. Second peace treaty: about the same as the first. And don't you know they came back a third time? At that point I got fed up with dealing with a war on one hand and unrest everywhere on the other and flushed the game into oblivion.

So what does one do in a case like this? I doubt the right answer is to declare war on the first offense, or maybe the second; however, if the AI doesn't get the hint after two ejections, should I let 'em have it? After all, they invaded me and not vice versa. And does the AI ever really get the hint that it's unwelcome?

 

[puwen]

No the AI never realy get the hint.

I've had the feeling tho, that if you after that first war decleration (from them not leaving your territory) completly kill off that civ the others is abit more reluctant to come into your territory, but as said thats just a feeling.

 

[Turner]

They want to get to some kind of unoccupied territory on the other side of yours. You could just let them through.... Or not. I will take five units to escort them around. Eventually they'll lose interest and leave.

 

[Lanzelot]

If they declare on you, you should get war happiness, not war weariness?! So I would regard this as a very welcome event. (As long as they are not doing any real damage, of course...)
So I would just fend off any units they might be sending my way, but otherwise "ignore" that war and just reap the benefits of war happiness for as long as possible.

 

[1940LaSalle]

All I know is that I eliminated the units on my soil, and then went after them on their own soil after they started it. Could it be the fact that it took some time and a number of units to eliminate defenders yielded war weariness?

I should note this nonsense took place before either side had firearms of any type, so we're talking about archers attacking spearmen (as an example). In several instances, there were multiple defenders I had to take out, so it turned into something of a meat grinder.

If I understand your recommendations, then the approach should have been to eliminate the invaders and then just pretend the aggressors aren't even there unless they bother me again. If so, would the aggressors eventually come around and ask for a treaty?

 

[Snarkhunter]

All I know is that I eliminated the units on my soil, and then went after them on their own soil after they started it. Could it be the fact that it took some time and a number of units to eliminate defenders yielded war weariness?

I should note this nonsense took place before either side had firearms of any type, so we're talking about archers attacking spearmen (as an example). In several instances, there were multiple defenders I had to take out, so it turned into something of a meat grinder.

If I understand your recommendations, then the approach should have been to eliminate the invaders and then just pretend the aggressors aren't even there unless they bother me again. If so, would the aggressors eventually come around and ask for a treaty?

The other approach is just take a few extra units & block the border so they can't cross or move any deeper. This works best if the invaders move 1, not 2; 3-4 units will usually do the trick. And the units can be anything, workers, whatever. The AI will spend a number of weary turns trying to find a place to cross, then give it up for a while. If you then settle the empty spaces they are trying to get to, they give up permanently (until they want to send an AI SOD & attack you!).

The border blocking trick is a way to postpone a war until you are ready for it; then when the AI comes back into your territory, you can infuriate it into declaring, usually.

kk

 

[Lanzelot]

Could it be the fact that it took some time and a number of units to eliminate defenders yielded war weariness?

I should note this nonsense took place before either side had firearms of any type, so we're talking about archers attacking spearmen (as an example). In several instances, there were multiple defenders I had to take out, so it turned into something of a meat grinder.

Yes, if you have high losses, it will lead to war weariness quickly. Also if their units remain inside your borders for more than a turn, it increases war weariness. If you want war happiness for a long period of time, you need to keep your losses low (swordsmen/horsemen against their spearmen) and to clean up any invaders in the first turn after they have entered your territory (or better even outside your border).

If I understand your recommendations, then the approach should have been to eliminate the invaders and then just pretend the aggressors aren't even there unless they bother me again. If so, would the aggressors eventually come around and ask for a treaty?

Once they have suffered heavy losses (perhaps even loosing a town or two), you can ask for a tech, some gold or even a size-1 town in the peace treaty and they will give it to you! (Of course depends on the difficulty level and on their overall strength.)

Lanzelot

 

[Omni314]

what i tend to do is find the shortest lenght across my country and put a line of units there so it blocks them from going through, it's annoying to have units like that but more would probably be lost in war

 

[Optional]

So what does one do in a case like this?

If it's a civ that's technologically doing alright you could try and get a tech for cheap. I just had a nice example from a game I'm in right now; the Spanish had declared war on me, and this war was already going on for a while. Spain was on different landmass, but had some settlements on my landmass as well. I had taken those settlements already, and wasn't planning on invading Spain itself. I had no interest in the war, except I got war happiness from it, and then I need a good reason to sign peace.

Then I saw Spain had learnt Education, a tech I was missing, as I was going the lower half of the tech tree - I was Viking, for Berserks you need to take the lower half. That was a reason for me to call Spain. Education had no monopoly, Inca knew it as well, and because I had already taken some towns from Spain, I thought I could get Education on the cheap. It still cost me 55 gpt or something, but I made the deal. Spain was still surrounding me with lots of galleys that it could never get out of the way fast. So the next couple of turns I requested Spain withdrew their forces. Only the third time the 'leave or declare' option came up. Spain immediately declared again. That was exactly what I had hoped for, because now I got my war happiness back, and I didn't need to pay 55 gpt anymore.
EDIT: I remember now that I had been able to sell Education further down the line for a few nice gpt deals as well, and that money kept coming in, so it had been a great transaction!
So sometimes you can turn these situations into your advantage.

 

[Spoonwood]

In general, just let them walk over your territory. Especially if they only really have a settler/spear, settler/archer, settler/warrior combo. On a higher level pangea map it's almost a necessity to let those combo units roam where they want to... roam around the world. If they settler a city at one end of your empire and the rest lay at another end of your empire you'll also probably get units waltzing over your empire from one city to another... and they usually don't mean to attack you. If they end up at war with a neighbor they'll also often end up waltzing on your territory with no intention of attacking you. Sometimes you'll see a large army march over your territory just to attack your neighbor instead of you. Generally speaking, unless you want them to declare on you don't tell them "leave or declare".

Turning down the aggression level can also help decrease the probabilty of an unwanted attack.