What is Dido doing?

[Circlet the Zen]

For the past 25 turns Dido has had an army of about 15 troops (trebuchets, muskets and longswords) sitting on my border, walking back and forth between the nearest tiles. We have a Declaration of Friendship. Is she waiting for it to end so that she can declare war or what? If so, why is she declaring war when I have five positives and only one negative (spies caught stealing)?

 

[Unresolved]

She's probably preparing to backstab you. DoF's don't mean a whole lot if they want to kill you.

 

[bdporter]

Is she at war with anyone else? Her units could just be looking for a route to that empire.

 

[Civ4Pengbo]

Theo is probably one of the most duplicitous leaders in the game. She will smile at you one turn with nothing but green in the diplomacy mouse over an then nothing but red in it next turn as she tells you she never really liked you.

You should trust just as far as you could trow any of her 15 troops.

Having said that if you have the army to take her then back off. Move your troops aways so she can't see them but keep them ready. Then when she makes her move kill them all and take her cities.

 

[Browd]

If you've upgraded (or built) a unit or two after she first showed up or accumulated more gold, the change in your military power rating has probably put her on a knife's edge about DOWing you -- hence her units' dithering movement.

I had this with Genghis in my last game. He had a bunch of warriors and archers milling around my cities, so I held off upgrading to Comp Bows in the hopes he would DOW me. Made demands, denounced him -- nothing worked. Finally upgraded my units, and his units scattered like the wind. Had to chase them down to destroy them -- quite tedious.

 

[ImperialChaos]

Rule: never trust Dido. If you can; go to war and destroy her. The war music for Carthage is epic, too.

 

[The Saharan Spy]

Then she wants to go yodeling to to ur capital. So just be ready. If she declares war on u, quote this "if the enemy attacks u at ur home, than mice ur army to invade their homeland so the enemy must pull back to defend" so in other words, if she declares war on u, and she is kicking u in the butt, try invading her land so it will force the AI to withdraw

 

[apocalypse105]

She is backstabing you like all Ai will do if you have a weak military ignore positif modifiers they don't mean anything in civ 5 which is a shame

 

[Putmalk]

She is backstabing you like all Ai will do if you have a weak military ignore positif modifiers they don't mean anything in civ 5 which is a shame

Heh. ^_^

If you're curious I've added AI DoFs giving you gifts/allowing the player to request help from the AI (just like they can do now).

 

[docbud]

I had a game like that last night, and Bluetooth moved a ton of troops around my two cities. I was expecting war, but then they suddenly marched right by me and went towards a city state that was near me. Since he had already gobbled up other city states, I immediately became allies of the three city states near me and pledged to protect.

He then moved his troops back to within his borders.

I agree with everyone here: I hate Dido. I have never had a game where she did not backstab me.

 

[Sonic Boom]

She is backstabing you like all Ai will do if you have a weak military ignore positif modifiers they don't mean anything in civ 5 which is a shame

Not necessarily. I've had experiences with a few of the AIs where building a positive relationship was actually worth it. I remember once I was playing on a Pangea map as Korea and I had Russia as my neighbor. Catherine began to become runaway and I was expecting her to come near my borders at any time to crush my clearly inferior army. I was surprised when I went through the entire game with nothing but defensive pacts and positive modifiers without a single backstab from her, even if she could have easily destroyed me out of the game.

Granted, France also started to runaway and he had a good half of the map all to himself, so perhaps she saw our mutual protection as necessary to her own survival as France wiped out 3 civs.

 

[Arachnofiend]

Funnily enough, my last game as Theo had Dido as the one AI that liked me. We were on opposite sides of the Pangaea and were both being hyper violent warmongers, me wiping Austria and Celtia off the map while Dido conquered Babylon and a couple city-states. With every remaining civ absolutely disgusted with us I suppose she figured that it would be useful to have at least one ally.

...Moral of the story is that the AI isn't really as stupid as reported and doesn't get angry at the player for the sake of it. You gotta play that diplo game and if done properly you can make a life long ally out of even the most untrustworthy leaders.

 

[mike1117112]

Odd, I just finished a game where Dido was my BFF from the beginning of time until I shot off into space. Trades, RAs, DOF, defense pact. The works. First civ I met in that game, she offered DOF a few turns later, and it lasted the entire game. I was surprised. But she was almost dead last in pointy sticks, and I was the clear leader. Genghis attacked her, I obliterated him.
I was getting back into the game after some time away, getting ready for BNW. Set the difficulty down to Prince, and had a great game to welcome me back. It was a race between her and I, her culture against my tech. I won, but one of my more enjoyable games.
New game, the lady is up to her old tricks again. Oh well, it was fun while it lasted.

 

[blackcatatonic]

Dido once declared war on me in the middle of a DoF (with RA) so yes, I'd say she's plotting to turn your cities into grazing grounds for her elephants.

On a related note, how common is it for the AI to backstab you mid-DoF with a RA? It's only happened to me twice (the other time was Pachacuti, who is also an absolute $@&*!! - I also had Isabella DoF and then DoW me, but she was much more powerful and it was so obvious she was coming for me that despite the DoF I didn't bother with signing an RA), but I never play higher than Emperor. I have no idea if it becomes more common at higher levels (I'd expect so).

In principle I don't have a problem with the AI doing it occasionally - very occasionally - but I do feel that the declared-on partner in the RA should receive a portion of their half of the invested funds back.

 

[Putmalk]

Dido once declared war on me in the middle of a DoF (with RA) so yes, I'd say she's plotting to turn your cities into grazing grounds for her elephants.

On a related note, how common is it for the AI to backstab you mid-DoF with a RA? It's only happened to me twice (the other time was Pachacuti, who is also an absolute $@&*!! - I also had Isabella DoF and then DoW me, but she was much more powerful and it was so obvious she was coming for me that despite the DoF I didn't bother with signing an RA), but I never play higher than Emperor. I have no idea if it becomes more common at higher levels (I'd expect so).

In principle I don't have a problem with the AI doing it occasionally - very occasionally - but I do feel that the declared-on partner in the RA should receive a portion of their half of the invested funds back.

It should be based on their victory condition, their attitude toward you (Deceptive rather than Friendly), and their Loyalty, really.

 

[apocalypse105]

Not necessarily. I've had experiences with a few of the AIs where building a positive relationship was actually worth it. I remember once I was playing on a Pangea map as Korea and I had Russia as my neighbor. Catherine began to become runaway and I was expecting her to come near my borders at any time to crush my clearly inferior army. I was surprised when I went through the entire game with nothing but defensive pacts and positive modifiers without a single backstab from her, even if she could have easily destroyed me out of the game.

Granted, France also started to runaway and he had a good half of the map all to himself, so perhaps she saw our mutual protection as necessary to her own survival as France wiped out 3 civs.

Coulld happen but its rare the AI isn't playing as a human like a lot of people say diplomacy is just random and bad implented you sometimes just need good luck sometimes the world is agianst you or somethings you can stay peacefull.

 

[Putmalk]

Coulld happen but its rare the AI isn't playing as a human like a lot of people say diplomacy is just random and bad implented you sometimes just need good luck sometimes the world is agianst you or somethings you can stay peacefull.

That's not...true. As someone who's looked extensively at the diplomatic AI...diplomacy isn't random. There are some random factors, but the AI isn't doing things at the drop of the hat just because it wants to.

 

[apocalypse105]

That's not...true. As someone who's looked extensively at the diplomatic AI...diplomacy isn't random. There are some random factors, but the AI isn't doing things at the drop of the hat just because it wants to.

Maybe random is a bad word Maybe I should say it is bad implented. thats why we have these topic these days.

 

[Wir0s]

Dido backstabing? She is so nice!

I've had her as ally entire games, for me... Soliman is the one u cant trust

 

[The Saharan Spy]

Dido backstabing? She is so nice!

I've had her as ally entire games, for me... Soliman is the one u cant trust

Who is soliman? I don't recognize that civ. is it a mod)?