What pushes an AI's buttons?

[ChesStrategy]

Ever had other AI leaders attack you only a couple of turns after trading with them? Ever had good relations with other AI leaders only to find that a few turns later...they become "cautious" again or even annoyed? Or ever have one leader declare war on you...only to have 5 of the other countries to join his/her ranks also?

I have been always wondering why AIs do what they do and what specific actions make them "ticked". Does hoarding wonders contribute to their annoyance? How effective would actually giving tribute or help be in maintaining "peaceful" or favorable relations? Does too advanced technology annoy them? Or the fact that you have been denying every faction an "open borders" agreement which I do alot. Since I don't believe the only factors in an AI player's annoyance is the "close tension borders" and the other negative feelings (shown in red; when you click on an AI leader's description).

Tell me what you guys think!

 

[bitplayer]

Dunno really. Well besides the obvious things like rel/civics changes. Im pretty sure they bribe each other to do things like stop trading with you etc as well. But I have no real proof of that as Ive no idea how much the various civs actually interact besides basic trades and what not.

 

[Proteus]

Isabella gets especially annoyed if you have the "wrong" state religion (i.e. every religion that is different from her own state religion ) if this is the case and you are neighbors you can with a very high probability say, that sooner or later there will be a war between her and yourself (exceptions might occur if her military is very weak compared to your military)

 

[Corporal Kindel]

I've noticed that barbarian activity significantly increases when you get two or more of the early wonders.

As far as the AIs, I've noticed that different religion plays a great role, how often you deny them tribute (I've never paid tribute or given free tech), open borders (it's best to always agree to open borders IMO). One big factor I've noticed is how weak your military is (if you're weak beware).

I think the best relationships occur when you have the same religion, open borders, and trade relationships.

It would be nice to know exactly how the +/- probabilities affect their chance of declaring way. Right now, I just have a vague idea of the influences, but I'd like to know more in depth the math (formula) behind what triggers an AI to declare war.

 

[patagonia]

It seems to me that the four most significant factors in the AI declaring war on you are:

• Having a low power rating compared to them (checking the power graph regularly is a good idea).
• Being a different religion to them (how big a factor depends on the AI leader - as stated earlier, Izzy is probably the biggest religious freak).
• The AI neighbouring you and having no more room in which to expand.
• The AI being Monty or Alex.

You can improve relations by opening borders, adopting the same religion, adopting a particular leader's favourite civic (this takes time to ramp-up, and is lost immediately if you switch away), trading techs or resources or giving tribute.

I remember reading something on here about AI personalities in one of the XML files which contained info about how likely they were to war, build wonders etc, but can't remember where now. That might explain a bit about how all these things are worked out.

 

[JoeBlade]

Seems to me the AI's behaviour is mainly personality-driven. Some are very tolerant and peaceful, others are extremely opportunistic, others still are outright psychotic.
Here are some I've experienced first hand:
- Alexander, Montezuma and Shaka (Warlords) are psychos and inclined to attack anyone who seems weak in their view. Keep an eye on the power graph with them about and make sure your border cities are well protected, unless you want to lure them into war of course.
In the long run you'll either want to eliminate them or pit them against another civ.
- Isabella is quick to declare when you have a different religion, with utter disregard of other factors (including relation modifiers)
Note that she does not seem to mind nearly as much when you have no state religion, though she'll frequently ask you to switch as soon as her religion is present in your cities.
This seems true as well of Ragnar in Warlords, and Huana Capac to a lesser extent.
- Stalin (Warlords) declares war seemingly randomly. I've had him declare on me even when his military power was substantially lower than mine. He's very fond of pillaging, which can be a real nuisance.
- Napoleon and to a lesser extent Catherine are quite ticked off by refusals to demands (help or tribute). I've had Nappy in particular declare on me a number of times for refusing 2 or 3 demands during the course of a game, all with apparent disregard of military power balance.

The other ones seem to be either generally peaceful or only attack when the relations vs. power balance drops below a certain treshold. I'm no doubt forgetting several civs with differing behaviour here though...

 

[wioneo]

Noone seems to have mentioned Tokugawa. I rarely even see him, but I've never not been attacked by him.

 

[Shillen]

I've seen the AI declare war a few times because its galley is stuck behind my borders and it wants to get its ship back home. (We don't have open borders because relations are bad and they won't give them to me.)

But yeah I think others hit the main points. Power and relations being the biggest.

 

[Proteus]

Noone seems to have mentioned Tokugawa. I rarely even see him, but I've never not been attacked by him.

He is an extreme isolationist.
It´s very rare that he trades with you, but it also doesn´t happen often that he attacks you (unless there are very good reasons ), but sometimes he makes requests concerning tech trades or concerning your relationships with nations he doesn´t like (but it doesn´t look like he does take actions against you if you don´t give in to his demands )

 

[manwiththehands]

Power rating. I always get attacked by any 'aggressive' personality if my power rating is substantially lower than theirs. And paying 'tribute' only delays the inevitable. I'm still learning to take heed and start building my military if anyone demands tribute.

 

[Pantastic]

- Isabella is quick to declare when you have a different religion, with utter disregard of other factors (including relation modifiers)
Note that she does not seem to mind nearly as much when you have no state religion, though she'll frequently ask you to switch as soon as her religion is present in your cities.

I hear from people that Isabella tends to backstab you, but I think that's religion related - I've never had her turn on me when we had the same religion. I think going NSR doesn't lower your relations that much but does make her see you as a target instead of a buddy.

I've seen some just plain suicidal DOWs too. On an Earth map, Toko declared war on my China while in the middle of a war with Wang; it's kind of odd surveying for a good landing, then going 'crap, too many units... wait, those aren't his'. I've also had weaker AIs wait until I finished a major war and brought my units home, then declare war on me. It's especially funny when they were your next target anyway.

 

[OceansEleven]

Military - If you have a big military, they won't ask for tribute as much, and then you won't have to say 'no' as often. Then they're also scared to attack you, sine you have a bigger one. In this game, I was #1, 2 or 3 in Military throughout the whole game. Only 1 guy declared war on me, and that was when they had a small military lead against me. They still lost =].

Religion - Only makes relationships worse or better. More of a reason to attack you.

Not giving help to them - Big one, for me. They always friggin ask me to go to war against someone or something. Even if they're annoyed with me. Idiots. What do you think I'll do? I only say yes if it is an advantage to me. Or if they want gold or a tech, and they're next to me and have a huge military, I'll reluclantly agree.


My military being the biggest in my current game, no one dared to declare war on me except 1 person. I just took over everyone else. Completely killed Tokugawa, leaving the rest for Peter. Then taking out Cyrus, leaving some for Mansa Musa *didn't want to*. Then taking out a good part of Mansa Musa, since he was getting too big and just declared war on Peter to get bigger.

I'd say Power and Religion are the top most factors of why they would do it. Not giving tribute and stuff the reason to do it.

 

[DarkFyre99]

one thing that hasn't been mentioned yet is trading with an AI's "worst enemy." Keep on eye on the AIs' relationship with each other, as well as your own.

In my latest game, I made the mistake of trading with the first AI in the "new world" that I met. Turned out that Gandhi had managed to tick off nearly every other AI on the continent by being the wrong religion. Isabella has quite a little religion-based power-block going over there.

 

[Shillen]

In my latest game, I made the mistake of trading with the first AI in the "new world" that I met. Turned out that Gandhi had managed to tick off nearly every other AI on the continent by being the wrong religion. Isabella has quite a little religion-based power-block going over there.

This happens really often. It's usually wise not to trade with the first AI you meet with your caravel.

 

[voek]

Like being said, leaders behave differently. They have their own reaction. Powerrate, relationmodifiers and religion push the AI's buttons. It depends on the type of leader how strong the three different 'powers' influence relations with other civs.

Most of the time it isn't possible to maintain good relations with all AI's. In fact you don't want this either most of the time. You will want to create a few power or diplo blocks. You will have friendly civs, neutral civs and enemy's. Trade with your allies and help them or let them help you take out your foes. When it's time, you backstab your ally, but that's the warmongering approach. Creating dilpomatic blocks is also very helpful for winning peacefully like diplovic.

Dilpomacy can be a real winner for your game. you shouldn't always reject tech demands or refuse a war you didn't planned to. Agreeing these demands can help your relationship and help you in the longer term. I think Alex is a good example. If it's possible to maintain good relationship with him (same religion, agree his demands) and maintain a good powerrate, he will be an excellent ally and will warmonger with you whenever you like.

 

[cabert]

power and relations... all has been said here

Just a little reminder : the AI decides to attack, then it takes a lonnnng time for the units to enter your territory. something like 10/20 turns. You can see an AI is already decided to attack someone (could be you) when in the trade window, you can't bribe him to attack anyone because "we already have enough on our hands"

 

[voek]

Just a little reminder : the AI decides to attack, then it takes a lonnnng time for the units to enter your territory. something like 10/20 turns. You can see an AI is already decided to attack someone (could be you) when in the trade window, you can't bribe him to attack anyone because "we already have enough on our hands"

Hmm, not in my experience actualy. I have seen it often that the AI masses troops along my border and moves them in as soon as they declare war. This surprised me since they didn't do this in previous civ versions. I think it depends on the reason of war. When it's because of a low power rate, they prepare for it and move in troops first. When it's for other reasons (refusal of a demand or some other AI bribed them) they aint prepared and it takes much longer before troops move in.

 

[cabert]

Hmm, not in my experience actualy. I have seen it often that the AI masses troops along my border and moves them in as soon as they declare war. This surprised me since they didn't do this in previous civ versions. I think it depends on the reason of war. When it's because of a low power rate, they prepare for it and move in troops first. When it's for other reasons (refusal of a demand or some other AI bribed them) they aint prepared and it takes much longer before troops move in.

did you check the trade possibilities?
very often, when you see troops massing at your border, the AI is already set for a war vs you.

During the time between the decision (at a point where your power and relations / AI were not good enough) and the attack, you can still trade (even for gold /turn ) with the AI. The only thing that will tell you it's coming is the redded options for bribing them to war and the caption.

 

[voek]

Ok, I agree on the fact the AI has long decided for a war against you before the initial attack. I just having a hard time screening for this in the trade screen, since I often find a lot of AI won't attack other AI (turn red) anyway most of the time. So it's hard to tell the difference.

Is it true that from the point the AI 'decides for a war against you' ALL bribes for war are refused (red), when they were not before?

I often look for other predictors, but it might help a little,

 

[cabert]

Ok, I agree on the fact the AI has long decided for a war against you before the initial attack. I just having a hard time screening for this in the trade screen, since I often find a lot of AI won't attack other AI (turn red) anyway most of the time. So it's hard to tell the difference.

Is it true that from the point the AI 'decides for a war against you' ALL bribes for war are refused (red), when they were not before?

I often look for other predictors, but it might help a little,

other predictors are :
- troops heading your way
- trade cancelation (open borders!)

what i usually do :
- nothing while i'm high in power and/or good relations towards "normal" neighbours
- checking the possibles trades with psychos,
- and when a psycho isn't willing to declare any war, i check the reasons for the redded items.
- when i'm low on power, i check the possible trades for everyone!