when do you declare a war?

[HamaticBabylon]

I declare war in about 16 turns into the game, and the war last until i have conqured the world!

 

[dgfred]

I war when ever needed . Usually one or two AI's will make an ill advised
attack early in the AA before I am totally ready , but most of the time
they are not really ready either and I and break the game open .

 

[dmanakho]

I usually wait until Cavalry and Railroad and then sweep everyone.

Ha!....
If you play at Emperor level and above you usually get sweeped way before this time if you don't start a war much earlier

 

[dmanakho]

usually, i declare a war at the middle ages for the first time. in the beginning i always pay attention to city building util i believe i will win .

First war should start as soon as iron is discovered...
If iron is discovered and you don't have any iron then there are even more reasons to go to war, preferably against the neigbor who has it... and this strategy is called archers rush. ('cause archers would be all you have to attack with).
on harder levels early war is the only way to keep with AI technology advances

 

[dmanakho]

but you know , when you declare a war , you would prepare to fight for several turns as the AI never accept your sueing for peace immediatly.Unless you have enough soldiers...

If you read other posts over here, you will see that soldiers is really all you need to build in AA. (well with exceptions of granaries and baracks in select cities, and temples at the borders).
So start the game discover iron build pack of swordsmans and destroy the enemy... as soon as you take over 2 or 3 cities AI will trade you if not all but most of the technologies and/or rest of the cities they have.

I usually try anihilate 1 or 2 opponents at AA if i can

 

[dmanakho]

A bit off topic.
Is there any diffrence, for your reputation, when you just start a war by attacking AI, and when you start a war by declaring it first (when you talk to that civ) ?

It depends... if you start war properly and end it properly your reputation is not getting bad (well with exception of the civ you started it against).
Those are the few rules of starting war if you want your reputation to stay high.
1. Never start war when your troops are on enemy territory. That is, first declare war and then enter troops to the enemy land. Otherwise it is called sneak attack and it will be nearly impossible to sign ROP in next millenia with AI civilizations.
2. Never break MA
3. Never break Peace Treaties. Peace treaties usually last 20 turns and if you were at war with someone and then declared peace wait 20 turns then go to the Foreign advisor break peace treaty and then war can safely begin again without blackening your reputation.
Hope that helps

 

[1337]

I once got a mutual protection and right of passage and landed troops into their territory. THen i turned on them and took most of their cities in one turn. Needless to say, no one ever signed MP or RoP with me again.

 

[Colonel]

Whenever I fight I always start a massive war right at the dawn of Industrial Age where every country including my self are fighting. Usaully its a split war and within twenty turns most are at peace but for the rest of the time random wars break out, and few Civ's may go down too.

 

[necrosmith]

Well, this is a rather open-ended question. I guess the correct answer would be, whenever it's necessary.

Generally, however, I try to avoid war until I've settled all the available territory. After that, it's a matter of what the situation dictates.

If I'm missing a key resource, I'll go to war with another civ to get it. If I have a chance to wipe somebody out with little risk, then I'll do that.

Once things are squared away, I'll then start a campaign to push all other civs off my continent.

This generally will put me in a Superpower type position at least by IA.

 

[justp360]

IF you declare war on any nation at the beginning then offer peace later on,
that nation will no longer trust you , and declare war you soon !!!
so you have to be careful when declaring war on any nation.
normally i delare war on one nation and destroy them for good.

we are the borg u will comply !

 

[Cuivienen]

Ha!....
If you play at Emperor level and above you usually get sweeped way before this time if you don't start a war much earlier

Not true at all! It isn't difficult to play a peaceful game on Emperor or even Demigod. Beyond that you're guaranteed an AI declaration by Gunpowder, but you can win even on Sid without declaring war (albeit with great difficulty).

 

[JoeCivFan]

I usually never right out attack another nation, unless its just the two of us left. Also I hardly ever declare war. I can usualy take any city I want by cultural conversions. When I want a war, I am really mean to the AI and get them to declare war on me and let them attack me first, because a lot of the time we have mutual protection pacts with the same nations. But the time in the game doesnt matter to me. As long as I can kick some booty!

There is one time when I dont worry about war and just totally destroy a nation and thats at the very begging if we get started too close together.

 

[BCLG100]

i fight pretty much non stop until the modern age, after that i enerally only do an america and pick on civs worse han me e.g. an age behind.

pointless smilie =

 

[Volstag]

I declare war when, and only when, I know I can absolutely crush my intended target. It also helps to begin pre-planning several turns before D-Day. I'll, generally, have stacks of doom waiting on the borders. When war comes, it's always nice to immediately capture/destroy 5+ towns on the first "war turn", and 5+ on the subsequent turn(s).

The age doesn't matter to me (unless there's a threat of enemy nukes).

-V

 

[general_kill]

I declare war when i have just finished a war where i begged for peace and am left with 10 spearmen as my standing army and where my enemy has an army 10 times my size.

 

[toh6wy]

I declare war whenever an AI is pissing me off (or has pissed me off before), or if I feel that I could easily and quickly take over an AI without too many repercussions, especially if that AI has strategic resources or luxuries that I don't have.

 

[ronok]

When I'm bored.

 

[Me-262]

I declare war anywhere from middle ages to modern.

 

[T-Money]

I only declare war when somebody has something that I want or when they get too cocky (demanding tribute, picking on my "lil brother" civ, or just basically pissing me off.) Or maybe if they messed with me in the past and I have the military might necessary to raze all but one of their cities. Basically, I only declare war when someone ****s with me/my friends. Or when I feel like it.