Whom to befriend?

[KerThud]

Standard size, normal speed, 7 civs, continents, Monarch. I'm on one end of a big island. Immediate neighbors are Isabella and Louis. On the far end are Ghandi and Mansu. I can never get Isabella to like me, so I don't plan to try here. It's early on and both Ghandi and Mansu are leading in score and tech. They seem to be starting to dislike each other, which is probably very good for me. Only Louis and I have no religion yet with Mansu being Confucian.

So my question is, whom do I try to befriend? If I buddy up with Louis, we can work together on Isabella. If I buddy up with one of the tech boys, I'll probably be on my own until I'm in a position to war with the other techhie. Any thoughts?

 

[Glinka]

Who says you have to choose? Become a Confuscian, and send missionaries to Louis. Trade techs and resources with them both. Attempt to get them to cease trading with Isabella: isolate her.

 

[Jantis]

Kill them all and let Sid sort them out.

 

[Doctor Love]

If you're not close friends with Isabella, then start planning to go to war with her. Chances are if you don't start it, she will.

 

[KerThud]

I'll try that with Louis...why not take advantage of his non-religiousness.

In my experience, you're right about Isabella. Is she like that with the AIs or just with us humans.

And--as much as it should be disturbing to write this--I guess my long term plan *is* to let Sid sort them all out....

 

[Toshiro126]

Isabella will attack you, most likely when all the land on the continent is claimed. At least that is how she treats me in my games. She is an early game pain in the butt, Louis will be one later in the game. He tends to attack in the 1800s or 1900s it seems like.

Ghandi and Mansu probably won't be as difficult to deal with. Of couse you could just build a big military and push everyone into the ocan.

 

[colony]

I'd try to get either Gandhi or Mansa on your side, probably the one who looks least like he could run away in terms of tech (you don't want to have to declare war on a friend to stop them building SS parts, although neither seem to build huge a huge military so they're not generally hard to invade).

I find that Isabella's one of the easiest AIs to please, simply convert to her religion (shouldn't hurt too much if you don't have one already) and you'll probably have a +4 modifier almost straight away, which seems to go up to about +8 quite fast. She's also quite happy to fight wars against anyone who isn't the same religion as herself, which can work against you if she becomes too powerful.

 

[Jantis]

Isabella will attack you, most likely when all the land on the continent is claimed. At least that is how she treats me in my games. She is an early game pain in the butt, Louis will be one later in the game. He tends to attack in the 1800s or 1900s it seems like.

Ghandi and Mansu probably won't be as difficult to deal with. Of couse you could just build a big military and push everyone into the ocan.

I seem to get this with Isabella and Catherine, no matter which level or other game settings. Backstabbing wenches!

 

[Glinka]

Remember, the "stop trading" and "go to war" options each incur a -1 diplomatic penalty with the victim, who automatically knows of your perfidy. But if Isabella dislikes you anyway, it doesn't really matter, does it? So try to get somebody else to attack her, if you can afford to trade them some techs. Just don't place them in a position so far ahead of everyone else, including yourself, that they are unstoppable. Normally, going to war means a slowdown of research and wonders for any civ involved in it, however--so it's a good way to keep an enemy or potential rival occupied.

 

[KerThud]

Remember, the "stop trading" and "go to war" options each incur a -1 diplomatic penalty with the victim, who automatically knows of your perfidy. But if Isabella dislikes you anyway, it doesn't really matter, does it? So try to get somebody else to attack her, if you can afford to trade them some techs. Just don't place them in a position so far ahead of everyone else, including yourself, that they are unstoppable. Normally, going to war means a slowdown of research and wonders for any civ involved in it, however--so it's a good way to keep an enemy or potential rival occupied.

With Isabella (and I agree, Catherine when she's in the game too), I probably won't have to worry about the diplo penalties since she'll attack me. About trading techs to go to war: are there techs that you specifically research so that you can trade them to foster war? It seems like when I get alphabet, that's often the only tech to trade for a while. I hold on to alphabet until at least a couple others (usually Ghandi or Mansa) have researched it on their own. But, when I get metal casting or mathematics or construction or calendar, I think they're too valuable to trade away. Maybe it's worth it though, if I can get them to go to war. Usually that option "can't be done" though. Do you have to gift techs one turn, then offer to trade yet another one for declaration of war the next turn?