Why am I always been attacked?

[Anofalye]

Hi guys,

First, I play an extremely peacefull game. I never declare war on anyone, unless it is retaliation for a past war in the late game, when the game is over anyway. I never conquer any enemy city, unless again, it is payback time in the extremely late game and that this past war really piss me for some reason, most past wars are just forgotten, but sometimes, an action piss me for some reason. No matter how annoying a situation is, I find a way around.

I have significant military and always repel invaders badly. My civilisation is almost always 1 of the smallest in raw size. I always share the same religion as most of my direct neighbors. I always clean all forest in my land as they provide cover for invading unit and they give a nice production boost, which is always welcome.

Yet, I always find myself been invaded and attacked by some other country. I mean, an occasionnal war sure...but always? Can't I be at peace for most of the game? Not like I am invading anyone, I am not.

I just wonder why it is so, why am I always finding peoples wanting to wage war on me, again, and again, and again, and again? When I am looking for peace and can obviously defend myself.

Does it has something to do with the fact I never give in to presponderous demands? (attack X, cut trade with Y, give us that, these are automatically denied no matter the request)

The civs are warmongers, a lot more then what they used to be. I could select always peace, but then it would be boring. I wish there was a mostly peace option.

 

[LiberiGlacialis]

BtS, if I remember that manual correctly, added in a patch to regular Civ IV that amped the AI's aggression. Also, some AIs are naturally more aggressive then others (Bloody Khan, stop attacking me while I race towards the stars)

and, um, yea. They don't like it if you don't do what they say...

 

[hoopsnerd]

just a quick tip -- i had the same problem when civ 4 came out and i hate being agreeable with the AI. If you don't want to go to war, but two of your friends are at war, you need to bribe them to make peace or else they will both constantly ask you to declare war with the other, stop trading with the other, give them techs, etc. and then get -1 diplo point each time you dont. I think this is really stupid and should be chalked up to "micromanagement that needs to be taken out of the game".

 

[Game-God]

In this game I have found that you'll have "Friends" and you'll have "Enemies", simply because the AI will have varying degrees of like/dislike for each other and you.

The old adage works in reverse here I think "Keep you friends close, and your enemies closer." I do just the oposite. I make friends with those that are right next to me no matter who they are keep them happy with "Just enough to get away with it", and then make sure they hate the same people I hate by getting them to go to war with those civs at least once in the early part of the game when techs are cheap enough to be given away, and you can get ahead again afterwards.

This will allow them to be hated by those other civs for the rest of the game if you keep at it and it strengthens your ability to keep the other civs you hate at bay since they have to get through your "Friend" to get to you. (on most map types), and until the enemy can build better hauling ships like after Astronomy's Galleon, you'll pretty safe from warring.

 

[Inspector Javert]

You must be French.

Sorry I just couldn't resist

 

[eewallace]

I sometimes like to play peaceful games, too. I think it is a bit tougher to do so with BTS, but not impossible. Probably one of the key points is that the AI seems to keep much closer watch on if (or where) your civ has a military weakness. And the solution is--don't have them! No more lightly-defended cities. Build walls, archers, forts, etc., and never let yourself be among the civs that have the lowest military power--they get attacked no matter how friendly they are.

Here are two ideas for playing toward a peaceful victory. (1) Set up a custom game and reduce the number of AI opponents. Everyone will have more room to spread, and you can have some pretty good defenses in place by the time your neighbors come knocking. (2) Start with a civ that has a good early UU, and eliminate your nearby neighbors in ancient times to give yourself room to expand (and also hopefully some promoted military units and a general or two), then build up your military but develop cooperative tech/trade/religion with the remaining civs. Of course, depending on what level you are playing on, you are likely to get attacked anyway when the AI civs see that you are close to victory. (Particularly space race I think. I've managed to sneak in a cultural victory without getting attacked, so maybe the AI doesn't track that as closely. Haven't managed diplomatic yet with BTS...)

 

[Armorydave]

For the OP, are you sure you don't have aggressive AI's checked? If you checked it once it will stay on till you check it off.

I find the game too passive even with aggressive AI. Over the course of 6,000 years it stands to reason a Civilization would get attacked and/or go to war dozens (hundreds?) of times. I am lucky if I get attacked 10 times in a game.

 

[blitzkrieg1980]

Wow. 10 times is plenty even with Aggressive AI. The game isn't solely a military strategy, it's a "civilization simulator". Having any more wars declared on you by the AI would make any part of civ besides barracks, dry dock, stable, airport, pentagon, heroic epic, and fighting units completely moot. 10 is too much for me. I'll incite the wars, thank you

 

[Josephias]

Take into account that, with the diplomacy system, you cannot be friend of everyone. Every AI has friends and enemies, and gets upset at you if you are a friend of its enemies. As you comment:

Does it has something to do with the fact I never give in to presponderous demands? (attack X, cut trade with Y, give us that, these are automatically denied no matter the request)

It might have sometingh to do with that. Being a "friend of all" will push you towards a neutral status... then if AI makes demands to you, and you reject, it can further move to a hostile status. Add close borders, agressive leaders, any "faux pas" event...

If you are a friend of everione, you feel not trustable, therefore, not a friend of anyone.

 

[hoopsnerd]

For the OP, are you sure you don't have aggressive AI's checked? If you checked it once it will stay on till you check it off.

I find the game too passive even with aggressive AI. Over the course of 6,000 years it stands to reason a Civilization would get attacked and/or go to war dozens (hundreds?) of times. I am lucky if I get attacked 10 times in a game.

In all fairness, history probably wouldn't have turned out that way had each leader been given a 6000+ year lifespan...

 

[VLGoldenJew]

The hardest thing for me to do playing Civ was (per the advice on these boards!) realizing that you have to put up with the AI's ridiculous demands to keep shappy and not be constantly at war. At the start of the game, pick your friends (usually dictated by size and religion), and suck up to them for the rest of the game, without fail. It may hurt your soul to give them good technology when they won't trade tech with you, but good relations, plus a good army, will keep them from invading (usually). Reducing wars fought will then reduce the "opportunistic" wars that seem to break out when you're being beaten on by your neighbors (and Montezuma decides to land grab), and will allow you to better peacemonger.

Sure, it's annoying, but much like in real life, it's the way you have to play, if you want a relatively peaceful game.

 

[Yzman]

Do you ever check the power graph?

Civs like to attack civs weaker than them. Especially civs like shaka and others. Even if you don't like war, make sure you have an army ready for war. If you do you will find that you almost never get declared on.

I usually get declared war on once, if at all if I don't instigate it.

Like the game says, "You can get much further with a kind word and a gun than you can with a kind word alone."

 

[MrScorpio]

Do you ever check the power graph?

Civs like to attack civs weaker than them. Especially civs like shaka and others. Even if you don't like war, make sure you have an army ready for war. If you do you will find that you almost never get declared on.

I usually get declared war on once, if at all if I don't instigate it.

Like the game says, "You can get much further with a kind word and a gun than you can with a kind word alone."

I agree with this. If you don't want to fight, build the biggest and most powerful military (which is kind of silly when you think about it because if you want to fight, you do the same thing).

Also, keep the agg civs busy by bribing them to fight other civs as much as possible. You have to be careful with this though becase you don't want anyone to take over too much and become too powerful. So you have to really balance it out with your bribes.

I myself am not a warmongerer, but war is a big part of my game. I fight for strategic purposes (land, resources, cities) primarily and vengeance secondarily.

 

[dante alighieri]

Hi guys,

First, I play an extremely peacefull game. I never declare war on anyone, unless it is retaliation for a past war in the late game, when the game is over anyway. I never conquer any enemy city, unless again, it is payback time in the extremely late game and that this past war really piss me for some reason, most past wars are just forgotten, but sometimes, an action piss me for some reason. No matter how annoying a situation is, I find a way around.

I have significant military and always repel invaders badly. My civilisation is almost always 1 of the smallest in raw size. I always share the same religion as most of my direct neighbors. I always clean all forest in my land as they provide cover for invading unit and they give a nice production boost, which is always welcome.

Yet, I always find myself been invaded and attacked by some other country. I mean, an occasionnal war sure...but always? Can't I be at peace for most of the game? Not like I am invading anyone, I am not.

I just wonder why it is so, why am I always finding peoples wanting to wage war on me, again, and again, and again, and again? When I am looking for peace and can obviously defend myself.

Does it has something to do with the fact I never give in to presponderous demands? (attack X, cut trade with Y, give us that, these are automatically denied no matter the request)

The civs are warmongers, a lot more then what they used to be. I could select always peace, but then it would be boring. I wish there was a mostly peace option.

Well, I agree with what others have said, since I like to be a peaceful builder myself. I'm no expert but here is what I try to do:

1)Have the most advanced army, or at least be on the same level as the the others civs. If you have axemen and warriors and your neighbor has swords and macemen you might be a viable target.

2) I don't start wars unlessI really have to. (If I need horses and you've got them in the early game I might take that city if its feasible. In other words, I only go after civs with resources I need.) I don't get greedy about it. I didn't have iron in my last game until the modern era (when it suddenly was "discovered" near one of my cities) so I built units that could counter iron based units. It wasn't worth the flack to take it from my neighbor. But if he was just a bit weaker, I would have.

3) If you really don't want to fight a war, but are invaded, fight defensively. Make sure you can utterly destroy any stack the AI comes at you with. The BtS AI throws some pretty big stacks, too. I always try to kill the troops with it and then smash the seige weapons before they really get a chance to use it. If they do make it to the city gates I try to let them throw the troops at my defenders first before counterattacking. If you have a decent defense in the city they'll weaken themselves enough to be worn down. This is, of course, based on the idea that you have a butt load of troops in the city.

4) Unless a civ is ridiculously weak its not that easy to eliminate them completely unless you want to commit to a very long war. If my neighbor attacks me repeatedly I'll wait until peacetime, build a few giant stacks and take a bite out of his territory. I'll raze the cities since its usually not in my interest to keep them defended. The enemy is going to hate you forever anyway, so I try to make sure they're too weak to threaten me again. In my last game I failed to do this so I had to fight three wars with the same enemy over time. I should have stomped a mudhole in his *** earlier on.

5) If you bring an AI civ to its knees and it won't vassalize, then destroy them. They'll only capitulate with one of your other enemies and be a pain in the butt later if you don't.

6) I hate to admit it, but sometimes you have to give in to outrageous demands. As I said, in my last game I had to fight three wars with Germany. I avoided a fourth (but i know it will come before games end) by giving Bismarck one of his demands. I had better troops but he had a ginormous army and he could have overwhelmed me with numbers. (Too late for that now.... I can't wait to get home and finish this game since I've built up a large force specifically to counter attack him.)

I hope that helps. As I said I'm not an expert and I get my head handed to me a few times. It works for me most times though, but being new to BtS i may have to amend a few of my own "rules".