Why do all AI gang up on me?

[Roddyb28]

This is my first post though I played CIV3 and CIV4 avidly and now have 800 hours on CIV5. My problem is that in my current game (v 1.0.0.621;Gandhi;Prince;Oval map;Standard size) within a few turns all 7 AI declare war on me . Clearly my diplomacy sucks but I don't know why .
Earlier in the game I eliminated 2 City states and got the warning that the others were forming an alliance against me. But nothing seemed to come of it. Sometimes later I declared war on Augustus and took one city from him (near to my empire and a long way from his). I then made a peace treaty as soon as he offered. I then had 8 cities. I made no further attacks on either City States or other civs.
A lot later Napoleon (a neighbour) DoWed. At that stage only Elizabeth was showing as hostile. I was technologically the most advanced and had Riflemen (8), Cannons (4) and knights (3). On the demographics screen I was showing up as the largest army. For 2 or 3 turns I fought him and destoyed whatever he threw at me. Then one turn 3 AI DoWed and 2 or 3 turns later the remainder did . I lost.
What am I doing wrong?

 

[Civ'ed]

Were you close to any sort of victory?

 

[wurstburst]

The AI have all sorts of reasons that they can hate you. It's rather hard to keep them happy with you. Try to have pacts of cooperation with civs, research agreements and trade agreements in place with as many as possible. Don't settle too close. Be strong in your army (although this also can get them mad ). Don't attack city states.

In the end, the AI is crazy. And the only counter is to have overwhelming military might so that when they do DoW on you (and they WILL), you can kick their collective butts.

Finally, learn to fight better. With the strongest army, you should be able to counter even several AI's DoW on you at the same time. Don't split up your army. With 15 units, you should have had 2 or 3 at most groups of units. Knights to harass, rifle to protect and defend and occassionally take out a unit, cannon to blow stuff up from afar. Never leave a unit on open terrain at the end of the turn where it can be attacked. If you have a lot of AI's attacking at once, you must defend. Let them come to you. They will likely play it stupid and you can pick them apart easily. Also, never garrison a unit in a city under threat. If the AI takes the city, you lose the unit and they don't help much in defense. Better to let the city get taken and then take it back with your units, so the AI loses a garrisoned unit.

 

[eric_]

In the end, the AI is crazy. And the only counter is to have overwhelming military might so that when they do DoW on you (and they WILL), you can kick their collective butts.

This isn't true in my experience. I've managed to maintain peace for whole games while fielding a *very* small military.

I posted an article in the Strategy Articles thread that discusses the various methods I use to maintain peace.

 

[kaltorak]

Just wait for next patch Roddy, it's beeing fixed

 

[scytheavatar]

Earlier in the game I eliminated 2 City states and got the warning that the others were forming an alliance against me. But nothing seemed to come of it.

Shouldn't that give you a hint that you are doing something very wrong? Declaring war on a City State is one of the easiest ways to get the AI to DoW you, since any civ friendy to the city state will certainly hate you for invading their friend. The other surefire way to get war declared on you is to settle too close to an AI; they will definitely DoW you if they need space to expand.

 

[Roddyb28]

Civ'ed - Not near any sort of victory. I unusally win by domination and here all 8 civs still had their capitals.

wurstburst - I had 3 research agreements going, several open borders and many trade agreements (I had traded out all my spare iron and horses in 2's and 3's). So I probably had trades with every AI. I hadn't settled any new cities since before attacking the first City State. I was following your suggestions on fighting. I defeated Napoleon's first wave; I defeated Ramesses first wave. My units were somewhat damaged but squaring up to Napoleon's second wave. Then Bismark DoWed and attacked me on the undefended side of the empire.

eric_ - I have completed 9 previous victories and I have only had a similar issue once (then a few AI DoWed and I defended OK). I'm trying to get a read on what triggered the AI response this time or was it random? My suspicion it was my early attacks on the 2 City States. I'm also going to read your other post on keeping the peace.

kaltorak - Are you suggesting this issue is known and the AI will be amended in a later release?

I have never seen the AI gang up on a single AI. Does this happen or is it just the human player they hate?

Anyway, thanks for all your suggestions .

 

[kaltorak]

kaltorak - Are you suggesting this issue is known and the AI will be amended in a later release?

Yes, it's been said officially that the patch they are working on focuses on fixing diplomacy and AI.

 

[alpaca]

'Cos they hate your guts, easily explained

As to why they do, search me. The AI as it is seems to rely on random factors like you being somewhere near their summer palace and doesn't have any memory of good conduct in the past on your part at all.

They are, however, more likely to attack you if you have a good score or are an aggressive, scheming warmonger bastard (read: like me).

 

[Rohili]

They are ganging up on you because of your warmongering ways. AI tolerance of a warmongering human player is quite low - attack a couple of civs or CS and most of the other AI will hate you.

 

[RedRover57]

The AI is very erratic in this game, to say the least. In a recent game, Gandhi DOWed me after we had been best buds for most of the game. I was playing a China ICS strategy, and this may have been triggered by my founding a city too close to his border (although we were still at least 10 tiles apart). The strange thing is that prior to his DOW he canceled our PoC for "warmongering" although I had only been in one previous war with France and that was over 100 turns before. In addition, Gandhi's rationale for attacking me was that he saw a weakness in my defenses!? But the best part was that after I had killed off about 15 of his troops with no losses of my own I went to check if he would accept a peace treaty and his reply was "Oh I see you have had enough"

I think you just have to assume that the AI is crazy and will eventually DOW you no matter what you do. So kill them first, ask questions later.

 

[Snapp]

# of cities definatly plays a factor on DoW.

With a small army all civs will declare war on you at about city #7 consistently.

 

[bryanw1995]

This isn't true in my experience. I've managed to maintain peace for whole games while fielding a *very* small military.

I posted an article in the Strategy Articles thread that discusses the various methods I use to maintain peace.

just finished an emperor OCC cultural victory. never got into any war or even had anybody hostile with me. only units I ever built were a catapult and a pikeman, neither of which I ever bothered to upgrade. how'd I do it?

1. open borders with everybody all the time. usually I sold them sometimes gave OB for OB, sometimes just gave it to the AI.
2. made lots of research agreements.
3. obviously didn't settle near the ai since it was OCC
4. never dow'd anybody
5. POC with closest ai
6. no POS until near the end when the dominant ai near me asked for one vs a weaker civ on the other side of the continent.

b/c you dow'd 2 different cs's and dow'd one civ, most of the others probably had their warmonger hate up pretty high against you already. only way to ensure victory in that scenario is to keep the military machine rolling. some specific sp's that are very helpful are oligarchy, discipline, nationalism, popularism, militarism, universal suffrage, and in some cases merchant navy. don't forget flanking bonuses as well. if you had gotten the proper sp's and used flanking/ranged combat properly you should have been able to fight off every other unit in the entire game on that difficulty level.

 

[nebux]

i like when i civ build a city near my border and then he's complaining when i'm buying land around. then i know that i need to have a big army near his border or he will dow on me. anyway with the new puppet power it's of no reason not to go to war early and often

 

[FiftyEight]

I really hope the diplomacy is somehow improved. I find it the most frustrating part. I will honor all my agreements with certain civs, including giving them goods or many if they ask, refrain from declaring war on any city states and then they'll turn on me in an instant. Recently as Cesar I had them all declare war on me for "warmongering" when the only conflict I was in was with the Ottomans after they declared war on me. Very frustrating... hoping the next patch will help with this.

 

[neilkaz]

Hmm..it would seem that the ammount of your military would've scared some of these civs away from DOWing you and then the dog pile wouldn't have been so high.

I think the AI's simply hated you for those two CS DOW's and attacks. Except for stealing a worker (many consider it lame and it has diplo consequences also since you DOW the CS) there's no real reason to DOW a CS. OK if you're mopping up a won game and that CS is in your way..but if the game is not yet basically assured, just befriend it or ally it if you need to move troops thru it.

DON'T DOW CS's.

The AI also will attack a totally undefended side of your empire especially if they have no place else to expand and they think it is easy pickings. Roads or Railroads will help you move back and forth of course from front to front.

I've seen 4 of the 5 starting AI's all at war with Monty before and also several fighting Alex or Caesar, both of whom can be very warlike and also taking CS's.

Once again.. DON'T DOW CS's .. neilkaz ..

 

[Ahriman]

It sounds like good tactics on their part; you were the most powerful civ, so they ganged up on you to try to stop you from winning.

 

[basta]

# of cities definatly plays a factor on DoW.

With a small army all civs will declare war on you at about city #7 consistently.

^This is very true. I've seen it over and over again, esp. at immortal. Found your 6th or 7th city and be prepared for 1 or 2 DoWs no matter what.

It's so hardwired and consistent I'll leave the 6th settler sitting on his home-site until I think I've built enough of an army for the coming conflagration, then plop him and await the long knives next turn.

 

[halyavin]

That explains a lot. I had 7 DoWs two turns after I destroyed romans and got my 6th city in my immortal game.

 

[alpaca]

Yeah, the first of these thresholds seems to be 4 cities where you'll usually see cancelled pacts of cooperation and such, then I think 6.