Originally posted by F4Fergus
Pacifist bleat: I hate war and am nice to everybody and all other civs, being polite, and i build libraries and universities and recycling centres and aim to win the space race (have done once) without getting up anybody's nose. I doing just great... but... why, when I'm nearly there, does every dam civ combine to declare WAR on me? (Geez, i know u gotta have SOME defensive capability.. I had a bomber and a jet fighter).. and ALL the other civs hated me... Help?
I play pacifist too, i feel your pain. I have to be careful. Here's my observations, which ive posted before, but i think theyre quite relevant here.
They love you, they hate you, they declare war on you. Yup, I'm
talking about your friendly (haha) neighbor civ.
What I hate, and i mean HATE is when a "polite" or "gracious" civ
declares war on you OUT OF THE BLUE. Doesn't matter if you reload
1000 times, give them gifts, beef up defense or whatever, they ALWAYS
declare war.
Now, we know the AI is pretty hardcoded, so there has to be a reason
right? So here's what I think you should be looking for in your
neighbors and when to be worried about the sneak attack:
1) are they expansionistic, militaristic, or (god forbid) the Zulu?
(both, hehe) --- thats always a red flag. These civs will always be
chomping at the bit to fight or expand their land. We all know
Eliza***** just LOVES to plop cities down ALL OVER THE MAP. And lo,
English are expansionistic. So keep the trait in mind.
2) are they losing/winning? Right I know, theyre of course at least
one of the two, but what you have to worry about is if theyre winning
and youre very weak -- theyll try and consolidate power. If you're
winning, and the civ next to you is desperate for some points, watch
out as well.
3) Have they recently acquired their Unique Unit? If so, watch out --
the AI KNOWS that using that unit is an automatic advantage, and will
almost always unconditionally attack when they get it.
4) Are they resource hungry? Desperate for resources or even luxuries
will cause an AI civ to launch a preemptive attack. If surprise is
their only advantage, theyll use it.
5) Do you own any, and i mean ANY cities that were once theirs?
Whether you took them over last turn or 3000 years ago, whether by
culture or by war, they will WANT THEM BACK. So if a preemptive
attack happens, you can lay money that theyll be attacking
to "liberate" their former city.
THE BOTTOM LINE
If at any time TWO or more of those situations happen in a neighbor
civ, WATCH OUT -- You could be at war in the next few turns. Hope
this helps!
Any thoughts?