Why is the AI not aggressive?

[Teeninvestor]

I'm currently playing at Regent, and I have a question.
Why isnt the AI more aggressive?
From what ive observed (I'm a warmonger) the AI never goes to war. I've noticed all their cities have their own civs names (e.g. Egyptian cities have names like Thebes, Abysos... etc.), so no cities have been taken. Also in the military advisors screen, when i check over to the other AI's armies, it tells me they've never captured any workers from other ppl. So why is the AI not aggressive? even the Aztecs and Germans are pretty peaceful (at least b4 i wiped them out). I'm playing Civ3 Vanilla if that makes any difference.

 

[utelektr]

There is an aggressiveness setting on the world settings screen. Perhaps you've lowered it?

 

[Optional]

The AI gets more aggressive with moving up level. On higher levels they can build more units because of the build discount, and when they've got a lot of units, they will go fight someone. You might not notice much difference on Monarch, but from Emperor up it's a different story.
The aggressiveness setting has some impact, but less.

 

[vmxa]

The only way any one can get aggressive is is they have a decent force. The AI tends not to do all that well on levels like Regent. If the player does not get ahead, then they will get aggressive as they will be strong.

The settings for aggression do not seem to be a huge impact. It is the perceived strength and the need to expand that makes them get aggressive, IF they do at all.

The truth is that even on much higher levels they cannot be counted upon to do much as a partner. If you get an alliance with a weak nation, it will still do little. It can't, if it is weak.

You want aggression play Always War or move up two levels. If you want an alliance partner that will fight hard, you need a strong nation. Watch out for what you ask for as you may get it.

What you can see at emperor or better is that strong partner, may run over your enemy and get even stronger.

 

[Lord Emsworth]

There is no option to adjust the AI aggression in Vanilla, so any discussion about that here is fairly moot.

 

[Blanchflower]

The only way any one can get aggressive is is they have a decent force. The AI tends not to do all that well on levels like Regent. If the player does not get ahead, then they will get aggressive as they will be strong.

The settings for aggression do not seem to be a huge impact. It is the perceived strength and the need to expand that makes them get aggressive, IF they do at all.

The truth is that even on much higher levels they cannot be counted upon to do much as a partner. If you get an alliance with a weak nation, it will still do little. It can't, if it is weak.

You want aggression play Always War or move up two levels. If you want an alliance partner that will fight hard, you need a strong nation. Watch out for what you ask for as you may get it.

What you can see at emperor or better is that strong partner, may run over your enemy and get even stronger.

What about the aggressive level of the AI on Sid Level Difficulty? Impossible for the human to match?

 

[Rodent]

Sid AIs will generally be VERY Aggressive but The Human can match that. Read up on the Sid games and you will see the power of sid and how the Humans have beat it.

And the Person in Question, vmxa is a regular Sid player

 

[Teeninvestor]

Ya this is only my third game so thanks for pointing it out.
In my game, there are two big continents (huge map, 16 civs) and I've already conquered the Eastern one. But when i look to the western one, its borders are the same (no one can expand without war). I can understand the Eastern Civs not fighting(they've been wiped out by me). but I just dont understand why the western civs arent fighting cause I didnt intervene there at all.
So I'm guessing the reason they're not aggressive is that I've taken over half the map and has a huge tech lead over them....

 

[timerover51]

If you go to the editor and select the Civilizations menu, you can change the aggression settings for each civilization. I think that the range is either 0 to 10 oe 1 to 11. You might try setting each civilization for maximum aggressiveness and see what happens with that. However, if you have control of one continent and all of the surviving civilizations are on the other, I think that the game programming keeps them at peace with each other as you are the strongest power.

 

[capnvonbaron]

"Couldn't you have just make ten more aggressive?"

"... Yeh, but this one goes up to eleven.." <-- failed Spinal Tap joke. Sorry.

I've never really noticed a trend on overall AI aggressiveness. They are just kinda set random, seems like. About the only level that they're all sheep is on Cheiftan... Warlord will see Civs pick fights through the middle ages, usually once or twice per game. Regent and up seem like there is always one jerk. Just depends on the draw. I've had Ghandi sneak attack me, for heaven's sake... so you never know. Most of the time they'll attack if they smell blood... ie, a much weaker Civ can be irresistable.

 

[Northen Wolf]

If you have embassies you can see when new war begans.

In military advisor screen (f3) you can look at different countries to see if any slaves(workers or catapults) have been captured.

Ai tends not to attack if you are strong compared to them, in higher levels, you are weaker than AI (in raw numbers) so more action.