What is this war declaration?

[xyzapip]

Japan declared war on me:

“Though we would prefer to avoid you, this step was forced upon us”

- 110 positive relationship (highest on the map)
- No common borders
- Japan is Isolatinist
- They do not have any allies, just hostile relationships to everyone
- we both are democratic

it makes diplomacy feel like a random generator

Any ideas what this is?

[xyzapip]

*bump, any help welcome

[iatus]

Did not play much, truth be told. I became frustrated quite fast with this game because of the AI aggressiveness and the barbarians.

There is a possible theory that maybe being seen as "weak" will trigger a war declaration, but I'm not sure about this.

[wilsonstone]

Originally posted by iatus:

Did not play much, truth be told. I became frustrated quite fast with this game because of the AI aggressiveness and the barbarians.

There is a possible theory that maybe being seen as "weak" will trigger a war declaration, but I'm not sure about this.

Yep...and the AI will magically maintain a large army so the only way you can look at diplomacy right now is "Everyone is my mortal enemy".

[Gundalf]

Could be that they made an Alliance with somebody you were currently at War with.

[Cruor]

Originally posted by iatus:

Did not play much, truth be told. I became frustrated quite fast with this game because of the AI aggressiveness and the barbarians.

There is a possible theory that maybe being seen as "weak" will trigger a war declaration, but I'm not sure about this.

What are your settings to get the AI to declare war on you? I play on Master, large/huge maps done Pangea and Cont. AI refuses to fight me, I always have to go after them. If you have a decent economy/military nobody wants to mess with you. I wish the AI was aggressive, it is not.

[iatus]

Originally posted by Cruor:

Originally posted by iatus:

Did not play much, truth be told. I became frustrated quite fast with this game because of the AI aggressiveness and the barbarians.

There is a possible theory that maybe being seen as "weak" will trigger a war declaration, but I'm not sure about this.

What are your settings to get the AI to declare war on you? I play on Master, large/huge maps done Pangea and Cont. AI refuses to fight me, I always have to go after them. If you have a decent economy/military nobody wants to mess with you. I wish the AI was aggressive, it is not.

Only played two games, first in Adept and second in Novice. In the first case ended at war with everyone, and in the second game essentially tired because of the barbarians.

[Lichlord9333]

Originally posted by iatus:

Only played two games, first in Adept and second in Novice. In the first case ended at war with everyone, and in the second game essentially tired because of the barbarians.

Don't skimp on your volunteers and raise warband abilities you can field a sizable army fairly early. As for barbs use archers they are a good counter vs early barb units.

[Exemplar]

Originally posted by xyzapip:

Japan declared war on me:

“Though we would prefer to avoid you, this step was forced upon us”

- 110 positive relationship (highest on the map)
- No common borders
- Japan is Isolatinist
- They do not have any allies, just hostile relationships to everyone
- we both are democratic

it makes diplomacy feel like a random generator

Any ideas what this is?

My guess is you have a disproportionately small sized army compared to the rest of the world and they see you as food.

[The Former]

Originally posted by wilsonstone:

Originally posted by iatus:

Did not play much, truth be told. I became frustrated quite fast with this game because of the AI aggressiveness and the barbarians.

There is a possible theory that maybe being seen as "weak" will trigger a war declaration, but I'm not sure about this.

Yep...and the AI will magically maintain a large army so the only way you can look at diplomacy right now is "Everyone is my mortal enemy".

Not so. Maybe it's because I started on the second-lowest difficulty to ease myself in, but I have some AIs (Persia) that keep a massive military, and others (Japan) that can't keep an army half that size.

[xyzapip]

Originally posted by Gundalf:

Could be that they made an Alliance with somebody you were currently at War with.

The declaration message sounds like this, but no alliance on the diplomatic screen. Not a turn before, at or after the war declaration. 🇯🇵 is on its own.

I wondered if there are any chaos events that trigger a war?

Or a bug? All of this would make sense if Japan had an Allianz with 🇨🇳, but they don’t according to UI.

[parent child bowl]

What's your power compared to them?

[xyzapip]

Originally posted by Exemplar:

My guess is you have a disproportionately small sized army compared to the rest of the world and they see you as food.

Originally posted by parent child bowl:

What's your power compared to them?

Japan is a power-house, but for the last 400 years they have been more powerful than me. We are closer in power now, than when we first met and we are at better terms. I invested diplomatic points into relation ship improvement with them for 400 years …

The only thing that changed, that I am at war with 🇨🇳 for some turns.

Still, even if this is the reason, what should I make out of such a mechanic? Especially with this declaration message?

Did not touch the game anymore since this happens, because it makes the game feel arbitrary in a very important aspect. If I can’t learn from my mistakes, I do not feel encouraged to play such games. And I do not see the mistake I made

[parent child bowl]

What's arbitrary about a nation stronger than you declaring war on you while you are preoccupied with another war?

[xyzapip]

Originally posted by parent child bowl:

What's arbitrary about a nation stronger than you declaring war on you while you are preoccupied with another war?

The game descriptions should mean something. They should be decently consistent so one can make sense of it.

1. Japan was much stronger than me for 400 years without war declaration. We are much closer today
2. The war declaration says, they are forced into this. My war with china forces them?
3. We are for some turns in the same faction(democratic)
4.. 100+ relationship should mean something
5. Investing in diplomacy should mean something
6. The nation description should mean something. Isolatinists should stick to themselves if not engaged, bordered, threatend

[parent child bowl]

Originally posted by xyzapip:

Originally posted by parent child bowl:

What's arbitrary about a nation stronger than you declaring war on you while you are preoccupied with another war?

The game descriptions should mean something. They should be decently consistent so one can make sense of it.

1. Japan was much stronger than me for 400 years without war declaration. We are much closer today
2. The war declaration says, they are forced into this. My war with china forces them?
3. We are for some turns in the same faction(democratic)
4.. 100+ relationship should mean something
5. Investing in diplomacy should mean something
6. The nation description should mean something. Isolatinists should stick to themselves if not engaged, bordered, threatend

1. That means nothing.
2. The wording means nothing. It's just flavor.
3. That only improves relations which
4. Means nothing if your land looks juicy and you are weak.
5. It means nothing if you don't invest into an army. You could have gotten an alliance, but apparently you didn't.
6. Isolationists try to not get involved in affairs of other parties. Declaring war on you to expand does not contradict that. Declaring war on you to help China would though.