AI Declaring Wars Frequently?

[adamsafran]

Doing my first run through the third difficulty in the game and I constantly have all the AI's declaring war on me. My army is fairly reasonable in size so I'm not sure if it sees me as weak.

It make sit rather hard to expand or build up infrastructure when constantly fighting off two to three times my military numbers and there's no real chance to go on the offensive. And when the 'peace' period is over I'm almost immediately declared war on again by them. Have tried running reconciliation and this seems to make no difference.

Anyone have general suggestions on this or can they give me ideas what the justification is for it so I can try to avoid that scenario?

[Rhapsody]

The AI is rather opportunistic and less bound by their agenda or behavior preset here than in Civ VI or V, IMO. But I find this just fine, keeps me on my toes, but not in constant stress. I don't think the AI (nor the player) can see the exact force of opponents in any way, so they might be guessing and gambling on their odds, similar to how we players sometimes do, but I have not heard any concrete information of how that works. It just seems like the AI is just as much in the dark as we are and actually needs to see things before taking any action or reaction (this also seems to apply to some agendas, which is a welcome change from previous games). They could also be looking at every player's total yields to estimate their neighbor's strength or weakness. That's what I do, anyway...

Easiest way to keep things friendly is to have enough influence generation to support endeavors sent by the AI, and to take care when committing endeavors while in neutral terms, since rejected endeavors decrease your relations, as the AI seems to have their own preferences regarding relations. I've had Hatshepsut reject my culture endeavor, probably on the basis that she couldn't support it, so it would have benefited me (her competitor in wonder race) more than her. But that's just an unproven theory based largely (but not entirely) on one instance of diplomatic interactions...

Although on higher difficulties the AI gains bonuses to combat and yields, they are still quite incapable of fielding armies effectively. Simply having built walls and peppering opponents with archers (note that slingers do not gain more combat strength when upgraded, only ranged strength) and perhaps building a chariot or two will keep rivals in check much of the time.

[Bandit17]

First impressions matter a lot in this game. So have that 20 Influence on hand to get that friendly first meeting bonus. If you are trying to get back on someone's good side than reconciliation, sometimes needing to be paired with spy defense, can buy you some breathing room. Then start building up trade routes as that is the first thing the civ will accept. Having a strong Ally can also curb aggression from others I feel.

If you never have enough influence than there are momento's, World Wonders and civs that can shore that area up.

[adamsafran]

Thanks!

[wcbarney]

My last game everyone but one hated me: most were -90. The one exception loved me and kept making me ally with him (but he was always at war so I never supported his war). Anyway, by the Modern Age, I was so strong militarily that they just hated me and glared at me. I had defeated them all at least once in the Antiquity & Exploration Ages.

[The Doctor]

Napoleon seems to be the worst offender in my games. He almost always declares war on me at some point in my games.

Obviously I havent payed enough attention to the relationships tab in the game to appreciate the connections the leaders have with each other because in my previous game I declared a formal war on one and was instantly DOWed by two other leaders with whom I had adoring relationships. That didn't work out well for me so I check this before I consider going to war now though.

Harriet Tubman seems to be a good choice to avoid this as she gets a big bonus to her war support. I suspect this bonus will be reduced at some point as it does confer a pretty big advantage in a war but for now, she helps keep the AIs at bay a little.

[jariel]

it all reads there if you look hard enough, in diplomacy there is what that leader likes and doesnt like and those matter, and the most eficent, kind of only really working way to keep them happy is trade, was it 20 instant points, when projects give 12 spanned in time.. there allso is clear number where you are with any civ that should be 90 if you wanna go true age change with minimal hustle. Its actually pretty easy to get all holding hands and to have no wars that you dont want, with minor exeptions, but yeah the trade is the key.

[Ghiron]

The issue is that the AI ally with each other way too quickly. Then Once one of them declares war on you, it starts a chain reaction of their ally declaring war on you, then that ally's ally declaring war on you, etc. You'll have a hard time making it through the modern age without being at war with everyone.

[jariel]

there is some of that, but i dont usualy have to do war before ideologies, its about being active at start, you get a bonus if you are the first civ that they meet, and trade instantly even when there are problems with trade lenght you can still trade to capitals and keep relations at 90.

[Audie_Murphy]

Improve your relationships with the other civs and get an ally or two. Another thing, move forces near enemies borders as a show of force. You don't necessarily have to attack, just make them *think* you will attack. Then of course, have a formidable military that will make them think twice about going to war with you.

[JarJarWick]

First impression is insanely important, but also sometimes the AI gets brain damage and will spam attack anyway. My recent Harriet game on Deity had people from distant lands spam declaring war even though they couldn't feasibly attack me. Have fun with the -9 war support gang.

[Amethyst_Cat]

I had three of them declare was on me simultaneously (Pachacuti, Rival, Frederick). Only Harriet Tubman didn't join in. Result? I'd already built in some war weariness policies so they started at +3. After a few skirmishes they all capitulated and each one of them ceded a settlement to me. Now I need to increase my settlement limit!

[Rhapsody]

Originally posted by Amethyst_Cat:

I'd already...

You had already won. Defeated warriors go to war first and only then seek to win.

[Nirhildija]

Is because you are weak. AI will declare war on those weaker than them to expand. If all you do is build and have 0 to 20 military power you are pretty much just a glorified city free for the taking. You bet I also do it if I have 100 units and you only have 10.

A lot of people don't pay attention to military production and then found themselves flabbergasted in "unwinnable wars" yeah unwinnable wars because your military production is a joke.

[wcbarney]

Originally posted by Nirhildija:

Is because you are weak. AI will declare war on those weaker than them to expand. If all you do is build and have 0 to 20 military power you are pretty much just a glorified city free for the taking. You bet I also do it if I have 100 units and you only have 10.

A lot of people don't pay attention to military production and then found themselves flabbergasted in "unwinnable wars" yeah unwinnable wars because your military production is a joke.

Yeah, I re-learned this lesson the hard way a few minutes ago. Only about 45 turns into Antiquity Age -- playing Tecumseh -- and had 2 of the 3 civs I had met declare on me one after the other. Decided to ragequit and start another game. I think I had time to crank out two settlers so far + a couple of archers & a warrior.

[Nirhildija]

Originally posted by wcbarney:

Originally posted by Nirhildija:

Is because you are weak. AI will declare war on those weaker than them to expand. If all you do is build and have 0 to 20 military power you are pretty much just a glorified city free for the taking. You bet I also do it if I have 100 units and you only have 10.

A lot of people don't pay attention to military production and then found themselves flabbergasted in "unwinnable wars" yeah unwinnable wars because your military production is a joke.

Yeah, I re-learned this lesson the hard way a few minutes ago. Only about 45 turns into Antiquity Age -- playing Tecumseh -- and had 2 of the 3 civs I had met declare on me one after the other. Decided to ragequit and start another game. I think I had time to crank out two settlers so far + a couple of archers & a warrior.

We all get humbled every now and then, yeah the AI can go from 0 to 100 war mode in a few turns if the opportunity is rich with freebie cities out there. Likewise if you are military strong they are more wary of declaring war even when they dislike you. I think they calculate a % of odds to beat you before declaring, and it has to be higher than 35% for them to go at it.

Good stuff, crank up stuff to be safe. If they don't come the income is not hurtful at tier one and is nice to be secured and if they do come fight defensively. With walls and a defensive battalion, is hard to get dominated early on. Science leaders are the most dangerous one in the short term since they can do tier 3 when everyone is 1-2 haha but a good defense can give them hell.