Can't declare war??

[PikaGUSTA]

Seriously now? First building military stations to every damn solar system, now I can't even declare war against my own rivals, or even rival neighboring powers to my empire, even with the most aggresive empire settings (First contact protocol for example)

Either bugs, or a broken war system.

[Ogami]

You need to border them directly, so one of your system with hyperlanes must lead to one of theirs.
Then you have a claim to start a war about border worlds.
But you need to build up influence to generate a claim.

[MightyFox]

You have to share a border with them to declare rivalries or make war now. It can go both ways as to whether its sensical or not. It was probably put in place to prevent people from farming influence from rivalies by declaring rivals halfway across the galaxy, but personally, I do think it needs more work.

[JonWoo]

I'm sharing a border in multiple spots with an empire in my current game and can't rival them. The button isn't grayed out, it just won't let me click it.

[baby bonobo]

I am also stuck not being able to declare war. I have a rival empire next to me (scaly scum) who keep making claims on my territory. They are "pathetic" compared to me so I can't declare them a rival for the animosity casus belli. They are at war with another empire, so I can't ask them to be my vassal or demand tribute (they must be at peace) so I can't get casus belli from that. I can only make a claim to start a war, but I have no influence at the moment (since my factions all want war... and I'm not at war, so I can't get their approval to increase my influence to make a claim so that I can go to war), and also my ultimate goal is to wipe these guys off the map, rather than just gain some random claim I don't even want. So annoying. They need to fix this.

[DMunch69]

Originally posted by Jonwoo89:

I'm sharing a border in multiple spots with an empire in my current game and can't rival them. The button isn't grayed out, it just won't let me click it.

If they are overwhelming or pathetic to you, you won't be able to rival them.

[DMunch69]

Originally posted by kalindparish:

I am also stuck not being able to declare war. I have a rival empire next to me (scaly scum) who keep making claims on my territory. They are "pathetic" compared to me so I can't declare them a rival for the animosity casus belli. They are at war with another empire, so I can't ask them to be my vassal or demand tribute (they must be at peace) so I can't get casus belli from that. I can only make a claim to start a war, but I have no influence at the moment (since my factions all want war... and I'm not at war, so I can't get their approval to increase my influence to make a claim so that I can go to war), and also my ultimate goal is to wipe these guys off the map, rather than just gain some random claim I don't even want. So annoying. They need to fix this.

If you have the apocalypse dlc you can get the colussus wich gives you the total war casus belli.

[FIBBIDEH]

set your war policy to "ideology wars" and you can declare war on anyone with a different ideology than you.

[Megalodon4]

I have the very same problem right now! I am bordering them, they insult me, rival me and claim my systems, yet the declare war option is greyed out stating that my war philisophy does not allow it. I have set it to unrrstricted wars! My onliest alternative are defensive wars. They border me diretly too.

Come on, I want to use my titans!

[DMunch69]

Originally posted by Megalodon4:

I have the very same problem right now! I am bordering them, they insult me, rival me and claim my systems, yet the declare war option is greyed out stating that my war philisophy does not allow it. I have set it to unrrstricted wars! My onliest alternative are defensive wars. They border me diretly too.

Come on, I want to use my titans!

Been a while since i've played now so correct me if i'm wrong. If you are playing a pacifist empire or maybe egalitarian then you are on either liberation wars (for egalitarian but probably not since you can't attack) or defensive wars. This would mean that you can only defend yourself and not attack other empires except if they are genocidal. Go into your policy and change your war philosophy to fix this.

[Raymond]

just scroll down your option when you contact the one you are attacking, and demand their tribute. Then you send your fleet in and bomb all their homeworld and destroy all their station. No influence needed. You can claim the system you you want if you have the influence, but the rest will turn into your vassal.