Help with goating AI into War

[peyoan]

Terra map, standard size, noble. I'm the americans. Ironically, i've been at war on and off with the russians since the dawn of time. They always declared war on me, and the first time they did i burned down two of their cities and captured another.

My territory is basically insulated by my friends the indians (2nd place) except for poor philadelphia which must repel attack after attack through the ages. In all, we've been at war with the russians for about 1/4 of the turns (current year is 1925).

About 50 turns back, i was busy colonizing the new world and the russians attacked and recaptured novgorod and almost sacked philly. They had enormous strength out of no where and it took all my production to produce units to counter this assault (plus i had to ship in new troops from the new world cities). Well i have the game locked in with nearly a diplomacy victory but the russians are already half way done building their spaceship and will beat me. But i learned, and i have several dozens NAVY seals and tanks ready to invade russia. They have defensive pacts with china, arabia, and japan (who all hate me equally). I have defensive pact with india, england, and spain. (France and Germany are very weak, but like me to a degree).

How can i get Russia to declare war on me, such that india will back me up with the defensive pact. I've tried to piss her off, but it seems now she's not so eager to go to war with me. Russia has only 4 cities, i can rush them quickly with heavy losses, but i doubt i'd survive a triple assault from the east on my newly conquered lands.

any advice to anger the enemy into war without cancelling defensive pacts? will spy actions work if caught?

[khumak]

Re: Help with goating AI into War

Originally posted by peyoan
How can i get Russia to declare war on me, such that india will back me up with the defensive pact.

Disbanding your military would probably do the trick but you probably wouldn't survive long.

[Crossfire]

By the way, the word is 'goading' although I did like the picture that 'goating' brought up in my small mind.

[Alan_Bernardo]

Help with goating AI into War

If you have a lot of grass, goats love grass. Maybe some very hilly terrain. That will get your goat.


Oh-- you meant "goading".

That's a different story, sorry.


Alanb

[triggerpimp]

to tell you the truth, i really dont know..i had a similar situation with japan in my last game and could never get them to declare war, i'm guessing that the only way to intice them into attacking is to make them think that they will win, disband your army, spend your money...just look weak, this might even include pilliging your own improvements, i'm not really sure what is coded about that (if anything) but none the less, i never suceeded, so if you do..let us know

[Skanky Burns]

You can try making Russia hate you even more. Change to a religion different to theirs, use civics they don't, etc. Along with your defencive pacts though, it is doubtful if you can do enough to annoy them into war again though.

[Blake]

Defensive pacts are weird.

The hostile AI does respect them, but your ally will happily declare war and thus void the pact at a drop of a hat.

[Arkay]

Actually, it may be as simple as leaving 1 city open as bait.. I was reading on another forum that some people were having trouble with being randomly declared war upon, and that it may have been that 1 city on their border was too lightly defended.

I remember in my first big game I was able to capture an entire continent, and later when I was attacked by sea it was against my most lightly defended city (just one out of date troop)

You may have some troubles making this happen if you are insulated vs your enemy by another civ, but you might try a coastal city that is "water-close" to the desired enemy. Just dont be surprised if you attract a different bad guy

[Quillan]

Try spies. You can have 4 at a time, if I remember correctly. Send them to check out his cities, and try to sabotage production on things (the spaceship components if you can afford it). Enough spies get caught trying and Russia might immediately declare war on you.

[cal_01]

Demand lots of tribute.

[spa]

Spies are a great idea because I think you get a -1 each time one is caught. However, and I don't know the AI well enough to say, if Russia is building the spaceship and they're way more powerful than you then you mightn't be able to get them into a war.