Does the AI ever declare war?

[padillah]

Do you have the "peaceful AI" option checked? I forget what the actual name for the option is but that's the gist of it.

Maybe that's the issue.

Tom P.

[solo]

Unless nearby and aggressive or ticked off, the AI are usually busy expanding during the early game. Keeping playing after 500 AD and you may find yourself being attacked more frequently.

[Artuero]

Yes, the AI appears to look to conquest after it has peacefully expanded as best it can.

[Kc7mxo]

My problem seems to be the opposite, AI declares war plenty, but only on me mostly.

Even my friends declare war sometimes, other day someone invaded me while they had a +8 friendship rating. Ussually the AI isn't quite that backstabbing though.

[solo]

Hmm!

I just had an interesting experience in an Emperor level OCC game. I never built any military units, except for a galley, and the AI never attacked me in a complete game.

I was running Pacifism, when it became available, and wonder if the AI respect a peacemonger enough to leave him alone?

Any other game, where I've been neglecting defense a long time, I've been attacked quickly and decisively, so I wonder what's up.

[Blake]

Maybe it was your neighbours?

I know some AI's smell weakness and can't resist attacking, regarding of relations. Mongols and Russians are like this. They actually don't care about relation points much, they just attack the weak, much as a human player would kill a weak friendly AI if they need the space. I call these AI's backstabbers, and make sure to have a respectable military (if you do have a strong military they'll be your bestest friend in the whole world, unless you happen to go to war with a 3rd party, then they might backstab).

Some AI's like Americans wont attack you for being weak, even if they dislike you. The religous fanatics like Isabella tend to decide what to do based on relations rather than strength, they'll love you, or attack you, and don't really care about relative strength.

There are also the unhinged AI's like monty who have bad days and spontaneously declare war. I've seen him declare war on 3 civs at once, all stronger than him, and 2 with his religion.

[djpsychonaut]

Originally posted by Blake
Maybe it was your neighbours?

I know some AI's smell weakness and can't resist attacking, regarding of relations. Mongols and Russians are like this. They actually don't care about relation points much, they just attack the weak, much as a human player would kill a weak friendly AI if they need the space. I call these AI's backstabbers, and make sure to have a respectable military (if you do have a strong military they'll be your bestest friend in the whole world, unless you happen to go to war with a 3rd party, then they might backstab).

I had heard it mentioned many times that different leaders would like you more if you were "aggressive..." i.e. had a strong military. The Russians and Mongols are definitely that way.

Some AI's like Americans wont attack you for being weak, even if they dislike you.

I don't really agree with you here. I've fought MANY a war with both Washington and Roosevelt. Maybe it was just my luck of the draw, but I found both of them to be militarily aggressive. On the other hand, I've had several games where they were quite friendly and my strongest ally. Guess it all depends on your strength and the bloc you belong to, but relations with America and myself are usually bad.

There are also the unhinged AI's like monty who have bad days and spontaneously declare war. I've seen him declare war on 3 civs at once, all stronger than him, and 2 with his religion.

I find that Aztecs usually just don't care, they just keep declaring war on me all the time, or they make ridiculous demands and I conquer them just to shut them up.

[carlisimo]

Try 18 civs on a small map! They tend to fight a lot amongst themselves too.

But some civs don't go to war when they should, like when they're missing an important resource. Others go to war against the dumbest target possible, or they go to war against me and make some stupid half-hearted attacks...

But I've seen plenty of civs wiped out by someone else. And I've been crippled by a few attacks myself.

[solo]

I've been attacked by just about anyone whenever weak in previous OCC games. It was always open season on the weak OCC player, so something odd is going on here.

In this game:

Catherine (backstabber) had me rated for a net of -10, yet left me alone.

Other AI players were:

Tokugawa (2nd place, this game and another aggressive type), but we were +3,

Next was Napolean at +7 (gave me fits in an earlier game),

Next was on the food chain was Montezuma at +6,

Next was Capac at +7,

Then I came in ahead of poor Isabella

Last was Isabella at -2

Plusses and minuses, for what they are worth did not seem to matter in previous games, where I was attacked by many who liked me when I was weak.

I will try another game from the same starting position, and neglect my military again, just to see if this happens again! Right now, I'm baffled.

One lonely warrior kept hordes of modern AI weaponry quaking with fear, I guess!

[James M]

Maybe there's a division by zero error, and they think you're infinitely strong.

I'll try this out at sometime too, it certainly seems like an inversion of the normal mechanics.

[solo]

I never checked, but will tomorrow, to see how I rate militarily. If I was #1, then this is a bug that needs to be fixed!

[Proteus_MST]

Originally posted by djpsychonaut

I don't really agree with you here. I've fought MANY a war with both Washington and Roosevelt. Maybe it was just my luck of the draw, but I found both of them to be militarily aggressive. On the other hand, I've had several games where they were quite friendly and my strongest ally. Guess it all depends on your strength and the bloc you belong to, but relations with America and myself are usually bad.

I mae the same experience as Blake i.e. the americans normally are my best friends or at least never attack mew during thse game.
In my current game they were wiped out by Isabella of Spain though, even before I made first contact with them (Isabella seems to be a little bit like russia, with having by far the largest population on earth, but being behind me in terms of technology [well, all AI-Civs are ] which is good, as now also Isabella decided to declare war on me [needless to say that she has the same religion {Hinduism} as my previous attackers, Montezuma, Elizabeth and Louis; she even is the founder of the religion])

[Diadem]

You were ahead in the techrace solo?

Perhaps the AI is just very relunctant to attack civs who are far ahead of them techwise.

Just like a human player wouldn't soon go to war against someone far ahead of him even if that guy has little standing army. Unless you can surprise him by a sudden major offensive that is. But otherwise his superior tech and production will just make you loose in the long run.

[Philotas]

I find it interesting that some are finding that the AI's are too aggressive and others are finding the AI's are not aggressive enough. And, even better, many are finding that the AI's can be inconsistent, unpredictable, and even "unhinged".

[Blake]

It's mostly the difficulty level .