Why did Alex attack me?

[xxFlukexx]

Here's the story, Monarch difficulty, standard size, normal speed, pangaea. I plan to attack a lot and so I ally with Alexander.



I do everything he says, stop trading with enemies, he tells me to attack Cyrus so I do, I take one of Cyrus's cities(halfway across the map) and then see that Asoka is getting upset so I stop that war and me and Alex go off and kill Asoka. So I Alex getting strong so I figure I can finish off Cyrus and try to match Alex's power.

About 3 turns after I declare on Cyrus, Alex declares on me! Wtf! I reload the game and do not delcare on Cyrus and Alex still attacks me!



I am not weak militarirly, 4/6 on number of troops is not bad.



Alex is only friends with me, everyone else hates him, really really hates him, why would he attack me and not one of them?



I just don't get it, is it because he is an agressive personality AI? I mean still shouldn't he keep his friends around?

It's getting on my nerves because it seems you have a huge advantage having non-agressive AIs on your borders while if I have Montezuma/Alex/Tokugawa on my borders they will declare war on me like clockwork, despite how nice I am to them. My last few games have seemed like it's me vs 7 AIs rather than a somewhat fair game.

[Jaybe]

Alex & Montezuma are okay -- IFF you don't have them on your borders. Alex is fickle, just as he was IRL -- as generous as can be, but could blow up at the drop of a hat, but you don't know which hat, or when! Otherwise, it makes for an interesting game, doesn't it. I really enjoy Alex's mannerisms.

So, did you kill the SOB?

[Quillan]

Probably because, at that time, he was only Alexander The Pretty-Good, and wants to be Alexander The Great. Or, in other words, he's a very aggressive AI who likes to invade and needed a target. You were it.

[vmxa1]

4th of 6 is fairly bad IMO. It means half of the civs are rated stronger, this is seldom good.

Not really sure why the trigger was pulled. but close borders is a good way to get a war.

[Shaka II]

One of the first games I played, I shared a border with Alexander. He invaded after I refused his requests on a few occasions, and IIRC he was only cautious. I think with him being aggressive, you need to keep the size of your army at close to the same level, but not 1/2 the size, otherwise he will attack, and that goes for a number of Civs.

Maybe a culture oriented builder wouldn't attack, but an aggressive neighbor seeing that your army is only half the size might find it too irresistable.

[James M]

Hehe, sounds like good play. You have a far below average military, a well developed economy concentrated in relatively few cities, and you've just entered another war so fighting two people at once is going to make your life harder. And if he cripples you then that front is effectively safe for the rest of the game, he never has to think about his rearguard.

It's what I'd do.

[Bluefusion]

He attacked you because your military is way below Average, and he found you at a vulnerable spot.

Alexander is by far the AI I have the most problems with. He has no problems waging wars, even if there is little hope of gaining any ground.

Even if you are allied with Alex, you must always keep the cities near his borders well fortified.

In one game he declared war on me at least 5 times until I finally destroyed him. He seems hell-bent on destroying you if you have a below-average army.

Edit: I might add that Alexander has a HUGE empire according to that global map. I'd be crapping bricks if I were in your situation.

[Blake]

You simply aren't friendly enough with him. Leaders like alex are NOT trustworthy until you ++'s from mutual military campaigns. Sharing religions, giving in to demands, trading, it don't matter until you've fought with them. You say you killed the Indians with him, but you don't have mutual war ++'s? what's with that?

Anyway Alex isn't my favorite ally. A bit too fickle and unhelpful.

[Xarathas]

Alex's an opportunistic bastard.. simple as that. You can have over +10 and he'd still do the same if he finds a weak spot.

I think if you looked up his AI script you'd find "Set Personality = Opportunistic Bastard" somewhere. Well, just kidding, but really, that's how he is.

Monty on the other hand just likes to go to war. Doesn't matter how well defended you are.

[Huck the Dog]

I think this fits into what the init file calls a "DogPileWar" or something like that. I've noticed that civs who were previously cordial with you will often take advantage of you if you are at war with someone else.

In one game, I had the misfortune of being near Montezuma, and not once but twice, when war broke out between me and the Aztecs, some other nearby civilization who I was on good terms with declared unprovoked war on me. First it was the supposedly trustworthy friend FDR, and later it was Huana. Sadly, FDR would never make peace unless I gave him a very valuable city, and peace with Montezuma only lasted about as long as the peace treaty. Once Huana declared war, the war weariness in my civ from three conflicts began to cripple my ability to fight.

So watch out for Dog Pile War!

In my view, the odds of a dogpile war are a bit too high. Sure it's smart to be opportunistic, but the piler-onner sometimes seems to me to be acting a little rashly, throwing away friendship and trade for a chance to grab some quick land. I think in both cases, there were not really valid reasons for war other than the simple fact that I was, and FDR and Huana would have both been better off attacking the Aztecs or remaining neutral.

[xalien]

Have you been trading some resources from him? If he loses access to the resource he's giving you the trade will break and that may be the reason for a war.
I was getting gold from Montezuma once and suddenly he declared war. After few turns we made peace, but the gold was gone from his list. At least that was the case in Civ3 IIRC.

[Quillan]

It might be that he lost access to that gold resource, or it might simply be that after he was no longer trading it with you because of the war he went and traded it to someone else.

[knighterrant]

Alexander is like that, that's the only reason.

[teaster]

You made yourself too good of a target, #1 in gold and production but well below average militarily puts you at the top of the list for an aggressive nation. A cumulative +1 relations isn't enough of a reason for him not to attack.

With Aggressive neighbours you are a target unless you are at the top militarily, even with non-aggressive civs you are a target if you are below average.

You can usually keep an aggresive neighbour on your side if you get your relations up high enough. Sharing a state religion is a good way of doing it and as annoying as paying tribute or giving in to requests for tech is it does help relations.

Of course "usually" is not a guarantee with an aggressive Civ like the greeks so keeping the border fortified is not just prudent it's a necessity.

[Yosh]

IIRC, giving in to tribute demands or "requests" can trigger an AI to think that you're weak, and therefore attempt attacks on you.

The rule of thumb I use is that if I keep getting repeated "requests" or demands, then I need to build a lot of military - fast; the AI perceives me as weak, and therefore I can be bullied around. It doesn't hurt to sometimes ask your friends for "Favors" also; it doesn't change your relations if they refuse, and you never know - they just might accept!