the AI's hate me

[D4everman]

What is the AI's reasoning for going to war? I ask because in my games lately I've had war declared on me for seemingly no reason whatsoever. With civs that I trade with and in my opinion have no beef with.

I know you can see what the civ is pissed about by holding the mouse over their name, but my last 2 wars came out of the blue. As the americans I'm minding my own business, but I'm between Genghis Khan and the fat chinese guy, (not Mao, the other guy). I'm basically agreeing to any trade deal that isn't suicidal with both of them since I don't want a conflict. ButI'm buiilding up forces as I go because I can feel it coming. Fat chinese guy declares war on me first. Beat back his first wave and take a border city. He sues for peace. I accept because I don't want to spend time building a large army when I'd rather try to improve my cities. few turns later Genghis declares war. He's a pain in the ass and I'm holding my own beating him back, but I'm playing defense not offense with him. Then out of the blue Fat chinese guy declares war on me again. AAAARGH.

The egyptians are already at war with Genghis, but i assume they aren't really going offensive since no cities seem to have changed hands. No one else on the continent is willing to lift a finger to help. But as I check for allies i notice this....though i'm leading in score its not for tech...the incans for one have three techs over me. How the AI's are researching things so quickly I don't know. I've been trading regularly with all of them but its like they seem to get techs for free or something. When they ask me for a tech they never want to reciprocate. Even when we're on Friendly terms.

This really seems to only have started with me recently. Before I could understand the motivations in a way of the other civs. But right now it seems like they're all ganging up on me for no other reason than I'm the human player. Its starting to feel a lot like civII.

[LordShiva]

It wouldn't be much fun if you could predict which AIs are going to declare war on you and when...

[D4everman]

True...but practically EVERYONE declared war on me. Its just 2 right now, but I can see the Incas are probally going to join in. It wouldn't bother me so much except that I went out of my way to try and keep everyone happy with me. I guess I might as well chuck that attitude next time since it doesn't seem to matter.

[Solver]

Attitude matters a lot. However, if civs are very happy to attack you then you are far inferior on the military front. If your army is at least somewhat reasonable compared to the other AIs, they won't be declaring war that much.

Of course, they also see the global situation. If one declares on you, then the remaining AIs become more likely to declare on you to make it easier for them and harder for you. Dogpiling. But again, if you have an adequate military, then you won't be declared war against a lot.

[Tattila the Hun]

It does seem to be, that trying to keep everybody happy is a bad move. Powerblocks form, and by being buddy with everyone, you are left out of them.

It's okay if you *are* your own powerblock...

[Solver]

You can't really keep everybody happy. It usually takes very special circumstances to be able to do it. One of the most important decisions in a Civ4 game is picking your friends, choosing which bloc to join.

[Jon Shafer]

The biggest reason they're attacking you is likely because they see an opportunity to snatch some land and booty. Keeping a strong military is important for thwarting guys trying to pick on you, even if you don't plan on attacking anyone yourself.

[padillah]

Originally posted by Trip
The biggest reason they're attacking you is likely because they see an opportunity to snatch some land and booty.

So it's a "booty call".

Tom P.

[padillah]

In short - "Yes, the AI's hate you."

This may come as a surprise to you but, [whispering] they don't want you to win.

"Friendly" just means you have not done anything to instigate the attack. It doesn't mean they won't attack. Their goal is still to keep you from winning the game. You can have all the nice-nice attitude you want - they hate you and always will (unless you "force peace").

Tom P.

[Nacht]

Be honest, deep inside you hate all the AI's too

[Older than Dirt]

Yes, the AI knows the evil in your heart.

[LordShiva]

Originally posted by padillah
So it's a "booty call".

[Older than Dirt]

The AI even reads these posts, if you are careless enough to use the same computer. That's why I never even read any forum stuff on the computer I play Civ 4 on. It is called "artificial intelligence" not "artificial illiterate intelligence" for very good reasons. And, it does no good to use another language, because it just gets an interpreter off of the internet. You really should not even talk about your plans around the computer unless it has been turned off for 30 seconds.

[Willem]

Re: the AI's hate me

Originally posted by D4everman
I accept because I don't want to spend time building a large army when I'd rather try to improve my cities.

That's probably your problem right there. If your military is weak, the AI will attack. You should keep an eye on your power graph in the Info screen. If you're on or near the bottom, you can expect a "visit" at any time. You want to be in the top third at least.

[Tattila the Hun]

Say, I allways just look at the troop number in the demographics. Does that take into account the quality of my troops? 10 tanks equals ten knights?