When do YOU start your first real war?

[Beatie]

I understand that starting a war, very mutch depens on the fact that your alone on a island or not! But even if your on a island you can choose to start to go war pretty early in the game if you have astronomy of perhaps your neighbour is reachable with galleys?

You can choose more than 1 option if you like!

I choose 5 and 8

[Diadem]

I choose "I start my war soon as I need some resource, wich I don't have". Though the resource that I need is usually expansion space

I often do a first war once I have a good tech lead. By that time I'll be pretty much built in, and the goal of my first war is getting enough cities / room to build cities to be able to build national wonders.

Then I build up my empire for a long time and the next war doesn't come until I have developped all my cities as far as possible for the stage of the game, and spread my religion(s) far and wide.

[Blake]

Hmmm.
To be honest now I pretty much do only "honorable" warfare.
Or "You have chosen unwisely".

To chose peace is to choose wisely, when an AI declares war on me, they have chosen unwisely and their cities are confinscated.

If another AI is my good friend then attacks on that AI also invoke an automation war declaration. Usually I pound the offending AI into submission, even though that isn't strictly honorable.

I'm never a pacifist, more stomp around and carry a very big stick.

I do war purely for profit/expansion sometimes, one of the things which motivates me most to go to war for profit is actually happy resources, this is because you can whip out lots of troops and use them to acquire happy resources which then counteract the whipping anger. If I have ivory I often can't resist doing some Jumbopult. I don't really bother with post-infantry war, because by then you can launch or diplo victory faster.

[Thedrin]

During the axes/chariots/spearmen/swordsmen era with the intention of picking up a couple of decent city sties.

[couerdelion]

I’ve selected “as soon as possible” but it’s very resource dependent. If I can get copper easily and have a close neighbour, I’m likely to consider going for a quick kill. If neither or the above, then I’ll wait for swords and/or catapults. By the time I’m well into the mediaeval period, I will want to have a larger empire than any other civ on my continent and this is quite tricky with organic growth where it carries a heavier burden on the economy.

[sjm]

I've gone for every game is different; it depends on your civ and your starting location and your neighbours.

I like to go to war for resources, to tackle encroaching culture, simply to wipe out an AI (especially Monty, Izzy, Togy), because I want a domination win, or to cripple an AI that is getting to big for its boots (especially if its already bogged down in another war with someone else).

In my current game (Incan) I took out the Chinese capital within the first thousand years or so; in other games I'll never declare war myself in 6000 years of history.

[Arrian]

It totally depends on how much room I have to expand peacefully. If things are cramped, that means two things: 1) peaceful expansion won't get me very far; and 2) marching time to target is low

I've hit with chariots. I've hit with axes. I've hit with swords/axes/catapults. I've waited for macemen many times. I've waited until riflemen. Once or twice I've been totally peaceful until infantry... and I do think that early on I played a few games without firing a shot.

-Arrian

[Solver]

As a builder, I start my first war early . Really, I am a builder, but to build I need a sufficient amount of land and resources. On most maps, I find that I don't quite have enough of those for my comfort without warfare. So, I usually have an early war (Axeman-level) to take out one civ or a good portion of their land.

Now after that, I often won't fight any more at all.

[Arrian]

Right. I'm a builder too. But I want the freedom to build unimpeded by the AI, and that means that one or more of them have to die.

Like you, once I've secured what I need, I often neglect to press my advantage militarily, prefering to sit back and build.

-Arrian

[rah]

Yeah, me too, if playing continents, I don't like sharing.

Then I'll just sit back and wait for someone from the other continent to piss me off.

Peaceful building is the way to go.

[Solver]

Of course every time when I think I may play a very peaceful game, my opponents turn out to be Isabella, Montezuma, Alexander and Shaka .

[eris]

I am not fond of very early wars. I usually avoid conflict while I try to ge some military tech edge and an infrastructure that will support the expansion. I have used Maceman several times, but usually wait until Knights. Then it is time to either continue on peacefully if that is what is happening, or start showing a weak neighbor my shiny new troops. I used to be a lot more peaceful until Warlords, but now I just love swarming around a town with Knights and their escorts and welcoming new citizens to the Empire. I like Knights.

[LDiCesare]

I start wars when I need the resource: space. I often build very few cities and as a result have to take out other civs to expand. Building more cities would cripple my economy so I have to wait until my economy can withstand the new cities.
I also picked "Only if I know for sure I win (like if your far ahead on the AI)" because I won't start a war I don't know for sure I can win. It's not being far ahear on the ai, it may be for instance I need their cities, they are already waging war on another front, I can count their units in the colonies I want to take and know I can take these out and later make peace, maybe at the cost of some gold.
Later, my wars are resource- and then victory-driven. Initial wars are usually only for grabbing more space, and then it's quiet until at least chemistry.

[Virdrago]

Originally posted by Solver
Of course every time when I think I may play a very peaceful game, my opponents turn out to be Isabella, Montezuma, Alexander and Shaka .

Exactly.

I'm a pacifist, until someone is foolish enough to attack me (always Monty or a Khan). After the aggressors have been beaten back to their new, less spacious areas, I become a pacifist again. 95% of the wars I initiate is for a quick worker early on. Then my economy can start growing, and later, when my lifelong enemy attacks back, only then do I grab new territory.

[Nugog]

Depends really - but if I have someone close to me, then pretty much asap - depends on the "offending" AI - who they are etc etc