Are there certain combinations of Civs that will War?

[ColdPhoenix]

I agree with Jaybe that it's the difficulty level. Keep playing on Noble and you'll see more wars. If you're struggling with the barbarians then I'm sure one of the AIs will decide to have a go at you before too long...

[rah]

I play monarch or emporer most often. If the AI's have different relgions and there are any of the pyschos in the game. (Monty, Isabella, the egyptian one, shaka) there will be wars. But if they all can agree on one relgion, you'll be the only one that gets attacked.

[wanderer27]

I ended up abandoning that last game. Turns out I was on a huge piece of land all to myself, and since I couldn't colonize it much if any, it was nothing but a Barbarian breeding ground - they never stopped coming for both directions.

I've started another game on Noble level and do see quite a bit of difference so far. There have already been three or four wars among the other Civs, and they seem to be a lot more aggressive and harder to please/get along with.

Definitely has caused a drastic change in play style for myself though. Not sure how this ones going to go, I'm having to do a bit more micro-management than I care for . . . .

[Dis]

yeah my first game was like on settler level (or the one just above that). And no one even declared war on me, and I doubt they did on each other either.

I'm not sure how the aggressive ai function works. Are they just aggressive to the human, or just aggressive all around?

you could also randomize leader personalities, I'm not sure how that would turn out.

[Virdrago]

Another way is to have peacniks and warmongers in your mix. Right off the bat Ashoka, Mansa Musa, and Roosevelt will not like Genghis, Monty or Stalin. Wang Kon and Tokugawa start off unfriendly to each other, so do Louis and Frederick...

[wanderer27]

Hmm, Peaceniks and Warmongers. I hadn't thought about that, might be worth a try when I get done with my current one.

The thing is, from what I'm gathering the Level is the real determinate of the AI's behaviour.

My question now is, is there a list/thread on here that kind of describes the specific handicaps/bonus's the AI has for each Level?

My current game at Noble (2nd attempt) is a lot more active and interesting. There've been several wars among the AI, and I've been attacked as well, but right now I question whether I'm really ready for this Level.

I've caught some lucky breaks, so I have a pretty good chance at coming out on top in this one, but there's no guarantee at this Level, nor is that indictative of the norm for this Level.

[Solver]

You'll be fine with Noble, if not now, then later. Seasoned players can thrash the computer on Noble without it having a chance, so you'll be fine with it .

The best way to look at AI bonuses is in the game files, which is, I believe, Assets\XML\GameInfo\Civ4HandicapInfos.XML

[Targonis]

Settler and Chieftain difficulty levels tend to have very few wars. That is a part of what makes them easier, the AI is less aggressive. Try playing on Warlord difficulty, and watch the wars start up.

Now, there are times when wars will tend to be few and far between. In the early game, you won't see wars because the AI is set not to start wars too early(before players get a chance to get established). If you have an advantage in terms of military strength, the AI will also tend not to go to war with you.

If certain AI civs sense you either have too few units to protect yourself, or the strength of your units is too low, some Civs will tend to start wars with you for no other reason. Alexander, Julius Caesar, Monty, and several others will go from pleased to being at war.

So, try higher difficulty settings, it really makes a huge difference.

[gdgrimm]

I generally play Prince/Monarch level with Aggressive AI. There's always a few wars in every game that I have nothing to do with.

As others have suggested, maybe you're playing at too low of a level.

[wanderer27]

Interesting game - SV this time.

I was a bit confused until I read through the Civ4HandicapInfos.XML file. It just didn't make sense why the AI would behave so differently if they were always playing at Noble level, regardless of what level the Player was playing at.

But here it is - these are the probabilities that the AI will declare War when it reaches its Attitude threshold:

Settler - 25%
Chieftain - 50%
Warlord - 75%
Noble & above - 100%

There are other adjustments (probably some to Attitude) in here as well. I just haven't dug that deep into it to figure out what they all are.

This pretty much answers why I was seeing the type of gameplay I was experiencing though. I'm not sure how crazy I am about it, as each level increase can be a fairly drastic change in gameplay due to multiple variables being changed at once.

[Solver]

The good thing is, you can tewak the difficulty level XML file to adjust the variables to your liking. Say, create a Warlord level which has the war declaration likelihood of Noble.

[wanderer27]

Yeah, I could, but I really hate to change the default design of a game (game logic wise) - common experience and all I guess.

The only Mod I have for this game is the larger map Mod. That's probably the only change I will make to the game.

[wanderer27]

Well, I've tried a couple more games on Noble, and I consistantly get my butt kicked every time I end up on a large piece of land. It's not the other Civs, it's the freaking Barbs

They even have Axemen before I even get Chariots (pretty much useless).

I got PO'd so I ran a test. I took Map Editor on a Hub type map and placed 100 Barbs in the center. Guess who they came after?

Another test, this time I placed them off-center, farther from me and closer to the other Civs. Yep, they still came after me, or at the very least a large majority of them.

Seems there's more going on here than just the settings in the Civ4HandicapInfos.XML file. My guess it's hard-coded and there's not really a way to have a real level playing field

To those of you beating the AI at this and higher levels, my hat's definitely off to you

[Jaybe]

Either adjust yourself to the game, or adjust the game to yourself, wanderer.

Personally, I changed the player and AI combat advantages vs. barbs so they were even -- all to zero! In a rare game an AI will be totally eliminated by barbarians.

[wanderer27]

You're right of course - adjust game/self.

The thing is, it was this kind of crap that had the Civ Community in an uproar on one of the earlier Civ versions. Next version they said they had fixed it, now here they are right back to the same crap

Sorry, it just really irratates me when things like this are done, and it really makes me wonder what other "tweaks" there are that aren't as evident.

Guess I'm the only one bothered by this . . . .