Bribing Civs to War and Other Manipulation

[Shrapnel12]

I'm constantly having problems with bribing civs to go to war with each other. Even if I spread my religion, give help when asked, etc, my friendly neighbor still won't go to war with almost anyone else. I've had this problem since Vanilla and it hasn't changed with BtS. I would appreciate anyone sharing their AI civ diplomacy strategies. I'm also interested in other diplomacy options you've tried and your strategies in getting an AI civ to do your bidding. One particular thing I'm interested in is has a Civ ever given you a city when you asked for it? What were the circumstances?

[Indalecio]

Well, it basically helps if they were naturally warlike to begin with. Also, make sure the civ you're bribing, hates the other civs guts.

[Arrian]

I hear having Alexander as a friend is nice for this very reason.

-Arrian

[rah]

In my experience it helps if you're already at war with the person when you ask for help.

[Entropic]

Don't expect a friendly civ to attack a civ that he is friendly with also.

[Tennyson]

Try bribing him to cancel trade. That should sour their relations a little.

[rah]

Yeah, sometimes i'll do that and go back later for a dow and get it.

[Crossfire]

I have never asked another civ for one of their cities. I will occasionally ask for a trade item or a tech but even techs are hard to get just for the asking.

[Shrapnel12]

Thanks for all the good advice, but I've tried this before. Sometimes I've even been successful in bribing a civ to go to war, though it wasn't very advantageous to do so. I just did it because I was finally happy to be able to do so. I just find it so frustrating that all these diplomatic options have been put into Civ IV yet they are extremely hard or near impossible to do. I'd like someone from Firaxis to dispute this, but I believe the city trading option is literally impossible to do.
!@#$

[snoopy369]

This was nerfed from earlier versions of civ, largely because IIRC it is just too easy to manipulate the AI with DoW bribing. Anyone remember Civ2 spaceships brought to earth with DoW bribes to the entire world...

[Blake]

1) Take sides! You can't remain neutral. You need to pick a religion. Keep in mind the personalities, you can easily bribe Alexander while Gandhi is not easily bribable. If you have the choice between befriending Alexander or Gandhi, choose Alexander, he'll help you in a war.
2) Convert others! Identify linchpin warmongers who will decide wars, convert them to your religion. Even if you didn't found the religion! It's worth it!
3) Concede to demands! A demand should only be refused under exceptional circumstances, or if the one making the bribe hates you. It's an easy way to raise relationships.
4) Join wars! If an AI asks you to join a war, and they're on your side, and the target is not on your side, then join the war! Even if you don't do anything. Note that any time you join a war, that Civ will open their borders regardless of relationship level, you can then send in missionaries!
5) Deliberately sow the seeds of strife, if you found multiple religions you might consider not forcing everyone into the same religion, instead allow some to adopt a religion which is non-your-state, this makes them "designated victims" for your alliance, someone for your religious allies to take their frustrations out on. A big happy family rarely stays that way, you need evildoers in the world, so don't try and create a world without strife.

In many ways Diplomacy is the most deeply strategic part of the game. There are few hard and fast rules and the consequences are very long term.

[wodan11]

Cross-threads here....

Consider this: found 2 religions. Spread them as you see fit. For example....

1) Spread your 1st religion to Isabella, and your 2nd religion to somebody you want Izzy to be fighting. At that point, you can "stir the pot" or you can merely sit back and wait for the fireworks. Either way, the war is going to happen.

2) Spread your 1st religion to everybody except one that you pick as your target, and your 2nd religion to the target. Stir, or wait, your choice.

3) Spread your 1st religion to your buddy, and your 2nd religion to everybody else. Stir or wait.

Seriously... how hard is it going to be to start a war, with religion on your side?

Conversely, without religion on your side (as is probably the case for those who are merely trying to bribe somebody to go to war), how hard is it going to be?

In Civ, religion is the foundation to starting a war. Without religion, it's going to be hard. With religion, it's fine tuning.

Wodan

[DaShi]

I remember one game I played with two continents. My continent became a mesh of religions, while the other was fairly uniform. I was pretty much kicking my neighbors butts, but I had no desire to make enemies overseas, especially if they're all trading techs to keep up with me. So I buddied up with one and sent missionaries over their specifically to sow discord.

[BigWilly1974]

What is DoC? I keep seeing references, but no idea what it means.

[Blake]

If you mean "DoW" it's "Declaration of War".