Diplomacy ?

[GunnDawg]

So I have not played a great deal of Civ 4 in a while and have mainly been playing Medieval 2: Total War.

I am currently installing Civ 4 as well as the two expansion packs and had a few questions regarding AI Diplomacy in this game.

Is it possible to relax a bit and just build up and create alliances and create some diplomacy? or is it just all out war from the get go?

I wouldnt mind playing a game or two with some minimal wars and what not rather than just a free for all blood shed of all civs.

Thanks for any input,
GunnDawg

[Jaybe]

Players play it all ways, from always war to always peace, whether by options set at the beginning of the game or without options (just PLAY it that way).

IF you build no or very little military, you will probably be in big do-do because you will be perceived as easy pickin's (depending on geography).

Many games are played with a combination of peace and war; I personally play timidly until I have local military superiority and then usually wait until I am prodded into war or attacked. I then will often continue the war until the other civ is dead or vassalized (hopefully by ME!). A larger civ (in population and number of cities) is a more powerful civ in research in production capacity (in general).

ADDENDUM: I win my games by domination about 1/3 of the time. Otherwise usually by space or cultural victories. Diplomatic victory is usually too problematic for my diplomacy skill level.

[snoopy369]

Don't play Aggressive AI, and build a decent military, even if you don't use it. The AI will attack weak nations no matter what, but with a large military you will be mostly just left alone, if Aggressive AI is turned off.

[Blaupanzer]

Originally posted by snoopy369
Don't play Aggressive AI, and build a decent military, even if you don't use it. The AI will attack weak nations no matter what, but with a large military you will be mostly just left alone, if Aggressive AI is turned off.

Note that the AIs beat up less on each other without the Aggressive AI turned on. By default it is off, you turn it on in the custom game screen.

[A Fortiori]

Also, if you want to get along with at least some of your neighbors, it's wise to pay attention to the local religions.

You can use religions to create alliances by either adopting a someone else's religion or by spreading your own. Success will vary depending on the traits of your neighbors of course, as well as other factors, such as relative power.

[Seedle]

The leaders you are playing against also matter. Some (Mansa Musa, Ghandi, etc.) are very easy to get along with. Some (Montezuma, Isabella (if you have a different religion), Tokugawa) are very difficult to get along with. It helps to learn the playstyles of the AI's- some will be belligerent, and have diplo modifiers to match, while some seem easy to get along with, and will just love you to death, but always, always, ALWAYS declare war on you (Zara Yaqob, I am looking at YOU.) Also, different AI's will make different demands: Zara will always demand very advanced techs, some other leaders will make more rational tech requests. Isabella can be difficult even if you share religion because she will ask you to go to war constantly. It really adds a lot of flavor to the game.

All that said, what was posted before was true. Ultimately, it's about being the most powerful (or close) nation on the map. All the diplomacy in the world won't save you if your military sucks.

[rah]

Yeah, most of the leaders are quite predictable.
I dislike having Monty as an early neighbor. Yeah Yeah you know he's going to attack. But what annoys me the most is, when he does attack and the hand of god smites him back (since you know he's coming you'd better be prepared), his cities have nothing in them worth taking. Totally useless. Take the inca capital and you'll more than likely capture a few wonders. Monty's capital, you'll be lucky if it has a granery.

[MoonWolf]

And Asoka... My favorite! He is friend with everybody, don't have a large army have well-developed land and cities. "Incoorporate" him in your empire and you'll get a lot of new, nice land