Diplomacy in Civ3

[Khannalxytys]

Hello gentlemen,

I am somewhat new to civ-style games and was hoping to know a bit more about how civs react to each other.

Quick questions concerning diplomacy on maps with many civs on it:

- How does it work, equation-wise?
- If your civ is a conquering civ, would all the other nations in the world(or maybe those who know you) start gradually to set their reaction to hostile based on territory covered or power gathered? Meaning, if you deliberately and indiferently to the needs of others decide to grow in power and go on a rampage to other civs when they are already formed, would they form alliances to prevent your advance based on the velocity of the grouth of your power? EG: Would civs act like the "western nations" after 1919 - allowing germany to act somewhat unchecked , or like "the capitalist association" torwards the soviet union in cold war - attempting to halt every advance from the soviet union (even if not in a militaristic way).

I mean : Diplomacy is what attracted me to this kind of game and i'm not certain how it works in single player games. Can anyone help out with info?

Thank you in advance,
M. Me

Edit: Gosh, that was supposed to be posted in the civ3-general section. If any moderator would move it to the correct board I'd be thankful.

[WarpStorm]

They react more on your actions (and they hold a grudge for the entire game) than your relative position. They will not hesitate to dogpile on the weakest players though. They will rarely attack the strongest.

[Khannalxytys]

They hold grudges then? You mean, if there were ever 2 nations at war frequently (thus these 2 nations have held grudges and will be carried throughout the whole game) would they not make an alliance with each other when facing a much larger threat?

I'm just wondering. I wanted to know if they consider raw power or their national interests (mayhaps based on what their characteristics are. Example: Joining war on the weaker side (W)simply because they're in control of iron and since they are weaker they may trade the iron with you for a lesser price than what you would have to pay for an invasion on that weaker nation(W) or trading with the larger nation(L) (if it (L) would conquer the smaller (W) in the imperialist war). I was wondering how complex is the AI

[Vince278]

They all always seem to hate me by the middle ages.

[Goethe80]

The AI keeps track of when you break agreements as well. For example, you declare war while you're in a middle of some trade agreement (say, you are paying the AI some gold per turn for some wines). All the AIs who have made contact with you or the AI you've declared war on will now have a poorer opinion of you.

Of course, if none of the other AIs have met you or the AI you've declared war on, then their attitudes to you will not be affected.

[Khannalxytys]

Thank you mates It seemed to me after a couple of games that the AI would have a lower oppinion on me based on my other allied natons breaking an agreement with me.. go figure.

[Dauphin]

AIs just hate human players, as far as I can tell. Unless you never break an agreement and give them favourable trade terms.

[Khannalxytys]

Also, for some reason whenever I play, I realized all I have to do to get a favourable reaction is to make an agreement with the AI. Eg: I locate the Egyptians and the Mayans, I'm in war with the mayans after a few turns, then I locate the aztecs right near the mayans and the aztecs automatically are suspicious. So, in order to turn it back to polite, all I have to do is trade 2gp for 2gp with the Aztecs and all of a sudden I have built a channel of communication between our two great nations.. I mean, what gives? Making a trade whatsoever must give you bonus relation points.. even if the trade is trivial and doesn't benefit anyone. I'm gonna check that out