AI attacking itself?

[Jon Shafer]

How often is it that you see 2 AI players go to war early on in a game? I can't recall more than 1 time that I've seen 2 AIs fight before 1000 AD. That one time I saw 1 AI galley sink another, and that was it. No massive invasions, no changing of territory. It seems to me the only person the AI ever wants to fight early on is the player... at least in my experience.

[ChaotikVisions]

I've seen plenty of wars among the civs early on. Usually they'll wait on a big cont to see whos the weakest then hit him. The comps are mostly vultures in war, if 2 or more civs start fighting, other civs on that cont will join in and go for the weakest one. I also played in a game where Egypt destroyed Greece on a big cont early on, by the time I met up with Egypt they were huge and covered the whole cont, never could pass them in power because of that.

[Bautou]

I've found it depends on how equally matched the AI civs are and how closely packed they are. If every civ gets a relatively decent starting location that gives them room to expand unhindered, then there will usually be relatively few wars (if any).

If one civ gets blocked in by another civ, then usually war will break out (most commonly if two civs have to share an island starting position). Also, if one civ is pretty weak (usually due to a jungle start) then the other AI's will do the jackal thing and knock the weakest civ off.

On the otherhand, if the Zulu and Aztec start side-by-side then a war is almost guaranteed.

[Spaced Cowboy]

Definately, it is all about getting more land. When the free land runs out, then there is He## to pay.
Case in point: Don't ask the computer to removed his escorted settlers from you territory (on the way to some lame property) unless you are ready to go toe to toe. I usually just screen them out with extra units.

R:PM

[Grrr]

The AI usually doesn't go to war early in my games. Maybe because I only use huge maps .

[Jon Shafer]

Originally posted by Grrr
The AI usually doesn't go to war early in my games. Maybe because I only use huge maps .

Yep, I suppose that's why. I have to admit, I've only used a map other than huge 1 other time, and that was by accident.

[Denday]

I don't normally see AI fight but they do fight the weaker ones ocasionally