AI dumbness over Right of Passage

[sorberec]

I've got several cities forming a line between the main area of Rome and a load of Civ's to the south (my main mass of cities is to the east, this line of cities being the result of a land-grab to secure luxuries). Rome had a couple of cities to the south of my line of cities.

Several of the Civ's to the south have declared war with Rome and they're all marching merrily across my lands without a thought as to asking for ROP (no change there).

However, I offer Rome ROP and they turn me down. Why? They can kick my ass if they put their mind to it, I've never attacked them. Plus, ROP would give them a speed advantage moving through my lands and allow them to defend their outlying cities south of my line. They cannot lose by this deal.

Anyone else think this is dumb?

[Vlad Antlerkov]

How large is your territory, compared to Rome's? If you have less territory than Rome, they won't accept a straight-up RoP. If you have more, they'll pay you to accept the RoP.

But yes, the danger posed to its outlying cities should be a larger factor than territory sizes.

[sorberec]

My territory is about 60% of Rome's. I did actually pay them to get RoP in order to have a constant stream of units heading to my line of cities (was also trying to outpace Rome but they got a few setllers out faster).

The war between Rome and Babylon has now ended (i think they're still at war with Greece). In the end Rome had 3 cities captured and 1 destroyed. Plus they (and the Greek's and Babylonian's) were piling a hell of a lot of units into that battle.

Of the 4 cities Rome lost, two were inside the main Roman territory - one of them being destroyed. I'm hoping the other two culture flip over to me

[bobbo008]

ROP, for the AI, just seems like an optional, more-speedy method to get to another point on the map...

[bongo]

Have you violated any agreements with them lately so that they don't trust you?

Never mind, you can't expect the AI to behave intellingently all the time..

[MosesPresley]

The AI has terrible pathfinding in Civ 3.

[Harovan]

It's not pathfinding, it's about strength. sorberec is probably a "builder" and has a relatively small military. The AI doesn't fear him, and if he forces them to leave, they just declare war on him as well.

You should build up some military. Check your military advisor. Your military should be at least "average" compared with your intruders, better even "strong". This will stop the border violations. But as long as you're weak, your voice has no weight.

[bongo]

The AI can be a real bully when he's stronger than you. It's not fun to be on the recieving end of an AI boot but it sure makes the game more interesting. Check your military advisor, sometimes he is your best friend.

[Pyrodrew]

Why? They can kick my ass if they put their mind to it

You answered your own question.

To get them out of your territory you should build up your military and/or create a wall of units to act as a barrier so the shortest distance between point A & B is not through your territory.

[sorberec]

Well I do tend towards being a builder, as trying to go for early conquest never seems to work for me. I tend to start building my forces up seriously once musketmen become available - before that it's generally 2 defensive units per city, rising to 3 once some city improvements are built

[HazieDaVampire]

lol, the AI once kept sending units through my land to get to another AI, it eventualy took over that AI but it kept on sending workers and re-enforcements through. So i built it great big wall of forts along the north and south and now they cant get in my land! lol

[sorberec]

Yeah, normally if the terrain is right (i.e. a nice line of hills/mountains along one of my borders) i normally fortify a line of unit across it to stop the AI traipsing across my land. if i have a particulalry small land mass i also fortify units all round my borders as well

[Pyrodrew]

So i built it great big wall of forts along the north and south and now they cant get in my land!

I found even a wall of foreign workers will get the AI to stop crossing one's territory since the worker is seen as a barrier... same basis as the maze exploit, except this is simply to get the AI to behave.

[Keeper of Hell]

Well, the AI doesn't even follow its own rules about only attempting to intimidate those that are weaker than it. I had 150 MAs and about 60 MIs, and the Persians decided to move 2 of their 10 MAs into my territory. When I ordered them to leave, they refused and declared war. Since I was about to declare war on them anyway, it worked out rather nicely, since now they're the aggressors. Less war weariness.

[Lung]

You've got it good!

When i contact other civs to either negotiate a ROP agreement or demand them to get out of my territory, i usually find i don't even get those options! The Aztecs are crawling all over my civ, and yet i have no opportunity to tell them to bugger off! This is absurd!

Am i the only one with these problems??