Releasing the Dogs of War!!!

Apologies if this has already been suggested elsewhere...

I would like to see another layer to battles.

Why is it that in order to knock out a few nosey scouts or a offensive space-station, I have to declare war on the owner.

This wouldn't happen in reality, where races that were hostile to each other would certainly take the odd pot-shots before they formally declared war. Declaring war up front is a rather Victorian concept.

In the game, it could arise that an race could keep knocking off some of the opponents assets before they loose patience and commit to war.

Perhaps it could be programmed to allow opponents that are at a level of "hostility" with each other to do this.

It also means one may get away with it if the AI opponent decides it is too busy (aka too scared) to respond with war!!

What do others think?

3,919 views 6 replies
Reply #1 Top
I think it would really depend on teh AI. The Drenjin would proberbly declare war immediatly while teh Altarians would proberbly try to appease thier way out. I think that it might also work if the AI demanded compensation first (you blew up my starbase, i demand 1,000 bc or we will declare war, etc) before actually engageing, unless of course you invaded a planet.
Reply #2 Top
I think it would be enormous fun seeing how far you could push another civ before they declared war.

I seem to remember the whole run of Star Trek TNG having the Federation and Romulans constantly knocking off each others ships and probes without ever declaring war.
Reply #3 Top
Perhaps a sabotage option should be allowed in a future expansion for times you don't wish war, or a merc/pirate fleet could be hired?

Or maybe a limited war option- can attack starbases, freighters, and ships in the open- but cannot attack planets or ships docked in planet. Limited Wars end automatically when either one race ups ante to full war, or an amount of time passes with no hostilities, or peace is declared.

Reply #4 Top
I agree. In the real world border skirmishes are common without all out war being declared. Without a way to diplomatically tell another race to get the heck out of your territory, a minor incident shouldn't call for all out war.
Reply #5 Top
Hmm.. . I had something similar in mind a way for the human player to better interact with the AI.
Let the AI know we're not dumb AI and we know what its doing with transports/military buildup. ( Sarcasm: The AI lets the player know this but not the other way around )

Let the AI know we are not going to tolerate influence encroachments with Starbases. Owning planets next to ours is one thing. Building Influence bases in our space or next to our planets will make us mad. ( Sarcasm: again the AI knows and tells the player already to stop if its feeling 'diplo' or it declares war and the bases are public enemy #1 )

Its only fair the AI can do it. We should be able to inform the AI of the same.
Reply #6 Top
Let's call it the "Political Rubber Band". You can do whatever you want, but you never know when you stretch the rubber band too far, and it snaps back on your finger to cause a big owie

This dates back to Civ 1, 2, and 3 - the AI was always happy to sneak settlers into that one unused square in the middle of your nation, and found "Jodhpur" (yeah, Ghandi, I'm looking at you, Mr. Peaceful). Yet your stupid congress wouldn't let you annihilate it, and India would declare war if you switched to Communism just to kill that darn city.

Civ IV somewhat solves the problem, but GC2 doesn't. I don't care if scouts hang around my planets to see how awesome I am, but I'll blow the **** out of any starbase planted in my backyard.

Rubber bands, or a "Hostility Meter", would be nice... but it might be even better if AIs just accepted that attacking any foreign object in your territory was essentially your right, and not a declaration of war.