Why does the AI attack me?

[Morakis]

The AI must hate me. Im playing as Milan, and it didn't come as a surprise when the Germans and Venice declared war. But why France and Sicilly? One day they just started blockading my ports for no apparent reason. When I later became a vassal of France (I just wanted to see what would happen if I did) I became their ally, until they attacked me again???

Facts about my campagin:

- Im allied to the Pope, Hungaria and the Byzantines.
- Im stronger than most, and have no problem defending my lands.
- Im the richest, most advanced.
- Im at war with half the nations in the game, despite havn't attacked a single one first.
- None of them wants to make peace, unless I become their vassal

Please tell me why they all want me dead, and what I can do to change that.

Thanks in advance.

[Cortoisis]

They might want you dead simply because you're the richest and most advanced faction.

[MasterAdnin]

Most likely they consider you the biggest threat, and the worst threat, so they feel you must be dealt with, whether or not you are the strongest, because eventually, you will expand into their territory and they will be destroyed sooner or later. The same happened in my Polish campaign, and they were pretty close to dismantling my larger, more advanced, and stronger faction simply by finance.

Salaam,
Adnan

[HorseArcher]

- Im stronger than most, and have no problem defending my lands.
- Im the richest, most advanced.

Makes sense that everyone trying to attack you. I can give you real-world examples: Roman Empire, USA.

[ivan_the_terrible]

And who has ever tried to attack the USA?

If anything, its the USA who are the most aggressive nation.

[HorseArcher]

And who has ever tried to attack the USA?

If anything, its the USA who are the most aggressive nation.

You just did. In words. "Attacking" - does not necessary mean to use a large military force with the intention of invasion.

Let's say we live in the M2TW world and you got the biggest army with the biggest territory. First of all, there must have been conquest to reach your size and richness. Second, Other countries around you see you as the biggest threat to them compare to a smaller nations.

Third, they don't want you to have more piece of that big pie. So don't be suprised, if the surrounding nations manage to get into an alliance and try to push you back and use anything to rip your empire apart.

[hellheaven1987]

Same thing happens to me too. I am playing as Spain and I am in war with England, France, Milan, Moor and probably Venice later. Milan and England assaulted me when I was dealing with France, and they formed an alliance with France too. Therefore I purposely asked a crusade against Paris after France was excommunicated, and Milan joined, broke their alliance with France.

England was a little surprsing to me when they attacked me. When I attacked South France my relation with England was turning bad suddenly, and when I marched into North France English started to attack me, which caused their relation with Pope. I guess next crusade would probably set as London.

I always have bad relation with Moors, and I guess after my big mess in West Europe is finished, they are the next.

[bggeneral2]

"One aliance with the Powerfull its never to be trusted"!
Read the anciens.

[bjeil]

So how i understand it is that the AI will attack you if you're strong. But wth? They'll attack you if you're weak too...

[scottishranger]

Moved to M2TW forum main.
-scottishranger

[bjeil]

Well, one could also argue that because you are the strongest faction many would want to be your friend. But that never happens. Its not like the USA has no friends. Because of their position many nations will try to befriend them.

Besides, no one has answered his question yet. What must be done to avoid an all out war against every neighbour? Must one lay off the expansion and continuously bribe ones neighbours to stay on their good side?

[hellheaven1987]

Well, no big tip, just conquer them as fast as you can! That is what I did actually. On the other hand, you need to check all of your neighbours, make sure there are least suprising attacks. Shorter your defence line is another good choice, and use the "right" landscape carefully (for example, defend in bridge fight). A nice planning of castle/city is another must, as it can save your time and money. Use Pope as a tool is another nice strategy, as you can call a crusade against any of your excommunicated enemies, which usually help you as your enemies will against your enemies. Never attack anyone first, as it will lower your relation with Pope.

[Morakis]

Frankly it's tiresome. Im tired of fighting ALL my nieghbors ALL the time. They just dont want peace.

I hope a patch will do something about this.

[bjeil]

Yes its tiresome. I think it takes away something from the overall feel of the game. Im tired of fighting all my neighbours all the time. Wheres the intricate diplomacy? There is none...

I didnt realise "Total war" would mean just that.

[Hedniskhjäertad]

Frankly it's tiresome. Im tired of fighting ALL my nieghbors ALL the time. They just dont want peace.

I hope a patch will do something about this.

Yes. It's quite dumb sometimes, when an weak and bankrupt nation attacks you for nothing.

On my Sicily game, i had conquered everything from Venice, that had conquered Milan and Genoa from the Milanese. The Milanase were down to one city, and then, they declared war on me and sent a small and insignificant force to siege Milan, that had one full stack inside it.

For what ? A few turns later they get crushed.
And they had AMIABLE relations with me. It's just dumb, as it appears that this is made to make the game a little tougher. But it just annoys me.

[krazykarl]

You can buy some of them off, I had ransacked egypt, but didnt really feel like holding it since I had enough troubles in the holy land already (took Jerusalem in 1st crusade) so I sacked cairo and alexandria, sold the buildings and then gave the cities away to the France and Portugal, France is still being jerky to me, but Portugal seems to by my ally and hasnt attacked me yet.

[Revan The Great]

I gave Poland a gift of 2,000 Florins, raising our relations to "Very Good". The next turn Poland decides to take a crack at me, violating our alliance that's been standing since the very beginning of the game. The turn after that 3 spies bust into Karkow, the turn after THAT two thousand angry germans swarm the Polish capital, relegating the Polish to Kiev and Riga.

To Venice's credit they asked me for an unconditional ceasefire after I left them with only the isle of Crete to their name, and accepted a tribute of 2,000 per turn 2 turns.

Unfortunatly not all A.I. is such a stunning example of diplomatic brilliance (refering to Venice). One of my major quams with R:TW was there was literally never a peace time, you're always constantly at war with somebody, and there's no regrowth period. In the end the only way to achieve peace is to double my nation's side and crush my surronding factions, only to have my borders lay next to even more inexplicably hostile nations. I believe M2:TW shares this design flaw.

[pero]

i think if you are the most powerful faction, that few will stand against you to put you down.

[Wittelsbach]

In my campaigns there are times of total war, followed by times of no / only a few little wars. Depends on how busy your neighbours are with their major foes. And being officially in the state of war with a nation doesn't meant it will automatically attack. There are situations where you are at war with another nation for dozens of turns, but no army shows up, but they still don't want to sign a ceasefire.

Personally I am a builder type and prefer peace, but from time to time, I like when total war starts.

[Sitarus Originalus PM-30+]

in my campagin as HRE i am the best in everything and i only had 1 ally during game (bizantine empire) who was killed by others for beeing my ally (i couldnt save them...) ... anyway ... as i was growing stronger all my neighbour factions attacked me and even form alliances against me... i dont think i started war against anywone but denmark... and pope excomunitated me ... about 10 times =)
now: i have almost all europe, part of africa and america ... i have lots of money... most of my anemies are dead and pope is from HRE for the last 200 years (i have already won... pope is actually homeless as i have attacked him when he excomunicated me for the last time)

great fun i must say =)
i still have a quite a lot to concour so... we will see what will happen next =)