I just finished (lost) a game with one of my custom race tests where Sowers won with the economic victory. I got the announcement for the imminent victory when Sowers were at 51% and soon I was ready for battle to hinder their growth. As it turned out there was nothing I could do! The thing was, that me and Sowers, we had been best buddies for a long time living in a prosperous peace. Now, suddenly I wanted to attack but I couldn't even declare a war. Our relations were too good for any kind of hostilities. All I could do was watch them slowly build their treasure and from time to time proposing to make alliance with me.



Question is, what could I have done? How could I detoriate good relations to the brink of war?



I tried cancelling all treaties but I couldn't declare war to them. Our relations just seemed to grow better all the time. Have I really missed something obvious or am I the victim of my own peaceful playing style? (Usually I play with Economic victory condition ticked off, but I guess I forgot it this time )





-DonLepe

As far as I know, there shouldn't be anything stopping you from declaring war and breaking agreements. If that was the case I would have quit the game and reloaded from the auto save and tried again. If that didn't work I would have looked for someone the Sowers were at war with and tried inviting / creating an alliance with their enemy and thus forcing my status to change to war.

This actually sounds like a bug. If you have the save and it is reproducable zip it and attach it to the Bug-Forums.

The thing was, that me and Sowers, we had been best buddies for a long time living in a prosperous peace.

As far as I know, there shouldn't be anything stopping you from declaring war and breaking agreements.

After leaving an alliance you can't declare war on your former allies during 10 or 15 turns due to the waiting period, which is defined in DiplomaticStatus.xml

Well as I said, "as far as I know" Until recently I've been playing Single Player and usually don't need treaties beyond cooperation agreements. That said, I've been playing multiplayer which has pushed me towards alliances and oddly enough your comment makes sense. Because when I allied with the strongest AI player to attack a human player who was probably going to win, assuming the AI I allied with didn't, only to be forced in to peace because the Human player made peace with the AI I allied with. Normally I get the option to accept or leave, but for whatever reason that didn't happen this time. So when that peace was up, I declared war on the human player and left the alliance, which put me at Peace with the human player that I was at war with automatically. My point in this story, beyond that you are probably right, is that I've really only noticed "limits" when you agree to cease fires. Switching alliances without war seems fairly common.

If I remember correctly, all remaining races (4 including me) were at peace with each other at the time. So I had no option to ally with an enemy. I was at peace with the Sowers, and the option "Declare war" was greyed out which was bit peculiar.

I have to check my saves and actually try this situation again if possible.