How. The $%&@. Do you. Declare. WAR!?????????

Just attack a ship or planet of your another race and war is right on!

~SDC~

It won't _let_ me attack the Yor's ships.

Maybe there's some sort or a bill from the United Planets that prevents war ATM in your game? With what kind of ships are you attacking?

~SDC~

what ship are you attacking with???

~SDC~

Move your ship over another races ship. Battle has a nice randomizing routine. Attack +5 lets say and defence +3. A virtual dice is rolled and you have a 1to5 attack minus a 1-3 Defence. THen the AI does the same with its ship, until one is illimunated. Hope this helps.

~SDC~

In order to attack, your ship needs to have a weapon. Ramming isn't an option.

Make sure the attack value on your ship > 0.

~SDC~

At the start of the game you can't attack with your survey ship because it doesn't have any weapons, later on when you gather some anomaly's (that update you attack) or when you research a star fighter you will have no problem attacking the other races.

~SDC~

Damn do I have egg on my face!
Yes, Space_Dust, you are correct. Was attacking with a base 0 attack vessel. (With a +6 from the starbase.) When I used my BattleHammer, no problem. Thanks.

Also, if you want to be sneaky...

If you're trying to get a civ to like you or you need techs, etc, and you want to declare a war on someone else anyway, go to the tradescreen and offer to attack that civ. It automatically declares war for you, and you get something in return.

Yea, the reason the survey ship can't attack is otherwise you'd just attack enemy colony ships and that would end the game pretty quickly on small galaxies.

Not that *I* would do that. No never!

~SDC~

Cari, I don't understand what you mean, to get something in return for declaring war. Whenever i get peace offer, I accept and rarely do I get anything other than peace?

Brad, that is nice way to keep your backyard all to yourself, works on large galaxies also..


~SDC~

Louis-guy,

Say you decide that it's time to take out the Arceans, whose empire is right next to yours and you're pretty confident that you can kick their butts. So you move your attack ships into position around some of the border planets, keeping the transports in fleets with escorting attack ships just inside your borders. Now you go into the trade screen and go to talk to the Altarians, who have more techs than you do. So you offer to attack the Arceans, and ask for techs. You might have to add a few more things to get all the techs you want. When you hit send, you've declared war on the Arceans, while getting stuff in trade from the Altarians.

If the AI is pressed enough they will give you techs and money and influence for peace. The worse shape they're in, the more stuff they'll give you.

Nasty..... love it

~SDC~

So am I to understand that you can't directly declare war through the diplomacy screen? You either have to attack first or use it in the trade screen?

~SDC~

Why would you want to give them a heads up if you don't have to? Just curious. If I had the option to A. Position my troops and then attack or B. Let them know I am going to declare war on them, giving them time to prepare, I would choose A.

What *would* be cool (and I don't know if they do this.. I am getting the game later today, but I am assuming they do not do this), would be that if they saw you prepping for war.. i.e. your ships were surronding their planets, hanging out on their borders, etc.. that they would realize this and take action before you attack. Either form an alliance with another race.. offer solutions.. attack you first stuff like that.

Do they in any way do this? Just curious. If I saw a human player surrounding my territory, I think I would get a clue what was going on, and react.

fleabitfox

I do believe that the GalCiv AIs will do that, fleabitfox. I seem to remember someone telling a story of one of the AIs setting up an ambush in response to a buildup on a border.

The only reason I would like to declare war befor I attack is to satisfy my own honor. I don't like to sneak attack all the time.

On the other hand - if you pile up ships near an enemy, the AI will know it and take actions against it. Even if you arent at war

~SDC~

On the higher AI levels, you might also find that escorts get sent out if you get too close. Just the AI letting you know it cares.

Okay, but i'm not talking about leting them know through a military buildup along their border. Besides, that doesn't always mean war. It could mean that you are just threatening them. In any case, I just feel dishonorable if I can't formaly declare war.

haven't tried this, could you go to like the drengins and give them attack drengins? i don't think that is likely, but you could go to a minor race and attack drengin, they are ususally getting creamed by them.

yours in tuna
louie the cat



~SDC~

Attacking without declaring could count towards your civ's evilness rating. I like to declare too and miss some in-game effect of doing so (or not) in GalCiv.

~SDC~

So you'd like to see an actual declare war treaty in diplomacy then?

I go to war because you want something from some AI. (star, resource starbase, tech, etc)

If I trade (using bc's for fine tuning)with the AI, with a green text results, then win-win.
If the resulting trade is yellow - no deal, then I'd like to make it a war ultimatum.

~SDC~

I would like for there to be a "declare war" option that actually had some in-game effect. Going to war with vs without declaring war has had too much significance in human history to just brush off the entire concept


~SDC~