Surprise attack by AI?

from Stardock Forums
Last game I had the Drengin (on bright) attack a ship in my home system,without sending a pop-up message about declaring war, or trying to intimidate me into paying them off beforehand.

Several Drengin warships were in my space in the preceding turns; although they had no good reason to be there (apart from attacking me of course), since I was in a corner.

After the attack the relations screen showed us at war. I might have missed the new situation if I did not happen to observe that one attack.

So what do you good people think happened? Is the AI catching on to the concept of the Surprise Alpha Strike (tm)?
Was my ship simply in the way of the drengin's auto-route?

And should we not get a pop-up msg informing us of war, either in the case above or (unrelated) when your refusal to pay the bribe pushes the AI into war?
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Reply #1 from Stardock Forums Top
The AI will often do a surprise attack. I've always assumed since it is fair for the player, it is fair for the AI. I have yet to see an Alpha Strike from the AI though.
Reply #2 from Stardock Forums Top
The pop-up happens that tells you that a AI declared war. Somehow, you must've missed it, cause it has happened to me as well. Also, there was instances where I almost missed it, but I caught a last second glimpse, because I just thought it was some other info.
The Political Machine 2024
Reply #3 from Stardock Forums Top
If you have an excessive number of warships near the
AI's systems, they will fall into war without any
popup.

Also, if your using older versions of galciv, autopathing
can at time cause a fight that was unintentional, I
suggest upgrading to version 1.05

Reply #4 from Stardock Forums Top
I have experienced instances where they attacked without warning. Rather rare though. Most of the time, they like to tell me before attacking.
Reply #5 from Stardock Forums Top
Thanks for the reactions. I guess it is normal behaviour for the AI - and I am not complaining; if I can do it, so should the AI.

Re autopathing: it happened during the Drengin's turn, not mine. Playing 1.05 already.

However, I am pretty sure there was no pop-up. I even reloaded the turn to check.
Anyone else not get a pop-up?

Oh well. Luckily, I was able to overpower the Drengin after quite a while. Lost a starbase in my home sector in the first turn though :-(

von Schmidt
Reply #6 from Stardock Forums Top
If the AI is at Hostile and feels further provoked (through relative lack of trade, military buildups in its sector, or simply having a military strength disparity), it will downgrade to "War" and immediately attack during its turn, i.e., while it is running the calculations.

There will be no popup in this case. You will just see attacks start to occur.

If, however, the AI is at Wary and downgrades, you will get a popup telling you either something needs to be done to restore positive relations, or that it intends to declare war imminently, i.e., after the next turn, when it dowgrades again from Hostile.

~SDC~
Reply #7 from Stardock Forums Top
There is not necessarily a popup but in my experience the music always changes to the "war" music which should be enough of a clue to tell you that a conflict has begun.
Reply #9 from Stardock Forums Top
If the AI is at Hostile and feels further provoked (through relative lack of trade, military buildups in its sector, or simply having a military strength disparity), it will downgrade to "War" and immediately attack during its turn, i.e., while it is running the calculations.There will be no popup in this case. You will just see attacks start to occur.If, however, the AI is at Wary and downgrades, you will get a popup telling you either something needs to be done to restore positive relations, or that it intends to declare war imminently, i.e., after the next turn, when it dowgrades again from Hostile.
End of quote


Hmm, so no pop-up is not a bug... Thanks for the info on that.

Last night it happened to me again - I wonder if it has to do with the difficulty settings. I recently started playing against 'bright' AI's. Perhaps 'bright' does more assesments of the situation (and acting upon that) than lower AI's?

The Arceans were on Neutral, and I was doing all my trade with them (had not been at war with them before either). So I would at least have expected the 'We had better take care of you before you take care of us' msg...
Reply #10 from Stardock Forums Top
Oops, in the situation above AI as not set to bright but to genius (?) (one step above intelligent).

Still anoying that there is no popup - fine if they attack on their own turn, but I would like to be informed of the new state of war (short span of attention, I guess).

Minor gripe in great game.