Opportunity is knocking -- any advice?

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Newbie here, good builder but weak warmonger. Here's the situation:

The Americans and Babylonians have teamed up to attack the Zulus. All these guys are on my border, but the front for this war will end up being far away. Thus, it present the perfect opportunity for my democracy to attack from the rear, grab a couple of cities, and negotiate a quick peace treaty before war-weariness sets in. The question is, who to hit?

a) The Zulus -- they're already fighting a two-front war and they're weak to begin with; they'll be easy and never retaliate.

b) The Americans -- they're only on my border because they built an isolated city far away from their empire; they're strong, but if I take it we won't have a border any more and they're unlikely to make too much of it.

c) The Babylonians -- they're reasonably strong, so hitting them will pare them back.

Assuming no resources can be gained in any of these land-grabs, and no city gained will give a strategic advantage like a choke-point, who should I hit?

[Pyrodrew]

I believe many will ask you to upload your save game file so they can look at the entire situation.

[candybo]

I say: Hit 'em all!!... Babs first so as not to weaken your unofficial allies at the time, then Zulus before Americans, because that may be the only way to keep America involved just yet. OTOH, maybe America before Zulu, before the others have a chance to take the American city...

[CJM]

Some tough choices. I'd come down tentatively on the side of attacking the Zulu. Rationale?

1) If they've moved their forces (such as they are) over to the other side of their territory to fight the Americans, you'll have an even easier time taking their cities, which means you'll be able to conquer more in a shorter period of time;

2) Since the two other significant competitors don't care for the Zulu, you'll only have a one-front war; attacking Babylon, for example, may draw the antagonism of the Americans if they have a MPP with the Babs;

3) Less chances of culture flips. The risk of culture flipping will be highest when the civilization whose cities you claim have several high-culture cities close by. If the Zulu are being pounded from two or three sides, their high-culture cities will either be taken or razed by someone. You can snatch a few cities, rush some cultural improvements, and feel safer in keeping the cities because the Zulu's ability to reclaim them will diminish as their empire dwindles. This last, of course, is dependent in large part on the location of the Zulu capitol.

Hopefully, you'll be able to consolidate the new cities into your empire and face Babylon and America from a position of strength.

Also, and I'm not sure if this works, you may reap diplomatic benefits by "joining in" the alliance on the Zulu the Babylonians and Americans have. Would this action improve your standing with the AI? I don't know, but maybe someone else does....

C--

[Pyrodrew]

Without seeing the saved game...

1. I wouldn't go for the Americans - there's only 1 city there, just not enough meat on that bone & your culture may absorb it soon since it is so far away from the American's capital. However, you might want to take that from the Americans (since they wouldn't mind ) AND attack the Zulus.

2.If you only want to attack 1 - go for the Zulus. It's a sure thing, where with the Babylons you sound uncertain. Help destroy the Zulus and the Babylons may look kindly upon you as well.

3.Babylon sounds like your biggest problem later, but I would wager you don't want to risk Babylon & America making peace with the Zulus to go after you. That war may last longer than you want.

Overall it depends on your power & size compared to these 3 as well... if you are 3 times bigger than all 3, then eat up all 3.

[nbarclay]

The information provided is nowhere near adequate to perform a good analysis. How strong are you militarily? What kind of units do you have to attack with, and what's the best defenders each prospective opponent has the technology to field? How does your advisor characterize the relative strength of your forces and each of theirs? Are the Babylonians strong enough you need to pare them back in order to gain a technological advantage for yourself? All of these factors should be considered in choosing a target. For that matter, if you're at a point in the game where your prospective targets have infantry and you don't have tanks yet, and you have and can hold a tech lead, this may not be all that good a time to attack at all - especially as a Democracy.

Nathan