Who is your favourite neighbour?

peterfharris · May 6, 2003, 02:30

Who do you prefer to have as your neighbour?

By this I do not mean who do you find easiest to conquer. I mean who do you find most agreeable to peacefully coexist with.

I am starting to think that Shaka and his fierce Impis might be the most desirable neighbours for me, particularly if I am next to Russians, Ottomans or some other vicious treacherous lot.

Shaka does need to be managed though. One has to supply him with regular wars (Russian or Persian sneak attacks on me often take care of that), trade with him, occaisonally help him if you bite off more than he can chew AND keep ones borders well defended particularly between wars.

I have had many games in which Shaka has done nearly all of my fighting with little gain (I get to watch my AI ally and AI enemy belt one another stupid while I build infrastructure and merely defend my borders). Later, at my convenience, I may join in with a massive force and grab the prime real estate from one of our mutual enemies.

Sometimes Bismark is extremely useful but Shaka seems to be the most useful of all.

(BUT if you get on the wrong side of the Zulu they are worst of them all).

Inverse Icarus · May 6, 2003, 02:57

yea, the warmonger civs will love you if you fight wars with them, but if you don't, they go ape on you.

on the higher difficulties, the zulu and the germans often get mad at you before you could even think about starting a war.

Nym · May 6, 2003, 03:56

Zulus are quite easy to conquer peacefully with culture flipping.
I also find that Babylonians, Frenchs, Indians and Greeks are the most peaceful civs.

ghen · May 6, 2003, 04:44

Ghandi is by far my favorite neighbor since I just never have to put units in cities along his border

Cruddy · May 6, 2003, 07:34

Yeah, Ghandi's good - but he's greedy on the deals. I find the Iroquois deal a bit more generously.

Either I would consider a useful ally rather than an early conquest.

At the other end - if I have the Persians as neighbours then I'll want a healthy chokepoint to keep them at bay.

Nym · May 6, 2003, 13:17

Quote:

Originally posted by Cruddy
At the other end - if I have the Persians as neighbours then I'll want a healthy chokepoint to keep them at bay.

Yes. I think it is the most treacherous civ.

Arrian · May 6, 2003, 13:40

Quote:

Who do you prefer to have as your neighbour?

By this I do not mean who do you find easiest to conquer. I mean who do you find most agreeable to peacefully coexist with.

Oh. Um. Hmm. None of the above?

I don't coexist well with the AI. The AI is the enemy. Sooner or later they're gonna mess with me. So I'd rather beat 'em to the punch.

That said, if I'm going to coexist with an AI civ, let them be weak. The Zulu are usually weak, and happy to ally with me to get into a war. Their weakness means that I can gift them things without giving away any of my edge, and they will be happy with me. The Zulu were, in fact, the most recent neighbor that I chose not to kill.

-Arrian

Blaupanzer · May 6, 2003, 13:48

Babylon, if you want a quiet border. They just build infrastructure unless forced to fight. The Germans and Greeks always want to fight.

Arrian · May 6, 2003, 14:37

Heh, I find Hammurabi to be one of the most demanding SOBs out there, especially in the ancient era. He's always demands things from me and then follows through with a declaration of war if I refuse.

-Arrian

Kuciwalker · May 6, 2003, 17:26

Anyone - as long as they aren't on MY continent(s).

TheArsenal · May 6, 2003, 17:35

India, Korea and Zululand. Ghandi makes a fairly loyal ally, by AI standards. Korea never quite gets going militarily. In my games, Shaka seems to always manage his empire poorly. Every turn his early dangerous presence is reduced until he is backward nation armed with cannon fodder.

statusperfect · May 6, 2003, 17:42

I'm glad as long as I'm not next to that ***** Xerxes.

Master Zen · May 6, 2003, 23:39

France is far and away the best neighbor I've ever had. Never a problem with the frenchies although I have backstabbed them from time to time.

India is always nice. Not very friendly sometimes, but they've never attacked me by themselves.

pedrojedi · May 6, 2003, 23:46

Right, Xerxes as neighbour = early bad news. I happen to like the English, as long as they have little territory; big chance, huh? Hammurabi should ask less... He is a great neighbour after the ancient ages, but should NEVER grow too strong, unless you want an invincible civ with tons tons tons of city flips, and cultural related problems... The Ottomans are a pleasurable civ, since they at least most of the times try to make some deal. But that's just with me.

Spiffor · May 7, 2003, 07:09

France is the most peacful Civ, often has tons of money for my products, and almost only builds defensive units. Besides, they aren't that much of a cultural threat (they build much culture but don't have bonuses), and are willing to trade. I never had any problems with them.

Korea is also quiet and can offer good deals. Besides, there is no need to fear their golden age

As I'm not a warmonger, I never became buddy-buddy with Bismarck or Shaka.

Frucus · May 7, 2003, 07:22

I think that the best neighbour are the Hindus and the Frenchmen.

Jethro83 · May 7, 2003, 08:23

I don't get along with ANYBODY who I am forced to share the continent with. Whether they be 'Comply-can-do' French, Carthaginians or Koreans, or evil demanding despotic barbarians like the Persians, Vikings, Celts, Zulu or Mongols.

If a civ is on another continent, and my own continent is large enough to hold two forbidden palaces at maximum effect, I will always find means to cooperate with them. Even when they do declare war on me, they can hardly ever fight it.

georges bonbon · May 7, 2003, 09:52

Long Live Ghandi.

You should make a poll of this item.

TheStinger · May 7, 2003, 10:22

Kylie Minogue

Yahweh Sabaoth · May 7, 2003, 12:41

The answer is D: none of the above!

I'll tell you though: I don't fear the Zulu unless they make it to the late game. Similarly with the American powers, esp. the Americans and Aztecs.

OH! Wait! How could we forget the English? Easy to conquer and never gonna conquer you!

Everyone else will either declare war on you or outstrip your tech and cultural growth. THEY MUST DIE!!!

Andropov · May 7, 2003, 13:53

Unless I'm playing the Germans I always take them out early, especially if they are on my continent. Those panzers are too dangerous in the later game.

I think England is my favorite neighbor, they rarely attack and are not difficult to deal with. Americans aren't bad either. Persians, Celts, Germans, Japanese, and Zulu are just too dangerous to leave hanging around.

Paulypav · May 7, 2003, 18:02

I'm a builder, not a fighter. However, I am quite a fan of the strategy of making friends with a warlike neighbor and letting them pound on your other neighbors while swooping in to take the spoils. The Zulu's are great for this, especially since you can often do a flip on many of the cities that they take.

I have never had too many problems with the Babs, English, Indians or French.

You have to watch out for many of the civs with relatively early UU's. The Iroqouis MW is to be feared, as a neighbor as are the Persians and the Immortal. The Greek Hoplite makes them a difficult civ to knock out of the game early.

Yahweh Sabaoth · May 7, 2003, 18:04

#1 most disliked civ, neighbor or otherwise: Carthage

SO agressive, and often so effective!

TheArsenal · May 7, 2003, 18:44

I had completely forgotten about England. By far the easiest neighbor. Irritating in negotiations, but never a threat due to that ineffective UU.

Worst: Persia and Mongols.

Yahweh Sabaoth · May 8, 2003, 12:47

Persia is pretty damn irritating, and playing AS Persia your neighbors tend to be damn irritating as well.

Rommel2D · May 9, 2003, 02:34

Playing Germany, it's nice to have the French culturally linked. They build a decent infrastructure for the Panzers to 'tour'.

Admiralble job by Firaxis recreating historical events. >:)

Cruddy · May 10, 2003, 09:53

Quote:

Originally posted by Paulypav
...You have to watch out for many of the civs with relatively early UU's. The Iroqouis MW is to be feared, as a neighbor....

Hiawatha's always played ball with me - I keep the trades going and the occasional sweetener and he just never bothers me. If you don't trade with Hiawatha - well, you asked for it.

I also like the way he offers me a pipe every time I pop by for a visit - by far the most hospitable host.

Aramis · May 10, 2003, 15:03

Greece makes a nice neighbor. They're easy to deal with. A bit like a kitten curled up by my feet.

bobbo008 · May 10, 2003, 21:49

the french are great, you can attack at will, get a quick peace, come back later and theyre still waiting for you to take the next few cities...

in one of my first games, i was bismarck's little b*tch, greece and i fought i few wars with him (we together equaled his size). after giving into germany's demands for years, i was able to get a MPP. we fought a lot of wars, but when youve got a massive germany behind you, its pretty easy. (i later accidently saved over the game)

Yahweh Sabaoth · May 12, 2003, 10:34

Only once have I ever had Germany grow into a major threat... for the most part, if they're not nearby, they survive into the modern age as a measly and pathetic power mired in the medival era still... And, as irritating as they are when they declare war on you early in the game, if you can turn the tide of war their cities seem often ripe for the plucking...