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Moraelin
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Actually, the patch did help. Sort of. I don't think either before, nor after, it would actually be biased against the human player. I've seen them gang up on each other just as gladly as against me.
Before the patch, at the risk of repeating myself, the AI was a powder keg waiting for a spark. Anyone at war would call for alliances against the enemy, and anyone would gladly accept any proposal for an alliance. Even if it came to allying with their sworn arch-enemy against their old allies. (Sort of the equivalent of Great Britain accepting an alliance with Germany against the French in WW2. As Hitler hoped it would happen, but didn't.)
So basically if you didn't do the same thing -- and quickly -- you'd get the whole continent against you in a few turns. On the other hand, if you did the same thing, you could cheerfully survive just about anything.
After the patch, it becomes somewhat less unstable a situation. They're no longer that alliance-happy, so you may even get to fight only one nation at a time. They seem to be more aggressive than before against whoever is in the lead, though. If you've expanded over half a continent while everyone else is in a small corner, well, you've just nominated yourself for the "target of the year" award  Or if you're small and defenseless, you can get to be a target of opportunity. If you're in between, well, you may actually be safer.
It also seems to me that after the patch you're no longer informed when two AI countries declared war upon each other. If you don't actually cycle through all the countries in the diplomacy scree, you may never know that they're also fighting each other. Which can create the impression that you're the only one attacked by everyone.
That said, resources and luxuries seem to also be a prime cause of war. E.g., I've had one town massively targeted simply because it had cornered the world's only incense tiles. The English apparently didn't think it was funny that I have a monopoly on religious supplies  If you can guess what do they want from you, and aren't yet in a position for war, you may consider giving them access to that resource for free for 20 turns, while you build up your army. It's not always an easy guess, though.
Treaties also seem to deter war, at least for a while. Consider making embassies ASAP (yeah, I know, it costs an arm and a leg early in the game) and giving them some useless pact, like the right to move through each other's lands. Especially if they're on the other end of the world, chances are you'll never actually see their units in your back yard anyway, but it keeps them more polite towards you nevertheless.
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16-12-2001 18:19
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