AI always surrenders to someone else

from GalCiv2 Forums
I'd read about this issue here on the forums, but never experienced anything particularly strange. In my last game, however, I had a race I had a good relationship with, and whom I'd been constantly saving from war with the Drengin (my allies). They were left with two systems outside Drengin range, and spent all their time trying to drop a transport into an undefended planet - this worked on quite a few occassions. The only break in hostilities occured when I called the Drengin off and directed them at whoever I was fighting. This war must have been going, on and off, for more than a decade, and it was simply the inaccessability of the last few Torian systems that kept them alive.

So right in the late game, when the D and I are mopping up the last resistance, the Torians surrender to the Drengin. I had excellent diplomacy, had built or captured all the diplomacy wonders, and was the only person in the galaxy who WASN'T trying to kill the Torians. This confuses me a great deal, and makes maintaining good relations with failing civilisations quite worthless.
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Reply #1 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Were you committed to evil? I imagine the Drengin were....mayeb the Torians surrendered to what they viewed as the lesser of two evils. I've noticed the A.I will surrendered to hated enemeies just to spite me, it seems, if I get too powerful.
Reply #2 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
The way it goes, ai will surrender to who's beating him up rather then to a friend.
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Reply #3 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Not always. I have had the AI surender to my enemies to spite me. Personally I love that message that basically gives me the finger before I am about to take thier last planet by putting it under the protection of another empire.
Reply #4 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Try this. If an AI surrenders, load back a previous save. Continue doing so and eventually (if you are on good terms) the AI will surrender to you. Its just a question of chance.
Reply #5 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
What bothers me about this example is that I had double-plus relations with the Torians, and they basically phoned me up to say 'we might be beaten but we'll surrender to the Drengin'. Contexually, it sounds like the Torians are surrendering to the Drengin to spite *ME*, even though we weren't at war and I was their only friend in the universe.

My theory: the AI for some reason always surrenders so as to annoy the player as much as possible. I don't think their situation (ie, who they're actually at war with) enters into it.
Reply #6 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Frogboy/Brad the lead developer has said before that it's a bit random with a lot of influence from diplomacy and how hard you are kicking someone's butt. If you hit them with a giant sledgehammer attack, they tend to surrender quicker then if you pick them off one planet at a time, and usually too you. The rest of the time, it's a bit of a crap shoot depending on how much they like or dislike you (not just the race relations but what affects them,..)
Reply #7 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I had this happen in a game the other night

The Drengin and I have been at war on and off for almost the whole game. Finally I was able to build up a powerful fleet and push them back. As a last ditch effort before I took his last two worlds, he managed to get a small fleet past me with some transports and take two of my world. He then surrendered to my Thalan allies. So not only did I get his last two planets, I would have to risk war to get my two planets back he took at the end. Really sucked, damn AI is to smart for its own good

Reply #8 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I wish there was a way to declare war on an opponent rather than just attacking a planet or ship, just like the opponents do to us.

Also would like the option to ask for an opponent to surrender and then have them as an alliance partner.

NUTS!!!!
Reply #9 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I simply don't understand how it makes any sense in this example. I've done the save/load thing, and they always surrender to the Drengin.

There are three civs left: the T, the D, and me. The D hate the T and vice versa: I've been friendly with the T for years. I've given them ships, money and tech for free. I've got the D of their back at least a dozen times. At the end, they'd been at peace with me for years and had just lost much of their flee to the D... so instead of surrendering to the only person who has ever been nice to them, they surrender to the people they've hated since day one, but who don't have the range to reach their isolated homeworlds. Makes zero sense.

And yes, I'm just pissed because the game prompty gave me a diplomatic victory, AND the T gave all their resource mines to the D. Bah I say.
Reply #10 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I like this feature of the game, keeps the challenge going well into the end game. If I were the AI I would do the same thing to the human player, much like human players gang up on AI's!!! Remember? You all know who you are!! Hehe
Reply #11 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Surrender is a bit random, but on higher levels they dont surrender to the guys who are crushing them if they can help it. One large map I was playing that took me a few days, I was my custom race, and the Drengin were growing powerful. I'd given them some techs earlier to be friends, and they had in turn reserached Nano rippers and Psionic beams. 7 races were fighting the Drengin, with the Yor remaining out because they were allied to both me and Drengin, and Thalans didn't have the option to attack, even though they should have (They joined in later).
Anyway, the Humans took the brunt of it, and they were down to two systems. I sent over my most powerful fleet, and saved Earth from invasion, despite losing the fleet. I got the message saying "We can no longer fight the Drengin as an independant power, but combined with your forces we might beat them. We surrender our worlds to you. GIVE THEM HELL FOR US!"
And with the 3 research worlds they had, I managed to get Doom Rays
Reply #12 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Edit: Damn, double post
Reply #13 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Typically in a time of war people surrender to their enemies, not to their friends. That's what surrender is all about.
Reply #14 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Try this. If an AI surrenders, load back a previous save. Continue doing so and eventually (if you are on good terms) the AI will surrender to you. Its just a question of chance.
That is so weak.... if you're cheating during a game then you've already lost.
Reply #15 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I think they reason that they 'phoned you up' to tell you they were surrendering to the Drengin was that you were allied with them. Perhaps they didn't know/care that you'd saved them from the Drengin by redirecting them many times, and even though you were on good terms with them, you were also on good terms with their hated enemies.

Look at it this way, you're good friends with someone IRL, and then one day you're walking down the street with them and a random person comes up, punches you in the nose, and takes your wallet. Before running off, he turns to your friend and says "Hey (friend's name), how's it going?" to which your friend replies in a friendly manner. Do you still consider him a friend?
Reply #16 from Stardock Forums Top
In my current game The Altarians surrendered to me! I had attacked them and within a few turns (3 maybe) had destroied all their ships starbases and takes their colonies within my "borders" (they had a couple of planets right in the midle of mine. Their home system (and 4 planets) were 2sectors away, with the drath in between. So I just inherited these 4 planets which has completelly changed the influence map, the drath now being copmpletelly overun by my influence and now it is they that are in the middle of my empire.

This had never happend to me before. The AI would always surrender to someone else when at war with me. I wonder if it was the speed of their demise that triggered the event. It was a different message in the communication, something like "our military is crushed, our economy in ruins, our people in panic, .. we surrender to you" .

The best part was that 2 turns later my haighest moral levels were from these planets ! It remind me of an "old" deep space 9 episode, in which the dominion representative suggest that they should kill all the popoulation of occupied worlds (sounds like someone who likes to play galciv ) in order to avoid resistance, and the Cardassian leader replys something like " a true victory is when after having defeated them you make them realise your superiority and that they were wrong to oppose you in the first place" ...
Reply #17 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Look at it this way, you're good friends with someone IRL, and then one day you're walking down the street with them and a random person comes up, punches you in the nose, and takes your wallet. Before running off, he turns to your friend and says "Hey (friend's name), how's it going?" to which your friend replies in a friendly manner. Do you still consider him a friend?


Depends on whether he broke my nose and how many subway stamps I had collected.
Reply #18 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
The good thing about the AI surrender to someone else, is that when they do the planets are completely defenseless, no ship to defend them, so just go and invade them and says to the green buggers kiss my guns!!!
Reply #19 from Stardock Forums Top
Same game as my previous post, the Torian now surrendered to me, (we were at war). Twice in 1 game, and this had never happened before to me. I wonder now if the luck factor has anything to do with it: I have luck +25 and universalist (who are already luck +25). In thisd game I also found a ranger ship, which had not happened before to me.