Civilization – do to provoke a single city state to declare war on me

civilization-5

I started the game with more city-states than the game can handle and therefore was able to pick up a lot of free labor from city-state settlers who were just standing there doing nothing.

I glossed over warnings that I am making the coalition of city states angry at me. Now, right after saving a game I attacked a city state that I want to have tactically, but more than half the rest declared permanent war on me. Is there a way for me to bully, trick, or otherwise convince Dublin to declare war on me so that it is an act of aggression on their part? Or do I have to wait for another civilization (which is also a target for me soon) to make friends/allies with Dublin and declare war on the Washington?

That may be more trouble than it is worth. My preferable strategy at this point would be to take Dublin as a bridge into my next biggest rivals – and I would not feel a need to take any other city states the rest of the game (although they don't know that).

Best Answer

There are only three situations where a city state will declare war on an actual civilization:

  1. You're too aggresive towards city-states, and many of them band together and declare permanent war against you.
  2. They're allied with someone you're at war with.
  3. You declare war on them enough times that they alone go to permanent war with you.

Unfortunately, there isn't any way to provoke just Dublin to declare war on you, without you already being the aggressor.

I see your options as just attacking Dublin anyway, ignoring Dublin and sending your troops through their territory, or making Dublin your ally. If you can afford to make Dublin your ally, that could be a good approach as they would help you with the war. If you ignore them and use their territory, they'll hate you but they won't do anything about it.