My issue with the civ AI was that the tactic of paying them to declare war has always been too powerful. The civs only ever will by choice be in one war at a ti

My issue with the civ AI was that the tactic of paying them to declare war has always been too powerful. The civs only ever will by choice be in one war at a time, so if you bribe a warlike nation a (pitiful) about of gold to declare war on your closest competitor then you can keep them off your back and squabbling with each other to a cheap victory even on the hardest difficulties.