Afraid Civilizations

[Urban Astronaut]

Ok so I'm not that new of a player in Civ 5 and i have had the game for quite a while now, so i was quite surprised when i saw a completely new emote from another civilization the 'Afraid' status.

Now of course i understand how another civilization can be afraid of another one but how can it happen so infrequently, surely this should be happening all the time as you gain increasingly powerful whereas another is sinking into the dust through constant wars etc; and what is this afraid status caused by? pure and simple army size? if that the case, then how has this not been a regular occurrence as I'm going for a domination victory? Or is it done on score?

I have noticed after playing a few more games that it seems to happen in the early game pretty much in the first monument or scout stage... how can you be afraid of a scout etc? Can someone please enlighten me on this or what the exact terms are for this stage.

[twersx]

Because civs, as an aside of having AI designed to keep fighting as long as it's not clearly losing, think that they're the best, around and that nothing will ever keep them down. They're essentially arrogant children who need to be taught a lesson; either destroy their army or outnumber them 5-1. I most frequently get it as Germany. And technological prowess has nothing to do with it; they'll think you're laughable if you have two blitz'd Mech INF against their 10 longswordsmen.

Exploit it while it lasts; you can demand some trade goods off them. If you put a huge army on their border, you might be able to get more

[Magic_Hotdog]

If it's Montezuma, it's a ruse. Just a heads up.

[VicRatlhead51]

I see it with Korea and the Inca a lot. It may have something to do with the leader personalities as well. I find the ones who start afraid of me are usually easier to keep as allies too. They don't tend to make as many demands. So I guess its a choice to bully or befriend them.