This is what pisses me off the most about Civ. One time in Civ 3, I had a whole continent to myself, and wasn't participating at all with the others. I had to spend increasing amounts of money just so that others wouldn't go to war with me. For... nothing? I basically said "ya go nuts" and killed any of their naval units if they were at war with me at the time and basically ignored them the rest of the time.Lol Germany wants 2400 gold for peace. Dude you wasted 6 units to kill a catapult.
Then one nation found the ONE SQUARE on my continent that didn't have my culture making it "my" territory. And founded a city. Which I then took over, making my continent secure again.
Their continent was then mine (including their neighbor, who stupidly stayed at war with me after I rolled over his former enemy). Then the other pair of civilizations (who were still at war with each other as well) also declared war with me for NOT bribing them with money for... peace? Isn't that just extortion? So then I had a conquest victory.