every game I have played (4) all of the ai nations really don't like me. I am always the lowest on the power board (I assume because I don't spam cities). Can you guys share your thoughts on diplomacy to a nub?
will the ai offer me treaties that I have not researched?
off topic: what is the difference between empire and kingdom?
thanks!
Your faction power is a sum of your advancements (all 3 research trees), your economic power (gildar and rest of resources income), territory (the area on map under your faction control) and military power.
It has nothing to do (directly) with city spam. I can compete for 1st spot on faction power with only 3 towns if I can pump enough research, have a good economy and strong army.
The AI will offer you treaties even if you don't have the tech for it (that only prevents you from initiating such a treaty on your own terms) but is usually in their favor.
Empires are the representation of evil, and Kingdoms of good - sort of, better said in general terms. Empires tend to spread a lot more, while kingdoms stay smaller usually.
Thanks for the reply. So is my faction power the main reason another faction does or does not like me? I have tried giving some tribute to the ai and it does not seem to help very much.
Check your foreign relations tab, under Govern. This will show you some basic factors in your relationship which you may be able to change, such as simply building more troops if they consider your military to be weak. Early game I create a completely crap unit, Peasants, by modifying the Explorer/Scout, keeping the Weakness trait, and stripping them down to nothing but a staff. You can crank them out quickly, and use them to garrison your towns and suicide against the tougher stacks, and increase your military standing as well.
Diplomacy
Understanding diplomacy can be difficult; how it works is not made very explicit.
The AI prefers to declare war on weak opponents and the weaker an opponent the more likely war will be declared. The strength of your army factors into the faction power rating which determines your power versus other factions. If enemy factions are looking like they might declare war, avoid going after that monster army or quest that might wipe out your army. The decrease in power rating may be the tipping point and the AI might declare war.
Offering tribute is a great way to avoid war... for awhile. It's not explicitly stated, but offering tribute does not allow either faction to declare war for 30 turns (and unlike trade and economic treaties, the AI cannot cancel these if relations worsen). If you initiate the offer you can save yourself some gilder as you won't have to offer any of it up front (unlike when the AI demands tribute of you). However, the AI will only accept tribute from you if he's Cool towards you or better. After relations get Unfriendly or worse, you'll have to hope for an AI initiated demand to postpone war and that demand comes with an upfront gilder cost.
Don't declare war unless you have a really good reason. Declaring war reduces relations with other factions (i.e. if you declare war on a Kingdom, other Kingdoms will dislike you more). You'll get attacked eventually, so be patient. In the meantime build up your army and cities, and when those first waves come, take advantage of those upgraded outposts that you placed on key avenues of approach. Once the first wave is dead, go on the offensive.
The AI are all bullies. They will treat you poorly if your power is low
I don't have a lot of experience with treaties, but I believe you do not enjoy it's benefits if you have not researched it. Except for NAP's.
By the way, if you need to pay tribute in order to survive, you are doing something very wrong. It might be better to start over.
Diplomacy is a lot easier if you decide on your ultimate goal first: if you want to conquer everyone, you can ignore most treaties and only do some trading. If you'd like to win by quest or master spell, it's best to stay on everyone's good side.
Empires have access to Death shards and spells (mostly debuff), Kingdom to Life shards and spells (healing and buff). Some techs and city improvements are slightly different as well, but that's very minor.
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