Why Do I Lose the Peace Offer?

[Der Schloss]

I'm the third strongest civ of five and the second (Genghis) and fourth(Monty) have declared war on me(Mao). After a few bouts where I eliminated their invasion forces, Genghis offers a Peace Treaty (PT) for 10 turns if I give him a tech (Liberalism). I try to negotiate where Genghis would give me a tech but Genghis won't agree. Then I try a ruse asking what would make a Cease Fire work and Genghis wants a city. Finally I try for a straight PT and Genghis won't accept it. When I try to go back to the original offer, it's not possible. Is this because 1) the original offer is marked as refused by the AI and 2) being more powerful than Mao at the moment, the AI will not negotiate?

These are my suspisions and I would like to know if anybody else has had this experience. I tried searching for 'peace treaty' but ended up in CIV III. I noticed that Monty, who also got a bloody nose when he tried to invade, hasn't offered a peace treaty; probably because Monty is weaker than Mao.

Background: Mao eliminated GW and is alone on the continent. I have tried several ways to keep the research at a high percentage (70-90%) while building up the cities, expanding their borders to cover the entire continent, and trying to generate as many GP as possible. I did not build up as many military units as possible because of the cost so that is why Mao is weaker even though he has twice the territory and is catching up in the techs.

[AThousandYoung]

Genghis always tries to rip me off in trades. Monty too. They like to use their belligerence to make a profit.

[Dirk1302]

I think you gave the answer yourself in 1) the original offer was marked as refused. If you were to start negotiatons yourself you can always get back at earlier offers. In this instance the ai got to you first as in the case of a demand, refusing a demand means (with most civs) a negative modifier without you having the chance to change your mind. This one seems similar, "take it or leave it".

[JoeBlade]

If memory serves peace negotiations depend mainly on three aspects:
1. The combined power of you and your allies versus that of the civ you're negotiating with + their allies.
2. Victories and losses on either side (cities having changed hands in particular)
3. War weariness of the negotiating civ

It sounds to me as though the combined power of Monte's & Genghis' armies & navies exceed yours. As long as that's true they'll probably continue to expect tribute for peace, even if nothing else happens during the war.

I suspect either bringing one or two allies of your own into the war or ravaging their homelands would be the best way to ensure a favourable deal.
Alternatively you can hope for a few more (ineffective) invasions. If you can beat down any invasion armies of theirs with ease it should shift the balance of power in your favour while increasing their war weariness (but not yours, since you're merely defending).
Finally, you could try to make a separate deal with one of the warring parties first; merely a plain white peace if need be (= no tributes either way) The remaining civ should be more amenable afterwards.