Diplomacy in TAM

[drlake]

Maybe I'm missing something, but it seems extremely difficult to get any of the AIs to Pleased or better. I've tried giving cities and techs, joining them in wars, and selling them techs at favorable costs and have yet to get any up to Pleased (at Prince difficulty, fwiw). As a result, none are willing to trade techs with me (though I can extort them for Peace) or open borders.

Is this a feature of the mod, or a bug, or just bad luck on my part? Any suggestions from those who have managed to get AI relations better on how to do it? I don't have any religion in my empire, so can't match their state religion.

 

[graywarden]

Maybe I'm missing something, but it seems extremely difficult to get any of the AIs to Pleased or better. I've tried giving cities and techs, joining them in wars, and selling them techs at favorable costs and have yet to get any up to Pleased (at Prince difficulty, fwiw). As a result, none are willing to trade techs with me (though I can extort them for Peace) or open borders.

Is this a feature of the mod, or a bug, or just bad luck on my part? Any suggestions from those who have managed to get AI relations better on how to do it? I don't have any religion in my empire, so can't match their state religion.

If I recall correctly, tech trading comes with writing or trade technologies, which are mid game techs. If i did not recall correctly, it will be in the same tech line above these too. After the right tech requirement, trade will happen.

 

[drlake]

If I recall correctly, tech trading comes with writing or trade technologies, which are mid game techs. If i did not recall correctly, it will be in the same tech line above these too. After the right tech requirement, trade will happen.

It's writing, which is a fairly early game tech.

As I noted, I've been able to extort techs for peace, but none of the AIs seems willing to trade techs at Cautious (I'm probably too powerful for that) and I can't get any of them to Pleased. Likewise, I've only managed to get one AI to Open Borders, and that is due to shared war. Both of these are far more restrictive than I see in normal BTS games, which is why I was asking what was going on.

 

[graywarden]

It's writing, which is a fairly early game tech.

As I noted, I've been able to extort techs for peace, but none of the AIs seems willing to trade techs at Cautious (I'm probably too powerful for that) and I can't get any of them to Pleased. Likewise, I've only managed to get one AI to Open Borders, and that is due to shared war. Both of these are far more restrictive than I see in normal BTS games, which is why I was asking what was going on.

What difficulty level are you playing on. When testing I aways test on Noble which is the most neutral setting. Also which map are you playing, All testing was done on the Civ24 map, which gives a little better opportunity of trade because of the number of civs.

 

[drlake]

Prince, Western Med as the Goths.

Note that I'm not complaining, just trying to figure out if this is a feature of the mod or not. Making tech trading difficult slows tech progression down, which isn't always a bad thing.

 

[Sprenk]

I've noticed the same thing, drlake. Playing at Monarch, I usually try to find a "war buddy" with coastal cities near mine. They will usually open borders eventually, so I can swamp them with merchant boats. But I rarely manage any tech trading.

This is all quite a change from reg BTS. I think it must be a planned feature of this mod.

 

[drlake]

I finally managed to get Rome to Pleased on turn 329 (normal speed), which opened up some tech trading. Partly because there are so many AIs, it is tough to avoid all the negative diplo hits from declaring on friends, refusals to help, and trading with enemies.

 

[graywarden]

for the record, most of the tweaking and testing has been done on the Huge 24 med map scenario. i can give very little comment on the other maps, other then that the more you play the more you will be able to experience the range of the game. above all enjoy, the TAM DEV group has been very quiet this past few months...... ;o(

 

[drlake]

I love the mod (TAM for Civ3 was all I played for a couple of years!), it's a really nice change from BTS. I don't tend to play huge maps because the games take so damn long, but I may have to make an exception for TAM since trying to rebuild the Roman Empire (for example) would be an epic but fun task.

 

[Andrik V]

drlake, I've experienced pretty much everything you've described.
I play on Monarch, so maybe its meant to be tougher, but I too find it quite difficult to get AIs pleased with me (with the exception of Julius who almost always seems to go happy).
I have had minimal success with tech trading, but its nothing I would rely on for teching. Instead, I've started relying on espionage pretty heavily with fairly good success.

I am now going to try a game with no tech trading. If I can't get the AI to trade techs with me, at least that will prevent them from demanding every tech I get every 10 turns and then growing annoyed when I refuse to gift them.

Love the mod though.
(try some marathon raging barbs for a grueling start )

 

[drlake]

Yeah, I've been using espionage effectively so it's all good.

I did start a new game, and got someone (Teuta?) to pleased by gifting her fishing when we met. Apparently the diplomacy engine is such that a gift on first meeting an AI is worth a very large positive diplomacy hit.