1 more quick diplo question

[Shark Diver]

As I've mentioned recently, I'm converting to Deity/standard play.

I'm landlocked as Inca, and have a very good mountain range start (no wonders, but several hill tiles w/ 3+ mountains adjacent). I'll not be able to be offensive, and will need my neighbors to be fighting each other for awhile.

Question is, if I approach, say Rome, and try to bribe him to DoW someone, and the price is too high or he says there's no price, is there any diplo penalty?

What if I ask him about several other civs at the same time? Do I risk being an instigator?

Then if I go next to Persia and see who he wants to fight with, am I risking anything?

(poorly worded question, but I hope you get my drift…..I need to instigate and don't want to p*ss anyone off just yet).

BTW…….I've got to wonderful militaristic CS near me but neither will offer a quest…..what's up with that?

 

[consentient]

Bribery carries no diplomatic penalty at all. No one will ever know about it.

The best way to get people fighting is to get several weaker ones to gang up and take the most powerful one down a notch, if possible. Paying the game leader to war with other people just feeds them and makes it likely they will become a runaway.

 

[Shark Diver]

I should add, seemingly friendly China settled their 2nd city 1 turn before I settled my second one and they are VERY close in proximity. I spent some serious gold to buy key tiles (Wheat/river, grass/river, hill/mountain) and I expected them to be a bit ticked off at this….they haven't said a word, so I'm guessing they'll be coming soon. Given their GG bonus (which they'll use to snatch those tiles back), I'm reluctant to get them into a war just yet, but I'm pretty sure I'll be fighting a defensive war very soon.

Question is: How many tiles which are 50/50 mine/hers can I buy before she gets ticked off? I've already committed the crime, just want to know how soon I have to defend?

 

[Shark Diver]

. Paying the game leader to war with other people just feeds them and makes it likely they will become a runaway.

From what I can see, the runaway will be Rome. China is my immediate thorn-in-the-side. I'll take your advice and see if I can get that celestial princess to commit suicide.

I'm surprised how aggressive Poland is (asked me to DoW 2 other civs very early), so that's another good easy bribery candidate.

Again, if I can survive early, I've got a setup that can have 3-5 very large cities. I'll get NC around t80, but after that I'll have a ton of options and a ton of pop growth.

 

[Nigel_Tufnel]

When you buy common tiles, or do anything "negative" - the diplo hit isn't always visible (if they are Friendly but turn less so then you may see the red modifier for things). My experience is that tile buying will be met by a request to stop most of the time. It expires after 30 or so turns ("You kept your border promise"). If you plan to buy tiles, buy them all at once in one turn, the hit won't be worse for multiple tiles.

 

[JeSuisNapoleon]

You are probably correct about China, they are probably biding their time. Build some units
Have they asked you to be their friend yet? I find that pretty common when the AI want to settle right in your face. its an attempt to guarantee you don't just kill the settler or sack their settlement.

The problem with china is that eventually they will have more GG's than they need, and they will spam you with citadels and get all that land back.

Sometimes when I see a settler headed right for me, i denounce the leader who sent it. its a tricky move sometimes, but if it buys you the 2 turns you need to settle the same area then worth it.

 

[b7fanatix]

Buying tiles that don't border their city doesn't matter, if you buy border tiles, they may ask you to stop. There's no diplo hit as far as i'm aware if you honour the request and keep your word.

As far as settling new cities goes, the AI takes offence if you settle a city that's closer to their capital than yours.

China have a high deceptiveness flavour (7), so they can appear Friendly on diplomacy screen when not actually being positively disposed towards you, with the negative modifiers hidden. To find out if she's being deceptive, you could try selling her stuff, see if she pays the full going rate. If she won't give 7GPT for a lux she really doesn't like you.

However, she's also low on loyalty. China either goes for domination or cultural victory, if she's trying for domination, she'll attack you if strong enough, no matter how good the relations are - at least that was my experience in G&K - i remember loading a save file the turn before a DoW, with declaration of friendship and multiple positive modifiers, and she was willing to pay the full 240 gold for a lux.