"Getting pretty close to a deal"

[hanoi]

A major candidate for the top of my Civ3 pet peeve list. Your advisor's idea of "pretty close" can mean like one-third the amount of money needed. So in the interest of not overpaying, you add 10 gold... and 10 more... and 10 more... etc. etc.

I'd like to see them patch that so "close" means actually close, it would save me a lot of time.

 

[Exsanguination]

i couldnt agree with you more

 

[Mr Spice]

"Close" is related to how rich you are. If you can afford to pay more, "close" means a larger amount of money.

 

[Thunderfall]

I agree. Adding and subtracting gold from the negotiation table are quiet tedious. The trade advisor should give the exact reservation price of the AI, not an estimate.

Something like "The French will not trade Pottery for less than 50 Gold".

 

[LKendter]

I would even be happy if there slider to up / lower the amount of gold - at least that would make it shorter to do the trade.

 

[Kilroy]

Originally posted by hanoi
A major candidate for the top of my Civ3 pet peeve list. Your advisor's idea of "pretty close" can mean like one-third the amount of money needed. So in the interest of not overpaying, you add 10 gold... and 10 more... and 10 more... etc. etc.

I'd like to see them patch that so "close" means actually close, it would save me a lot of time.

If it were too close, the message would be pretty useless.

 

[Jason Fox]

If the advisor obviously knows, tell me! Could you imagine an actually advisor standing there saying you're close but refusing to reveal the amount it would take? Behead that idiot! Plus I know I've overpaid for things because I was sick of subtracting a little gold and seeing if they will still do it. Knowing the amount would eliminate that too.

 

[Plux]

I think it would be better if the trade advisor would only give advice like three times per turn per civ (for example), and the third time you need to make the deal or not. That way he gives more like an indication on the trades you are trying (like a real advisor) and you really have to guess to get the best deal possible.

The way it is now it would be better if you just click 'advisor', and he prompts the best deal for you. Now we have to do that ourselves..

 

[Bamspeedy]

What I really hate about "Getting pretty close to a deal" is when you can't possible sweeten the deal anymore. I can demand cities off the AI for peace. If I ask for 2 cities instead of just 1, I'll get the 'pretty close' message. But I can't possible offer anything in exchange to get that 2nd city. If I add even 1 gold, the message changes to "They would never accept this!" This is because now the AI is programmed to never trade cities, or to accept anything in exchange for a city, etc. In this case, I would rather see the 'never accept' message instead of trying to get me to figure out how I can get the deal accepted.

 

[Qitai]

Well, you said it. It is to prevent abuse of the peace negotiation to get cities. And it is possible to demand more then 1 cities if you forces are huge enough. I have demand 4 cities before when I have a force of 200++ Vs their puny <20.

And pretty close refers to the total value of all the items on the table I think, so if you are trading some highly valued tech at say 1000gc, pretty close can mean 900gc. That's is my guess. So, on a relative level, it is really pretty close. That's my guess.

 

[HellboundHeathcliff]

It appears to be set for at or near the 90% mark of the trade deal being set up. Everything has a value, but there are many different trades possible and we don't know what they individually are worth to the AI.

Example: We don't know what our dyes or silks are worth to them if they have no cash flow, so we end up experimenting with different luxuries and cash amounts untill we come within 90% of what they will take for thier gems. Then we get the 'close to a deal' msg.

Try getting more money for a map when they only will pay 3 gp for it. If you put in 4, it won't work. If they will pay 10, you can get the 'close to a deal' msg at 11 but not at 12, i think.

In a straight cash for something deal, you can use the 10% guideline.

 

[sealman]

I wish for some counter offers. You ask the AI what he wants for a tech or something and he gives you a price, say 200 GP, you say you will give 100, AI will counter with 175. Sort of like, I don't know, NEGOTIATION.

The way it is now is that whatever the AI says is their final answer.

 

[Qitai]

Yeap, that would be the best way. I once had a game where trade works that way. I forgot which game is it though. Right now, you just have a 100% accurate advisor and it just makes me keep testing until I get the trigger level.

 

[tenpenny]

I had a strange experience in trading luxuries with the Iroquois on Emporer level. I was doing what everyone on this thread is talking about - adding a few gold per turn, subtracting a few gold per turn, etc., etc. and we finally reached deal I liked, but before that happened, Hiawatha's quote read something like:

"Our offer is fair - just take it!"

And when I finally took it, Hiawatha was furious with me. When I went into that trading session, he was polite. The only things we ended up trading or ever even having on the table was my luxuries for his gold, I never demanded anything or even asked him to accept a bad deal - I just used my advisor for all the adding/subtracting.

Has anyone else upset their trading partners like this? I thought it must have been my breath...

 

[gozpel]

It happened when I was the Persians and traded wines to the Japanese. They were polite when I asked them and they were willing to pay x gold/turn...I say ok and they went furious! Very confusing...

I have another strange thing on the trade advisor screen, at the bottom I can see the words New and Active, but nothing happens when I click on them...so I always walk in the dark when it comes to whom I traded for what with, anyone with an advice how to fix this?

 

[Bamspeedy]

I have another strange thing on the trade advisor screen, at the bottom I can see the words New and Active, but nothing happens when I click on them...so I always walk in the dark when it comes to whom I traded for what with, anyone with an advice how to fix this?

Hmm.. Never heard of that happening. When you click on 'active', the peace treaty should still show up (unless you are at war with that civ of course). Nothing will show in the 'new' unless you were in the process of proposing a deal. The only thing I can think of is if you had scrolled down (like to show all of your cities), then clicked on active, so that you must scroll back up to see the peace treaty.

 

[Selous]

in a game i just had, the adviser told me i was pretty close to a teck at 300 gold, but i end up had to pay 1008 gold for it .... pretty close? that is over 3 times the amount? how can that be close?