I can't even give gold away...

[enar]

I'm playing as Scythia, in Emperor mode. I recently (within the last 15-20 turns) beat up on Japan and took his lunch money (and his capital). Last turn, I offered to give him a luxury good as a gift. He wouldn't take it ... I guess my warmonger level is so high that even a gift from me is tainted. Fine.

Offer the same luxury good to America, with whom I've never been at war, and he won't trade with me for any reasonable value (not even if I offer 3 or 4 for 1 in luxuries). O-kay. So I offer it as a gift. Teddy says "I cannot accept this deal."

Oh, and Teddy's got problems of his own with Montezuma having just taken one of his cities. As Peter says, "Stupid, stupid".

 

[PlotinusRedux]

I offered someone a city I didn't want any more as a gift, and he said he couldn't accept it. So I changed the offer to him paying me 1 gold for the city--and he accepted that.

I think its because gifts increase your diplomatic standing with the recipient, and when they're mad at you, they just reject anything that would increase your standing with them, even if it would benefit them without helping you at all.

 

[enar]

That makes sense. Civ AI sense, anyway. ;-)

 

[c4c6]

Should (especially in situations, in which already 'all is decided' anyway) a CIV AI be overly happy about a small or even tiny ABSOLUTE advantage and therefore "feel" to owe something to the human player or being obliged to increase the diplomatic standing (min 1 quantum)?

 

[enar]

I only played a couple of dozen more turns in that game, but before I knocked off for the night, Teddy (with only 1 city left to his name) demanded that I gift him a luxury and some gold. This was one of those times I wished there was a saltier response than merely "Refuse".

 

[enar]

Should (especially in situations, in which already 'all is decided' anyway) a CIV AI be overly happy about a small or even tiny ABSOLUTE advantage and therefore "feel" to owe something to the human player or being obliged to increase the diplomatic standing (min 1 quantum)?

I think the AI should accept a no-strings-attached gift, but it'd be seriously unrealistic to just buy/gift your way back into their graces. Perhaps cap the improved diplomatic standing to only a small proportion of the hostility, regardless of the number/value of the gifts?

 

[c4c6]

I think the AI should accept a no-strings-attached gift

Ok, but if I had to design it, I'd say:
instead of "I cannot accept this deal." output "If you insist in this deal ...", take & use the gift, but change / do NOTHING else.

Teddy (with only 1 city left to his name) demanded that I gift him a luxury and some gold.

I suppose, this amount of "a luxury and some gold" he would have also accepted as gift (in the same turn, ceteris paribus).

 

[Japper007]

It's sad to see how broken the trade screen still is, especially for a AAA release.

Endless Legend, an indie title, has this system down so much better (though I'll admit it took some hilariously broken iterations there too!):
-if the player offers something (say 100 gold) the value of that deal is a sum of the AI's hatred/love to that player and the value of the deal, if at low relations your gold is basically worthless, but still a slight positive on the slider, (which you can see change in real time while changing the deal BTW) if relations are high your gold's value is way more
-the demand side of the deal is similarly changed by the relationship status, low relations=high cost to demand something in return, high relations= low
-the AI also assigns a value to resources based on their rarity and usefullness, if it has a monopoly on a certain resource, it "knows" it can ask a far heaftier price.

This way even an enemy'll happily accept a gift, and sometimes a good friend can be pursuaded to give you stuff for free or at least at a bargain price.

 

[enar]

Ok, but if I had to design it, I'd say:
instead of "I cannot accept this deal." output "If you insist in this deal ...", take & use the gift, but change / do NOTHING else.

Yes, that would make more sense than the current set-up.

Or, perhaps, treat it in the same way that a server in a restaurant would react to an insultingly small tip? In other words, offer too little and have it actually reduce your diplomatic standing.

 

[Browd]

Yes, that would make more sense than the current set-up.

Or, perhaps, treat it in the same way that a server in a restaurant would react to an insultingly small tip? In other words, offer too little and have it actually reduce your diplomatic standing.

Oh, I can hear the howls of player protest now -- "This is so bugged. I gave him a gift and my diplomatic relationship [didn't improve/got worse]. Frankly, I would have been better off if he had refused my gift. The developers clearly don't know what they're doing...."