Lux Trades with AI - price factors?

[chazzycat]

I couldn't find a thread...has anyone figured out which factors can affect the prices the AI wants for luxury trades?

I feel like it can change dramatically sometimes, but I don't know why. Relationship is a part of it, but not the whole equation right? I have definitely had AI with bad relationship (denounced even) give me a far better price than a close friend.

Also it seems like it changes a lot. Sometimes an AI will want like 40 or 50 gold per turn, but then you try again in a few turns and it's dropped to something much more reasonable. What gives? Is there some model of supply/demand affecting the price? I feel like maybe they are cheaper when you don't need them as much (amenity wise), but I have no evidence to support that.

 

[Trav'ling Canuck]

I'm not sure about buying resources (don't think I've ever done that), but when selling resources I don't think your relationship with the AI Leader plays into it at all in Civ 6.

I believe for selling resources, the price the AI Leader is willing to pay is solely dependent on the AI's own perceived need, which I also think is a nice improvement over Civ 5. And that in turn, for luxuries, seems to depend on where their cities are relative to the next tier of happiness.

Something to watch for: an AI Leader will sometimes pay more for the second luxury (of a different type, of course) you sell them that turn. That, to me, suggests that the price the AI is willing to pay depends on how many Cities will move from one tier of happiness to another.

For selling strategic resources, first the AI needs to not have a copy (they won't pay to own two - thank goodness the AI was taught that much about the value of upgrading over hard building!) Then how much they will pay definitely depends on whether the resource allows them to buy a cutting edge military unit or only an obsolete one, with the price they will pay for obsolete resources noticeably deteriorating as their technology improves. Finally, I'm quite certain that they will pay more when at war then they will when they are at peace.

Now, how that gets applied to the reverse situation, where an AI has extra resources it's willing to sell, I don't know. It is quite plausible that it takes supply and demand into account. I have no observation points on the price to buy something from the AI.

 

[MrRadar]

I'm not sure about buying resources (don't think I've ever done that), but when selling resources I don't think your relationship with the AI Leader plays into it at all in Civ 6.

I believe for selling resources, the price the AI Leader is willing to pay is solely dependent on the AI's own perceived need, which I also think is a nice improvement over Civ 5. And that in turn, for luxuries, seems to depend on where their cities are relative to the next tier of happiness.

I suspect that your past military behaviour is a big factor too, and your total power or score might have a say as well.

As an example I'll give my current game as Wilhelmina on epic speed. I had one war in this game so far, in which I took out the Mongols by capturing and keeping their 5 cities and liberating Babylon as the final act in that war.
(The start of war was interesting: I had a few renewals of DOF with Genghis, then finally got ready for some action and did not renew the DOF, let some turns pass and parked a few units on his border. Despite my ignoring his request to move them, he still stayed friendly, so I denounced him. He attacked me the very next turn! Loved it )

Before the war I had DOF with Cleo and Teddy, and luxury trade was normal, that is to say - nothing unusual. I used to get passable gpt and trade lux for lux with some extra gpt thrown in one side or the other. During the war I picked some 21 WM score with them which got slashed to 8 by liberating a CS. DOFs ran out and both - Cleo and Teddy refused to renew them despite total diplo modifiers remaining positive. WM score vanished after few dozens of turns, I have +15 - + 17 diplo with them, they stayed friendly to me all the time but still they won't sign a DOF.

And the war had disastrous effects on the trade prices - now they were asking some 50-60 gpt for their lux, and offering 1 gpt for mine. As turns passed, I saw their offers starting to get better, but very slowly, they started offering 1gpt + little lump sum which now keeps increasing, and asking price for a lux dropped to 40 gpt. So it seems that despite there being no obvious beef between us in the shown diplo modifiers, there might be some hidden remaining beef in the trade prices calculation and willingness to enter into a friendship agreement, and the negatives are wearing off gradually, unaffected very much by positive actions, like liberation of city states (or at least only one of them).

 

[chazzycat]

ah - sorry that was a bit unclear - I generally was referring to the price of BUYING luxuries from the AI. Sometimes it can swing from "hey, this is downright reasonable" to "WTF...are you kidding me?" in the span of a few turns with the same leaders...

But my suspicion would be whatever those factors are, they work in both directions.

 

[Trav'ling Canuck]

ah - sorry that was a bit unclear - I generally was referring to the price of BUYING luxuries from the AI. Sometimes it can swing from "hey, this is downright reasonable" to "WTF...are you kidding me?" in the span of a few turns with the same leaders...

But my suspicion would be whatever those factors are, they work in both directions.

Quite possibly. Certainly what they will pay in the other direction - the AI buying from you - swings wildly from turn to turn.

 

[Zdarg]

If you already have it, they will ask less.
Probably, if several AIs can sell same luxury at the same time, each one will ask less.