"Peace for Cities" Dilema(s)!

[boogaboo]

Hi all!
It seems that I will be attacking this forum in the next few days (at least).

intro:
I'm doing deity conquests with Persia on small maps vs 3 AI (PTW1.27).
I found a troubling thing that is not quite clear to me, and want (ofcourse) to find the optimal solution/formula... or get close to it..

I'm starting war with Immortals at about 1600BC-1500BC, the game ends by conquest usually around 700BC (and I'm trying to get 775BC)...
This dilema concerns only to the war part of the game.

I need to be at war with most of the civs most of the time since I got Immortals from every direction.
I can be at peace for only maximum of 2-3 turns at a time, and thus need to break treaties and raze cities frequently.
My reputation declines with every move I make.
I used to not care about that, since this nation will not exist.
Then I found that if you raze/capture/threaten enough AI cities, you will be able to play your cards (Immortals near AI cities) and get cities for (the price of) peace.


The Dilema:

How do I optimize the number/quality of cities the AIs are willing to give in "Cities for Peace"??
Every time you get a reputation hit, the chances of a "Cities for Peace" with the AIs decrease.
But you must "Cities for Peace".. and then war..
The dilema is - how to optimize it???
I'm always thinking of that phrase from "Princess Bride":
"I can take you both apart! I can take you both together!"

For example, should I make peace with all AIs at the same turn to gain better later "Cities for Peace" deals? Will it help?
Perhaps if I'll keep one AI happy and raze the 2 others first I'll gain in the total?


Cycle of War appendix
This is how the cycle of war seems to me, and the
X = turns passing before the AI is willing to rediscuss "Cities for Peace".
Y = cities razed before the AI is willing to rediscuss "Cities for Peace".
Z = Reputation hit on AIs.

1. [0-3 turns]
Waiting after peace treaty peace for the right moment to attack, then go to war!
2. [Immidiate]
X, Y, Z values grow.
3. [some formula certainly involving X, Y, Z (and also army size etc..) turns pass]
War. Kill. Destroy proceed. Eliminate. Look when the AI is willing for "Cities for Peace".
4. [0-2 turns (sometimes I wait to kill a bit more..)]
"Cities for Peace" deal.
Takes longer to happen (!) since the AI hates you, but they will exchange "Cities for Peace".




Please help little boy Chaim find his dilema optimization and you will be awarded with kisses! (naaaa, I'm not so little).
When I say Me, I mean Borg...
We love you.

 

[Pfeffersack]

Sorry, but I didn't really understand the problem...you say you have got a lot of immortals - why making peace at all? If I were you I would stay at war and conquer all the cities.As a nice benefit you should get a lot of MGLs and you can great armies to conquer even easier.

The only chance to avoid those reputation hits is to wait 20 turns, but I agree this is not an option if you go for a fast conquest ...you wrote, you can only be 3 turns at peace...why this?

 

[ArmPilot]

I wouldn't expect thier to be many cities for peace on a small map. But then agian i nver play on small maps so i wouldn't know.

 

[boogaboo]

y peace? because I instantly get cities in return, nost of which I raze.

The dilema is that I can't do it so good again because of the rep hit.

Also there are about 6-9 cities per AI that I can take or I can buy!

 

[nullspace]

OK, so the idea is to win by conquest as fast as possible, and getting cities in a peace deal is faster than conquering them. But you can't wait around for 20 turns before starting war again, so your reputation is shot once you break the peace deal.

My only idea is to make peace with all the civs at the same time. So you get to make multiple cities-for-peace deals with a clean rep. Then break them all. I don't know if it wll ever work again after breaking all those treaties, but at leas you made several deals while they still trusted you.

Also, if an AI doesn't have contact with other civs, they won't know if you've screwed any civs that they haven't met, and nobody will know if you take advantage of that civ. You reputation with a civ only suffers if they know the civ with whom you broke the deal. It might be helpful to go to war very early and try to kill explorers before the AI civs meet each other.

 

[boogaboo]

Great, nullspace! (are we all programmers / nulls / spaces ?)

Now the real question is still about the parameters -
Are the rep hits so great that it won't be worth it just to do it all over again twice or three times per AI ? (that's about what I get)

Sometimes they are so scared they'll give away 2 cities and sometimes I come whith huge stacks to their new capital the same turn I razed their original and they won't even give me a remote city, and I think it varies more the reputation.
The last scenario is real and just happened to me minutes ago.
I'll try to simultanious attack and hope it helps.