Trading/Ceding Spheres of Influence

[Louis XXIV]

I previously proposed an idea of using your military might to take over city-state influence without conquering them through a Vassal System, but now I have another idea.

I was at war with Russia. It was a long, drawn out war and I was winning. There was also a city-state right on my border that was allied to Russia that was occasionally annoying. I had no real interest in annexing it, but I kind of wished it wasn't there. Eventually I made peace. However, each time I fought with Russia, the ally came back to attack me. It occurred to me that what I really wanted was for Russia to give up their ally.

So here was my proposal. At least as a mechanism of peace (if not something that can be bargained for), you should be able to obtain a civ's influence towards a city-state (say their influence is at 90, after the agreement, you get the 90 influence). Part of this allows a realistic use of diplomacy in spheres of influence rather than the only use is for the AI to complain when you accidentally gain more influence than them over a city-state.

 

[Moriboe]

I don't know about simply swapping influence from a realism point of view: you could be taking over a whole lot of influence to become their new BFF, while you were at war just a turn before. How about making the defeated player "renounce protection" of the city state? This would annoy the CS and reset their influence, giving you the chance to take their place.

The way you suggest it would be more interesting for diplo victories, but could set AI warmongers on that path without them trying. In any case, the AI should not agree to such an agreement lightly.