There is an essential piece of information missing in this article, that I found out the hard way. This may only apply to PTW and not Conquests, but it has to be mentioned to warn anyone else who reads this guide.
My friend and I were playing an SG where reputation was essential, as no self research was allowed, and there was a limit on gold in the treasury (You can read our turnlog here,
http://unhelpful.info/test/).
However, when I got the game back in 750 AD, our reputation was broken! We re-examined everything, and we had strictly followed the guidelines set out in Microbe's article. Yet our reputation was broken.
After much investigation, we determined the cause:
- Once you have warred with a civilization, peace is dealt with as a "deal" from then on, in the Active Trades, the Peace Treaty (16) will always have turns left on it
- Even if this Peace Treaty deal is straight-up, and includes nothing else, if war is declared while there is still a number left in the Active trades box,
your reputation will be broken!
Another important item left out:
- Your reputation is
restored with civilizations that can no longer contact the civilization you offended
- If you get someone to declare war against the civilization that you offended, the new warring civ will now honor gpt trades with you
- This should also apply when you eliminate the civ you offended, so there is hope to restoring reputation.
The guide is otherwise great, but its unfortunate that this omission screwed up our game.