Worth it to cancel deals?

[ybbor]

Is there ever a situation where when an Ai asks you to cancel deals with a rival where you will accept, or even be proactive and drop it without asking just to get rid of the -4 you traded with our worst enemy? I rarely do unless a civ is in a war they will inevitably be destroyed in. They usually refuse to talk to you, and it usually deosn't seem worth it. A more expierenced player care to lend advice or feedback?

 

[Crimso]

I always refuse, even before I read the name of the third civ. I'm always trading off my excess resources for gpt. If you are more interested in relations than money in a certain situation, why did you start trading with the civ in the first place? If you're serious about making clear alliances and enemies, don't trade with someone you know your ally hates.

On the other hand, it is easy in the late game to rack up a lot of +'s diplomacy-wise, and having -4 for trading with an enemy won't make a huge difference. Unless you're dependent on a more powerful civ to be your big brother, take the money.

 

[MrCynical]

I always refuse unless I'm planning to attack the third civ in the iminnent future anyway. My approach is usually to be trading with just about everyone, so I simply tolerate the -4 to relations with everyone from worst enemy penalties, and rely on other modifiers to counterbalance it. Cutting deals will cause even more damage to your relations with the third civ (they may refuse to talk to you for some considerable time) and is usually detrimental to my economy.

 

[petertr2000]

I usually pick a point in the game when I beleive I need to make 2 or 3 friends, and everyone else can go to hell.

Thats when I start "picking my spots" when it comes to deals.

Of course, as soon as they will talk to me again, I will recreate the deal - without the diplomacy penalty.

 

[Roland Johansen]

There are some nations that you need to have as friends because you need their resources (and you can't conquer their resources at the moment). It can be quite useful to be nice to these guys so that you're able to trade with them. If for some reason the negative modifier for trading with their enemy is too much, then you should consider stopping that trade. Resources are often far more important than some trade with an unimportant civilization.

Converting the civilizations that you need as friends is of course one of the most effective ways to gain a solid friend.

You can always take a look at the relations and the various trades by pressing F4 during negotiations.

 

[East St Trader]

Diplomatic options are one of the much improved aspects of the game.

And yes I have sometimes agreed to drop deals. You get an initial boost of plus one to your relations with the civ you please and you also avoid the minus one which you would get were you to refuse.

one situation where I might be very likely to agree is where the faction asking is an immediate neighbour who I am a long way off being able to take out and whom I hope will hold off from attacking me for a while.

You do need to think that the plus one is going to make a difference. If you are already at minus four because you have different religions and have a couple of other minuses to the relatioinship from previous aggressionh or refused requests then you can almost certainly not hope to bring that faction round whatever you do for the rest of the game.

But if you are the same religion, have been providing resources for years, maybe have their favourite civic in place well then the extra one point for being accomodating may well be a valuable thing to have.

 

[Corlindale]

I take a quick look at my relations list, and then I turn down the civ I have best relations with, because they most likely won't get too angry. Unless one of the civs are on my mental "soon-to-be-destroyed" list, then I obviously turn that civ down.

 

[The Tyrant]

A more expierenced player care to lend advice or feedback?

Umm... looking at the number of posts you have here, I doubt I'm a more experienced player than you. Still, here's my take on things: It depends.

If I'm in a PA-possible game, then YES! I'll choose one or more PA targets early and do everything I can to please them. In my current OCC (with PA checked) there have been a couple of times I've been at war with four civs simultaneously. I've canceled deals, closed borders and gone to war simply at the mere suggestion by one of my "friends." There are four civs right now who absolutely hate me, but that's okay because they are getting beat up on -- I made friends with the warmongerers.

If I'm in a normal game (no PA possible) then I'm much less likely to cancel deals per request unless I have a very good reason to want to please the one making the request. If I'm in a weak military position and a close aggressive AI with a strong military asks, then of course the 500 pound gorilla gets what he wants. Otherwise I'm likely to refuse such requests because having more trading options is preferrable.

 

[Jmaz]

The AI only trades when it is in a 'need' to, in my opinion. Poor health, unhappy citizens etc. So trade accordingly. I generally trade freely with those that have good relations and even these guys will never get horses, copper, stone, marble etc. If the relations change later in the game I don't mind cancelling contracts. But I always do get a kick out of a civ that has been annoyed from the get-go telling me to cancel a deal. This is usually the Japan guy who hates everybody and is always at the bottom of the score list. (if I were Japanese descent I would probably be mad at the programmers for making him such an idiot)