Extortion for beginner’s: aka diplomacy.
Introduction
Rome: Total War offers a challenging new dimension to the Total War series – deep diplomacy. Your diplomatic agents now have many possible offers and demands they can tender toward any faction in the game. As the game describes it, “A diplomat is an individual trained in the arts of flattery, cajolery, smooth talking and sometimes even bullying who is sent out to deal with rival factions. It is his job to strike bargains, cement peace treaties or even demand a surrender. Diplomats also act as the eyes and ears of their factions in the places they go.”
This guide is by no means complete. As new or corrected information comes available it will be updated. Because of the depth and complexity available on the campaign map, the Diplomatic Strategies section will be constantly added to as players find new ways to utilise this tremendous dimension of the game.
Although I would like to claim that all the words are mine, there are many others who have contributed to this document. Parts of the descriptions have been taken from the game itself, and someone (or some few, more likely) at CA deserve a big thanks for making this part of the game as robust as it is. Players have contributed a great deal with their insights. I’d like to thank Thoros of Myr for being the catalyst to the project with his understanding of the diplomatic side of the game, and all the great people at the Org who express their views eloquently and with passion.
Note: Text in dark red points out areas where the information available is questionable, incomplete, or otherwise in need of more research.
If you read something incorrect, find missing information, or have answers to questions raised in this document, please feel free to contact me (Tamur) directly via email: cicero3558@yahoo.com
Conducting Negotiations
The Mechanics of Haggling
To open any negotiation, you need someone to negotiate with, and you need a goal. For a quick list of possible goals, see the Senate Missions section later. For now, though, we’ll assume that you want to open your first negotiation with the Gauls, who are neutral to you. You want to gain trade rights, which allows commerce to flow between your towns and the towns the Gauls occupy.
First select one of your diplomats, and move him into Gallic territory. It’s often best to send a spy in before your diplomat so you can see where the faction’s family members are, and where cities are. Although some say it makes no difference, there are those who claim to have gotten better results from negotiating at cities, or better yet from negotiating at the faction’s capital.
Once your diplomat is in Gallic territory, right-click on any agent, or a city, belonging to the Gauls. The negotiation screen will open up. Note: you don’t need to be in a faction’s territory to negotiate with them – you simply need to be able to right-click on a faction’s agent.
On the negotiations panel, there are two main parts.
The left half contains all your diplomatic options. These change based on your standing with a faction. A faction to which you are neutral will have different diplomatic options available than one with which you are at war, or allied.
The right half contains all the current proposals. When you first open up negotiations, this will be empty. If an emissary from another faction has sought you out, then this will be full with their offers and demands.
The offers section, as well as the demands section, is split up into two (well, three, but Bribes are different) sections: Offers, and Demands. The Description of Offers & Demands section lists and describes all possible offers and demands (so far discovered anyway).
With this screen open, you can Offer something by clicking on one or more of the items under Make Offer. These are things you are proposing to do. In our example, we want to gain Trade Rights from the Gauls so our towns can start sending goods to their towns, and vice versa. We find “Trade Rights” under the Make Offer section, and click it. “Trade Rights” has now moved to the right side of the negotiations panel. You can cancel that offer by simply clicking on it in the right panel, and it will move back into your possibilities and be removed from your current offers.
You can Demand something by clicking on one or more of the items under the Make Demand heading. These are things that you are proposing that the other faction do. In our example, we don’t want to demand anything because “Trade Rights” is an offer-only proposal. See the Offers & Demands section for more information about offer-only proposals.
Some options have further information you need to provide. For example, if you click “Attack Faction” under the Make Offer header, then you’ll need to specific which faction you’re offering to attack. If you demand “Regular Tribute”, then you’ll need to specify how much per turn, and how many turns (half-years) you want them to pay that amount.
Propose, Give as Gift, and Inform
Once you’ve finished adding offers and demands, you need to “table” the proposal. There are three buttons on the bottom right corner of the negotiation panel.
Propose simply sends the proposal you’ve crafted to the faction you’re negotiating with. They consider it and reply (which we’ll cover later).
Give as Gift will simply give whatever you’re offering to your negotiating partner. Any of your Make Offer options that are not by nature reciprocal (such as Trade Rights or Alliance) can be given as gifts.
An earlier version of this guide reported that factions cannot turn down gifts – this is not true. Factions apparently can turn down gifts on occasion, most often stating, “We cannot match this offer.” The reasons for this are unclear.
If you give a gift, it means that the faction in question has no obligation to repay your generosity. Giving a profitable province to a faction as a gift is probably not a good idea. The friendliness of the gesture is likely to be cancelled out by the greed it generates.
Gifts can tip the balance in negotiations with a faction. However, you can either give gifts in a negotiating session, or offer/demand in a standard fashion. You cannot combine both in the same negotiating session.
It is possible to give a gift and follow that gift up immediately with a request for something like Military Access or Alliance if the faction has been reticent before to give in to these requests previously. But again, the gift-receiver has no obligation to return the favour.
Inform is an option only when you are making a “Cancel” offer, such as Cancel Alliance. Offers such as these have no bargaining involved. You are cancelling the agreement, and your word is final.
Accept, Reject, and Counter-Offer
When an offer has been tabled, the other faction has the option of accepting it, rejecting it, or giving you a counter-offer. If you are receiving a diplomat, then when the negotiations open you will have these three options immediately to reply to their proposal.
Acceptance is simply giving the thumbs up to an offer. At that point the negotiation becomes “legally binding”, though of course treaties can fall apart rather quickly sometimes.
Rejection puts an end to the current set of proposals. This doesn’t mean that negotiations are necessarily over – a new proposal can be tabled by you or the other party. But it does mean that the proposal as it stood was entirely unacceptable to the party who rejected it.
A counter-offer is the position between acceptance and rejection. Receiving a counter-offer (or giving one out) is a very encouraging sign. It means that your negotiating partner is serious about your proposal, but they feel that it’s unfairly weighted toward your side. Most often they will counter-offer something weighted to their side, and the position closer to the middle of the two is where an agreement will be reached.
Bribes
Bribes fall into their own category. You can bribe neutral or enemy units of any type. Bribe an enemy army, and they melt into the countryside. Successfully bribe a faction family member, and they turn traitor and join your cause. Bribe another diplomat, spy, or assassin, and they are yours for the using.
When bribing, you simply need to approach the unit you want to bribe with a diplomat (right-click). Click Bribe above the Make Offer header, and sit back to watch the fun. The bribed unit will either outright refuse, or will demand a certain number of denarii. You can haggle with them on the amount. If your bribe is accepted, you will see their faction flag change to yours. In most cases, if you bribe an army, it will simply disappear.
There are two cases where this is not true. First, if you are playing one of the Roman factions, and manage to bribe the army of another Roman faction, then the army doesn’t melt away – it becomes yours to use.
The second case is when you bribe another faction’s family member. If you successfully bribe a family member, they are by default adopted into your family (no option to not adopt them). They appear as “sons” under a sponsoring family member. The mechanics of who is given the privilege of sponsoring a bribed family member is currently not understood.
Threats
One special case in the Make Offer section needs some explanation. Accept or We Will Attack is in the offer section. This translates any demand it’s attached to into a threat.
The successful use of this option is restricted to the case where you have marched in enemy lands, beaten them repeatedly in battle, and know via spying that they have been severely weakened by your onslaught. The negotiating partner who receives a demand with Accept or We Will Attack tagged must have been recently attacked, and beaten, before acceding to this threat.
When it works, it can get you the largest diplomatic prizes in the game (such as Protectorate Status or Region Giving). If it doesn’t, you’ve probably killed off diplomatic possibilities with this faction for a good while to come.
How Do I…
This section functions as a FAQ about the larger-scale mechanics of diplomacy, and as such does contain a lot of spoilers. If you’re interested in digging through the diplomatic engine yourself and discovering what works and what doesn’t it’d be best to skip this section entirely and move in to the next!
That said, those who struggle with the diplomatic engine should find many of their questions answered here in easy-to-find form. This information is scattered throughout the guide in different places.
… secure a treaty of Military Access?
If you’ve tried, you know it’s near impossible to simply demand Military Access with an open-ended “you name the price” approach. Even gifting regions will not work in most cases.
Make Single Payment is your friend here. Approach the faction whose lands you want military access to, and demand Military Access, then offer a single payment of around 4000 denarii. If they don’t go for that, or make a counter-offer, then open a new proposal and offer them 6000 denarii. You can keep going up by 2000 denarii until you get an acceptance or a counter-offer.
If you have to go above 12000 denarii it’s often not worth the price, but that depends on your situation in the game.
… pad my treasury using my diplomats?
There are a number of ways to do this.
First, if you’ve got a good map to offer, you can make anywhere between 2000 and 8000 denarii each time you sell your map. Remember, though, that each faction will probably only buy your map once. You’ll also get a better price for your map the farther away you travel from your own lands.
Second, securing trade rights with as many factions as possible gives you a much better chance that the goods from your regions will find buyers happy to fork over the denarii. Your ports especially will appreciate this, since they switch their trade lines to the most affluent ports available to them.
Third, a good diplomat in combination with a large army or invasion force can get you a lot. If you are attacking a faction and have been winning all your battles against them, then you can use the “Accept or We Will Attack” threat to coerce tribute, single payments, settlements, or protectorate status out of a faction. Of course, tribute and single payments are the only way to make some quick cash.
… add to my diplomat’s influence?
Station diplomats near all of your ally’s capitals, and keep pestering them for this or that little thing. The more you use your diplomats, the more influence they will gain.
Travel is a big help as well. Some traits and retinue characteristics come only from going well outside your faction’s boundaries. Picking up a Foreign Hostage, for instance, can only happen if your diplomat is in a war zone or recently conquered territory. Becoming a Linguist requires going into foreign lands. Don’t keep your diplomats in safe places their entire career, or you’ll have a lot of very uninspiring diplomats to work with.
… use “Accept or We Will Attack”?
See the description of Accept or We Will Attack in the Offers & Demands Description section. Basically you need to pummel a faction thoroughly, then back off for a round or two, then send in a good diplomat to start demanding things with this threat as the only offer in the negotiation.
Squeamish diplomats will not like doing this, but if those @#$^@! who became your worst enemy thirty years ago finally give in to an Accept or We Will Attack demand, it’s a great feeling of fulfilled revenge!
Diplomatic Strategies
This section is a rough-and-ready guide to strategies on the diplomatic level. These are listed in no particular order.
1. The Caesar Maneuver
Summary Quote:
“We could destroy you, but…”
Description:
Move a diplomat around in enemy territory with a large and well-seasoned army. The army defeats anything in its way, and lays siege to a rich settlement (or even the faction capital). Then the diplomat moves in to offer a better alternative.
Offer/Demand Combos:
Ceasefire / Regular Tribute
Ceasefire / Give Region
Ceasefire / Become Protectorate
Ceasefire / Military Access
When To Use:
* When a faction has refused any offers more than an in-word alliance and you need to force an issue, such as Military Access.
* As punishment when a faction breaks an alliance or cancels Trade Rights.
* Anytime you don’t mind being seen as a bully.
2. The Cleopatra Maneuver
Summary Quote:
“Here, we know you’ll like this…”
Description:
Station a diplomat at a faction’s capital, and as much as you can afford it, gift cash, provinces, etc, to them. Wait a turn, then ask about what you’re really after.
Offer/Demand Combos:
(all offer-only gifts)
Give Region
Make Single Payment
Regular Tribute
Attack Faction
When To Use:
* When a faction has refused demands for Military Access or Alliance.
* When you’re working to move a recent Ceasefire to an Alliance.
* Anytime you want to be seen as a generous, kind-hearted faction with altruistic motives.
3. The Pompey Maneuver
Summary Quote:
“You idiots need this more than I do.”
Description:
Fulfill another faction’s Senate obligation by taking a settlement when they’re unable to take, then give the settlement to the faction who should have taken it. Optionally, try swapping this region for one more suited to your geographic preference. A variation is to give the region to the Senate.
Offer/Demand Combos:
Give Region (as Gift)
Give Region / Give Region
Give Region / Make Single Payment
When To Use:
* When you want to gain standing with the People (giving to SPQR faction).
* When you want to be seen as an insufferable snot by the other factions.
* When you need cash. You can raze the settlement (Exterminate Population), then give it to another faction to repair, but sell it at a high price.
4. The Caelius Maneuver
Summary Quote:
“I’m sure you’d all rather just go back home and farm a bit, right?”
Description:
Prepare a large siege army on the border of a province you want to take. Send a spy and your best (or at least a four-Influence) diplomat into the province. Bribe every single one of the armies in the province, then walk your seige army in and take care of anyone who wasn’t bought off.
Offer/Demand Combos:
Can be followed up with
Give Region / Make Single Payment
When To Use:
* If you spy out a province you want to take, and find that the enemy have swarms of small or large armies that you don’t want the expense and hassle of mopping up for two or three years.
* If you want a quick quick way to beggar a faction (i.e. take a settlement with this maneuver, then offer it back to them at a high price).
* When you have a large treasury and not much patience for battles.
* If you want to quickly stun an enemy’s military, and know that a significant portion of their military forces are stationed in or near this province.
5. The Robin Hood Maneuver
Summary Quote:
“These saucy varlets need a good drubbing, and we will all share in the tasty proceeds.”
Description:
Prepare a large siege army, and place them in a province that fulfils the following conditions:
* You can get to it without crossing territory that isn’t yours or isn’t Military Access-ible, and…
* The province borders a faction who you have an alliance with, and whose land you want military access to, or whom you want to have as firmly-bound allies, and…
* The province also borders a faction with whom your ally is at war
It may seem like a lot, but these are all over the map most of the time.
After you have picked out this province, move one well-skilled diplomat to your ally’s capital, and one to the capital of the faction about to be pounced on.
Once you have your army and agents in place, besiege and capture a settlement of the faction with whom your ally is at war. Exterminate the populace, and as soon as you’ve got it, offer the region to your ally faction, with a generous sum of denarii (6000 or up, depending on how skilled your diplomat is) – but couple these two offers with a demand for Military Access. If they refuse outright, up the Single Payment amount until they do accept.
Once Military Access is secured, move onward to smash the faction you took the settlement from. After you’ve defeated any major forces, especially if you’re able to kill one of their faction members, give them a Ceasefire proposal with either Protectorate or Regular Tribute attached. Let them tribute for a couple of turns, then end the tribute early and offer an Alliance. Use the tribute money to buy Military Access.
This most often results in having vast regions of land in which you can move your armies. It also results in a stable section of the world from which you don’t have to worry about invasion.
Offer/Demand Combos:
Too much to break out, see Description.
When To Use:
* When you need to secure a troublesome border area so you can focus on matters elsewhere.
* When you want to test out the diplomatic prowess of your best agents.
Diplomatic Disasters
Sometimes things don’t go exactly the way you expect them to. Sometimes it’s not even close. This section aims to cover the basic diplomatic problems that happen, and how to recover from them.
1. The Wandering Army
Description:
An army from a faction who have no Military Access treaty with you moves into your territory but doesn’t attack anything. This also happens when you mistakenly (or intentionally) move your army into a territory of another faction from whom you have not secured Military Access.
Results:
If you are playing a Roman faction, you will receive notification from the Senate telling you to move your army out of that faction’s territory or suffer the consequences. The consequences of not moving are that the Senate will probably investigate your family’s finances, and (if the Quaestor that year is not part of your family) will likely levy a whopping fine on you. Fines as high as 90000 denarii have been reported by players. They may also bar your family from Senate office for a period of two to four years.
Recovery:
If you are the perpetrator, then you need to immediately move your army back into your territory, or territory for which you have gained Military Access. This will avoid any retribution from the Senate and the neutral faction in question.
If you are on the receiving end of such a move, and you have a diplomat in the area, then you can try bribing the army (if you have the cash, of course). There are no diplomatic options currently for demanding that an army to whom you are neutral move their wandering army out of your lands. Hopefully this scenario does not happen too often, though up in the steppes of Scythia and Pripet it’s bound to happen.
2. Refusal on All Offers
Description:
A faction refuses all of your offers, even Region gifts.
Results:
You should prepare for an attack from this faction. If they will accept nothing from you, it is likely that they are preparing for war. The old MTW engine would accept peace treaties the round before it launched a major invasion. In RTW, this happens rarely (though it still happens).
Recovery:
Simply leave the faction alone, and move armies to the border to build forts and defend against incursions. Leaving one of your diplomats in their area is a good idea, because then you at least have the possibility that this faction will use your easily-accessed diplomat to get messages to you. However, your diplomat should be on the watch for assassins.
Description of Offers and Demands
The following list is a complete list of all possible offers and demands you can use in a negotiating session.
Alliance (offer only)
Stances: neutral only
Description:
If you offer an alliance, you are offering to solidify relations with a faction. These solid relations will be demonstrated by you by (1) not attacking the allied faction, (2) leaving trade routes open between yourself and the allied faction. Additionally, the alliance can be made stronger by not attacking your new ally’s own allies. It can also be made stronger by expanding the trade routes between you and your new ally by building better roads between your cities and the allies’ cities, or expanding ports which service your ally’s harbours.
Clarification:
No additional info needed.
Tips:
Alliances are most often accepted when there has been some previous history of contact between two factions. The most common negotiated lead-in to a successful alliance proposal is to exchange map information and cement trade rights. Let trade flow for a little while (a year or two). Also important is to consider the question, “Who are the allies and enemies of this faction?” If their enemies are your allies, your diplomat is likely to walk away empty-handed unless he’s got a large treasury behind him, as well as a good influence rating. It’s still possible to cement an alliance in this situation, but there is no possibility for stronger ties than an in-word alliance. If you want to move from a state of war to an Alliance with a faction, you must first negotiate a Ceasefire, then work to fulfil the qualifications above to secure an alliance.
Cancel Alliance (offer only)
Stances: ally only
Description:
If you are currently allied with a faction, you can offer to cancel the alliance. If this offer is simply placed out on its own, then the cancel is unilateral – no matter what they think, your faction will cease all formal ties to that faction. If, on the other hand, there is a Demand associated with this offer, then this offer translates into a threat, with the demand side being “protection money”.
Clarification:
No additional info needed.
Tips:
Although this is a simple diplomatic maneuver, in can have far-reaching consequences. If the faction you’re cancelling the alliance with share other allies with you, then there’s the possibility that you will lose more than one alliance by doing this. Be sure you can handle the sudden loss of those ties, with the resulting drop in trade income. It may not happen, but best be prepared.
Trade Rights (offer only)
Stances: neutral or ally
Description:
You can offer to give a faction trade rights. This is bilateral – if they accept, then trade is allowed to happen between your cities and theirs, and your ports and theirs. Trade rights can be granted with or without an alliance. They are vital to the economic and growth ability of any faction who aren’t world powers. Trade rights benefit both your faction and the faction you are giving rights to. If you want to make life difficult for a faction, cancel or do not give trade rights to them, and encourage other factions to attack your target faction, thus cutting off trade to other factions as well.
Clarification:
No additional info needed.
Tips:
Besides Map Information, this is the most basic relation any two factions can have. Since, as said above, it is mutually beneficial, expect little resistance when proposing a trade agreement. If they turn it down, however, it’s likely that an examination of the web of alliances and enemies will show that you’ve severely ticked off one of their strongest allies. If that’s the case, and really do want trade with a faction that has denied it, then patch up relations with that ally of theirs, then propose it again.
Cancel Trade Rights (offer only)
Stances: neutral or ally
Description:
You can offer to cancel trade rights, with or without a Demand associated with it. This works in exactly the same way as Cancel Alliance.
Clarification:
No additional info needed.
Tips:
Again, take care to examine the web of alliances and enemies to make sure that this cancelling will have handle-able side effects.
Military Access (offer & demand)
Stances: ally only
Description:
If you offer Military Access to a faction, you are offering that faction the ability to move their armies into your provinces without fear of reprisals. Conversely, if you demand Military Access from a faction, then you’re asking for the ability to move your armies on their land safely. An alliance with reciprocal military access is probably the strongest form of alliance in the game. This allows them to aid you against enemies in your lands, and allows you to aid them against their enemies. A side benefit of this is that you can march through an ally’s provinces to attack another faction without having the constant pressure of a border to maintain. Your ally’s provinces act as the buffer zone between you and your enemy in that situation. Your ally will be grateful for the help, and you will be grateful not to have a large border to fortify.
Clarification:
No additional info needed.
Tips:
To successfully negotiate for Military Access, you must be either neutral to or enemies with a faction’s enemies. Alliance with a faction’s enemy will almost completely eliminate the possibility of successfully negotiating for Military Access. Also, if you currently have a Military Access treaty, then making an alliance with that faction’s enemies will almost certainly spell doom for your Military Access. Since Military Access is a level of trust beyond the standard, you may be required to give more than offering bilateral Military Access. If you’ve assured that there are no alliance conflicts, and a faction turns down a request for bilateral Access, try again but offer a single payment, or tribute over a couple of turns. If you’re desperate for Military Access, you can try offering a settlement.
Attack Faction (offer & demand)
Stances: any
Description:
Offering to attack a faction, or demanding that the faction you’re negotiating with attack a faction, can be done without an alliance. You either offer or demand the attack, specify which faction is the target, and hope for the best. See tips on the nuances of using this negotiating chip.
Clarification:
When either offering or demanding an attack on a faction, you need to specify which faction should be the target of the attack. If you offer to attack, then the faction you specify is the one that you promise to launch an attack on. If you demand an attack, then the faction you specify is the one who you want your negotiating partner’s faction to attack. There is no year or turn limit set. This makes the process of judging whether a faction has fulfilled this obligation rather abstract. Couple this with the fact that you cannot effectively see where any AI faction moves it’s armies, and you have a completely untraceable promise. So, take this one with a grain of salt.
Tips:
When offering to attack another faction, you are throwing in a bargaining chip to gain something with a demand. Your demand will come either with the offer to attack, or later, and the faction you’re negotiating with know this. They know there are no free gifts in the world of diplomacy. If you go into a negotiation knowing this, then you can understand that, if you demand that a faction attack another faction, then you will be expected to pay up. This either means you need to pay them enough to recover any possible losses (this could add up to a large amount), or you need to offer at the same time to attack one of their enemies to whom you are currently neutral.
Give Region (offer & demand)
Stances: any
Description:
You can offer a region to a faction as part of negotiations (or as the entirety of a negotiation), or you can demand that a region be given to you. In game terms region translates into province. When you give a region, it means that you must move your armies out of the province’s main settlement during the turn in which you negotiate the region transfer. If you don’t, you’ll likely receive a message calling you a liar and possibly breaking off diplomatic relations with you. As should be obvious, giving a province to another faction is a big step, for which you should expect a large reward. If a province is near rebellion, has large squalor problems, etc, then expect the same payback as if you were trying to sell a rust-pitted vehicle with no engine. You can offer multiple regions at one time.
Clarification:
You will need to specify the region(s) offered. This consists of going through a list of all the provinces that you own (except where you’ve specified your capitol to be) and putting a check beside the one(s) you want to offer.
Tips:
Provinces mean revenue, population, and unit production power all in one nice package. This can be a very powerful bargaining chip. It won’t work in the most severe cases (such as if you are negotiating for Military Access with someone whose enemy is your ally), but the giving of a region can be a huge economic and social benefit to a faction. Use with care. You can couple a Give Region offer with a Give Region demand, effectively swapping provinces with another faction. Depending on who you talk to, this is an effective way to cement an alliance, though the cases in which it is rejected are unclear.
Make Single Payment (offer & demand)
Stances: any
Description:
This is simply the giving of a single one-time lump of cash to another faction, or the demand of a one-time lump sum from another faction. Often this is used to balance out what would otherwise be an unfair negotiation. For example, if you give a region like Attica, which has huge income potential, for a region like landlocked Tribus Iazyges, you will probably also tag in a Make Single Payment to balance the transaction.
Clarification:
You will need to specify the amount which you will give (offer), or which you expect to receive (demand).
Tips:
This is the single most flexible tool in your negotiations toolkit. Use it to balance your own proposals, counter-propose to the AI faction’s requests (which are often weighted on their side quite a bit), buy large favours for your faction, and so forth. If you have a vast treasury, this is the tool to use to accomplish what would otherwise be impossible.
Regular Tribute (offer & demand)
Stances: any
Description:
Like Make Single Payment, demanding and offering a regular tribute is a purely financial transaction. However, demanding tribute is demoralising to anyone receiving such a demand, and is often viewed as a hostile action. Demanding and getting Regular Tribute damages the enemy’s ability to create an army, build defences, make city improvements, and recover losses from any ongoing wars. Being under such an arrangement is often intolerable, and will often lead to renewed battle.
Clarification:
When demanding tribute, you will need to specify the amount per six-month turn you wish to be given, and the number of turns that this should continue.
Tips:
Demanding Regular Tribute is often the sign that a faction is near the end of its lifespan. If accepted, it can put a tremendous strain on the resources of a faction, thus weakening it in all areas. A strong enemy will never accede to a request for Regular Tribute. A weak or recently beaten enemy will accept it simply for survival’s sake. A strong ally may accede to a Regular Tribute request if you’ve given over a lucrative province in exchange for nothing but cash, and you want to avoid hitting them up for a mountain of cash with Make Single Payment.
Map Information (offer & demand)
Stances: any
Description:
This is the most basic form of interaction between factions. In a unilateral Map Information negotiation, one side gives their Map Information to another faction either as a good-will gift, or for cash. The side that buys the map gets to see all city, resource, and infrastructure information the map holder has seen. In a bilateral Map Information transaction, they give you their map of the world, and you give them yours. When you do, you gain the ability to see all the cities, resources, infrastructure, etc, that your negotiation partner has seen, and they have the same privilege with your information. Once you have bought the Map Information of another faction, your campaign map changes to reflect the changing ownership of settlements that were on the map at the time you bought it. So if Themiskyra happens to be on a map you bought from the Parthians, you can keep an eye on who owns the place for an indefinite length of time without needing agents in the area. Map Information is a nice prelude to a request for Trade Rights, sometimes coming in as a necessary prelude.
Clarification:
No more information needed.
Tips:
The simplest use of a Map Information offer is to offer it and leave your demand open (blank). This allows your negotiation partner to name their price for your map information. This is a great way to pad your treasury early in the game. You can make anywhere from 2000 to 4000 denarii per transaction by offering your map information in this way. Coupled with a Map Information demand, a Map Information offer is a simple exchange, as described above. They will appreciate the shared knowledge, and you gain some information you likely lacked about city ownership and province infrastructure. Map exchanges like this can help lead to friendly relations such as Trade Rights or Alliance. When you initially find another faction, a map offer or exchange is a good way to break the ice. Later, or even in the same negotiation session after they’ve accepted a map from you, bargain for Trade Rights. Even if the faction in question is much to far away to be an effective trading partner, this agreement can only help. With these two in the bag, you’re well on your way to gaining an Alliance and everything that’s possible after that.
Accept or We Will Attack (offer only)
Stances: neutral or enemy
Description:
If you add this chip to a negotiation, you are threatening your negotiating partner with painful consequences if they don’t accept. This works when you’ve had a string of victories over a faction and you know they’re hurting. Time this threat badly, there is a very good chance that the threat will be rebuffed, and you will find yourself out of diplomatic possibilities with this faction for several years.
Clarification:
No more information needed.
Tips:
When you’ve been pounding a faction into the dust and want to exert your diplomatic control over them, back off for a round or two, then send in a skilled diplomat. Demand a settlement, or that they become a protectorate, or any number of other demands, and for offer simply click the “Accept or We Will Attack” option. If you do this right, this may be the best way to gain a faction as a Protectorate.
Ceasefire (offer only)
Stances: enemy only
Description:
Simple – you promise to stop butchering the other faction, and if they accept, then they promise to stop trying to attack you.
Clarification:
No more information needed.
Tips:
There are basically three situations in which to use Ceasefire: when you’re getting your tail whipped and you want a break, when you’re in a fairly even but long-running conflict and need the resources to deal with another problem, or when you’re decimating an enemy and they are down to their last drop of life. In the first case, you’ll need to offer something big, like Give Region or Regular Tribute to have any hope of a Ceasefire being accepted. If they refuse with one of those two, then throw in a single payment if you can afford it. In the second case, the other side may be in the same situation, and you can simply offer the Ceasefire. They may demand more – if so, go for Make Single Payment to balance out the difference if it’s not too much. In the third case, offer a Ceasefire in conjunction with a large demand – Regular Tribute, Give Region, or Become Protectorate are all in the realm of possibility here. Players have reported receiving over 12000 denarii in Regular Tribute from this Ceasefire scenario.
Become Protectorate (demand only)
Stances: neutral or enemy
Description:
When you demand that a faction become your protectorate, you are offering several things at once:
* All hostilities cease
* You have full Military Access to their lands
* Alliance and Trade Rights are guaranteed
* The length of the Protectorate status is unspecified
You get no cash by default from gaining a faction as a Protectorate, nor can you use or disband their troops.
Clarification:
No more information needed.
Tips:
Players report that having a Protectorate seems to do no good for the conquering faction, while actually Becoming a protectorate is great… you can worry less about invasion, you pay no taxes to your conquerors, and you can use the time to recoup losses and build your economy. Protectorate status breaks down if you do anything to harm your status as Allies of the other faction.
There is not enough player experience with this option to know much more. It would be helpful to know, for example, if a faction who are in Protectorate status can be bled for cash more easily (by repeated demands for Make Single Payment, or Regular Tribute).
Senate Missions & Policy
The Senate keeps a list of its current policy toward all factions in the game. This can help you to plan your diplomatic activity, either to coincide with the wishes of the Senate or to subtly thumb your nose at the Senate’s agenda. To see this policy screen, simply click on your faction’s circular icon in the lower right section of the screen. The screen that opens up is the Faction Policy listing. Click on any of the faction icons to see a detailed description of current Senate policy toward that faction.
The Senate will sometimes tell you to send your diplomats on very specific missions. A list of these follow, with a description.
There are reports of players having never seen any of these in any of their games. The conditions behind their appearance remains a mystery akin to those of the Good Goddess.
Send Emissary
The Senate asks you to send an emissary to a specific faction, with no goal in mind besides diplomatic contact.
Demand Tribute
The senate feels that a faction needs to recognise the superiority of Rome. It requests that you send a diplomat to demand a regular tribute payment. You will be rewarded depending on the size of the tribute you obtain.
Obtain Surrender
The Senate feels that a faction has been weakened enough to make forcing surrender a realistic option. Send a diplomat and demand that they become a Protectorate under Roman control.
Negotiate Return of Legionary Eagle
The Senate would like to send a diplomat to negotiate the return of the Legionary Eagle a faction holds. The loss of the Eagle standard is an ongoing source of shame to the Legion that lost it, and there seems to be little chance of getting it back by military means.
Negotiate Settlement Handover
The Senate feels that there is a realistic prospect of persuading the current owners to hand over a settlement by offering them an exchange for one less valuable to us. Send a diplomat and attempt to get them to hand it over.
Obtain Map Information
The Senate asks that you send a diplomat to a faction and negotiate a treaty to obtain map information to extend Rome’s knowledge of the world.
Get Trade Agreement
The Senate asks that you send a diplomat to a faction and negotiate a treaty to get trading rights for Rome.
Appease Faction
The Senate asks that you send a diplomat to a faction and get them to agree not to attack. Offer tribute or anything else that seems reasonable. As a short term measure this is most important.
Provoke Attack
The Senate asks that you send a diplomat to a faction and see if you can provoke them in to making an attack against us. Rome wants to be at war but does not want to appear to be the aggressor.
Peace Talks
The Senate asks that you send a diplomat to a faction and try to improve relations with this faction. No particular result is expected - just sending the diplomat and getting agreement on an offer is enough as a first step.
Make Alliance
The Senate asks that you send a diplomat to a faction and make an alliance with them.
Give Cash
Allied friends sometimes need financial support. The Senate asks that you make a single payment of at least one tenth of your annual income to a faction.
That’s the end of Tamur’s section on diplomacy. Now for a few froggy notes, mostly emphasising some of Tamur’s points and giving my own experience.
Selling maps.
You can sell your map for a nice profit each turn; I find I can usually get around 1,000 denarii per sale in the early game. I keep a diplomat near a city belonging to each faction I have contact with and sell them my map each turn. This is great training for the diplomats, and it keeps contact open and thereby seems to make alliances last longer. Finally it gives me more spending money in the early, lean days while cutting back on my enemies spending money and hampering their growth. Selling maps is so powerful I wouldn’t bother if it didn’t keep my alliances alive for longer.
Bribery.
This is so powerful I don’t use it any more. Bribery is dirt cheap in terms of both money and tactics; a couple of thousand denarii will remove a large, quite good army from the equation.
Keeping your alliances going.
As I noted above I find my alliances will last much, much longer if I have repeated, sustained contact with that faction. Before I read Tamur’s guide my alliances lasted around five turns at the most; now I have had alliances last for more than twenty turns.
Protectorates.
Having a faction as your protectorate gives you all the advantages of an alliance and military access, and some security; protectorates don’t seem to rebel. Regions owned by a protectorate count towards your controlled region count, getting you closer to victory without needing to conquer and manage the settlements yourself. You get tribute too, which can be very considerable if the protectorate is a rich faction.
Extort, bargain, negotiate.
Never accept the AI’s first offer, and never ask for what you really want the first time. You can often bargain, getting a little more or reducing the price of what you want. If you want 1,000 denarii for your map start by asking for 1,500 or more, then work your way down. You may even get the AI to agree to your outrageous request first time.