Diplomats: an economic breakeven point

[Slaists]

If the average productive life-span of a diplomat is 30 years (60 turns) and he costs you 50 dinari in upkeep, he should bring you at least 3250 dinari in map/trade agreement/aliance sales money to pay for himself (including his upkeep and hiring cost).

:book:

[RedKnight]

thanks for that slaist! it's an interesting concept. at the beginning of most games I make approx. 4 that run around selling maps and getting trade rights.

after that, unfortunately I keep making them on the spot because I need one quickly, and after a long time I have 20 spread all over the map.

maybe I should start firing them as soon as they become useless! as least, the lesser ones.

I have found assasins to be quite useless - they are costly and hard to get to a usable level vs. anything that matters. are they only good for killing people, or do they do anything else?

[Tamur]

Yes, assassins are VERY useful! Use them to sabotage public order buildings in enemy towns. If you hit the right one at a time when public order is at a break point (somewhere below 90%) you can get the people in that town to riot and eventually revolt, allowing your diplomat to easily bribe the city over to your side, or allowing you to more easily march an army in and successfully beseige the place.

[Bogdanovist]

To make assasins more effective, try training them on rebel armies for a while. The leaders of these are easy kills and after a few turns of this your assassin becomes much better trained and has a fighting chance at high level diplomats or generals.

[bmolsson]

Never thought of the diplomats having a upkeep cost. Guess I have to pay some more attention there.
Furthermore, does the diplomats get any better ? Can't really see them improve like the assasins or spies.....

[Colovion]

Diplomats pay for their keep immediately after bribing that full stack of troops for 3000 Denarii.

[Tamur]

Diplomats do get better. They gain in Influence, which doesn't seem to make a whole lot of difference in the deals they can broker, except when it comes to cash transactions. A 10-influence diplomat will often be able to sell Trade Rights for 4000d or up to most factions (except the Romans, curse them!), while a zero-Influence diplomat will have trouble selling Trade Rights for even 500d.

[oblivious maximus]

Yes, assassins are VERY useful! Use them to sabotage public order buildings in enemy towns. If you hit the right one at a time when public order is at a break point (somewhere below 90%) you can get the people in that town to riot and eventually revolt, allowing your diplomat to easily bribe the city over to your side, or allowing you to more easily march an army in and successfully beseige the place.

I have assassins at the doorstep of an enemy city which has had 0% loyalty for years and it wont riot or fall! There is not a family member inside, no entertainment because i have destroyed it all and a legion of spys inside.

~:handball:

[Slaists]

Never thought of the diplomats having a upkeep cost. Guess I have to pay some more attention there.
Furthermore, does the diplomats get any better ? Can't really see them improve like the assasins or spies.....

yes, they do have an upkeep (50 dinari per turn per diplomat). nonetheless, they'are the cheapest among agents. spies have an upkeep of 100 and assassins a whooping 200... :)