The Influence Wrap-around bug

[Don Corleone]

Hi guys,

Has anyone else ever noticed that when their ruler had a 9 influence rating, all of a sudden, it started looping around? Next turn went to zero, then to 1, then to 2, etc.

What can I do about this? Is my game toast? Is there a patch that can fix this? I've seen this topic come up a few times, but i don't think I've ever seen a fix for it and I did search the archives.

Thanks.

[Ironside]

Don't worry, it will increase back to normal after a few years. The problem is that your hier coming to age at this time usually sucks and if you're unlucky some generals coming to age are extra disloyal.

http://www.totalwar.org/patrons/story/Ironside%20influence%201%20bug.jpg

http://www.totalwar.org/patrons/story/Ironside%20influence%203%20bug.jpg

http://www.totalwar.org/patrons/story/Ironside%20influence%207%20bug.jpg

http://www.totalwar.org/patrons/story/Ironside%20influence%209%20bug.jpg

As you can see I didn't do anything that affected influnce during this time. I got the worst hier ever in this campaign 1373 though (when the king had one in influence).

[Don Corleone]

Doesn't it make it impossible to use your influence appropriately with the AI?

I know people think that the AI ignores influence all together, but I'm in the midst of testing a theory, which is why the influence bug is driving me nuts.

I think the reason the AI ignores your influence, and hence your diplomatic overtures, is you get a bad reputation if you initiate wars. Much like the current situation in the world, sure, people recognize you as the most powerful and nobody is going to do anything to tick you off, but they're also not going to like you throwing your weight around and I think that's reflected in the AI ignoring your diplomatic overtures, even with high influence.

The way I was testing this was I played as France. I went out and drove England off the continent immediately. I then turned around and 1) made peace 2) sent my daughter off to them to ally myself to them and even 3) helped them put down a civil war (attacked the rebels in Wessex, then retreated). As a result, my influence skyrocketed, and everyone actually honored my dipolmatic advances (Polish, Italians, etc). That was weird, the Polish being the dominant force in Northern Europe, but whatever...

Anyways, the HRE decided it was going to slide westward in response to the pressure on their eastern flank from the Poles. They attacked me in Champagne and Flanders. What happened next was amazing... because I hadn't attacked anyone (I had patiently took a few raids from the Spanish and kept suing for peace, ditto for the Aragonese), apparently, my goodwill factor was pretty high too. My allies: Denmark, Hungary and Italy attacked what remained of the HRE that very turn in a concerted war on three fronts. The HRE fell like a house of cards. I even let them keep Friesland, and naturally the 2nd turn, they came asking for a ceasefire, which I granted them. Denmark, Hungary and Italy all stopped attacking. Heck, the Pope, who had been playing hard to get, even signed my alliance papers after that.

Then, the whole theory went right out the window because the damn influence bug made my influence start cycling. Is there anything to do about it in the here and now? Once it starts doing that, will my heir have the same problem when he takes the throne?

[ichi]

A long time ago there was a theory floating around that when influence exceeded 9 it 'wrapped around' so it looked like the heir had a 0 or 1 Influence level, but in reality the guy had a 10 or 11 and the graphics just couldn't display it.

I forget how the experts resolved this matter.

ichi :bow:

[Don Corleone]

No Ichi, much like Ironside's graphics, my influence was changing every year, from 1 to 9 and continuing to loop around. In the end, it was a moot point as I failed to produce a male heir anyways, but damn, I was pissed. By the way, as a newlywed trying to start a family, I'm a little worried... does all of this MTW obsession with an heir start spilling over into real life? ~:) Smile lads, that was a joke.

[Ironside]

Ici I doupt it, the side effects are the same for wrap-around influence as it is for low influence. Besides I know that i doesn't always happen when you got "10" in influence. A successful crusade for a 9 influence king doesn't start the influence bug.

And Don Carleone, I know one reason for the problem of getting alliances. The comp never changes them so if you're at war with a nation with 10 alliances, those nations won't ally with you. But if you kill that nation of then they will ally. ~D

And thanks to the equality of the sexes you don't NEED a male hier anymore, a female hier is enough. ~;)

[Hold Steady]

Dindn't your guy had some kind of vice trait that was responsible for this behavior? Say, suddenly exposed as a child molester or a saddlesniffer, promising to better his ways and then slowly building up former influence, only to be exposed again? LOL should have trait: reëxposed formerly exposed compulsive child molester (people are disgusted of this man, his standing in international affairs is severely affected and will slowly increase, but chances are his compulsive behavior will be exposed again)

I love this game ~D