Rome: Total Corruption

Having just returned to RTW from M2TW and Kingdoms, I cannot believe how easy it is to bribe enemy armies. I can do it with a rubbish Diplomat, and have never had a bribe rejected.

This is particularly useful in the Roman civil war since I get all the troops I bribe. One diplomat bribed two Scipii full-stacks in north Africa. Both armies were full of Early Legionary Cohorts and a few other troops, and they cost about 5,000 each! It seems to me this is cheaper than actually raising my own armies.

Plus neary all my Generals who fought the Gallic and Spanish wars were either bribed from those factions or from brigand armies.

I would say it is an exploit, but the AI uses this feature just as shamelessly. The Brutii bribed my capital at Arretium, wrecking my plans to raise an updated legion.

Anyone else find this feature makes things a little easy.

The Roman bribery thing has been fixed in v1.5, I think. Romans bribing Romans will need a ludicrous amount of cash in 1.5.

I don't know, but I've personally never found bribery to be so cheap-- a full-stack of a few 'good' troops with lots of levies typically costs me somewhere in the 40000d-50000d range to bribe. The budget for bribing generals typically run into the hundreds of thousands.... And maybe it's because I always play on M/M, so I've never seen AI diplomats bribing anything other than other diplomats before. :shrug:

I'm playing unpatched (because of Vista), on VH/M. A General himself or with a mini-brigand army will usually be around 2,000 Denarii. Its actually more sensible to train a diplomat and bribe an army than actually get your own.

Oh yes, those were the (1.0-)days...

No need to actually raise your own armies for the civil war - you simply bought the other roman armies for a discount price.

In version 1.5 you can't bribe other Romans until the civil war... Other wise it's still very cheap, especially with a experienced diplomat.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Quintus.J.Cicero

In version 1.5 you can't bribe other Romans until the civil war... Other wise it's still very cheap, especially with a experienced diplomat.

---

I can bribe them without consequence before then?!

As said, it's certainly not that cheap in v1.5. Captain based armies are a little on the low cost side, a full stack costing about 20 - 30k, but armies lead by generals often cost close to five or six times than that for a large force.

R:TW un-patched, although I've never played it in that format myself, is said to be extremely bugged with many unfixed flaws and exploits contained within it. You may wish to patch up to the latest version by installing the v1.2 or v1.3 patch and then installing the v1.5 patch.

~:)

Thanks for the links, but Vista won't install the patches correectly.

I know I should perhaps feel like I am abusing this exploit, but the AI has did it to me just as many times.

Hmm, that's odd. You could try ensuring that the patch executables run with administrative privileges, which they may need to write to the Program Files area.

To do this, right click on the installer, select "Properties" and then select the "Compatibility" tab. After that, check the "Run this program as an administrator" and press "Ok" to continue.

The installer should, hopefully, run as easily as it would under XP.

If that fails, have you tried to .zip installers (the ones I linked to). Those can simply be unpacked into your R:TW directory without any of the nastiness which may come with the .exe installer.

Hope this helps ~:)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Omanes Alexandrapolites

Hmm, that's odd. You could try ensuring that the patch executables run with administrative privileges, which they may need to write to the Program Files area.

To do this, right click on the installer, select "Properties" and then select the "Compatibility" tab. After that, check the "Run this program as an administrator" and press "Ok" to continue.

The installer should, hopefully, run as easily as it would under XP.

If that fails, have you tried to .zip installers (the ones I linked to). Those can simply be unpacked into your R:TW directory without any of the nastiness which may come with the .exe installer.

Hope this helps ~:)

---

Yeh those zip files are a Godsend.I always get corrupt file errors unless im downloading zip ones.It gets extremely annoying when downloading MTW2 patches cuz they take so long only to get a "corrupt" errror after waitin 5 hours.

I never get the option to bribe a capital. Is it something to do with the influence?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Flying Pig

I never get the option to bribe a capital. Is it something to do with the influence?

---

I believe it was a bug in earlier versions fixed in one of the later patches. I'm sure you can't do it in v1.5 anyhow.

~:)

The Brutii bribed my capital at Arretium.

I've tried numerous times to bribe enemy capitals (in 1.5), but I've never even been given the option.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Caledonian Rhyfelwyr

Thanks for the links, but Vista won't install the patches correectly.

I know I should perhaps feel like I am abusing this exploit, but the AI has did it to me just as many times.

---

I'm running Vista, and RTW installs as 1.5. I've also installed mods. I'm wondering if you found the "Run as Adminstrator" option for patch installs, it may give the rights which are needed.

When I installed BI it seemed to downgrade RTW to 1.3, the game ran ok, but I didn't try the 1.5 patch install to get to current RTW version.

Good luck, I agree with those who found bribery generally inefficiently expensive, only useful when taking a wider picture of more speedily winning a strategic campaign, and preventing enemy from organising an effective response to my invasion moves.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Flying Pig

I never get the option to bribe a capital. Is it something to do with the influence?

---

I thought it was because you cant bribe faction leaders or heirs and the're normaly in a nations capital!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Emperor Mithdrates

I thought it was because you cant bribe faction leaders or heirs and the're normaly in a nations capital!

---

The capital, the faction heir and faction leader are un-bribeable in v1.5 with the option to purchase their loyalty not being a diplomatic option. All other cities, generals and captains are at risk of defecting to those willing to buy them out though (although the price is higher depending upon certain factors).

~:)

There is an option to bribe faction heirs and leaders, I think, they just always fail, irregardless of the amount of money avaliable or traits.