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A bunch of threads have been shooting around lately about Influence, how to deal with His Holiest of Holies (el Padre), getting peace treaties, etc. I thought it might be helpful to consolidate some wisdom in one thread, maybe get it stickied some day.
Some questions I have...
1) Why, even if I'm allied to a faction, will that faction not consent to marriages?
2) Why can the Pope excommunicate you and still be allied to you?
3) Is there a way to win indulgences from the Pope?
4) What factors determine the threshold beyond which no faction will make peace or ally with you anymore?
5) Why will a faction allow me to continually marry their princes even if we are not allied or may even be at war with eachother?
6) Where are the data files that determine the AI's decision making when it comes to diplomatic agreements (including wedding proposals and the like)?
Some answers or clues I have...
a) going on Crusade, and maybe just successfully completing them, at least in GA, does seem to win you some Papal indulgence, as the GA Crusade description actually states. I have been in situations where I have forbade Crusades to enter my lands and still not gotten excommunicated.
b) I recently had a game going where I (England) was at war with France (big surprise) and could not get them to sign a peace treaty, even though they had taken Anjou, Normandy, and Aquitaine. I got fed up, so I took Flanders. That still didn't bring them to the table.
Then I started raiding Normandy constantly, winning every time, then retreating my raider force back to Flanders. After several years of this, the French suffered some minor rebellions, all of which the quelled. After that, they agreed to end hostilities. On the next turn we were allies.
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On royal weddings -
Actually, having an alliance tends to lessen the chance they'll let you marry their princesses, not increase it. If some 'old friend' of yours doesn't feel like coughing up a princess, make friends with their enemies, and watch how they come running with wedding bells ringing in the background.
Consider it from their point of view? Do you want to give a princess to someone who's already a friend, or save her to give to make some new friends? It's not like you're going to become more allied with em. So, they need a little...incentive.
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I wish there was a formal way to end an alliance without resulting in war. You should just be able to cancel an alliance, but still remain at peace.
The only way I know of doing that is to get yourself in a situation of conflicting alliances and then back out of the one you don't want.
Or, you can attack the Danes. Everyone cancels their alliances with you when you attack the Danes it seems.
