Bribing

I think that it is ridiculously hard/ expensive to bribe anyone in the game. fair enough a mongol general should be very expensive (i think they were around 800 000!) to avoid people being able to pay off the mongols instead of fighting them.

However even small stacks of rebels are really expensive meaning the bribe feature is next to useless in the game - when is it ever going to be worth your while to bribe??

an assasin is much more effective for dealing with family members and agents.

rebel stacks are much more usefully dealt with by a captain led army - you will usually get yourself a man of the hour out of it.

I have only used it after massively cheating so that I could get some mongol generals into my polish family!

im interested does anyone actively use bribery?

You name it. Its not useful.
Too expensive and as brigads spawn near your towns (except in tripoli and jedda) you usually can move out part of the garrison to take care of it.
Bribing other armies isn't worth it either. Fighting them gives you better chances of getting good traits and nets your experience.

do you think it should be easier?

rebel stacks of 1-5 units should not cost you 10000 to bribe, they should be slighty more then mercs.... other generals, should be expensive, but not 800 000 expensive..

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Originally Posted by KARTLOS

do you think it should be easier?

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Value is a very subjective thing. It mostly depends on a person's situation and desires. I can think of many phrases that might apply. Buyer beware. Supply and Demand. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. "My kingdom for a horse". One man's treasure is another man's trash. I heard once that if Bill Gates were to stop and take the time to pick up $100 laying on the ground, he'd be losing money.

On the question of bribery in the game - I'll use it to get what I want if I really want it. I once gave almost 1/2 my regions for a princess - don't ask if it was worth it. Hindsight tends to be 20/20 in these type of things. Would I pay 800,000 for a Mongol general? Well, I've never had that much cash in the game, and it is only a game. What's an experiment worth to you if we're really only talking "Monopoly" money? Is it the only way to stay alive? Is it my only 800,000?

Lately, I've been looking for generals to bribe into my army that have a cool looking picture. I'll take the time and attention to level him up. I'll also erase the stupid, nagging, negative character traits that pop up for no reason whatsoever. Yeah, like a character with high piety and chivalry in real life would randomly take up gambling, womanizing, perversion, cruel leader characteristics, etc. I don't care if a character has 8's in every category - if he's a sickly looking, pale faced, pansy character, I don't want him in my family tree. And what's with the princesses with the funny hats? I think the game developers ought to put in some better looking pictures for the characters. Is it possible to cheat a character a different portrait?

But back to the bribery question: Is the pricing a little unequitable? Definitely. When I can purchase El Cid for 20 something thousand, why would I want a Mongol general for 800,000? Or a stack of stupid peasants for 10,000? Again, I guess it all goes back to the "eye of the beholder" as far as willingness to pay the prices, but the only reason I can imagine the A.I. setting such a high price for a Mongol general is it thinks it has you by the short hairs - as in the case of the Mongol invasion. Maybe not appearing desperate is one of the factors it takes into account when setting it's pricing. It'd be nice if the "Artificial" was really that "Intelligent".

So for those who think it immoral to cheat a little to be able to bribe easier, I say - at an average 10,000 to 40,000 florins per character plus the time it takes to find one that's bribable, your average player who's not sitting on a few mil would not call that easy no matter how much you cheat level-up a diplomat. I'm just glad to know it's at least possible. When I first started playing the game, I thought the answer," Did you think my loyalty was something that could be purchased? I'm not scum like you ,blah, blah, blah" was hardcoded into the game for every character.



From the movie Cadillac Man:
Tim Robbins to Robin Williams," You got alot of girls! It's easy for you?"
Robin Williams replies," It ain't easy. It's never...easy".