Dumb Diplomacy: I think I may have discovered the solution.

[Didz]

Yup, I´ve noticed this too but thank god I ALWAYS quick save at the end of each turn!

What is the Quick Save again?

I obviously need to starty doing the same thing. I was just lucky this time that the game autosaved at the end of Winter 1711.

Ok! forget it. CTRL+S (I actually managed to find something useful in the manual/pamphlet ;))

Did you even read what I posted FK?

Who says you need some to gain as part of declaring war.

Can you explain the aggressive, totally belligerent expansion of Alexander the Great and the Roman Empire? There has been examples of aggression for aggressions sake in many wars.

I don't agree. There is always a reason for going to war, its just that in some cases 'history', and even the people involved don't have access to that truth.

However, in this case the situation is a bit more simplistic. ETW is a strategy game, purchased by people who like to play strategy games, therefore, a totally random 'screw the player' event is a bad idea, and there are enough threads on this forum to confirm that the customers aren't happy.

Incidently! I'm interested to note that having given the finger to the programmer with the 'God Complex' who programmed this routine, not only has France not declared war on me but my 'friend-o-meter' rating has risen to +43. It seems the negative values gradually degrade over time.

It's a shame the 'Friend-o-meter' is given such a low-profile in the game. Someone obvoiusly put a lot of effort into programming it and, when you actually take the time to study it, the 'Friend-o-meter' is doing a pretty good job of monitoring the ongoing diplomatic situation. However, its annoying having to hover over the faction name to be able to see it. In my opinion this information ought to have a prominent place on the diplomacy panel, or at least be available as a consolidated report for all factions, and it ought to be the single driving force behind the diplomatic engine. That way players would be encouraged to use diplomacy more effectively and be able to rely on it working.

There are a few anomalies I notice, such as earning a -22 penalty for blowing up an enemy building when another faction is in residence. And I've just spotted this one on the Dutch tab.



As you can see the Dutch really hate Spain, and with good reason I've been helping myself to all their trade fleets and trade ports round the world and I keep blowing up their only trade port in Amsterdam.

But I still get 'An enemy of my enemy is my friend +5', which doesn't make a lot of sense.

It's true that I am at war with both the Pirates and the Barbary States, so we do share two common enemies, but I'm certainly not their freind. In fact, the Dutch only have two friends at the moment Britain and Venice. Britain hates Spain (-44) though not as much as the Dutch, but Venice is quite friendly (+26).

So, perhaps this ought to read 'A friend of my friend is an enemy +5' which would make a bit more sense.