Giving bribes in EB

[Finn MacCumhail]

Hello everyone!

Lets talk about giving bribes in EB.
Well, may be I do not have enough mnai, or I tried to give bribes for extremely honest FM, but no one joined my faction.
For example, in my Romanii campaign what nationality will have a child of bribed Greek or barbarian? And may a bribed one became a man, who gathered all necessary traits and trigger out Marian and Imperial reforms? (hm the first imperator from royal Macedonian dynasty or a grandchild of Pirros)

[Scutarii]

I'd like ot use bribes when playing as the Quarthadastim to represent forming colonies but have yet to have any success at all.

I tried to buy either of the cities or either of the armies in the Crimea and ≈75K wasn't enough so I kind of gave up trying.

[Mykingdomforanos]

As Getai I just bought Dalminion (can build 1800+ mnai gold mines there) for the bargain price of 2400 from Epeiros, who were totally broke according to the financial ranking graph. Was only a small undeveloped town though. Seems if a faction has money they are much less likely to want more but I havent played EB that much.

[Fluvius Camillus]

As Getai I just bought Dalminion (can build 1800+ mnai gold mines there) for the bargain price of 2400 from Epeiros, who were totally broke according to the financial ranking graph. Was only a small undeveloped town though. Seems if a faction has money they are much less likely to want more but I havent played EB that much.

Dalminion ends up being the richest city in the whole world in every campaign I play(ed).

~Fluvius

[athanaric]

Being an extremely bribe-happy player (My KH armies frequently include some member of the Aiakides family) I've made a few observations that may be helpful:

- If you want to bribe some FM, check out his traits beforehand. If he is a difficult case (very honest etc.), assemble more than 200,000 mnai if possible.
- Before the bribe, always make sure that you haven't queued any buildings or units (except those which are already in construction).
- If you are currently building very expensive buildings (like Deep Mines or Extensive Trading Port Upgrades), your chance of a successful bribe is severely diminished - apparently the AI wants to see all your money even if it only takes a small amount of it.
- For 1 million mnai, you can usually get everything. As Makedonia, I bribed the tyrant of Pantikapaion with his whole province, city, and army for said sum. (Curiously enough though he died the very next turn and IIRC the notification said he had died in battle, although he stayed in his settlement and wasn't under siege.)

[Skullheadhq]

Why remove the buildings and units from the queue

[-Praetor-]

As Makedonia, I bribed the tyrant of Pantikapaion with his whole province, city, and army for said sum. (Curiously enough though he died the very next turn and IIRC the notification said he had died in battle, although he stayed in his settlement and wasn't under siege.)

The eleutheroi governors are scripted to die if you bribe them. They aren't very useful either, for the can't move out of their city.

On another note, it would be quite cool to bribe Hiero of Syrakousai as the Koinon Hellenon, and be able to play with him. If you want, you should dig into the EBBS script txt file, and tweak it accordingly.

[athanaric]

The eleutheroi governors are scripted to die if you bribe them. They aren't very useful either, for the can't move out of their city.

On another note, it would be quite cool to bribe Hiero of Syrakousai as the Koinon Hellenon, and be able to play with him. If you want, you should dig into the EBBS script txt file, and tweak it accordingly.

Thx, good to know
Hiero would be great for RP. Although I fear I've missed the chance in my ongoing campaign because I left Sicily alone for a very long time...

Why remove the buildings and units from the queue

Because of this:

apparently the AI wants to see all your money even if it only takes a small amount of it.

[Weebeast]

Thanks for the info. I had 50,000 mnai or so in my pocket and wanted that uber Noricum general to fight for me. He refused. At that point I knew it's better to just raise homegrown troops with that money to obliterate any province I want. My diplomat was reportedly replying to the general, "Do I look like Lakshmi Mittal?"

[Kevin]

Bribes are outrageous on my Romani campaign. I saw an army of 4 levy spearman led by a captain heading to reinforce the Lusotannian main army and decided I might as well just bribe them since I didn't feel like fighting. They asked for over 200,000 mnai.

[athanaric]

Yeah, the richer you are, the peskier the AI.

[Finn MacCumhail]

Athanaric, you sad that "(My KH armies frequently include some member of the Aiakides family)", so I want to ask you what nationality were their children? Random KH or Macedonia Aiakides?

"For 1 million mnai, you can usually get everything." - I am afraid by the time I gather 1 mln mnai there would be nothing left to conquer or the game will end up.

And what would be cheaper to bribe a city or to buy it legally?

[athanaric]

Athanaric, you sad that "(My KH armies frequently include some member of the Aiakides family)", so I want to ask you what nationality were their children? Random KH or Macedonia Aiakides?

"For 1 million mnai, you can usually get everything." - I am afraid by the time I gather 1 mln mnai there would be nothing left to conquer or the game will end up.

AFAIK your guys get a random "nationality". The Carthaginian governor of Sardinia who joined my faction when I played Rome was allocated to a random family as adopted IIRC.

Also, getting 1 million mnai isn't as difficult as it sounds. Just play Makedonia, conquer all of Greece (you want those islands too), build large mines in Pella, set taxes as high as possible and build paved roads and big ports ASAP. Your coffers will be brimming with cash in next to no time. It should be very much possible to get to 1 million before the March of Time event, which usually takes place in 240 or later (unless you wipe out Rome beforehand, harharhar).

And what would be cheaper to bribe a city or to buy it legally?

"Buying" is just one of my euphemisms for bribing. Unless you mean buying in exchange for sth. else, e.g. peace. Well usually the AI factions won't sell you their settlements unless it's for a million mnai. There are some circumstances, however, where you get settlements by a better bargain. I don't know exactly how (perhaps others can elaborate?)...

[Epimetheus]

In my experience, buying(ie, trading in normal diplomacy) settlements in Total War games is so rediculously easy that I personally consider it cheating. I almost never find a settlement that costs more than 10k to buy. And the most I've ever had to pay in any game was 50k, and that was to buy Rome from the Papal States in M2TW. You can even do it while you're at war with the faction you're buying from, and they'll still accept it nearly every time. In one Pontos game, I was able to take all of Syria and Babylon from the AS while I was at war with them, and I didn't have to fight a single battle to do it. You can easily destroy entire empires without expending any military effort at all.

[DaciaJC]

Hmm... maybe this will finally get me the break I need in my war against the Qarthadastim...