How to avoid perma-war?

[Lemur]

Question: I've been playing a Romani campaign, expanding fairly quickly, and now I'm stuck. Not gameplay-wise, mind you. I could easily continue the game. But I've entered into a state of perma-war which I find tiring. The Sweboz, Spaniards and Macedonians all want my hide, and they all send stack after stack to my lands. I'd love to take it down a few notches, chill out for a few turns and just get my empire together, but mountains of denarii and experienced diplomats do nothing to calm the situation.

How does a simple empire-builder obtain peace? (I've seen reference to "force diplomacy" a few times on the board; what is this creature and how do I catch it?)

[Maestro Ugo]

You can catch it here. It is a nice addition, because the AI is diplo-wise fundamentally flawed, and prolonged periods of peace are impossible to achieve.

Other than that, you can delay the attack sometimes by sending gifts and such, but at the end ot the day, the AI will always DoW you if you share a border, sooner or later.

[Nobo]

Yea, force diplomacy is your friend. It is a mini-mod, that allows you to force pretty much any diplomatic agreement on the AI. (find it here). I usually take some key settlements of the factions that are currently bothering me the most, destroy their barracks and give the town to a faction that is weak and an ally. That usually buys me some peace... not permanently, mind you

[Arthur, king of the Britons]

Hi Lemur, here's a thread with info on how to install it as well as an download link.


Or If you just want to download it right away here's a direct link for the mod

It's for EB 1.2 btw.

Bah, I'm to slow..

[fallen851]

I hate the force diplomacy mod.

If you want to recreate history, sure it is fine. But to me that is boring. I want the AI to invade me when my borders are weak, I want the challenge. I don't want to decide how they act.

That said, in Hard or Very Hard the diplomacy has been ridiculous. But now I play on Medium, and the AI is much more intelligent diplomatically. They ask for peace when they're beaten or were just not fighting, and they don't go to war with me for the sake of it. I much prefer the randomness of medium campaign difficulty to the force diplomacy mod, but play however you want.

[Fluvius Camillus]

Hi Lemur,

You can also fight your enemies at choke points or create buffers. Depending on your situation, this can differ very much. But good choke points are hard to find as Romani when you face the Lusotannan, Sweboz and Makedones. Nobo's idea is probably best here, a buffer will make the AI a lot less aggressive, so that can buy you some time till they capture it. What difficulty are you playing btw?

~Fluvius

[athanaric]

My advice would be to conquer all of Iberia, so that you get peace on one front at least.
If you don't want to eliminate the Lusotannan faction through this course of action, you can force-migrate them to Ireland.
This is possible without Force Diplomacy, and I removed Baktria to Krete this way in a campaign (Saka) where I needed their land, but not their lives, for Victory Conditions.

If you want to do this, land a diplomat on Ireland first. Bribe a town there (preferably Ivernis), and teleport most, if not all, Lusotannan stacks there (especially those with generals). Now if these don't attack and take your Irish town right away (because they hate you), "gift" it to them. It might be necessary to give them an additional 1 million mnai or more to have them accept.
After they are settled in that town, immediately take their last Iberian holdings.

And don't worry about their not getting factional units on Ireland - the Lusotannan get excellent units there (even without the two campaign-disabled Wunderwaffe units).

[oudysseos]

How to avoid perma-war?

Kill all of your enemies.

[satalexton]

Question: I've been playing a Romani campaign, expanding fairly quickly, and now I'm stuck. Not gameplay-wise, mind you. I could easily continue the game. But I've entered into a state of perma-war which I find tiring. The Sweboz, Spaniards and Macedonians all want my hide, and they all send stack after stack to my lands. I'd love to take it down a few notches, chill out for a few turns and just get my empire together, but mountains of denarii and experienced diplomats do nothing to calm the situation.

How does a simple empire-builder obtain peace? (I've seen reference to "force diplomacy" a few times on the board; what is this creature and how do I catch it?)

I suppose, you can follow Terry Jones' commentary on Barbaroi policies: Enslave or Slaughter anyone that's not from Barbaropolis. They either toil for your enjoyment (entertainment slaughters, turning christians into short-lived candles, lion munching on man shows...etc etc), or die horribly. Works well in EB in fact. (looting can be done by wanton destruction of buildings after enslavement, a few settlements should be enough to pay for your advanced mines/port)

I think the reason you're the number one enemy in the game, other than being Barbaropolis, is that you're too nice to your foes. A few punitive raids and wanton looting (remember to kill their MICs native or regional) should put them on check. You may be at war with them, but at least you won't be seeing stacks sent at you (other than Apeleutheroi). Sometimes, if there's no fighting for some time... they -may- ask for a ceasefire with you. (but romaioktonoi will still want your hide).

Oh yes, if all else fails, stop playing Romani/barbaropolis and install the Force Diplomacy mod. =]