On the flipside

[QuAz]

is it normal that diplomacy never works and whenever you share a border with a faction that faction is 100% likely to attack you instantly with stack after stack?

its taking me forever to finish my arverni campaign because i cant move east until i conquer all of western europe, i conquered aedui, romans and sweboz (they dont accept ceasefire/protectorate even when they have 1 province left and are offered a huge sum of money) now carthage are attacking me too, after i wipe them out i will have to do so with the lustonians and britons too i guess.

although the only territories i need to win the campaign is france and central europe, i have to conquer all of europe to win, where is the fun in such a long winded campaign

[vollorix]

The diplomacy has never worked in RTW, and EB is no exception. But there is a quite usefull mod called "foreced diplomacy", which you can download on this forums ( look under "unofficial moding projects", should be the first entry ).
It also depends on the difficulty level you have chosen to play on; the AI is not over agressive on medium, but will want you "dead or alive" on very hard, while hard beeing a middle thing.
There are really many tips how to secure, protect, and maintain your empire on this forums, like building forts on the boarders, or stationing massive military presence there to scare off the AI to attack a seemingly vulnerable target with a unit of warband.
There are also the "pre settings" in EB for relationships between peoples, so some are very suspicious, or even agressive towards you no matter what you do. And, of course, if you take settlements which are on the list of "winning conditions" of a factions, it´s going to hate you for that even more.
Personaly, i´ve noticed that moving anything but diplomates on neighbour territory will make the faction more causios towards you, but thats just a small observation ( it also has much more impact in ETW, iirc, where you can actually see the relationships details.
Last, but not least: As Arverni you are supposed to conquere very specific settlements, so, you could always try to avoid your enemies by creating some buffer zones, like Rebells or other factiosn; by granting Aedui ( through force diplo - fd - or through losing it to them, you could keep Romans, Lusos, or Germans at a distance. In a late, imperial phase of your campaign, you should not wonder about fighting enemies at all ends, it´s total war, after all ;)

[Arjos]

That is RTW's engine fault, there's very little that can be done about it...

Not building roads in your border regions (those you don't wish to expand further) will deter the AI longer...
As the Aruernoi, also build stone walls there asap, I carried on with the planned eastward conquest, while thousands of Swebozez met their end by the hand of few Milnaht and Batacorioi ^^

While the Lusotannan were my allies (with regular tribute) iirc, and forever engaged with the Karthadastim...

[fallen851]

If you play on Medium the AI is far less aggressive, and diplomacy is more of a factor. If you are playing on Very Hard it will just make you enemies with everyone you border by default.

You can adjust the EB script to give the AI the same amount of money they get on VH too.

[Marcus Darkstar]

If you play on Medium the AI is far less aggressive, and diplomacy is more of a factor. If you are playing on Very Hard it will just make you enemies with everyone you border by default.

You can adjust the EB script to give the AI the same amount of money they get on VH too.

That said I've played on medium as the Haydasans and even though the Sel accept ceasefires every turn after they attack you they keep attacking in the next turn. (I think they accept ceasefires cause they have multiple enemies).

So the diplomacy in RTW is barely functional if at all at times. Hopefully it gets better in Rome II :)

[Ca Putt]

The problem probably is that the AI does not do anything about it's attacking armies. Thus eventho you are now at peace with them, their armies march onward and one of them is heading strait for your borders, attack and thus break the ceasefire.

[Titus Marcellus Scato]

Communication between generals and diplomats is a problem in the EB world, it seems - they don't talk to each other. An enemy general who is marching to attack you won't stop because some poncy diplomat has made peace with you.

For diplomacy to work, all enemy armies that are marching in your direction must be wiped out or driven back into an enemy town - and only then should you make peace.

Make peace when your armies are in their territory - never when theirs are in yours!

[d'Arthez]

You could possibly use the teleport cheat to move the offending suicide squad that thinks it is a brilliant idea to siege your city moments after a ceasefire agreement has been reached.

Some factions are very aggressive, while others are far less so. I personally never had Getai declare war on me, even if I gobbled up all the cities around them. The diplomatic AI is non-existent in RTW, and EB can't fix that. The only thing you can do is actively discourage other factions to declare war. Strong border defences, paying some small tribute, and leaving room for expansion to the other faction usually helps.

Some factions also love certain cities. If you play Baktria don't take Chach (Bin-Kath) unless you want to face the Sakae. Something similar applies to Pahlava. As long as they have a border with the Seleucids they will be much less inclined to declare war on you.