Negotiating at a faction capital vs. elsewhere

[Tamur]

Getting a few beloved minutes to get back to some game research here, and I've got a question...

I've heard both sides, but no conclusions on the question, "Do you get better results from diplomatic negotiation at a faction's capital? Or, do you get better results from haggling with a zero-influence diplomat from the other side?"

Personally I've had mixed results. It seems like I'm more able to push through a tough negotiation (like a ceasefire or extorted Regular Tribute) with a low-influence enemy negotiator. Unfortunately I run into so few 8+ influence enemy faction members, it's hard to say for sure.

Anyone else have any experiences/facts/etc they can share?

[Tamur]

I suppose this leads more generally into the effect of the Influence-rating of the enemy in negotiations, which I haven't covered in the guide at all. Feel free to speak up on that as well -- I'm going to spend what time I've got the next few days trying to nail this down.

[therother]

Not much of any use I can suggest to help, Tamur, other than to set up an experiment with various influence diplomats stationed at various towns and hope for a confluence of events the like of which Aristotle would have been proud, i.e. two family members with wide ranging influence in range, on the same turn, of both your low and high influence diplomats, as well as having a similar set of diplomats around the factions capital and other cities.

Essentially what I'm suggesting is flooding a faction with diplomats of various skill levels (preferably the same - like one set of 2 influence, one set of 8 influence) and try and negotiate various treaties using the same bargaining process -- same initial offer, raises, that sort of thing -- and then reload the game and repeat as often as you can.

Good luck!

[Tamur]

Thanks, started tonight but didn't get too far. Still, there was a difference in response between an 8-influence and a 2-influence negotiator on my side, so there must be a worth to that influence thing after all! Will keep picking at it.