bribing cities

[alexgem]

I'm playing a short campaign as the Gauls (only my second campaign game) and I have just suffered the loss of Segesta to the Romans due to they bribing the town. This was a fatal blow to my ambitions i Italy, so I'd like to ask if there's some kind of action that you may take to prevent this happening. A good governor? Some specific building? Any info/help will be very much appreciated !

[lismore]

If you have a governor make sure he does not have the apparently loyal trait. A spy in the settlement might also help, or an emissary, or try bribing/assassinating their emissaries.

Thats all I know so far

Best wishes

Lismore

[Ldvs]

If you don't want your cities to be bribed, then bribe their emissaries first
It happened the same thing to me when playing the Gauls. In retaliation, I sacked their capital and later took Sagesta back

[alexgem]

It looks like diplomats and agents are much more important and able to perform more varied tasks than what I had realized! Not for nothing I'm a newbie
Thank you guys for the suggestions !

[Siris]

Yea, about 3/4 of the land that my Macadonian Empire owns, is from bribbing. Not just the cities, but the family members as well, and buying mercinaries, lol! Less than 100 true Macadonians have died in the expanse of my Empire, so bribe away gentlemen!

[Ldvs]

It looks like diplomats and agents are much more important and able to perform more varied tasks than what I had realized! Not for nothing I'm a newbie
Thank you guys for the suggestions !

Bribery is a real pain in very hard settings, because of the dodgy amount of cash the AI factions earn. Be sure you don't let a city without governor

[Parmenio]

Diplomats by themselves seem to counter bribe attempts reasonably well when deployed in a govener-less city or with a less than loyal family member.

On hard and above I'd advise keeping a spy and diplomat in very city you own. Use them to counter spy and bribe enemy agents respectively.

Recruit some assassins when the time comes and dispatch them to hunt down enemy agents for giggles.

[The Ronin]

I'm about 5 generations into the long campaign (first time). But I stopped to practice battles on the custom battle scenario's (being a novice gamer I really needed this) but I have some questions in regard to this thread...
(1) Where do you get the money to do all this "bribing"...anytime I have inquired to bribe something they usually want way too much...
(2) I am so emersed with so many other things..ie., repelling invasions, riots, weirdo family members...where do you find the time to do all this diplomatic, spy, assassinations on the side or what I should ask: at what point in the campaign should you start concentrating on this area? I mean, I carry a spy, assassin, and diplomat when I am campaigning armies around....
Since I am very new, and had never bribed anything I finally bribed this carthage diplomat. Guy had a bunch of wreaths and everything and he actually was cheap...4k denarii. You know why....cause he was 61 and died like 6 turns later LOL....I still have a blast even though I do the dumbest things here....

[Tamur]

I'm not 100% sure it works on settlements themselves, but a diplomat who has four points less influence than another cannot bribe the higher-influence diplomat. They simply aren't given the option.

So if you want to make a crucial city extremely hard to bribe, try dropping a 10-influence diplomat into it. My guess is, it will affect the settlement bribe in the same way that a diplomat-to-diplomat bribe is affected.

Not only does the bribe cost go way up for the settlement, but the enemy also has to try the bribe with a diplomat who has seven or greater influence. Not sure the AI will take the time to drag a 7-influence diplomat all the way across the Mediterranean to do it...

[Ldvs]

I'm about 5 generations into the long campaign (first time). But I stopped to practice battles on the custom battle scenario's (being a novice gamer I really needed this) but I have some questions in regard to this thread...
(1) Where do you get the money to do all this "bribing"...anytime I have inquired to bribe something they usually want way too much...
(2) I am so emersed with so many other things..ie., repelling invasions, riots, weirdo family members...where do you find the time to do all this diplomatic, spy, assassinations on the side or what I should ask: at what point in the campaign should you start concentrating on this area? I mean, I carry a spy, assassin, and diplomat when I am campaigning armies around....
Since I am very new, and had never bribed anything I finally bribed this carthage diplomat. Guy had a bunch of wreaths and everything and he actually was cheap...4k denarii. You know why....cause he was 61 and died like 6 turns later LOL....I still have a blast even though I do the dumbest things here....

(1) At the very beginning, unless you master alchemy or play either the Greeks or the Carthaginians, you cannot afford bribing cities and big armies. Afterward, if you manage your settlements pretty well you will earn enough to bribe whatever and whoever you want (except faction leaders/heirs).

(2) As you said it, you're new to this game. Within a short time you'll master the interface and have a better experience of the game/strategies. So when you don't need to mainly focus on the management side any longer, you'll learn pretty quickly to use spies/assassins/diplomats.