medieval: total peace

[Peasant Phill]

The AI doesn't like aggressive players, for instance if you attack a faction in the first few years it will be very hard to get allies. Only after several years of peace after the attack(s) do you get alliance proposals or do you have a chance that someone accepts yours. Fewer early alliances mean a bigger chance on early wars.

The opposite is also quite true. If you lay low the first years, every faction will want to ally. As a result you can expect to live in peace the first decades as long as you garrison your borders reasonably well.

Up to now it's all quite logical. Be nice from the start and everybody will see you as trustworthy, be a bully and everybody will be weary of you. The odd thing is though that your aggressiveness sparks the same attitude in other factions not only towards you but also towards others. Your 'mellow' attitude spreads also and results in world of peace, love and understanding. In my current HRE/early campaign I haven't attacked anyone (only bribed Pomeria, Sweden and Norway). and so far (1130) only minor skirmishes went on. The Almohads took 1 province of the Spanish, the Italians attacked the Byzantines in Naples and somehow Sicily and Hungary got envolved. I think only 4 maybe 5 attacks were made. But I know for sure that if I were to attack Denmark that suddenly All my neigbours would attack me or each other.

I once had an English campaign that knew a worldwide peace for more than 50 years. It only ended because my crownprince was crowned in Wessex and because of that Flanders lost its general for 1 year. The HRE invaded and suddenly the whole world ignited in a frenzy. In 3 years all the factions were in war with each other.

Has anybody noticed this before or am I so egocentric that I only think that everything revolves around me?

[Martok]

No, I don't think you're being egocentric, as you're not the first person to notice this phenomenon. I myself haven't paid enough attention to confirm if there's any correlation. A number of other players, however, have noticed that there does seem to be a link between how agressive you are and how peaceful the rest of the map is. It's kind of like the other factions play "follow the leader", or something....

[Joshwa]

I was wondering something a bit similar the other day; if you ran out a campaign, but not as a faction, if you could somehow simply observe the game, would the campaign play out the same each time? It seems to me that the computer would make the same logical moves each time, and without the player faction as the 'wildcard', the same things would happen each game

[Peasant Phill]

I don't think it would be the same each and every time. I think there is a random element in the campaigns. Some factions are wiped out very early in some games while in others they become super powers. They both happen when I'm nowhere near them and I'm turtling. I think the AI matches the aggressiveness of the player to some extend but a big part is still random.

[Roark]

Another weird thing is that the reverse is actually true as well.

If you are hyper-aggressive and take a bunch of provinces nice and early, your influence will skyrocket and, as long as you're not at war with a given faction, or one of their allies, you are more likely to be able to forge alliances due to increased influence.

[matteus the inbred]

Another weird thing is that the reverse is actually true as well.
If you are hyper-aggressive and take a bunch of provinces nice and early, your influence will skyrocket and, as long as you're not at war with a given faction, or one of their allies, you are more likely to be able to forge alliances due to increased influence.

Unless you are France, in which I find that being super-aggressive (which is usually the only way to play the French) results in being at war with everyone in double-quick time. I mean everyone, even Aragon.
Not just when I play as the French...under AI control it's usually at war with at least the HRE and England by about 1130. But I agree, overall I have found this phenomenon generally holds true. Danish and Polish (ie. largely anti-rebel/short of cash) campaigns are often more peaceful.