relations

[marseu]

Hi all
Could someone give a detailed explain of:
How the relations between factions can be improved and what affects it?

[Samir]

it depends on several factors

+ difficulty level. Easy = HippieDiplomacy make love not war! VH=dont even breath, cause the Ai is going to come for your air (at least she tries it)
+ there is a scripted "stance" of factions towards each other, so that natural rivals would end up in MED2 as rivals again.
+ money
+ more money
+ provinces that you gift
+ global reputation
+ your army size
+ the number of provinces you have
+ excomm

Besides that there is something called global reputation which is increased by
+ chivalric behavior (what for do we play total war then!? )
+ not to fight catholics as a catholic
+ honoring alliances (you dont break it, the other one does...)
+ etc. etc.

some of those are taken into consideration when you try to make an alliance, some are taken for peacefire negotiations, some for the AI to calculate if it is going to wage war against you, etc.

[pwijnands]

Global reputation is easy and is pretty much explained by Samir. Getting a good global standing basically comes down to forming alliances (and not betraying them), occupying cities and releasing prisoners. With a good global standing, most factions will start to like you more and more. When I play a campaign as a catholic faction I tend to get high global standing. As a result my relationships with even my enemies rise after each turn (I kept getting the message that my relationships went to abysmal after I attacked them several times in the same turn and would go back up to "very poor" after each turn).

To get your relationships with a faction up, do stuff to make them happy. Giving settlements works best, so is attacking their enemies and making alliances with their allies (and of course forming an alliance with them). Small benefits are also gained from succesfully closing a diplomatic deal (rejected offers lower standing).

[Pyrebound]

If you want to enjoy the game with diplomatic relation differences, get 1.2 if you already havent. On 1.0, there is like no way you can get your diplomatic relations with other faction above reasonable, as if they got better they would be back to reasonable on next turn. Though, if you were liked by the pope you could get very good and perfect etc with papal states. On 1.1 it was even worse as all factions somehow hated you for everything, if you even havent done anything they would drop below reasonable to poor. Even allies didnt like you much.

[12345abcd3]

I read somewhere that if you get to big most factions will start hating you, even ones nowhere near you, is this correct?

Also, is it possible to get good relations with a faction without doing massive things like giving them cities or tons of money like just staying their ally?

12345abcd3

[crucify_ego]

i have always wondered, does sacking or exterminating "rebel" cities effect your rep?

[pwijnands]

crucify_ego:
Sacking and exterminating will lower your global reputation, regardless of who the city belongs to. If you sack/exterminate a city from another faction you will get an additional penalty to that faction's standing.

12345abcd3 (apparently I'm not the only one having trouble finding a good nickname):
Once you get a very big empire, other factions will start to like you less. However the effect is very small and if you are allies they will stick with you (although that could be Stainless Steel doing that).
To get good relations with a faction send out your diplomats and make alliances, trade rights, map information (both ways) with as many faction as you can in the beginning of the game. I always head towards Italy first, making alliances etc with all factions along the way. First priority when you get to Italy is make an alliance with the pope.
If you have an alliance with a faction and you have a good global reputation, faction standing will rise over time (you typically go to "good" as soon as you make the alliance deal).

[Pontifex Maximus]

When in desperate need of a friend, hand out some cash. (and i dont mean bribing armies, that makes dip. relations worse)

[merlinuscdxx]

and don't ally with everyone, or even most of your neighbors. if you have to pick between two allies because they go to war with each other, you will suffer a global relations hit. It is better to ally with one of your neighbors (the one whose land you aren't particularly after). also, don't ally with (both) factions that neighbor each other, as they will go to war. make alliance blocs.

[Bluice]

12345abcd3 (apparently I'm not the only one having trouble finding a good nickname):

That's gold!

[Pontifex Maximus]

Hi all
Could someone give a detailed explain of:
How the relations between factions can be improved and what affects it?

to improve relations get rade rights, hand them a small donation of cash per turn if you like them. alliances are always good but are not necessarily binding, the AI may still attack

[Skyline Pete]

Small benefits are also gained from successfully closing a diplomatic deal (rejected offers lower standing).

That last bit isn't 100% true. I've had relations increase from rejected deals that were very close to going through. It's as if you're getting points for trying!

[pwijnands]

You're right. It only lowers it when you give an offer that isn't at least balanced. If you propose demanding deals, your faction-faction rating will take a (minor) hit.