Diplomats whilst loading

**Pro patria populoque** · January 22, 2009, 08:18 AM

hey all Total Warriors. When I click on the hour glass and the faction shields skip along - the screen will sometimes flip to a foreign diplomat who seems to be offering a scroll to me. But nothing happens. I get a diplomat to him or to his faction and ask for something and again nothing.

Is he wanting something or is he just unrolling and rolling his scrolls?

Also - when playing as Carthage why is it so hard to get anything from anyone with diplomats.

Cheers in advance!

**Xavier Dragnesi** · January 22, 2009, 10:57 AM

Well, diplomacy in Vanilla RTW is pretty poor. They give the most stupid offers, yet decline perfectly fair treaties. There is a Force Diplomacy mod which makes it better. As for offering you the scroll and not doing anything, I'm not sure. It happens to me as well, but I have no idea what it means. Perhaps the AI was going to give you an offer, but though better of it, and so decided not to?

**Leonidas_I** · January 23, 2009, 09:16 AM

Originally Posted by Xavier Dragnesi

Well, diplomacy in Vanilla RTW is pretty poor. They give the most stupid offers, yet decline perfectly fair treaties. There is a Force Diplomacy mod which makes it better. As for offering you the scroll and not doing anything, I'm not sure. It happens to me as well, but I have no idea what it means. Perhaps the AI was going to give you an offer, but though better of it, and so decided not to?

:hmmm:

**Pro patria populoque** · January 23, 2009, 11:59 AM

What you say about the bribing might ring true actually. I am playing as Carthage and am about 20 turns into the game and it is a Spanish diplomat playing with his scroll outside Corduba (southern spain) - my only spanish province. Hmm it is starting to make sense!!

Cheers guys!

**Leonidas_I** · January 23, 2009, 06:10 PM

Originally Posted by Pro patria populoque

What you say about the bribing might ring true actually. I am playing as Carthage and am about 20 turns into the game and it is a Spanish diplomat playing with his scroll outside Corduba (southern spain) - my only spanish province. Hmm it is starting to make sense!!

Cheers guys!

**Canaris** · January 25, 2009, 12:46 PM

Hmmm bribery is frankly speaking very distant and small threat coz bribing even stack of 2 hastati takes HUGE amount of cash and AI is constantly broke

i have never had anyone bribing my army in the all my games

**ben331** · January 22, 2009, 11:30 AM

I have always believed that they are trying to bribe you, since the Bribe offer always comes under "Private Dealings". They have never succeeded though.

Or, they could be trying to get an alliance with you, but they are at war with one of your allies.

**Sextus Molestus** · January 22, 2009, 01:15 PM

I agree with ben331; I think it's that they're trying to bribe you. I have had my armies bribed before when small and under the command of a captain, but it's never happened with cities and only once with generals. Ooh, funny story about that, actually...

I was playing a vanilla SPQR campaign, trying to take over the entire world. By now I had taken the left half of the campaign map and was working my way into Egypt, Asia Minor, and the north Balkans or wherever that is. A diplomat, I believe a Dacian, Thracian, or Germanian one, came and bribed a general of mine whom, with no good natural traits, I had posted on Watchtower duty (that is, placing watchtowers all around my empire because I have a surplus of money and generals and like to be able to see when rebels pop up).

I hunted him down and cornered him with diplomats, and bribed him back to my side. Luckily, Egypt was still a great power and had many full stacks that included Pharoah's guards. I sent the general on a little...a little...special operations mission, we'll call it, to Jerusalem. Sadly, he did not survive...(laughing manically)

**Lord Thesaurian** · January 22, 2009, 01:51 PM

Originally Posted by Pro patria populoque

hey all Total Warriors. When I click on the hour glass and the faction shields skip along - the screen will sometimes flip to a foreign diplomat who seems to be offering a scroll to me. But nothing happens. I get a diplomat to him or to his faction and ask for something and again nothing.

Is he wanting something or is he just unrolling and rolling his scrolls?

!

He's not doing anything, that gesture is just to show hes "arrived". its stupid, i know, but it doesnt really matter (then again, they could be trying to bribe u, but thats never happened to me, so i dunno... my men are always pretty loyal.

**Selifator** · January 22, 2009, 02:57 PM

I agree with Legio, I don't think the gesture means anything, it's an animation for when they come in contact with other things.

**C-Rob** · January 22, 2009, 03:38 PM

yeah.. for 3 turns a diplomat was doing that and finaly when I removed my governor from the area(because I knew the settlement would be besieged and lost soon and I didn't want to lose a perfectly good general) the settlement was bribed away from my control. It's definitely they're trying to bribe you.

**Scutarii** · January 22, 2009, 06:46 PM

When the diplomat does that, he's attempting to bribe the city. Its actually a useful tool in that if a neighboring nation does it a whole bunch, prepare for an attack.

**Finn** · January 22, 2009, 07:37 PM

Exactly! Its a sure sign that a stack will be on your doorstep within a turn or two.

**Selifator** · January 23, 2009, 04:02 AM

Uhm, no it isn't? At least not all the time. I've had dips do it without something ever happening.

**Scutarii** · January 25, 2009, 08:47 PM

And still, they try constantly.

**Lord Dakier** · January 25, 2009, 09:33 PM

Hahaha... Im never broke lol... I was bribing the hell out of the Greeks today. Bribed three different armies so I could swiftly take one settlement without no reinforcements. Then I had Julii trying to bribe my Brutti villages. Im considering civil war... who agrees?

**Yojimbo** · January 25, 2009, 10:21 PM

bribery sounds like the best guess on what's happening here.

**Pro patria populoque** · January 26, 2009, 05:04 AM

Sorry for the delay...work and all. It happened, Corduba went over to the rebels. But after reading the advice on the forum, I used the tactic as if the town was going to rebel. destroyed barracks, stables, so all they had were peasants. Needless to say I retook the town with my fave Libyan pikemen, exterminated everybody, even the governors cat and assassinated the diplomat who started it. Bye bye diplomat marcus the muppet!

**hastati lord** · January 29, 2009, 06:44 PM

Originally Posted by Pro patria populoque

Sorry for the delay...work and all. It happened, Corduba went over to the rebels. But after reading the advice on the forum, I used the tactic as if the town was going to rebel. destroyed barracks, stables, so all they had were peasants. Needless to say I retook the town with my fave Libyan pikemen, exterminated everybody, even the governors cat and assassinated the diplomat who started it. Bye bye diplomat marcus the muppet!

Wait how does a diplomat bribe your city to become a rebel city?