Purchasing Settlements

[Amaranth]

How does AI decides which settlement is more precious to them ?

Playing as England, I took Jerusalem from Fatimids on Crusade, I was going to give it back to Kingdom of Jerusalem after I secure the lands surround it and beat the Fatimid forces before I leave back to Britain but then I changed my mind and decided to keep it instead. Cause winds of peace blowing from all directions in this Campaign, I was fighting with many factions then one by one hostilies ceased (well, Pope's neverending requests helped a lot! ) and I was having fun fighting against massive armies of Fatimids, disadvantaged battles ofcourse, my favourites.. But then I realised I require a Castle type settlement in order to reinforce my Crusading armies properly. I decided to take Nicosia, on Cyprus. Isolated by sea, and perfect place to watch over Holy Lands. But it belongs to my allies, Kingdom of Jerusalem I wanted to take it from them by diplomacy, offered them a fortune, settlements surrounding Jerusalem but they just won't let me have it. However they are willing to trade ANY other of their settlements, either by swapping settlements or by selling. Just to try it, I even offered them ridicilous amount of money plus Jerusalem plus military access etc but they still refused it. Oh and I tried to bribe it a lot of times, there are no one in the settlement my two spies are inside 70% of their buildings are sabotaged by my assassins but no sign of rebellion either (public order is around %80).

Why they want to keep it so much, are they value it for the same reason I want to have it or just being unreasonably stubborn ?

[Smokey Bacon]

Exactly how much did you offer them?

I'm not sure but it could have something to do with their victory conditions, that is, if it is one of the regions they need (I can't remember if it is.)

[Amaranth]

Exactly how much did you offer them?

I'm not sure but it could have something to do with their victory conditions, that is, if it is one of the regions they need (I can't remember if it is.)

Hmm. Makes sense. I offered them almost infinite amounts of money (since they don't agree to normal amounts), through cheat ofcourse, to see if they accept at a certain number, but it doesn't have to with anything it seems. But speaking of victory conditions, it's the Kingdom of Jerusalem, I offered them "Jerusalem" itself, still they refused. Possibly they can't calculate the level of importance between victory condition settlements ?

[SplaTt]

It's weird indeed. Do you play for "long" or "short" victory? Because in short victory obiective is to destroy factions, not to hold any regions.

And as far as I remember, some factions are just like "we won't agree to anything" - from settlement purchashes to become vassal (even if they have last besiged settlement with just king's unit defending it, they won't agree).

[Siddyus]

Just keep on trying and they'll agree eventually. It takes a really long time... lol

[withfriend2]

dont hold me to this but i believe campaign difficulty also effects on if the amount of money

[chris7ian]

Its probably the most advance castle of theirs.

[agc28]

Today I got a mission to annex Pisa, which is under Papal control.

I tried to offer large sums of money (100k+). The pope rejected it.

Then I tried to offer every single one of my territories in exchange for Pisa. (at least 40 of them. I have a huge Hungarian empire: I have half of France and HRE, all of Genoa and Venice, half of Poland, Lithuania, Cuman, and most of Byzantines.) The Pope still rejected my offer.

Stupid pope.

[Amaranth]

It's weird indeed. Do you play for "long" or "short" victory? Because in short victory obiective is to destroy factions, not to hold any regions.

And as far as I remember, some factions are just like "we won't agree to anything" - from settlement purchashes to become vassal (even if they have last besiged settlement with just king's unit defending it, they won't agree).

Long victory. And they're usually reasonable with anything else, I ask for their any other settlement and they agree to give it happily, but just not Nicosia.

dont hold me to this but i believe campaign difficulty also effects on if the amount of money

Maybe but I tried to give them incredible amounts, still nothing.

Its probably the most advance castle of theirs.

I checked that, but nope. They have an advanced castle, and Nicosia is a minor castle. I offered them Gaza castle I currently hold, which trains the latest units avaible but they refused.

Stupid pope.

Lol

[tryadelion]

bribe.

[Amaranth]

bribe.

Like I said:

Oh and I tried to bribe it a lot of times, there are no one in the settlement my two spies are inside 70% of their buildings are sabotaged by my assassins but no sign of rebellion either (public order is around %80).

But I came out with another plan now, check this out:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Now if that won't rebel that settlement, nothing can !

[tallstark]

One thing I have noticed is if a faction has less than 7-8 settlements then they simply don't ever accept anything. I guess the logic is its too precious and they can't afford to shrink past a certain point, which is a good thing for AI. If not, with the obscene amounts of money later in the game you could buy a faction down to 1-2 towns and sack them into extinction...

[Neptune7]

One thing I have noticed is if a faction has less than 7-8 settlements then they simply don't ever accept anything.

Poland had 5 settlements when they sold Stettin to me...SS 6.3...

[philipjd]

In my early Byzantine campaign using Byg IV, I allied with both Hungary and the Turks in order to give me some consolidation time, but just as I massed my forces to attack the Turks the Sicilians attacked me, so swapped the armies over to the west and started to 'buy' the Turks out of Anatolia: I have currently bought Sinope, Ankara, Iconium, Ceasarea, Adana, Edessa and Khora-whatever (fortress north east of Edessa), each cost me roughly 60k. By the time that the Sicilians were defeated and armies/leaders back over to the East the Fatimids attacked so having a fun war there (but they wouldn;t sell me anything prior to the war breaking out).

In my Kievan campaign I bought Caffa from the Byzantines for 3.5k, very early in the game though.

All in all, buying settlements may not be as dramatic as conquering them, but an extremely useful 'tool' if you have the cash.

(all games played are on VH/VH)

[SoulBlade]

it was even easier back in SS 6.1, but in 6.2 and 6.3 things changed a lot - AI gets a lot of bonuses - public order, increases income per settlement/building.

[Amaranth]

it was even easier back in SS 6.1, but in 6.2 and 6.3 things changed a lot - AI gets a lot of bonuses - public order, increases income per settlement/building.

Half of the population turned to heresy, ALL of the buildings are %100 damaged, public order is still %70.

[Spartan90]

Castles are pretty impossible to make rebel, I've never been able to do it. Cities are a piece of cake. But keep trying, they'll eventually give in to your demands. Make sure your relations with them are perfect to get even better chances. No faction will give you anything for any price if you've got bad relations with them. Also, IMO the more settlements they have, the more likely they'll be willing to give up one. If Nicosia is one of their few settlements (or only castle), it will be very difficult.

My biggest buy was purchasing Florence off the Pope. I offered 500,000 outright and paid them 100,000 per turn for 10 turns. That's 1.5mil, and I still got 'Barely Accepted'.

[zero0609]

Its probably easier if you just take that settlement by force, then offer the crusaders 100k for a cease fire and a new alliance.

[iamsawyer]

If u have ridiculous amounts of money lying around simply betray them and attack that same turn with your spies opening the gates then once its yours just buy ceasefire and alliance back then go and buy the alliances back from all the allies that chose their side

[Spartan90]

Reputation!! Won't someone think of the reputation!!