Bribing former kings

**Wambat** · November 28, 2010, 06:20 PM

I have recently conquered RK as Adunabar. So happens, the former king of RK has survived the war are is sitting on a small stack of rebels in a quite corner of my growing empire. I sent a spy to check him out; he seems to have no inclination to cause trouble with nearby settlements or units; and he is still holding all kinds of cool goodies, like a palentir and elf-helm and such.

I should very much like to bribe this now rebel general, but despite my 120,000 gold coffers, and a 5 garlanded emisary with a 5% bonus to bribe, I still have not the option. I know, I think I know, that kings and their heirs cannot be bribed, but this guy is no longer a king. His traits no longer include being a king. Does the king trait have a residual effect so that a general can not be bribed even after he has lost his kingdom?

It may be that the bribe cost for this general is simply astronomical, but how do I find out? Is there a formula that can show how much any general should cost to bribe? Can I edit the save game to give myself a billion gold just to see if it is mathematically possible to bribe this guy?

Help and ideas would be greatly appreciated here.

**acci_dent** · November 28, 2010, 08:33 PM

The cheat for money is 'add_money X' so just spam 'add_money 100000' into the console for a bit.

If he still doesn't give there's a way to force characters to accept diplomatic proposals (instructions here, backup files just in case) I'm not sure if it works for bribes though.

**Wambat** · November 29, 2010, 12:36 AM

Originally Posted by acci_dent

The cheat for money is 'add_money X' so just spam 'add_money 100000' into the console for a bit.

If he still doesn't give there's a way to force characters to accept diplomatic proposals (instructions here, backup files just in case) I'm not sure if it works for bribes though.

Very frustrating. I am not getting a field in which to type when I press "~", thus I am not able to use the cheat. I really just need to know if bribing this guy is even possible. Has anyone else here been able to bribe a former king unit in game?

Failing that, has anyone else had this problem with the "~" key, and maybe a workaround?

**CountMRVHS** · November 29, 2010, 01:46 PM

I've experienced the lack of response from the '~'. I think it's a Vista thing. I'm able to use it now, for some reason... Maybe because I changed (i.e., deactivated) my security settings?

**athanaric** · November 30, 2010, 07:31 PM

Bribing former kings works. I've done that at least once, with the former Chieftain of Dunland. Obtained the keys of Orthanc that way.

**Wambat** · December 01, 2010, 03:08 AM

OK. after lots or research and several diferent techniques, here is what I found that fixed my tilde problem:

1) Make a copy of the kbdclass.sys file in your C:\Windows\System32\drivers directory; put that copy somewhere other than your C:\Windows\System32\drivers directory, like you desktop.

2) Rename this copy kbdhid.sys

3) Find kbdhid.sys in your C:\Windows\System32\drivers directory and make a backup copy of that file somewhere you will remember (other than the C:\Windows\System32\drivers directory)

4) Take the copy of kbdclass.sys which you have renamed kbdhid.sys, and use that file to replace the origenal kbdhid.sys file in the C:\Windows\System32\drivers directory.

5) Restart your computer.

This process corrects a conflict this the tilde function in games on vista laptop computers that use a Microsoft program to operate a remote control for the laptop. This solution to the tilde issue will cause that remote control to no longer work, possibly even if you reverse the procedure. I lost my remote long ago, and never used it when I had it, so no problem there.

As for the former king of RK. It seems he is out of reach. Curse the game designers for not allowing copy and paste in-game. The "add-money" cheat seams to be capped at 40000, and I have developed carpel-tunnel trying to add enough money to bribe this general without success. With coffers at 3 million, he still wont have it. As 3 million is far more than I could ever hope to raise before this general dies of natural causes, I will not bother with including his acquisition in my strategic planning.

Out of curiosity, and lasiness, can point out some ancillaries and their associated generals, that would be worth acquiring through bribery in WoM? I have only played Dunland and Adunabar so far. Dunland only seemed to have one ancillary, the aforementioned key to Orthanc, which would be worth any effort to collect, but will that key not show up in the hands of whomever holds Orthanc once the original holder has been dispatched? What other unique items should I be keeping an eye out for?

**acci_dent** · December 01, 2010, 09:00 AM

Originally Posted by Wambat

Curse the game designers for not allowing copy and paste in-game.

Clicking the up arrow should rewrite the last used command, click it again to circle through all recently used ones.

The key of Orthanc is a dunland-specific ancillary, it only gets given to their faction leader (I think). Wulf's war helm is the same.

**CountMRVHS** · December 01, 2010, 10:33 AM

There are many unique ancillaries, but I don't think they'd be of much use for another faction; iirc they often include bonuses to conversion for the alignment of the faction to which they belong, for example.

**athanaric** · December 03, 2010, 05:58 AM

Originally Posted by acci_dent

The key of Orthanc is a dunland-specific ancillary, it only gets given to their faction leader (I think). Wulf's war helm is the same.

You can inherit both of them permanently if you manage to bribe their former king. You'll have to manually hand them over to other FMs though, as your faction isn't programmed to have them and you'll likely lose them if the guy holding them dies. Both ancillaries are beneficial to all factions who hold them.

**Wambat** · December 05, 2010, 06:40 PM

I find myself now unable to bribe the former king of Dunland. I am trying to bribe him using an 8 garland emissary. The former king has 10 garlands. Is that the issue? Does the rank of my emissary need to meet or exceed that of the general I wish to bribe?

**Aradan** · December 05, 2010, 06:44 PM

I think influence doesn't block the option, only affects the chances of the proposal being accepted; but I don't remember ever trying to bribe a former faction leader, so I'm not sure if the game doesn't recognise the fact that the guy is no longer a leader. If that happens in vanilla, then it should happen in FATW too, as we can't mod this sort of thing.

**Wambat** · December 06, 2010, 02:32 AM

I was eventually able to bribe the former faction leader of Dunland, and acquired his lovely ancillaries. I was not able to do this until he had retreated to a nearby rebel town. It cost 230,000; just about my entire savings by the 30th turn of the game. The former RK leader is still alive, but given his something like 500% increase to bribe ancillaries, I doubt I will ever have the resources to bribe him, even if he ever gives me the option.

I cannot say whether the former faction leader being in a town has any barring on whether they can be bribed. It is certainly not the case with other general units. Perhaps the game needs a certain number of turns to pass before bribery becomes an option.