Why was bribing nerfed?

[Sutemi]

IMO bribing was one of the best aspects of Medieval Total War.
- Prices were fair (quality costed)
- Some generals were harder to bribe while some were easier
-You had to have lot of extra money to pull it of
-You could get huge and sudden extra boost to your army
- It enhanced the diplomatic aspect of dealing with rebels
- Bribed generals were generally disloyal liabilities
- And the best thing was that you could have a diverse army, like Irish Kerns in an Egyptian army

But ever since Rome Total War, bribing was severely nerfed. Prices skyrocketed and chances were slim at best, so I don't even understand why this feature was implemented at all?

Of course you can get merceneries, but it's not the same thing.

Who else misses real-deal old-fashioned bribing?

[Nazgûl Killer]

Well, I would assume that no soldier would really want to desert their homeland this easily. I mean, you were recruited from a city under Venice's control, so why the hell would you switch over to Milan's side, when your entire family is at Venice's side?

[Sutemi]

Well, I would assume that no soldier would really want to desert their homeland this easily. I mean, you were recruited from a city under Venice's control, so why the hell would you switch over to Milan's side, when your entire family is at Venice's side?

You have a point there. Everything has to be seen in context.
However what really bothers me is that there are 2-4 units of poor or medium units named "brigands" somewhere around my kingdom. My adequately skilled diplomat tells them to join my ranks and they either demand astronomical price or refuse. After this I destroy them.

Ad infinitum.

Edit: In the original MW I rarely, really rarely bribed units belonging to a faction. Only if they were completely disloyal, then I gave it a try.

[The Despondent Mind]

yeah it's annoying when some brigands refuse huge bribes .

[kevindrosario]

Well in RTW it was ridiculously overpowered to the point that I used diplomats to protect my settlements. It definitely needed to be nerfed, but perhaps it has been nerfed too much.

[Delvecchio1975]

I think it's done correctly. The Byzantines used to bribe loads of armies, but even being so rich it brought them several times to the brink of bankruptcy. The prices HAVE to be astronomical, because these roaming armies really used to hold kings & emperors hostage at times ...

[Kalinin]

Should be easy to bribe rebels as in like MTW I but bribing enemy armies and particularly larger ones should be costly and difficult.

[Land of Hope and Glory]

If it wasn't made so difficult then it'd be far too easy to bribe armies away and make the game less fun. Its more entertaining and worrying when a massive army sneaks up and puts the fear of jebus into you. Diplomats shouldn't be used to defeat armies, armies should haha!!

[Sulfurion Blackfyre]

The point is not that it's hard to bribe or not, as long as you have enough money. What personally strikes me as irritating is that instead of most units joining you, they just "disband". You can't just go as Hungary for instance and bribe a bunch of Byzantine units so you can have Byzantine Infantry in your armies for instance..

[Avatar]

IMO bribing was one of the best aspects of Medieval Total War.
- Prices were fair (quality costed)
- Some generals were harder to bribe while some were easier
-You had to have lot of extra money to pull it of
-You could get huge and sudden extra boost to your army
- It enhanced the diplomatic aspect of dealing with rebels
- Bribed generals were generally disloyal liabilities
- And the best thing was that you could have a diverse army, like Irish Kerns in an Egyptian army

But ever since Rome Total War, bribing was severely nerfed. Prices skyrocketed and chances were slim at best, so I don't even understand why this feature was implemented at all?

Of course you can get merceneries, but it's not the same thing.

Who else misses real-deal old-fashioned bribing?

There are aspects of the first MTW I really loved, like the cultural victory options. The bribing system and mercenary system, however, were plain silly. I well remember one campaign playing as England where I spent 6 or 7 turns sending a diplomat into furthest Siberia, then systematically buying up rebel province after rebel province on his way back, turning a huge area of the map red. As for mercenaries, while its nice to be able to recruit essentially any unit in the game from a tavern, it was never all that realistic and tended to take away from the national identities of each army.

[Double A]

Bribing, especially against rebels and mercs, should be possible. Currently, it isn't unless you have some absurdly high amount of cash like 100000.

I should be able to bribe rebels. It's not like they're suicide bombers.

[tudor93]

Bribing, especially against rebels and mercs, should be possible. Currently, it isn't unless you have some absurdly high amount of cash like 100000.

I should be able to bribe rebels. It's not like they're suicide bombers.

even with 100k you can't bribe
you need at least 500k

[The Despondent Mind]

even with 100k you can't bribe
you need at least 500k

That's the problem .

[tudor93]

That's the problem .

yes I know, that's what I wanted to say; the bribing system is ed up

[danny X]

i've always preffered killing over bribary, but playing as Russia or the Moors a better bribing system would help a massive amount for the isolated parts of the map the rebels hide up in.

[Double A]

"We don't want your money unless you can prove to us that you have more than you would possibly ever give us. We don't want to cripple your economy. That would just be plain rude."

[PrestigeX]

Its not even the cost, its the fact that it's almost impossible to actually bribe successfully. And then the only times it ever actually seems to work is when you're well into the campaign and there's some small band of say..."6,000 florins for 2 units of town militia".. its just sooo silly.

its a real shame because bribing would be most usefull in the early era, where successfully bribing some rebels/brigands could get you some higher-tier troops when you have little more than peasant archers and spear militia (like feudal knights as france, or Armored swordsmen as england).

Cost should of been lower on average, like half the cost (that would still be a handsome sum) and twice or quadruple the success rate...then it would be workable.

As it is now, it's basically 'nerfed' as you say

[Double A]

It's nerfed more than the Demo Man's sticky bombs.

[kevindrosario]

Modifying the chances of a successful bribe is very easy. Just change a couple numbers. I'm not sure how to modify the cost though.

[LongWind]

It's like the "become vassal" option. I have NEVER been able to have a vassal state, not even with them having 1 city left and my giant army besiegeing them