Annoying Diplomats

[ewun]

Hi there, ive tried to ignore this and just had patience but now ive had it!

WHY do they keep talking to me under turn changes and say nothing!? Its so annoying! And they also move slow as hell!

Please give me an answer to this! Of all my years of playing this wonderful game, ive never understood this!

[Sweger]

They are trying to bribe whoever they're talking to. That's why do not get a pergament roll/ diplomacy window. They're not actually talking to you. And if you want them to be quicker you can just hit the space button (unless you're playing a mod that is).

[tudor93]

I think this has been discussed several times ago
What they are really trying to do is to bribe your settlement IIRC; nevertheless, I think they do this before declaring war on you, so watch out

edit: oh barnacles, sweger got first

[Aymer de Valence]

Lol it is annoying, but how about you give them a taste of their own medicine? Bribe THEM!

[_Elysium_]

Assassins? Nothing says "I hate you!" more than a slit throat.

[Nazgûl Killer]

I'm not sure if they're trying to bribe you, as Princesses often do the same. It might just be a dumb bug... This has been discussed since the dawn of time and up to this very day. No one can say for sure why this happens... But it is as the prophets once revealed... It is all in the prophecy... You will see... Yes... Precious...

[Aeratus]

I'm not sure if they're trying to bribe you, as Princesses often do the same. It might just be a dumb bug... This has been discussed since the dawn of time and up to this very day. No one can say for sure why this happens... But it is as the prophets once revealed... It is all in the prophecy... You will see... Yes... Precious...

Has anyone tried tweaking the bribing behavior of the AI to see if it has any effect on this?

[Sweger]

Well it must be bribing attempts, some diplomats and princesses try every single damned turn, and I've acually checked on them, and you can actually see their skill-rating drop, as it does after alot of unsuccessfull diplomacy missions. The strange thing is that I can't recall it ever being successfull at all.

[TheDarkKnight]

I have been wondering this as well...Bribing makes sense.

If they do it for a while I usually just train an assassin in that settlement and use him to kill the guy. Diplomats are pretty easy to kill. I do the same with princesses

[Nazgûl Killer]

Not that I know. And I think there have been like 20 threads on this already No one really managed to get a conclusive answer. I do agree that bribing sounds like the best option, but princesses can't bribe and they do this also.

[Mhaedros]

Princesses can 'steal' you unmarried generals, by marrying them

[Nazgûl Killer]

So how would you explain they only do these things to cities (Or castles), which often (In my games anyway) have either married generals or no generals at all?

[Teutonic Warlord]

So how would you explain they only do these things to cities (Or castles), which often (In my games anyway) have either married generals or no generals at all?

They are homewreckers. There is your answer.

Personally, I see this a good bit, and I have a few answers that I believe are all correct. They are:

1. Bribing. It would explain why those diplomats take ten minutes approaching EVERY. SINGLE. SETTLEMENT. YOU. OWN. (and also why a scroll doesn't come up)

2. Foreshadowing an attack. Whenever a faction spams you with diplomats, they will often later attack you (after how many turns of doing this I don't know).

3. A bug. More specifically, I have noticed that, when I reloaded a save, the first diplomat to engage a settlement WILL bring up a scroll (usually one demanding a couple hundred florins in exchange for them not attacking you).

Mix all three ingredients in a bowl, place the batter in a pan, and bake for one hour to create the forsaken Diplomat Spam Cake we all hate so much.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

I honestly believe they all happen, though some (2 and 3) happen more often and seem to be connected.

[Sweger]

But they can still carry out diplomacy missions, so maybe the AI "opens" the diplomacy window without actually proposing anything, and that's why the player never see the proposal. I do that myself sometimes. But it's still strange though.

[Nazgûl Killer]

I'm happier calling it a random bug.

[King William the Conqueror]

Yeah, every once in a while they try to bribe but I am pretty sure most of the time it is a bug.

[Silverheart]

It´s caused when they try to bribe your settlement, but can also be for other reasons.

For example, in many cases (my personal experience) the diplomats doing this are from factions which I already have trade rights and map info with - which means that the AI is trying to start diplomacy without having any possible requests they´re confident in making.
Basically, you could say that they start up a diplomatic session, makes the only demand available (like, demanding money, a settlement or military assistance), arrives at the conclusion that the demand is too demanding, and cancels the session before it´s even technically begun - in which case you, as the player, doesn´t get to see anything since they never officially suggests their proposal.

[tudor93]

if we are already on this topic, did the AI has ever successfully bribed one of your settlements guys ?

[Teutonic Warlord]

if we are already on this topic, did the AI has ever successfully bribed one of your settlements guys ?

Maybe. If it did, it happened so long ago that I can't remember.

But, like I posted above, I believe that it warns of an attack/is a bug that won't bring up the diplomacy scroll when the diplomat demands money so they don't attack you.

I think it is the bug. Whenever I accept the demand, they come back for more, but if I refuse, they just spam me. Then, when I reload a save, they start demanding again.

[Mhaedros]

Never in my campaigns