Forcing Peace?

[Hirtius]

​I'm getting to the late game, and I have the problem of being at war with almost every faction in existence. Hell, I was at war with all of them for most of the game. I know the game is "Total War", but the game gets tedious if you're constantly getting attacked on all sides and can't recover. At the very least, it would be nice to have a way to knock enemies out of the war in a way other than destroying them, taking their lands, and creating a border with new neighbors who will be at war with you.


Is it possible to create script that forces peace on the AI for certain conditions?


For example, winning/losing a few major land battles historically would have been war-ending, with a few notable exceptions. Would it be possible to have script that has an option to force peace/alliance upon an enemy that has been defeated in battle several times? Perhaps some factions like the Romans should have higher tolerances.

Additionally, is it possible to make script to force peace if no major land battle/siege has been fought for a long period of time? For example, I've been at war since the start of the game with some factions to the East (Carthage campaign) that I am just now encountering in the late game. This is due to blockades starting wars, and the AI doesn't treat peace as an option. I've been at war with the Pritanoi and Sweboz and have literally never seen them since I haven't gone North yet. It'd be nice if they stopped spamming weak fleets at me.


One more idea, would it be possible to create a system where you liberate settlements to eleutheroi or some sort of allied system (apart from the client state)? In other words, this would be used to create buffer states or break up enemy states? I suppose you could just abandon and allow it to revolt.

[Dismounted Feudal Knight]

The game has mechanism to do peace just fine, the problem at the root of things (perhaps too far to go back in this late game) is being aggressive, razing (iirc to some degree sacking), executing prisoners, tresspassing/initiating and other details that lower reputation and result in the ai understanding you are not to be trusted and never to be trusted no matter what. For a brand new game I suppose such scripts could be made but the underlying behavior has a reason, if a bit unsubtle/primitive in execution.

[Hirtius]

I don’t know, I think the ai is also just needlessly aggressive. In my Carthage campaigns (my favorite faction), I pretty much need to destroy the Numidians almost immediately, since if they think they have a chance at taking my settlements, then alliance be damned even if the game just started. Furthermore, I also get blockaded randomly before I do anything horrific, and the peace attempts always fail.

I’m also curious to know how a sort of “kindness” campaign would go. It would make the enemies much harder to defeat and the revolts more common. I’m not confident the AI would be that much more amenable as to make it worth it.

[Victor1234]

The game has mechanism to do peace just fine, the problem at the root of things (perhaps too far to go back in this late game) is being aggressive, razing (iirc to some degree sacking), executing prisoners, tresspassing/initiating and other details that lower reputation and result in the ai understanding you are not to be trusted and never to be trusted no matter what. For a brand new game I suppose such scripts could be made but the underlying behavior has a reason, if a bit unsubtle/primitive in execution.

It's really not the root of the problem though. As you correctly pointed out, the lower reputation is what drives the vicious cycle of wars being declared against you and especially getting backstabbed by allies.

Regardless of player action (or inaction) though, the game will devolve into a vicious cycle of wars driven by reputation largely depending on whether a faction has access to the sea or not.

If yes, the AI factions will inevitably blockade you (and each other) over and over again, starting wars that the AI struggles to finish even when they should or shouldn't have started in the first place, and the longer the war goes on and the more you are in, the worse your reputation gets.

Unless you're one of the inland factions and never expand to the coast, it seems fairly inevitable that over a long game your faithful allies will break their alliance with you because your reputation will be in the toilet no matter what you do. This goes for every starting alliance in the game as well, which will be inevitably broken sooner or later for the same reason (although in my experience the inland Germanic factions continue alliances the longest)

[Hirtius]

My actions are sort of an issue with reputation, since I tend to massacre any city I get my hands on. The reason for this is that occupying it will leave the city extremely prone to unrest. I don't think there's a way to expand honorably, which makes sense.

You can argue that it's possible if you slow down conquests, but to defeat the AI you often need overwhelm them very quickly.

Has anyone played the game in a way that doesn't just dissolve into endless wars? How can you have a good reputation?

[QuintusSertorius]

You know there's Force Diplomacy built into the mod as standard, right? You can forcibly declare peace with an AI faction.

However, this won't change the underlying CAI which wants to be at war with you. Saving and reloading after the peace declaration may reset it's priorities, but it might not.

It's hit and miss, but you can make settlements rebel if they're owned by their faction creator.

[Hirtius]

Force diplomacy is built in? and you can make settlements rebel? Wot'n tarnation?

Teach me your ways, wizard.

[Zrk2]

You know there's Force Diplomacy built into the mod as standard, right? You can forcibly declare peace with an AI faction.

I had no idea about this. I looked at the release thread for the standalone version, and it says the advisor should pop up so I can activate it, but I never see the advisor in the diplomacy screen. Did I make it impossible for me to use it by turning off advice? Or do I have to toggle something in a config file?

[jim600]

On the diplomacy screen you can rt click the "?" button top rt. of the screen once, then click "make peace". Been in the games since 2.1 i think.

It will always allow a peace settlement to occur. It was intended to end a war when an ai faction was down to only its capital and was refusing to agree to peace in the normal way.

you can use it at any stage of any war, but try to resist the tempation to end an inconvinient war.

[Zrk2]

Cool, thanks. I just want to force peace with the factions sending single ships to get obliterated when they try to blockade my ports.

[AntiochosMegas]

Has anyone played the game in a way that doesn't just dissolve into endless wars? How can you have a good reputation?

Right now I am playing with AS and I am at 199 BC, I rarelly strated a war and only get attacked by others. I also tried to disolve the conflicts fast. Right now I am at war only with Pritanoi (very difficult to reach their island with a diplomat). I never enslave population instead i usually sack cities. Most of times I offer ransom which is rejected. Sometimes I sell into slavery the prisoners. I have destroyed already Pergamon, Nabbateans (twice, as they came at Akko as a horde two times after a rebirth, without me attacking them at Petra at first- It was the Ptolemies who made them move), Pontos, Koinon Hellenon, Getai, Bactria (the last blow by Saka which are my allies)... all of them started the war first. I managed to stabilize the borders at the far east, by expel Pahlava to the up north steppe in Alania and transfer Boukhara and Chorasmia for Oskabara to the Saka. I also get Paropamissadais from Takshila another of my allies through 30K cash. Hayastan are allies too after two brief wars at which ones they lost Samosata (I had Ani Kamah and Gazaka before them, attacked there when they were eleutheroi cities). Macedon in an ally after one attack and a brief war in which I took Pella. I have all the Thrace/ Getia/Dacia. Ptolemaioi attacked 3-4 times in early game and lost all asia minor regions and Akko which cities gave as I asked diplomatically to finish their wars with me. Since then they never attacked me and they focus in western Arabia and at a long war with Saba (another of my allies). Right now my king and the royal army campaign in eastern arabian shore and just get Gehhra. After the Arabian campaign I will go to war against Ptolemaioi at last, maybe after good preparations (and maybe this war will compose of many brief wars with few regions gained by me at any of them), then I will go either to India against Takshila (I will find an excuse to end alliance), either to Greece against Macedon... If Pahlava survived will be next and finally Armenia to finish the campaign. This is the plan