Peace settlements/Cancel Tribute

[unmerged(102510)]

I have two quesitons I was hoping to get the help of the forum from.

1) As Macedonia, I'm at war with the Seleucids, who are allied with just about everyone else in the Eastern Med, including Bosphorus. From an earlier war against Bosphorus/Rhodes/Crete, I'd mistakenly taken a peace offering from Bosphorus where I paid tribute (thinking they were offering me tribute, doh!)

Anyway, Bosphorus never got (or didn't answer) the call to arms from the Seleucids, so I am not at war with them, even though the two are stlil allied. At this point in the war, I could care less if they give me a DoW, but I'm certain I want to stop paying them tribute. The thing is, the diplomacy menu won't let me cancel the tribute saying I'm at war. In otherwords, I have to pay Bosphorus tribute until I have settled for peace with the Seleucids. Is this a bug, or a feature? It seems crazy that I can't cancel this tribute.

2) I've taken all of the seleucid provinces in asia minor (turkey), and I've got antioch under siege. The stupid AI though won't accept any reasonable peace offering. I'd settle for 4 of the 9 provinces I'm occupying, but the AI refuses to accept anything I'd deem reasonable. War score is currently like 45 percent, but each province takes like 28 percent or so.

Do I have to settle for a single province and a weak tribute?

Other than using a charismatic diplomat, is there any way to increase diplomacy success? Do prisoners factor in at all?

If anyone has tips for getting the stubborn AI to agree to demands, I would love to hear them.

Also, if I can't get a reasonable peace offering, is there anyway for me to destroy buildings in the occupied provinces, in particular city walls?

 

[unmerged(41034)]

I cant answer everything, but I might be able to at least offer some insight. Im guessing the reason Bosporus didnt DoW you with the Seleucids is because they are enjoying the tribute.... might even still have a cease fire in effect. As far as your peace proposals.... 28% is a huge number for the AI to surrender per provence even if your warscore is higher. Factors to consider also are the remaining armies the Seleucids still employ, are they still able to fight ? If the tide is even they wont care about what you currently control. If you have the upper hand, I suggest continuing the attack until your warscore hits the 80% range. Your best chance for success is hoping another nation DoWs them and forces them to need peace with you.

As far as cancelling tribute, I beleive the option does appear after a time in your diplomacy list, could be mistaken tho (never paid tribute).

sorry I couldnt answer as much as you requested

 

[Eber]

I have two quesitons I was hoping to get the help of the forum from.

1) In otherwords, I have to pay Bosphorus tribute until I have settled for peace with the Seleucids. Is this a bug, or a feature? It seems crazy that I can't cancel this tribute.

I'm pretty sure that you can only cancel tribute while at peace. I could be wrong though since I've never given tribute before. Also this is a guess but it makes sense, if you DOW Bosphorus, the tribute probably would cease.

2) I've taken all of the seleucid provinces in asia minor (turkey), and I've got antioch under siege. The stupid AI though won't accept any reasonable peace offering. I'd settle for 4 of the 9 provinces I'm occupying, but the AI refuses to accept anything I'd deem reasonable. War score is currently like 45 percent, but each province takes like 28 percent or so.

Do I have to settle for a single province and a weak tribute?

The Seleucid Empire is huge, having 45% warscore, I'm sorry to say is nothing. To get a favorable peace with the Seleucids, you need to do three things. You need to take their capitol, destroy all their armies (at least the large ones) and have their manpower be at 0. If you do those three things while also taking some more territory, you will be able to get a few provinces. However, you won't be able to get 4 provinces usually from the Seleucids since many of them are over 30% warscore. The AI will always refuse anything over 100%, also they will refuse anything that is over 25% of the actual warscore.

Other than using a charismatic diplomat, is there any way to increase diplomacy success? Do prisoners factor in at all?

Besides a good envoy, your King/Consul plays a big factor in success with his charisma and finesse too. As far as I know, prisoners do not factor in at all.

Also, if I can't get a reasonable peace offering, is there anyway for me to destroy buildings in the occupied provinces, in particular city walls?

Unfortunately, no.

 

[StephenT]

Interesting fact: the Seleucids are Greek culture, but most of their provinces are not - so they get no manpower from them at all. The handful of Greek provinces they do have - perhaps 25% or less of their empire - are almost all in Asia Minor. So of course they're going to be very reluctant to give them up - they're not peripheral border regions, they're essential to their survival.

 

[unmerged(102510)]

Awesome everyone, thanks for the help. One followup question -- how do I determine where the Seleucid capitol is?

Makes sense about the manpower issue, just too bad I can burn those cities to the ground since the Seleucids aren't seeing reason here.

Re: the Cancel Tribute thing -- I definitely don't have any kind of truce with Bosphorus, and cannot cancel. This, I think is kind of weak, especially if this is the only other option is to take a huge stability hit.

OK, having said all that, what would you all do in a similar situation here? Sue of peace and lose my progress across Asia Minor? Even my core provinces are starting to get to a decent revolt risk (>5.0%). And while the tribute to Bosphorus is pissing me off, this war is pretty profitable, with sieges and blockades and such.

 

[Eber]

Awesome everyone, thanks for the help. One followup question -- how do I determine where the Seleucid capitol is?

Their capitol is Antioch. Every country's capitol has a crown near the flag.

OK, having said all that, what would you all do in a similar situation here? Sue of peace and lose my progress across Asia Minor? Even my core provinces are starting to get to a decent revolt risk (>5.0%). And while the tribute to Bosphorus is pissing me off, this war is pretty profitable, with sieges and blockades and such.

Well if your manpower is still high and you are making money, continue the war. War exhaustion can become a problem but if you have one or two armies held back to fight off rebels, then continue the war. The only way you will hurt the Seleucids is to have long wars where you take chunks out of them each time. It's the same strategy with the other big countries like Egpyt, Carthage and Rome. Destroy their manpower and take 3-4 provinces for peace each war. Good luck!

 

[unmerged(103275)]

Awesome everyone, thanks for the help. One followup question -- how do I determine where the Seleucid capitol is?

Makes sense about the manpower issue, just too bad I can burn those cities to the ground since the Seleucids aren't seeing reason here.

Re: the Cancel Tribute thing -- I definitely don't have any kind of truce with Bosphorus, and cannot cancel. This, I think is kind of weak, especially if this is the only other option is to take a huge stability hit.

OK, having said all that, what would you all do in a similar situation here? Sue of peace and lose my progress across Asia Minor? Even my core provinces are starting to get to a decent revolt risk (>5.0%). And while the tribute to Bosphorus is pissing me off, this war is pretty profitable, with sieges and blockades and such.

I think you should sue for piece with Seleucids and attack Bosporians that will cancel tribute for sure! And when you get rid of Bosporians launch attack again on Seleucids, and did what Alexander the Great did :rofl:

 

[unmerged(98892)]

The Seleucid Empire capital is in Seleucia. There is a bonus for controlling Antioch, but there is no crown in that province.

 

[Cheexsta]

Strange, the Seleucids always seem to have their capitol in Antioch in my games.

What gets *really* annoying is when every Seleucid province has a level 3 fort later in the game. Having every siege last 1-2 years is just crazy, and there is no more cavalry siege bug to take advantage of

Peace deals are still broken in this game, which is a shame. You did not need to conquer a faction's entire territory just to gain a few provinces, and there really needs to be more diplomatic options (cede provinces to neighbours, release countries as vassals, stop tribute, etc). One can only hope for 1.3 to improve this...

 

[unmerged(102510)]

Damn. I've got about half the seleucid provinces, and the only troops they have left are what they can recruit each month, which I can easily mop up with an army of calvary. It seems like it would be easy to press forward and capture every terrority, assuming I can manage the increasingly frequent revolts.

But if they can't accept more than 100% worth of provinces, and I can't Annex if I take everything they have, The most I could possibly get is 3-4 provinces anyway, right?

Thanks everyone for your help -- I have no idea how I would possibly learn to play this game without this forum.