Rome II

[Bison]

HA I'm so tired I didn't even notice.

It's ok I'm tired to the point I don't even want to fire up a game this evening.

[Gusington]

^I used champions for the first time tonight. They're pretty cool...definitely cooler than the rakes from ETW but not as cool as shinobis from S2TW.

Fire R2 up just for a few minutes to use a champion if you haven't yet.

[mikeck]

I am annoyed that diplomacy is pretty dead. I feel like I'm all alone in the world. No one wants to offer trade or Alliances or anything. The only time I get contacted for anything is a request for peace. They need to address that. It needs to feel like a living world

[Gusington]

I found that once I got my economy and cities in order I began to get contacted more often. Last night I think was the first time another faction initiated trade with me. And this makes sense because it was only during last night's session that some of my specilalized buildings were completed, with more offerings for trade.

[mikeck]

Yeah that makes sense I guess. I spent most of my technology efforts on military trying to get to the top level of legionaries but now I'm starting to invest in civics so I can build wine trading and pottery things. maybe then I'll get more trade offers. I would like to see more alliances

[MengJiao]

I just hate the fact that you can burn down a gate to begin with. I mean, it's not stupid to try to burn you hate down with arrows...it's stupid that you can burn a gate down. A lot of work went into designing and utilizing seige machines. If only they had a guy run up and just light the gate on fire!

By the way, I now have top-of-the-line legions and they are badass. With the mod, they have shield wall ability. Out them in a shield wall and attack the enemy. They trot up in formation and start hacking.

  I'm always glad when the attackers burn a gate.   then I know where to set up the killing grounds.  Usually they get in but that just packs them into the kill zones.

  As an Easy Egyptian, I don't have any legions, but for defenses Pikemen and Nubians and Karian Axemen and archers seem to work fine.

[MengJiao]

Yeah that makes sense I guess. I spent most of my technology efforts on military trying to get to the top level of legionaries but now I'm starting to invest in civics so I can build wine trading and pottery things. maybe then I'll get more trade offers. I would like to see more alliances

  As an Easy Egyptian, I got sucked into some terrible alliances.  Things were going just fine in say 230 BC; I'd finally managed to get peace on all fronts having destroyed Cyrenica, the Selucids and Persia and gotten peace treaties with various others.  I had lots of trade going with Athens, Sparta, Macedon, Knossos, Rhodos, Pontus, Cyprus and many small eastern states.  then I accepted Pontus as a Satrapy.  Well, that was pretty much almost the end of the Easy Egyptian Empire: war ensued on all fronts.  Everything in the East fell.  Antioch was under seige most of the time.  Luckily when Macedon attacked me it was promptly wiped out by barbarians.  Athens and Pergamon were very tough, but eventually they fell.  Then Sparta attacked -- but since I was expecting that I had fleets ready to slow them down.  Most of the Spartan Army went down at sea and Knossos took Sparta.  I think Sparta is gone and now I'm just facing the Suebi and the Romans in the West and hordes of barbarians in the East.  Fortunately Egypt and the Red Sea are pretty quiet at the moment.

   So sometimes a lack of diplomacy might be a good thing.

   PS:  I think it is about 217 BC.  The 220s were rough on the Easy Egyptian Empire.

[Nefaro]

I am annoyed that diplomacy is pretty dead. I feel like I'm all alone in the world. No one wants to offer trade or Alliances or anything. The only time I get contacted for anything is a request for peace. They need to address that. It needs to feel like a living world

I've received plenty of trade requests, non-aggression treaties, and even a couple alliance offers from AI nations.  It's about the only way they've been active with me, in most of the campaigns I've played.

I find that it all depends on which faction you're playing.  Some start with diplo penatlies with most known factions near them, and some have outright diplo penalties against all factions of a specific culture.  If they hate you or even if it's neutral, they don't often send you any offers.  But if you get their diplo rating towards you up some, they usually will.   

Hell.. I couldn't get Sparta to stop sending Defensive Alliance requests to me, as Pontus.  The smaller neighboring barbarian tribes that were approximately neutral towards me would also ask for a non-aggression pact and trade agreements.   Usually they demand a lump sum of money up front, in their trade agreement offers, but I've found that if you keep denying them then they'll slowly lower the amount every additional time they ask.

If you want to get your foot in the door with an AI faction that's sitting at a nice yellow Neutral position (and a positive rating toward you), offer a Non-Agression pact as that's fairly easy to get them to sign.  Then you'll get a little bit extra standing with them.  After awhile, they may start offering you trade agreements if their standing has gone up enough.  Otherwise, if the initial standing rating is in the negative (even if it's still colored yellow), I wouldn't bother diplomacy with the faction in question. 

[Gusington]

Thanks for that tip, I am going to try that when back to my game tonight. Going to try non aggression and then try to make some money with trade agreements, especially withthe Greek world. If that doesn't work I will invade :)

[Bison]

Thanks for that tip, I am going to try that when back to my game tonight. Going to try non aggression and then try to make some money with trade agreements, especially withthe Greek world. If that doesn't work I will invade :)

You're Rome.  History demands that you subject the Greeks to your might and power!

[Gusington]

I'm a kinder gentler more Jewish Mom kinda Rome. Join me, or I'll make you feel guilty if you didn't. Maybe after that I will burn your cities, steal your money and enslave your people. Maybe.

[Skoop]

looks like beta patch 2 is up, haven't tried it yet, away from my gaming rig at the moment.

List of fixes on total war center looks promising.
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?620877-Beta-Patch-2-0-Info-and-changes

[Bison]

I'm a kinder gentler more Jewish Mom kinda Rome. Join me, or I'll make you feel guilty if you didn't. Maybe after that I will burn your cities, steal your money and enslave your people. Maybe.

You make the Senate and the Roman people sad Gusingtonius.   :'(

[undercovergeek]

looks like beta patch 2 is up, haven't trie
d it yet, away from my gaming rig at the moment.

List of fixes on total war center looks promising.
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?620877-Beta-Patch-2-0-Info-and-changes

Holy crap thats a big list - looks good

I think this negates the need for the early mod rush fixing morale and speed

[Gusington]

I'm just not bloodlusty enough I suppose. Except against Syracuse, they annoy me for.some reason. So does Carthage. Maybe the Greeks too....perhaps I do have a dictatorship side after all.

Thanks for the info Skoop...that is a looong list of fixes...