[.980] Should a sovereign just surrender right after you declare war on them

from Elemental Forums

Had a game where Yithril started out in a bad position and was unable to setup more than 2 cities, so I went sailing past them in terms of power.  When I was about 3x his score I declared war, then just to see what happened I immediately offered them the chance to surrender and they did.  Shouldn't they put up a little bit of a fight before giving up. 

Now I know I could just not do that and knock him down a couple of times for funsies and cities before asking for his surrender, but I feel like there should be something in the AI logic to say don't give in without at least one battle?  What do you think, would it just be annoying to have to fight a weaker opponent before they give in?

If this has been discussed before I apologise, but the search on the forum is terrible.

8,231 views 12 replies
Reply #1 from Elemental Forums Top


You are absolutely right and there is now a toggle for this at creation of the world. I believe AI surrenders option. You could set it to "Rarely" and see if this addresses the problem. There is an option that they will refuse to surrender at all, which will definitely solve this problem (albeit not the way you wanted).

Reply #2 from Elemental Forums Top

I never noticed a setting for this so I am playing default game. I have found that a really good tactic is to declare war, do a bit of damage - e.g., conquer a few cities destroy a few armies and then ask them to surrender. I feel that if they still have a powerful army in the field then they should wait a bit longer.

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Reply #3 from Elemental Forums Top

Thanks for the info parrottmath, that will teach me to actually read the options next time.  Will try altering that for the next game.

If there wasn't an option I would have been doing as you suggested Chungas, I tend to role play this game quite a lot, in fact so much that I sometimes ignore the other sov's and just do the quests and wildlands.

Reply #4 from Elemental Forums Top

I sometimes declare war on the weakest sovereigns just so i could have them surrender to me right away and be able to control them.  It's fun to see what kind of loot they have on them when they surrender.

Reply #5 from Elemental Forums Top

I really think they should at least have 1 fight and a little hazzle, meaby a chance to see your army approach the gates before accepting surrender.

Sincerely
~ Kongdej

Reply #6 from Elemental Forums Top

I think it works the way it is.  If they're 3 cities and 100 points behind, why make me march my army over there?  It's a good end of game mechanism to simplify mopping up.

Reply #7 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting Winnihym, reply 7
I think it works the way it is.  If they're 3 cities and 100 points behind, why make me march my army over there?  It's a good end of game mechanism to simplify mopping up.
End of Winnihym's quote

Because the point system is flawed, so I think they should be physically threatened by you before surrendering, not just whimping around surrendering at a whim, I might just have had bad experience with it though, just makes it feel cheesy winning.

Sincerely
~ Kongdej

Reply #8 from Elemental Forums Top

I turn surrender off. It needs balancing and some limitations. 

Reply #9 from Elemental Forums Top

I agree Kongdej.  You can easily rush faction power to levels where you can make everyone surrender without raising a sword.  There should be a minimum ratio of something like 3:1 in faction power I think before a sovereign should even contemplate surrendering.  I haven't had a battle against other sovereigns in months, even playing expert and above difficulties.

Reply #10 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting Berserkben, reply 5


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September 23, 2012 2:06:53 AM from Elemental Forums Elemental Forums

I sometimes declare war on the weakest sovereigns just so i could have them surrender to me right away and be able to control them. It's fun to see what kind of loot they have on them when they surrender.
End of Berserkben's quote

 

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Reply #11 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting Ausland, reply 11
About 500 pairs of leather greaves
End of Ausland's quote

But if you look they are limited editions, never been worn.

Reply #12 from Elemental Forums Top

I'm not confident that the AI currently considers proximity in its determination of the player's power.  So I'm not convinced that having an army at their doorstep matters.  If the power calculation is off, (and I've no doubt that it is), its a separate issue.  The issue here is whether or not I can get a significantly weaker opponent on the shard phone and say, "You know I can kick your butt, right?  want to join me?"