Force Science rate of tribute payers

[frenzyfol]

I find it annoying and unrealistic that after beating an opponent into submission it's nearly always impossible to get them to pay a decent tribute on a per turn basis.

If their science rate is set to a point where they have 0 excess gold then you cannot demand them to readjust the science rate in order for them to pay you a decent tribute.

It should be possible to say "pay me X, or I'll continue to crush your civilasation".

Its not an unrealistic or difficult to implement request, the Athenians did it with the Delian league and all that is required is a readjustment of the AI science rate.

[Jaybe]

How Unbalancing that would be!! Here, I OWN you so drop your research rate to ZERO and give me ALL your gold.

Might be reasonable if they automatically got all your techs as soon as they capitulated. Then you'd scream if they somehow broke away.

What it boils down to is a developer's design decision.

[Kloreep]

Jaybe's right in saying that it's ultimately a design choice. Game balance (making it harder on the victors by reducing their spoils) vs. realism.

I do dislike the fact that this is applied to humans, though - you can only trade as much GPT as you happen to be pulling in when making the trade. That seems somewhat needless.

[frenzyfol]

Yeah i can see why its been done for the cpu.. But in multiplay it would be a useful dynamic.

[Nacht]

I would think that in MP you can communicate such demands in various ways.

[joncnunn]

I don't think having a surplus is that important at all in Civ IV since unless Civ III you can not buy a tech over X turns but must pay it all at once.
In fact, the main thing running a surplus is good for in Civ IV is upgrading your ancient units into modern ones.