Suing For Peace

[TheArsenal]

Quick question I haven’t seen the answer to:

When suing for peace, how badly you’ve damaged the AI often determines what terms you can extract. Obviously, the AI makes some sort of calculation. Does anyone know if the AI does this right when you take a city, or during its turn cycle after you have ended yours?

What I am trying to determine specifically is: is best to sue on the spot once I’ve achieved my goals and minimize a unit or two possibly getting killed, or to wait a turn because I may get better terms.

[Harovan]

Depends. You can get as well worse terms, if he finishes to build reinforcements in his production phase, that shift the balance in his favor. Yet worse terms you get, if he succeeds to sign an alliance against you. You can get better terms, but the opposite is also possible.

[TheArsenal]

Thanks. That makes sense, but I was probably not fully clear in what I’m asking. Maybe the better term is “situation and damage assessment”. It sounds as though you are saying if I wait and hit “end turn” the AI will examine the balance of power based upon units produced from its cities and its (possibly new) diplomatic alliances to determine terms.

But does it also assess the situation and damage the moment you seize one of its cities during your turn? For example, if I take 4 cities, open the diplo screen to see what it will give me, close it without making a deal, then take 4 more cities and open it again, will the terms differ based on the 4 new cities I took during my turn?

If so, it makes sense to sue right there. If not, it may make more sense to wait a turn.

Edit: what partially sparks this question is I notice the Victory Screen does not update the amount of land conquered until the end of your turn. Not during it.

[Tall Stranger]

I haven't officially playtested this, but I'm fairly certain that the AI recalculates after every battle. Thus, in your scenario, you will get a better deal after you take those 4 cities than you will get a better deal than you would have at the beginning of your turn. However, Sir Ralph is right that the AI will recalculate again at the beginning of its next turn. Therefore, you're better off doing it at the end of your turn rather than the beginning of the next one.

[pedrojedi]

I would like to tak e advantage on the subject and ask: Did C3C change these calculations? I noticed I can't get as good terms as in Vanilla or PTW after a fast and furious war, with war balance tending for my side - and this is specially true for Large or bigger maps, where 2 or 3 cities didn't give me as much techs in C3C as in PTW or Vanilla. If ever.

[Aqualung71]

There are definitely some recalculations during your turn. For example, if you kill all units the AI has in your territory before the end of your turn, the deal you get is better than before you killed them all (but still in the same turn).

[Rasputin]

yes from wha ti have seen, appears the ai does the calcs after each battle, i have even had the ai approach me during my turn after a battle to offer peace.

[TheArsenal]

So the AI calculates during my turn. Good to know, thanks. As I noted before, lack of updating in the Victory Screen made me unsure, and I rarely play test anything (easier to ask).

As far as units go, before calling for peace I will always destroy whatever leftover AI units when I can do so relatively safely. It makes sense to try to squeeze out those last couple of promotions or try for a ML.

[Last Conformist]

One factor is apparently the "current estimated level of threat" - I've noticed more than once that if I sue for peace with a big pile of troops next to one of their cities, I get a much better deal than if I take the city first.

[spy14]

The point with cities proves the AI does constantly re-calculate - often ive tried for peace but failed/been given laughable terms, so ive moved a stack into an AI Citie's radius and tryed again for peace in that same turn. They are usually far more agreeable