Finally Got the Game!

[Morbio]

I agree with Pavel, I need to ally with one or the other and I think it has to be Carthage for 2 reasons;
- I don't want to be having to transport my troops across the sea. I only have 2 triremes and it will take valuable resources I don't have to get a fleet big enough to make and sustain a bridgehead
- If Rome and I fight Carthage then Carthage will collapse and Rome has far more units and will be able to mop up all the cities and I'll be left to fight a very mighty Rome
Key to attacking Rome will be timing... I need Rome to be embroiled in a deep war with Carthage and unable to react immediately. I'm hoping my initial advance will be good for me and may cause some revolts for Rome.

One bizarre thing is that I'm finding all countries very willing to accept or offer bizarre trades. I'm solving my gold issue by trading stones, coal, wood for gold and this is with both Rome and Carthage. It's bizarre because they never haggle and I'd expect they'd be short of gold having been in a war for so long. The other bizarre thing is that I can offer quantities of several commodities for gold (as an example) and offer with a counterproposal option... invariably, they come back with a demand for less than I offered, which really seems strange. If anything I'd expect them to ask for more or to offer less of the commodity I want. I'd describe it as anti-haggling!

[pavelk]

Hi Morbio,
regarding the counterproposal there are two things worth mentioning:

• There was a bug which is/will be fixed in an update (1.0.3. version has this already fixed). It is already on Steam in the beta brench. If you have Slitherine standalone version, please either wait for the Slitheine update (it should be this week) or register your steam version.
• The counterproposal works a little bit differently than you probably think.. The AI doesnt really see your offer (when you ask for a counter proposal offer type). AI calculates how much would they he be willing to pay for your offer (in those resources you selected) and if that amount does not exceed proposed amount (which is basically your last offer) it is signed. The reason for this is the disadvantage of a pure turn base negotiation.
  
  Imagine this scenario:
  You want to trade and send your emissary/trader to negotiate the deal. You tell them what is the highest amount you are able to pay.
  Your emissary travels to the country of the opponent and negotiate. They start negotiating with what are they offering and what are they asking for.
  The opponent names the price. If the price is over the limit (which you told to your emissary), the opponent rejects the offer entirely.
  If it is not over the limit, trade is signed.
  
  I tried to explain it in our dev stream. The link already points to the exact part of the video where it is explained.
  Does it make sense now?

Any other questions, please just ask. We gladly answer.

[gwgardner]

The disadvantageous trades for the AI has become a lot less since the latest patch, as of yesterday or the day before on Steam. Now the AI is refusing when I try to screw them over.

[Morbio]

Hi Morbio,
regarding the counterproposal there are two things worth mentioning:

• There was a bug which is/will be fixed in an update (1.0.3. version has this already fixed). It is already on Steam in the beta brench. If you have Slitherine standalone version, please either wait for the Slitheine update (it should be this week) or register your steam version.
• The counterproposal works a little bit differently than you probably think.. The AI doesnt really see your offer (when you ask for a counter proposal offer type). AI calculates how much would they he be willing to pay for your offer (in those resources you selected) and if that amount does not exceed proposed amount (which is basically your last offer) it is signed. The reason for this is the disadvantage of a pure turn base negotiation.
  
  Imagine this scenario:
  You want to trade and send your emissary/trader to negotiate the deal. You tell them what is the highest amount you are able to pay.
  Your emissary travels to the country of the opponent and negotiate. They start negotiating with what are they offering and what are they asking for.
  The opponent names the price. If the price is over the limit (which you told to your emissary), the opponent rejects the offer entirely.
  If it is not over the limit, trade is signed.
  
  I tried to explain it in our dev stream. The link already points to the exact part of the video where it is explained.
  Does it make sense now?

Any other questions, please just ask. We gladly answer.

This makes a lot of sense and I now understand. Before I envisioned this as we send a letter with and offer of x for y. So it was odd when they came back with 0.5x for y. Thanks for the explanation.

[uncajerf]

[snip] Now the AI is refusing when I try to screw them over.

LOL! How rude!