Couple of questions

[Thebes]

First, I am playing as Prussia/Germany from the 1850 game. It's 1874 and I have completely invaded France. Still fighting one large army and pesky little units. They keep offering peace but never Alsace-Lorraine together. This after three years of war. Is there a way for me to make demands for what I want? I had tried on an earlier war when I offered peace thinking I had put some demands on it but it just ended with a white peace. If you can't make demands this seems like a flaw in the game.
Also if I managed to hold the whole country, would I be able to incorporate it into Germany as a German/Franco country? Would I have to conquer all of it's colonies also?

[epaminondas]

You can make demands by using the F9 tab, Thebes. Using that will open a window in the top section of which you'll be able to locate the nation with which you wish to deal. The left-hand panel in the lower section of the window lists a series of treaty situations, the last of which is Treaty Available. If you click on the nation in question and then Treaty Available an option to Offer Peace will appear in the centre panel, and clicking on that will bring up a number peace conditions you can choose to apply. One of those is Claimed Regions and clicking on that will bring up a list of regions that you are eligible to demand - essentially those with which you share a border. Each will cost you a number of Victory Points and you can continue making demands until your points run out. When you've completed your list of demands you can click OK and your offer will be delivered, received by your enemy the next turn, and implemented in the turn after that.

At least that's how it works for most nations. For some, and France and Prussia are among those, it doesn't. Instead what happens is that your peace proposal gets overridden by a counter-proposal, and unless that counter-proposal happens to coincide with the demands you've made you're out of luck. I'm not sure what the rationale behind this particular mechanic is, or whether there's a rationale at all, but it's a sure fire way to build a player's frustration level.

In theory you could annex a country the size of France, but because you can only claim regions adjacent to your own territory it would have to be done in an extensive series of bites.

[Jim-NC]

From what I have read on the forums, if you defeat France, you get one or the other territory of Alsace-Lorraine, but not both. Also, the AI wants peace, and will continuously send you peace proposals until they run out of diplomats.

The game does enforce a close version of history, or near history. You can't try to claim entire countries like in some other games.

[epaminondas]

It's not just that the AI sends peace proposals, Jim, it's that for France and Prussia (and perhaps others) it sends them the turn immediately after you send yours - thus wiping out your claims and substituting its own proposals. The effect is that you can't get it to respond to your claims at all.

I don't think that the situation has anything to do with the availability of diplomats. It doesn't cost me a diplomat to either send or respond to a peace offer, so unless the AI works differently their availability isn't going to be a factor. Even were that to be the case, since a turn takes 15 days and the offer-reply sequence occupies two turns (i.e. a month), the AI would require no more than six diplomats over the course of six months play. Since it gets restocked with eight diplomats every six months and begins with a stock of twenty, it seems very unlikely that it will run out in the course of a war.

[loki100]

aye this is an unintended feature.

Its not just that the AI spams peace terms, but by sending them it cancels yours. What I would do is to delete the French diplomats for a few turns, offer the peace you want and then restore them. Use this:

SelectFaction = $CMN
StartEvent = evt_nam_no french diplomats|1|2|Null|Null|Null|NULL

SelectFaction = $FRA
ChangeResStock = $merDiplomat;-20
NULL = NULL

EndEvent

That should remove all their diplomats till the next 6 month arrivals

Once peace is agreed run:

SelectFaction = $CMN
StartEvent = evt_nam_some french diplomats|1|2|Null|Null|Null|NULL

SelectFaction = $FRA
ChangeResStock = $merDiplomat;10
NULL = NULL

EndEvent

Should sort it out, its clear WAD, but its deeply frustrating.

[epaminondas]

Thanks indeed Loki. I'll give it a try later tonight.
Suggest you might do the same Thebes.

[epaminondas]

Hmmm. Isn't working for me I'm afraid. Instead it's generating a critical error.

I've modified it for use with Prussia (instead of France) as follows,

SelectFaction = $CMN
StartEvent = evt_nam_no german diplomats|1|2|Null|Null|Null|NULL

SelectFaction = $GER
ChangeResStock = $merDiplomat;-20
NULL = NULL

EndEvent

so it might be that I've stuffed up something there. Otherwise it looks like there might be a broader issue involved.

If you get a chance to have a further look I'd appreciate it.

[czert2]

how it dosnt work ? event fail to start ? or to have desired effect ?

lines look ok and they should work.

[epaminondas]

It causes a critical error shutdown and on restarting has completed the turn but with no effect - Prussia still over-rides my offer with one of its own.

It's entirely possible that I might have caused this by mis-locating the new event. I first tried hanging it on the end of the AUS Events.sct then on the CMN General Measures.sct but in both cases got the same result - critical error with no change on restart.

[loki100]

It causes a critical error shutdown and on restarting has completed the turn but with no effect - Prussia still over-rides my offer with one of its own.

It's entirely possible that I might have caused this by mis-locating the new event. I first tried hanging it on the end of the AUS Events.sct then on the CMN General Measures.sct but in both cases got the same result - critical error with no change on restart.

Hi

sorry about this, bit out of practice with the syntax, use this version:

SelectFaction = $CMN
StartEvent = evt_nam_no french diplomats|1|2|Null|Null|Null|NULL

SelectFaction = $FRA
ChangeResStock = $merDiplomat;-20

EndEvent

ie you don't need the null line.

apols

Roger

[epaminondas]

Please don't apologise, you're trying to help and I need all of that that I can get.

I've tried the new syntax but it threw up exactly the same result. I added an Actions line, i.e.

SelectFaction = $CMN
StartEvent = evt_nam_no german diplomats|1|2|Null|Null|Null|NULL

Actions

SelectFaction = $GER
ChangeResStock = $merDiplomat;-20

EndEvent

and that removed the critical error. But Prussia continued to counter-offer. Are you sure this is related to number of Diplomats - as I've noted earlier, making and replying to a peace offer doesn't appear to cost the player a diplomat so I don't imagine it would require one from the AI.

[loki100]

one reason maybe that the game has stored that event as being fired (its coded to do so once), so maybe try with a slightly different title.

Apols about forgetting 'actions', spend a time away from doing events and you forget even the basics.

[loki100]

one reason maybe that the game has stored that event as being fired (its coded to do so once), so maybe try with a slightly different title.

Apols about forgetting 'actions', spend a time away from doing events and you forget even the basics.

[epaminondas]

No joy. Changed to
StartEvent = evt_nam_remove german diplomats|1|2|Null|Null|Null|NULL
and got the same result - Prussian counter-offer. It is a puzzlement.

Seems some things in the universe just aren't meant to be understood.

[czert2]

after running that event try lading as prussia to see if they have diplomats removed so it is sure that event worked.

[epaminondas]

Yes, that's worth a try. Thanks czert.

[HerrDan]

Just change the name of the event, add a 2 at the end for example and if the event is CMN then you don't need to load as Prussia to know if it worked, it will appear in the event windows.

Cheers.

[epaminondas]

I've already tried changing the event name (see #13 above) for no result, Dan. But the info on CMN has just added to my knowledge stock, thanks. Every little bit helps.

[HerrDan]

I've already tried changing the event name (see #13 above) for no result, Dan. But the info on CMN has just added to my knowledge stock, thanks. Every little bit helps.

Yes, when the event is CMN is means it appears to "everyone", something might be wrong in the event name or something, perhaps a space or anything, try looking at other events of the game in any folder, just copy the "base formulae" and make changes to fit your case.

Cheers.

[loki100]

Just change the name of the event, add a 2 at the end for example and if the event is CMN then you don't need to load as Prussia to know if it worked, it will appear in the event windows.

Cheers.

'CMN' just means it appears in the game log (or as a pop up) for all nations. It makes no difference beyond that.

I'd suggest having a look at the Prussian side to see the effect. There maybe 3 further issues, one is that a peace offer is sent the turn the event fires, ie, the diplomat is sent before the pool is emptied. Another is that the 6 month replacement stock appear. Finally, for some reason it maybe that diplomats really aren't needed to send peace offers. Not sure about this as I've never been out of diplomats.

One solution to either of the first two is to change the first number from |1| to |4|, ie it will fire 4 times. Does no harm as the actual stock can't go below 0, and you can then repair their situation after you have imposed peace.

The other option is to resort to scripting a peace. Work out what you want from the war and simply do a script to end the war and transfer the provinces. Some ideas on this can be found here.

[epaminondas]

You're a very clever fellow, Loki (I prefer that explanation to the alternative - that I'm a very stupid fellow).

I removed the evt_nam_ element from the event script and it fired off just as required. But it fired off on the very cusp of the arrival of a new quota of diplomats so that emptying the pot failed to get the desired result. The change from |1| to |4| was therefore in order.

I've found, too, that I need to modify my observation that making a peace offer doesn't require a diplomat. Responding to an offer doesn't, but making one does unless on his outward journey he runs into a foreign diplomat coming the other way with a peace offer of his own. In that case our man decides that there's no place like home, clicks his ruby slippers, and reappears at his lodgings before his absence is ever recorded.

[loki100]

glad it is sorted.

I'd rather this was scrapped, let you and the AI swap diplomats and resolve the terms as offered.

The only advantage to the current routine is that sooner or later the AI will start offering far more than it will concede and far more than the warscore. Once you see this pattern emerge, just sit and wait for the deal you want, in my last game, Spain gave me Puerto Rico and most of its African colonies, almost 50% over warscore.

[epaminondas]

Come the day!
Many thanks for your help once more.

[HerrDan]

'CMN' just means it appears in the game log (or as a pop up) for all nations. It makes no difference beyond that.

I'd suggest having a look at the Prussian side to see the effect. There maybe 3 further issues, one is that a peace offer is sent the turn the event fires, ie, the diplomat is sent before the pool is emptied. Another is that the 6 month replacement stock appear. Finally, for some reason it maybe that diplomats really aren't needed to send peace offers. Not sure about this as I've never been out of diplomats.

One solution to either of the first two is to change the first number from |1| to |4|, ie it will fire 4 times. Does no harm as the actual stock can't go below 0, and you can then repair their situation after you have imposed peace.

The other option is to resort to scripting a peace. Work out what you want from the war and simply do a script to end the war and transfer the provinces. Some ideas on this can be found here.

I've meant exactly that (CMN means every faction will receive the notification) didn't understand what you wanted to correct in what I said Loki...after that I just tried to understand what went wrong for him, like writing the event name wrongly/or/with some space etc...I'd really like to understand it, are you trying to correct me (when I didn't make any mistake) just to show you know more about the game than me? I'm disapointed with you...

[epaminondas]

I'm sure Loki can speak for himself Dan, but I'm concerned that I might have contributed to a misunderstanding here. I don't think he was trying to correct you since you made your point perfectly clearly. Rather, I think that perhaps he was trying to amplify your point to deal with something I raised earlier. In post #9, and in my ignorance, I intimated that perhaps the file to which I added the event might have been a factor in it not firing, and I mentioned CMN specifically. I think all that Loki was trying to do was tell me that the tag doesn't work like that - i.e. "It makes no difference beyond that."

[czert2]

How to load as another country ?
i clicked on - clict to see ai files (allow you take over country) - clicking on it - and no new files showed. Any help ?

[joe]

How to load as another country ?
i clicked on - clict to see ai files (allow you take over country) - clicking on it - and no new files showed. Any help ?

I had the same problem. To take control of AI nations you can use the console key. There is a command for change factions. Just type in the three letter ID of the country you want to command. It becomes effective the turn after you make the change.

[czert2]

how to start/open console ?

[czert2]

how to open console key pls ?

[loki100]

Its the "~" (ie tilda) key. I forget if you also need to do a shift command (can't open the game at the moment)