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Czin644

Join Date 03/2007

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Extortion

Does it ever work?

Is there a trick to extorting money out of the AIs? They *never* give into my demands even when it means certain doom (even mid-game). At times the AI will gift me pocket change, things like 12 or 30 bc when everyone (including them) is making 6,000bc per turn. The system gc2 uses for gifts/extortion (both from myself to them and otherwise) has me completely lost. Is it based on their economy? treasury? Military? Diplomacy? War history?

Can anyone explain to me how this works so I know how much to ask / when to ask for it? My experiments with extortion when I play are purely academic when it seems as it should be a core tactic (being as how I'm always waging a jihad across the galaxy for muadib)

I searched this forum and the wiki but couldn't find any info. Answers or links appreciated!

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I haven't had any luck either since the patch. A sleaze tactic was to grind down a power or minor, extort everything they had, and then invade anyway. I'm guessing the devs decided to restrict this kind of abuse (even if it is somewhat realistic).

Note that the Drengin's super ability gives them a heightened ability to extort from weaker players. I've noticed they get fairly frequent infusions of cash from other AIs when I look at the debug.err file or get diplomatic notices during the game. I also get notices of other AIs getting paying tribute.

I have to admit I haven't delved too deeply, but I'd be curious how this works.

Hydro

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lol, the AI is stupid when it comes to this regard. Even if you have a military rating that is 500X the size of theirs, they stiff you!

Here is an example of how dumb the AI thinking pattern is is:

"The US is now like Nazi Germany, it has a military force that is unrivaled through out history. We (the bad guys) ask brazil for huge cash sums, while Brazil may have an army, it will never be able to stop us. They say piss off! We declare war on Brazil and slaughter them mercilessly!" This is how the AI thinks. They have no knowledge of black mail or self-preservasion, even if it is as a cost.

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I always play the Drengin and I am usually able to intimidate the AIs in the early going. Grab a quick military lead, then visit with each other race in turn and collect "contributions". Each of your neighbors coughing up a few hundred credits adds up quite nicely, and the resulting war chest can then be used to beat down the race who thought they were strong enough to resist your demands.

Altarians coughed up 4 colonies (all on nasty environments) and 300 credits last night after a little "demonstration of force" destroyed most of their infrastructure and fleet. I was surprised at how quick they came begging for mercy - quite satisfying.

I'm not sure if this is a byproduct of Super Dominator or not... not having played the other races, I don't really have a point of comparison.

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I am usually able to intimidate the AIs in the early going. Grab a quick military lead, then visit with each other race in turn and collect "contributions". Each of your neighbors coughing up a few hundred credits adds up quite nicely, and the resulting war chest can then be used to beat down the race who thought they were strong enough to resist your demands.

I love this tactic, I've used it often in DL , Kick the crap out of some less powerful races and clean them out for peace. then let them recover and repeat, you can usually do this a couple/few times before they get the idea and refuse to settle anymore then it's time to finish them.

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You can pretty easily get 'contributions' from minor and maybe major races if you have a respectable military. As has been said, this can add up to a nice sum in total. Just don't use it on people you want as friends.

I usually ask for a contribution from minors before they are added to my empire. Evil? Nope: pragmatic.

Hydro

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I always play the Drengin and I am usually able to intimidate the AIs in the early going. Grab a quick military lead, then visit with each other race in turn and collect "contributions". Each of your neighbors coughing up a few hundred credits adds up quite nicely, and the resulting war chest can then be used to beat down the race who thought they were strong enough to resist your demands.

How much do you ask for and what do you base this number off? What is the map size / year?

Thanks for the replys yall, I'm going to give super dominator a shot. I have always hated playing drengin because of their shitty starting techs but maybe it'll be worth it.. or maybe I'll just do a custom race. ^^

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The worst part of Super Dominator is the hordes of useless cruisers, haha.

Once you get up high enough in tech they're pretty much worthless.

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Dominators worthless in mid and late game? Not true! You can scrap them for cash!

They can literally dominate the early game. The Drengin AI is good at declaring war on everyone, getting peace (for a price), and then declaring war again. Swarms of Dominators are difficult to deal with.

Hydro

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How much do you ask for and what do you base this number off? What is the map size / year?

Thanks for the replys yall, I'm going to give super dominator a shot. I have always hated playing drengin because of their shitty starting techs but maybe it'll be worth it.. or maybe I'll just do a custom race. ^^

Medium map, normal tech, no tech trading, random map settings.

Threats start as soon as I have a clear military advantage, which is pretty early, considering that I'm always the first one to build warships (or upgrade scouts to warships...). I heavily invest my starting picks in my warships, getting the full +50 bonus to Attack (War Party, +20 from picks, +20 from race) along with extra Hit Points, Soldiering and Morale. I'm kinda torn between mil prod and eco for the remainder - more money allows me to spam factories instead of markets, but the military bonus has an immediate effect on your shipbuilding.

As to how much to ask for, well, as much as they'll give. You can see from the diplomacy interaction what they are willing to cough up. Around half seems to be the right ballpark for a straight up threat (no actual war)... if you've beaten them down already, well, then the sky's the limit. They'll cough up a lot of fledgling colonies as well - take them all to give you access to more of the map. Once they start building warships, they'll become resistant to your demands... that's the time to flex your military muscle.

With the super dominator corvettes souped up by your natural abilities, they'll shoot down anything the AI can field in the early going. Rush the engine techs for the speed boost (Impulse is a must). This part is a lot different from Dark Lords, and I'm still getting used to the change in how engines are handled. Make the action close to where the new corvettes spawn (or vice versa) and the speed issues won't be a huge problem.

Sorry for the long post, but I really, *really* enjoy the option of playing the aggressor right from the start, which isn't always possible in these kinds of games.

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