Diplomatic relations questions

[unmerged(3884)]

I have a couple of questions about the diplomatic relations in
this game.

What kind of benefits can be achieved by using diplomats to get bad relations with another country?

If they are weaker than my country they should be unlikely to attack, no matter how much I insult them, because they don't want to lose the war. Bad relations don't give me CB, so how can insulting others help me? On the other hand if my country is weaker then I don't want to have the bad relations, because I will lose the war.

Another question is that will there be any effect if the relations are already -200 and I keep insulting the opponent with diplomats?

 

[unmerged(2037)]

Why to insult your opponents

1. to achieve RM, coz they never accepr RM proposal if relations are -4 to +20. If rels are at 0 you can insult them and make RM a month later. This usually takes only 2 diplomats to estabilish (instead of three if you kept offering RM).

2. you can insult someone to ensure that he will joint the war you declare against his ally (helpfull if you have CB only against his ally)

3. you can use it to roleplay (as BiB does if I remmember his post )

 

[Sir James]

Has anybody actually had a DoW against them as a result of an insult?

 

[unmerged(3627)]

Originally posted by Sir James
Has anybody actually had a DoW against them as a result of an insult?

The AI will never declare war merely because you insulted it. (Computer's have no sense of self-righteousness )

It is possible that, if France is wondering whether to attack England or Spain, and you, the Spanish ruler, send it a deadly insult, the worsening of relations might be just enough to tip their decision towards Spain. So insulting your enemies might encourage them to DoW you, but will never directly cause it. It also, as Horragoth said, encourages them to join in with their ally when you declare war on the ally, and you can use this to achieve war with a nation against which you have no CB. Much of European diplomacy at the time consisted of trying to persuade your enemy to declare war on you, rather than you declaring war on him, so that "world opinion" would be on your side (Bismarck did exactly this with the French in 1870)