War

[Stone Mill]

Lord Blackmoor has an excellent point.

I hadn't thought of this, but this is an area where SEIV falls really short. I gave up trying to end hostile relations with AI empires long ago, when I first started playing. Once you go to war, it seems there is no peaceful or honorable way out of it. I guess I just got used to this as "the way it is," but I don't much like it.

Let's take more sophisticated political engines, such as Europa Universalis, which generally reflects the way we conduct wars, even to this day. If a counrty decides to go about steamrolling it's neighbors without caution, the remaining countries of the world will absolutely not tolerate it. They will form a coalition against you and pick you apart for your greed.
That is why most wars were short, and civilizied nations came to agreements to end them, usually ceding territory or money as "reparations" to the country who dominated them.
However, it was rare that an entire country or race was completely and successfully euthanised without other nations getting very angry and stepping in.
So, I really don't know why SEIV makes it so darn difficult to end wars, even with peaceful races, who, by character, should encourage every opportunity to end them. Seems like this is a big need for improvement in my opinion...

[rdouglass]

Is this too obvious of a question that its' already assumed?...

Have you checked MEE settings??

[Q]

I agree it should be easier to end a war and the AI should propose even a trade of a treaty against e.g. a system (depending if the AI lost or won the Last few combats).
But it's not completely impossible now. If you are at war with the AI, you don't fullfil the Mega empire settings and avoid all hostility, you might be able to get a new treaty after a certain time. There is a miminum of turns after a war breaks out, the AI won't accept any treaty (it's specified in the political text-file IIRC). But after that it's possible and I've seen it more than once.

[Saxon]

A related frustration is the rejection of gifts. I am so far ahead in my current game that I know I have won. To make it interesting, I thought I would build up a nice border, focus on getting tech and build a sphere world. To make the border line easier to defend, I tried to give 5 systems to my neighbor. I also though there was the off chance he would then become tough enough to knock the others out and make my life interesting again.

He refused to take the systems. So did the other two races. Now, I know we are in MEE stage and all, but it was frustrating that they wouldn’t take candy from me. Is there something that stops all relations once you hit MEE?

You should be allowed to buy peace, even if the cost is very high. As Stone Mill pointed out, the system in Eurpoa Universallis is excellent in this area. You can make peace successfully, as long as you are willing to either pay or be paid off. This system does restrict nations from going on the rampage, which may not have a place in a game like SE4, but it does allow a more sophisticated model of diplomacy for those peace treaties which do not involve the utter defeat of one side.