Diplomacy

I've played GalCiv 1 and found the diplomacy section extremely lacking, the treats it offers to the user are pretty much limited. The feature allowing you to demand items or trade items is very good but besides that there is little you can do.

In MOO2 you could establish military / ecomonic / research treaties that helped your civilization a lot. In GalCiv you only really have access to military treaties and they do very little for you. In MOO2 a military treaty gave you access to allies planets for refilling and repairs, in GalCiv this is not the case. The research and economic treaties were VERY important since they could give your civilization a huge boost. In GalCiv you rely on freighters to establish direct trading routes between worlds.

I think more treaty options should be available to the player and the AI, I also feel that manner in which you communicate with the other races should be taken into consideration. If I am an EVIL badass empire and demand a planet off a weak 2 planet empire, I expect them to give it to me. I don't expect them to say "And thats fair how?", the point is that it isn't fair thats the whole point, me big and bad, you small and weak, you do as I say or you die! >

I also like to partnership alliances, I have heard something about this but it doesn't sound like what I have in mind. Imagine 2 races growing influence and power through continued cooperation, imagine the treaties changing over time representing the different states, like Non-aggression pact, ecomonic treaty, research treaty, military alliance, alliance, partnership. When they get to partnership the 2 empires merge into a new super empire, obviously this would be controllable by the player. The new empire would have access to everything of the 2 empires, but a new level of government would be applied. So instead of the Terrans ruling the partnership it would be run using a combined new government voted for by the new citizens. So If there was a Terran / Torian partnership, the population could vote to either go with Imperial type government or Republic, then depending on how that turns out, another vote is handle to determined what party to use.

The partnership would combine the two empires with HUGE bonuses, but would have serious disadvantages as well, like harder to control citizens since you have interspecies relations to take into consideration. Low birth rates, since you'd have a huge empire to control and people would slow down on the breeding to save on space.

You get the general idea. So what do you think?
7,624 views 9 replies
Reply #1 Top
I agree with what you say. I enjoy GalCiv a lot and play it on a regular basis but i barely use the diplomacy there while i use i constantly when i play any MOO. I hope i will find it more useful in GalCiv 2.
Reply #2 Top
Another game with good diplomacy but lacking the right AI to utilize it is Space Empires 4. The features for treaties and demands are awesome, but the AI and the player hardly ever gets the chance to use them properly.

J
Reply #3 Top
I also like to partnership alliances, I have heard something about this but it doesn't sound like what I have in mind. Imagine 2 races growing influence and power through continued cooperation, imagine the treaties changing over time representing the different states, like Non-aggression pact, ecomonic treaty, research treaty, military alliance, alliance, partnership. When they get to partnership the 2 empires merge into a new super empire, obviously this would be controllable by the player. The new empire would have access to everything of the 2 empires, but a new level of government would be applied. So instead of the Terrans ruling the partnership it would be run using a combined new government voted for by the new citizens. So If there was a Terran / Torian partnership, the population could vote to either go with Imperial type government or Republic, then depending on how that turns out, another vote is handle to determined what party to use.

The partnership would combine the two empires with HUGE bonuses, but would have serious disadvantages as well, like harder to control citizens since you have interspecies relations to take into consideration. Low birth rates, since you'd have a huge empire to control and people would slow down on the breeding to save on space.


You should be able to break up the Partnership otherwise its like marriage.... (Well even worse!)
anyways me likes the ideas... Reminds me of my grand plans for a supreme government on earth (Like UN but actually good!)
Reply #4 Top
Another game with good diplomacy but lacking the right AI to utilize it is Space Empires 4.


Let's hope in SEV the AI get's a much needed upgrade!
Reply #5 Top
Can anyone tell us if it's improved in GalCiv2????????????
Reply #6 Top
In a word yes. Check out some of the interviews and screenies for the details.
Reply #7 Top
In fact it is said the AI will rip most players even on the lowest setting. LOL! Damn!

On medium it kick 10 types of sh*t out of the developers! LOL! Now I'd hate to see that AI get on to the web and do a Skynet!
Reply #8 Top

The diplomacy isn't that much different from the first one in that there aren't MOO-style treaties for doing joint research and economics.

What we have thought of doing in a future expansion would be exclusive treaties.  That is, you could sign up one civilization to do a bunch of partnership projects (i.e. you both some free research points or free trade points back and forth from it and it strengthens your relationship).

The thing to remember about diplomacy options is that they are only as good as the computer AI behind it.

Adding the FEATURE is trivial.  In an hour I could put in all the "features" you want.  Having the AI use it intelligently would take a lot longer however.  So saying Game X has the feature doesn't mean that much does it? It depends on how well the opponents make use of it too.

As much as I loved Master of Orion I and II, its AI wasn't really playing the same game as the player.  It was designed to simulate a challenging gaming experience but it played by a very different set of rules.  In 1996, when MOO 2 was released, games could still do that.  But today, games get a lot of scrutiny in this area.

Another example, the original Civilization didn't build wonders and such. Not in the way the player would imagine. Instead, it would roll a random number and based on the difficulty it would suddenly get a given wonder.  By contrast, Civilization IV, as far as I can tell, doesn't cheat at all. It's playing the game game as the player and I think that makes it a much more enjoyable experience.

So when we add features, we have to also budget in the time it takes to make sure the computer players use them effectively.

Reply #9 Top
All hail the mighty frogmeister!

*BOWS*

Humble apologies almighty, it was not a complaint but a observation...

"Hallowed are the Frogmeisters"

*Looks round for incoming lightning bolts*