[Gameplay] Thoughts on Diplomatic Capital

I've recently had a few ideas on the implementation of Diplomatic Capital and I would like to share my thoughts. Feel free to comment and add your own ideas.

Firstly, having DC being generated like any other resource causes it to accumulate in fairly large quantities. This doesn't really fit well since it's a concept, something intangible, not a resource. It should be a reflection of the status of a faction and it's relation to other factions, and therefore shouldn't be generated by the way it is now.

This is how I see an alternate implementation of Diplomatic Capital.

Embassies should generate DC, but shouldn't be buildable in your own cities by yourself. Instead, an embassy should be built in a city owned by another faction, after a certain treaty is signed between the two, similar to trade agreement or a research agreement. Now, the faction(let's call it faction 1) that builds the embassy will gain 1 DC per season while the faction(faction 2) that owns the city will gain the that gildar Faction 1 pays for the normal maintenance cost of the building. This way everyone gets something in return. Also, there's a limit of 1 embassy per city. I'm actually thinking of an even stricter limit at a faction level, like 3 per faction. The idea is to reduce the quantity of DC that is generated out of thin air.

Embassies wouldn't represent the bulk production of DC, just the slow trickle that helps nudge along relations between factions. I would suggest individual DC counters with each faction, but that may be a little too complicated.

The main source of DC would be diplomatic actions. Things such as respecting a treaty and going to war against the foe of an ally. Gifting units or resources to another faction. I've actually noticed the AI doesn't really take gifts into account, which is a bit sad, since I could always soften up someone by showering them with gifts before making an offer in Master of Magic. They used to actually mention what gift I gave them that made convinced them to accept. Royal weddings could boost diplomatic capital, hitting certain milestones for treaties, such as a 10 year mark could generate DC. The idea is actually make the player and the AI to work for that DC.

There's also the possibility of having the rating of a nation influence DC by some amount. But not just military rating. I can't seem to remember if there's any sort of culture rating in Elemental, if there is, a percentage of it, combined with the military rating could factor into the value of DC. Not adding to it's quantity, since it wouldn't make sense, but rather slightly increasing it's perceived value. Like a multiplier. It would really be great if that multiplier scaled in comparison to other nations. Such as it would be hardly noticeable when dealing with factions of equal power, possibly between 0.1 and 0.99 when dealing with larger more powerful nations, and higher when dealing with insignificant factions.

I hope my idea isn't too convoluted to understand. The basis is that DC is too easily obtained and can become worthless in the long run.

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Alstein

Join Date 07/2004

+55

A few ideas:

To prevent overstockpiling: have DC decay x% per turn. (borrowed from Wildmana FFH modmod).

Gildar should be convertible into DC, with a system similar to GC2 espionage spending (increasing costs for each DC) . This might solve the excessive Gildar problem.

DC can be used to get a relations boost with one civ (exponentially increasing costs here) , for CERTAIN diplomatic transactions (not trading, but war declarations and marriages definitely), to recruit intelligent monsters, to recruit some adventurers, or to gain independent towns.

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I feel you hit the nail on the head when you said DC is something intangible. I think they should strip DC out of the game. I like the current bonuses you get when you look at your relationship with another faction eg +1 when you have mutual grandkids and -5 if you have different alligences. Perhaps if Stardock used some of your great ideas and each could add or take away more to this stat. Then they need some sort of structure where by you get more benefits and options the greater your + standing with a faction. This system would make alot more sense, how deep it becomes depends on what sort of creative rewards stardock could come up with regarding interesting bonuses and benifits for increasing your standing with a faction.

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DC fairly worthless when I play. I some times get a +3 for having impressive captial, etc., but over all, I never spend it. I just use gold. By the time DC is of any consequence, I have a ton of gold any way. If DC is to be used as a resource, then in order to talk to a foreign power, you have to spend some of the captial. If you want a treaty, then you have to spend more. It should be a prerequsite, not another source of income. Every turn you can bug another leader. You'd think they'd get tired of this after a bit. A player should have to make it worth the factions time. Also, the more powerful the faction, the more DC is required to initiate dialogue and the less they like you, the more it costs.

DC shouldn'f affect how they see you. I mean, so I've had a scenic outlook for 150 turns, and that makes my nation more approachable? Scenic outlooks should add prestige unless you turn it into a Camp David or some thing and it just reduces the cost of initiating dialogue. My nations power and size should be the primary determining factors in influence, not a pretty waterfall. I can just hear it, "OOo, we don't want to mess with him, he has a nice waterfall." Or maybe, "Hey, let's go deal with Nation Z so we can take the kids to the nice waterfall park." I mean really.

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