GC2 Political Game - Wishes
Diplomacy in Gal Civ 2
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I only recently bought GalCiv, though I was interested in the game for some time, and have loved it so far. I have by no means discovered all that it has to offer, and have not yet played the expansion pack. I have, however, long enjoyed 4X games and since playing GalCiv and reading about GalCiv 2 I have been thinking about my universal 4X wishlist in the context of GalCiv 2.
I am so far unaware of any offical word on the political games of Gal Civ 2, but some comments in interviews - Brad's on Gamespy, I think - have lead me to believe that the diplomacy is getting at least a tune-up, if not an overhaul. I hope it's early enough in the development that player ideas about that part of the game could still have influence, and in the spirit of that hope I've written, at some lenght, my own thoughts on Diplomacy, the Senate, and the United Planets.
DIPLOMACY
In Diplomacy I want a lot of options, and I also want things to realy feel meaningful, even when they sometimes aren't.
In Gal Civ you have only three official states: peace, war, and ally. These are shaded by the relationship slider, and the difference between a "wary" peace and a "close" peace feels huge, even if it isn't.
There is still room for more "official" relationships, treaties, and stances.
Cease Fire
When at war the combatants might want to stop fighting, but be unable to come to an agreement. They could sign a Cease Fire for 5 or 10 turns, during which the diplomacy window between the two opens every turn and they can propose peace treaties. The losing AI, or the one that wants peace more, could get more desperate as the clock ticks, but Cease Fires could also stand a chance of breaking down completely if negotions don't seem to be progressing (ie, the player keeps offering the same deal over and over). Military buildups and maneuvers could be watched more closely by the AI, and a too aggressive stance could be seen as a breach of the cease fire.
Rites of Passage
I like how in GalCiv the official territory is understood to be open to everyone to fly through. Space is space, after all. But as a way to cement relationships, or hurt an enemy, having official recognized rites of passage might be fun. I would like to see thins left as they are now, where you can basically fly around wherever you want, so long as you don't scare anybody with your military fleets, but recognizing a ROP increases relationship, and issuing a Denial of Passage decreases it - and opens up the possibility of AIs ignoring your DOP if they don't think you can back it up. Having a DOP with one civ at war and an official ROP with another could be seen as hostile.
The idea of Civilian Denials of Passage struck me - basically forcing the Civ it's taken against to choose YES/NO to whether or not they will respect the DOP. If they choose Yes they avoid an incident, but their mini-freighters have to go around the other guy's territory instead of through it (needs to balance so it increases freighter travel time without increasing trade route benefit - so it hurts the guy). Or you could say "tough shit, space is big and belongs to everyone" and the minifreighters keep going, but relations drop... and don't be surprised when they shoot them down!
Mutual Embargoes[b]
Two Civs agree not to trade with a third.
[b]Embassies
You sell the right to build one one square of your political capitol (of your choosing). Then that square holds an Altarian Embassy, for example. If the Humans let the Altarians build an embassy on Earth, then both sides get increased trade from routes between the two Civs, the humans get a small Diplomacy boost when dealing with the Altarians (to compensate for the square), and relations go way up. To even out the score, you build one on their capitol... even better trade and the Diplomacy boost evens out. Could be a must for Alliances. There could be other benefits to these - what do people think?
Longshot Diplomacy Ideas
These are the ones that strike me as super cool, but too much for an AI to handle - and possibly UI nightmares. Still, I like to dream...
Trade Goals
I agree to have two routes going to you if you have three going to me at the end of one year. If either side misses the goal, then there is some diplomatic or monetary penatly. A successfully met goal increases your relationship and shows the rest of the galaxy how trustworthy you are. Goals could be set by volume (average of 100 bc / turn) or routes.
Divide the Enemy
We agree to divy up a third parties holdings. I promise him two systems by his border, he promises me two by mine. If I conquer one of "his" systems he can call me up and say, "I'm thrilled you were able to secure Andresona II for me. I'll look forward to taking control of the planet by the end of the year.
Boolean Treaties
I would love to be able to create IF...THEN statements - LucasArts style maybe - in which you can agree to certain future actions if conditions are or are not met. You could agree to go to war with the The Drengin along with the Torians, but only IF the Torians can manage to take a key system first.
You could agree to open a new trade route with the Yor IF they stop picking on the Alexians.
You could convince the guy who looks like he's losing the war to surrender to you IF he chooses to surrender, and IF you give him three battle cruisers right now so he might not have to.
Seems like so many possibilities, so much potential. Both for great gaming and poor AI handling.
Diplomatic Fluff
This stuff is less important, easily ignored by those who don't like it, but potentially a great immersive tool. I like in GalCiv that you get messages and reports on other Civ actions. Knowing who is destabilizing whom, and that one race is collecting tribute form three others, really livens up the galaxy. I naturally want more!
Plan Sharing
We've been told that the AI makes long term plans. Maybe sometimes they'll tell us what they are. A friendly Civ might call us up and say, "You know, I really want to beef up my culture to absorb my neighbor. Maybe you'll help out with a constructor or two, or spend some BC to destabilize him?"
Or someone you are less friendly with might show up and say, "Those three class 18 planets? I've got some ships being built that are going there. And my military is twice the size of yours... just saying."
One AI civ might issue a general decree, a Roosevelt Corollary if will, that messing with this minor would mean messing with them.
These would just be little pop ups, you could heed or ignore them at your wish - or even turn them off in the options screen. They wouldn't even need to have any actual game impact - if I don't send constructors nobody gets mad, and if I do settle those planets then regular game mechanics would dictate that they get mad anyway.
Response to Galactic Events
So and So lost control of his Senate!
Should we:
-Praise his people for being forward thinkers, and welcome the new direction in their government. (decrease relations with government, their people love you)
-Express hope that the radical movement will be short lived, and proper control will be reestablished soon. (their people hate you more, but their leader likes you more).
-Nothing, it's not our business. (dismisses window, no impact)
Altarians declared war on Yor, saying that good must triumph over evil!
- The Yor may be evil, but so is naked aggression. Admonish the Altarians. (relationship hit with Altarians, increase with Yor)
- The Yor had it coming. Rock on, Altarians. (other way around)
- We cannot stand for the Altarian's actions. We will join the war on behalf of the Yor!
- Wait, we were going to conquer the Yor too! Let us in on that action!
- Nothing (dismiss window).
I could come up with Fluff windows all day long. Some fluff that's just informaiton like capital building, X noticed Y has a fleet in their space, etc, which I think would be so easy to implement, could add so much to the game, and could so easily be ignored by those who don't want them that they should really be in the game.
I have lots more about the Senate and UP, but this is more than enough for now.
Comments hoped for.
I am so far unaware of any offical word on the political games of Gal Civ 2, but some comments in interviews - Brad's on Gamespy, I think - have lead me to believe that the diplomacy is getting at least a tune-up, if not an overhaul. I hope it's early enough in the development that player ideas about that part of the game could still have influence, and in the spirit of that hope I've written, at some lenght, my own thoughts on Diplomacy, the Senate, and the United Planets.
DIPLOMACY
In Diplomacy I want a lot of options, and I also want things to realy feel meaningful, even when they sometimes aren't.
In Gal Civ you have only three official states: peace, war, and ally. These are shaded by the relationship slider, and the difference between a "wary" peace and a "close" peace feels huge, even if it isn't.
There is still room for more "official" relationships, treaties, and stances.
Cease Fire
When at war the combatants might want to stop fighting, but be unable to come to an agreement. They could sign a Cease Fire for 5 or 10 turns, during which the diplomacy window between the two opens every turn and they can propose peace treaties. The losing AI, or the one that wants peace more, could get more desperate as the clock ticks, but Cease Fires could also stand a chance of breaking down completely if negotions don't seem to be progressing (ie, the player keeps offering the same deal over and over). Military buildups and maneuvers could be watched more closely by the AI, and a too aggressive stance could be seen as a breach of the cease fire.
Rites of Passage
I like how in GalCiv the official territory is understood to be open to everyone to fly through. Space is space, after all. But as a way to cement relationships, or hurt an enemy, having official recognized rites of passage might be fun. I would like to see thins left as they are now, where you can basically fly around wherever you want, so long as you don't scare anybody with your military fleets, but recognizing a ROP increases relationship, and issuing a Denial of Passage decreases it - and opens up the possibility of AIs ignoring your DOP if they don't think you can back it up. Having a DOP with one civ at war and an official ROP with another could be seen as hostile.
The idea of Civilian Denials of Passage struck me - basically forcing the Civ it's taken against to choose YES/NO to whether or not they will respect the DOP. If they choose Yes they avoid an incident, but their mini-freighters have to go around the other guy's territory instead of through it (needs to balance so it increases freighter travel time without increasing trade route benefit - so it hurts the guy). Or you could say "tough shit, space is big and belongs to everyone" and the minifreighters keep going, but relations drop... and don't be surprised when they shoot them down!
Mutual Embargoes[b]
Two Civs agree not to trade with a third.
[b]Embassies
You sell the right to build one one square of your political capitol (of your choosing). Then that square holds an Altarian Embassy, for example. If the Humans let the Altarians build an embassy on Earth, then both sides get increased trade from routes between the two Civs, the humans get a small Diplomacy boost when dealing with the Altarians (to compensate for the square), and relations go way up. To even out the score, you build one on their capitol... even better trade and the Diplomacy boost evens out. Could be a must for Alliances. There could be other benefits to these - what do people think?
Longshot Diplomacy Ideas
These are the ones that strike me as super cool, but too much for an AI to handle - and possibly UI nightmares. Still, I like to dream...
Trade Goals
I agree to have two routes going to you if you have three going to me at the end of one year. If either side misses the goal, then there is some diplomatic or monetary penatly. A successfully met goal increases your relationship and shows the rest of the galaxy how trustworthy you are. Goals could be set by volume (average of 100 bc / turn) or routes.
Divide the Enemy
We agree to divy up a third parties holdings. I promise him two systems by his border, he promises me two by mine. If I conquer one of "his" systems he can call me up and say, "I'm thrilled you were able to secure Andresona II for me. I'll look forward to taking control of the planet by the end of the year.
Boolean Treaties
I would love to be able to create IF...THEN statements - LucasArts style maybe - in which you can agree to certain future actions if conditions are or are not met. You could agree to go to war with the The Drengin along with the Torians, but only IF the Torians can manage to take a key system first.
You could agree to open a new trade route with the Yor IF they stop picking on the Alexians.
You could convince the guy who looks like he's losing the war to surrender to you IF he chooses to surrender, and IF you give him three battle cruisers right now so he might not have to.
Seems like so many possibilities, so much potential. Both for great gaming and poor AI handling.
Diplomatic Fluff
This stuff is less important, easily ignored by those who don't like it, but potentially a great immersive tool. I like in GalCiv that you get messages and reports on other Civ actions. Knowing who is destabilizing whom, and that one race is collecting tribute form three others, really livens up the galaxy. I naturally want more!
Plan Sharing
We've been told that the AI makes long term plans. Maybe sometimes they'll tell us what they are. A friendly Civ might call us up and say, "You know, I really want to beef up my culture to absorb my neighbor. Maybe you'll help out with a constructor or two, or spend some BC to destabilize him?"
Or someone you are less friendly with might show up and say, "Those three class 18 planets? I've got some ships being built that are going there. And my military is twice the size of yours... just saying."
One AI civ might issue a general decree, a Roosevelt Corollary if will, that messing with this minor would mean messing with them.
These would just be little pop ups, you could heed or ignore them at your wish - or even turn them off in the options screen. They wouldn't even need to have any actual game impact - if I don't send constructors nobody gets mad, and if I do settle those planets then regular game mechanics would dictate that they get mad anyway.
Response to Galactic Events
So and So lost control of his Senate!
Should we:
-Praise his people for being forward thinkers, and welcome the new direction in their government. (decrease relations with government, their people love you)
-Express hope that the radical movement will be short lived, and proper control will be reestablished soon. (their people hate you more, but their leader likes you more).
-Nothing, it's not our business. (dismisses window, no impact)
Altarians declared war on Yor, saying that good must triumph over evil!
- The Yor may be evil, but so is naked aggression. Admonish the Altarians. (relationship hit with Altarians, increase with Yor)
- The Yor had it coming. Rock on, Altarians. (other way around)
- We cannot stand for the Altarian's actions. We will join the war on behalf of the Yor!
- Wait, we were going to conquer the Yor too! Let us in on that action!
- Nothing (dismiss window).
I could come up with Fluff windows all day long. Some fluff that's just informaiton like capital building, X noticed Y has a fleet in their space, etc, which I think would be so easy to implement, could add so much to the game, and could so easily be ignored by those who don't want them that they should really be in the game.
I have lots more about the Senate and UP, but this is more than enough for now.
Comments hoped for.
