Darvin, I believe this and similar suggestions came from you second want which is to make the civic path more dangereous. As you said if you build 2 mil and 5 civic you get crushed. I didn't see this question as simply limited to the diplomacy/pact system. Just for the sake of argument what would you get if the defense/security/fortification techs where made available with a combination of militar/civic labs without any changes to the tech trees.

A civic based Vasari player would have early access to colony pods, merchant cargo bays for their economy. The vasari player would also have early access to disruptor nanites, Phasic trap, reintegration and phase stabilizers.

A civic based Advent player would have early access to merchant docks, evangilization nodes, and induced reference. The advent player would also have early access to shield bestowal, mass dissorientation and meteroid control.

A civic based Tec player would have early access to deep space trade, remote construction and docking booms. The tec player would also have early access to gauss upgrades including meson bolt cannons, safety override protocol, and improved destabalization.

I could see this as a huge benefit when playing unlocked games or locked team games for the player that chooses to build an economic empire first but lags on the military front. IMO the defense techs (tier 4 or higher) are mainly meant to protect the empire, but they require a significant investment in military labs to get to the better techs. If you've laid down 5-6 mil labs you are probably building HC's at this point. I want a solution that allows me to focus on the civic path but lay down signficant defenses (fortification) to protect my investment before I go military if at all.

I also see this as being useful possibly for the player in the suicide position. Currently, if you want to starbase you MUST lay down 2-3 military labs. If you are successful and you run your colonizer cap you are limited to asteroids, terrans and deserts. However, if you could lay down 2-3 civic labs you have access to volcano, ice and culture. Of course this only works if repair bay is moved to defense for all races (as stated above).

Tactical starbase support may be more fun too as you can drop in more useful starbases in allied or enemy territories. For example you can siege with an advent starbase. Remote construction with a TEC base/Docking booms or maybe improved destabilization, etc.

And frankly I'm looking for a reason to research advanced techs past the initial 2-4 labs needed to research trade and culture, lrm's and carriers. We already know you can win most games by building 3 military labs and 3-4 civic labs with minimal research in either. Lets have some fun using some of the defense techs that are rarely used because of the need to go full military.

BTW, you will also need alot of civic labs to get the really useful pacts.

TEC - Trade (4), Missle (5), Siege(6), Armor (7), Supply (8)
Advent - Culture (4), Antimatter (5), Beam (6), Anime (7), Shield (8)
Vasari - Resource (4), Phase Jump Drive (5), Nano Tech (Hull regen) (6), Structure (Hull%) (7), Armament (Rate of fire) (8)

Edit - fixed vasari 6,7,8 pact comments

This is the first time someone has listed all the pacts (I've actually requested this multiple times).  Thanks.

I love the concept of pacts, but I don't like what these pacts are doing.  I want new abilities, new threats, new strategies, not a scalar bonus to existing units.  This still means you have a guy sitting in the pocket specializing eco while everyone else spams military labs and maybe two civics for ice/volcanic access.

I agree.These pacts should be the sideshow of the main.

Sorry darvin I thought you had it.

If the relationship level/bonuses would cause a peace treaty(or any pact)  to be accepted (even with human players) by his "government" would that be a sufficient threat?

Of course the "go to war" option still is in the hand of the player but it has a time constraint. If you use this right you can say yeah you gut the guns but your people say you cant use them against me .

Also i think culture could use a different impact in this game, so if your people are indoctrinated the are probably more likely to turn there backs on you and leave your empire, or your ships say no we do not fight against this one.

As you can see i would like Civic tecs cause the other player to actually react in civic ways such as building more culture, spending more cash on civic upgrades to satisfy the needs of his people and so on.

But it shouldn't cause the combat units to be totally useless, its more like buying time and harass a player. Only culture should be the weapon of the civic tec tree as it could be able to overtake planets (actually overtake them not letting you just loose it) So if the support on your colonies falls beneath some level there is a chance that this colony falls to the enemy with all infrastructure an probably your stationed  ships.

lol I feel the same way. Its gets annoying reading through all the posts. My vote is armed civi structures, planet defence abilities: example, scorched earth policy (impossible for enemy to colonize your former planet for X minutes), and merc hiring for the civi tech tree.

These are some really good idea's and would give something for the people that only play 1v1. I prefer to play in larger groups of about 4 or 6 so i'm really looking forward to diplomacy. What i would like to see from diplomacy (apart from that changes I have seen so far which look great) is more development on culture. Whilst it is useful it is not fast enough or powerful enough to play a major role in the outcome of a game, particularly for the TEC and Vasari.