Have to be honest, diplomacy is more fun in Sins 1 than 2, in Sins 2 it's really just a case of sending the AI resources until they get a positive score? Unless I'm missing something about it. Sending peace envoys, offering them resources to undertake missions was better, and it was disappointing that was not present in Sins 2. Hopefully it's on the road map for the future.
Totally agree. Should also include the complete research tree and victory conditions.
In my experience even sending hundreds of thousands of resources doesn't get you anything.
The only way diplomacy 'works' is seeking a ceasefire upon first contact in the early game. If you get cease fires then you can eventually get shared vision and a full alliance over time from one of those players. But even that is temporary. In the final stages on an 8 player map, my ally broke the alliance to stab me in the back despite being vastly weaker. Why? I've no clue - it was suicidal! All it meant was I had to delay my conquest of the enemies' remaining planet or two to crush the dozen or so worlds my 'ally' had.
It's something that probably deserves a total revamp at some point, but maybe it works fine for PvP? For PvE, something that tracks reputation i.e. how many cease fires etc have you broken, sentiment i.e. how many missions have you completed for a player, how many resources have you given them, how many of their enemies' ships or worlds have you destroyed, who is allied with whom, that sort of thing, would be good.
I think this should be a major focus for future updates! Since Stardock likes to tie their updates with the lore, when the 4th faction comes this update should come in as an attempt at diplomacy between factions vs a powerful foe.
Diplomacy should feature:
This is all mainly gameplay changes and hud expansions with no need for model / graphical improvements.
Thank you Stardock for such an amazing game!
Vasari Alliance already get Advent Shield Burst via Reverse Engineered Shields, a Tier 3 tech that grants +15% Max Shield Points, as well as +15% Shield Regeneration albeit at a cost - regenerative shielding is interfered with while the burst is charging. They also get a TEC armour upgrade - Armour Restoration at Tier 4 which grants +15 Armour Strength and +15% Max Armour Points.
Hybrid faction ships and the like would certainly be interesting. What might an Alliance-Enclave titan look like? Hopefully better than the flying brolly! (Umbrella)
Something showing disposition between factions, and causes of recent changes would be interesting, but I'd suggest one modification - known changes v unknown. If you haven't met a faction then you can't track changes. And even if you have diplomatic relations, maybe you need a diplomatic or spy ship or appropriate relations to track that info?
War crimes should be subjective. Stripping your own unpopulated planet shouldn't be an issue. Seizing an enemy populated planet then imploding it however ... Is there really a difference in how you wipe out enemy control of a planet though?
I guess I'd be thinking something along the lines of Civilisation - not sure what the latest versions are like, or the Total War series - again not sure latest versions.
The big question is, is this a direction the developers want to go? Limited diplomacy is fine for PvP, it's really more a PvE matter. Now if there's a campaign of sorts then diplomacy might be more important?
We still don't know what the 4th faction will be - I'm interested to see what they do and if they pull it off. We still technically don't even know that it's the faction chasing the Vasari and wiping out everything. It could be another alien race - Vasari but not, a returning race of sorts - something that used to live in TEC space but has now woken up or returned, the 'Big Bad' or something else, depending on the creativity of the developers. In some ways keeping the Unknown as a nebulous ever lurking threat could work out better. Or, they could include a facet of the threat, but make clear it's not the real threat, unrelated footsoldiers, conscripts, or mindwiped slaves depending on the possible nature of said threat.
Minor addendum while I think about it - I'm not sure diplomacy would work with an enemy that's mindwiped slaves or something of that nature.
If the 4th faction is the threat that wiped out the Vasari Empire and chased them ever since, or related to it, maybe it's precluded from accessing the diplomacy function? Something like the Kra'hen Empire of Imperium Galactica 2 for instance - they got bonuses to ship and starbase production, but couldn't use diplomacy, spying, or trade, their research was slower and more limited, and once they declared war on a faction it was to the death of one side or the other as no diplomacy meant no peace was possible. Of course it's an old (ancient) game so people here may not be familiar with it unless they've stumbled over the Apple port or the Steam version.
To be fair that's loosely akin to the current state of diplomacy - total war unless you manage to get a ceasefire in the very early stages of the game
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