Diplomacy

[CautiousChaos]

Hello all,
I've seen mentioned a few times the notion of adding in diplomacy in a future release or perhaps the expansion pack.  I'm a relative new player to this title and have always looked for diplomacy in my 4X space games.  This time, though, I'm against it.  I think AI War's formula is spot on and adding in diplomacy would add a layer of detail that would a) baffle the AI, b) add to a "me too" feel to the game, and c) only delay the inevitable conflicts in the game. 

My thoughts are that there's only two AI opponents (which is a good idea).  A layer of diplomacy with the two AI's I believe would effect the balance of the game, which at this point is sound and harmonious; well as harmonious as you can get when the goal of the game is to blow up stuff. 

Any interplay in diplomacy would be limited anyways.

- Tech trading would cause significant shifts in power considering the limited number of techs in the game and the significant effect each have. 
- Alliances would put too much power into the hands of the player, delaying the inevitable conflict, but also reducing the opponents the player must defend against by 50% allowing the player to buff up easily. 
- Then there's just all of the AI behaviors that have to be coded in to give any diplomacy an elegant style.  Personally an AI enhancements I believe should continue to focus on enhancing intelligence or adding in additional play styles. 

I'd say keep the focus on what has made the game unique, challenging, and as entertaining as it is today.  Adding more elements I believe starts to travel the path of "jack of all trades, master of none". 

Always interested to hear what you folks think..

-cc

[x4000]

Just a brief note -- any diplomacy that is added would be for a very small, third-party faction like the Zint aliens.  I doubt that tech trading would be possible, or anything else too advanced, but rather just another strategic decision point.  We'll see if even that happens -- you have some great points -- but I think that  having a bit of diplomacy with that sort of smaller, rarer, third party AI might be cool (but definitely expansion-only).  As for the main AIs, there never will be any diplomacy with them: they can't be bargained with, reasoned with, etc, and that won't change.  And diplomacy with other players will also likely never happen, since we're all in this together as humans just trying to survive.  The only question is if some form of diplomacy is used in interactions with a new, smaller, third party that might control a couple of planets in the galaxy.

Anyway, just thought I'd leave a brief note, I'll probably not get to any more continuation on this topic until I get back (but everyone else feel free to weigh in with your thoughts, this is an interesting topic and CautiousChaos has some great points).