Civilization 5 hints and tips: Diplomacy

One of the most useful features of the Civilization games is the ability to encounter other civilizations and to be able to open diplomatic relations with these nations. As the Civ games have developed, the nuances of diplomacy have changed and over time diplomacy has become far more important.

Civilization 5 has made some changes to Diplomacy, including in my opinion, giving you a far easier way to maintain diplomacy! Here are some of the highlights and some tips:

• As religion doesn’t form a major part of the game any more, religious beliefs does not help or hinder in Diplomacy. In Civ 4 I was often frustrated when another Civilization demanded I convert to a religion, and then when I didn’t became far harder to deal with – while I understand the idea of religion and how it can change nations, it wasn’t done well in Civ 4 and I was quite happy to see it disappear in Civ 5! So it’s one less thing to worry about.

•  No more trading technologies – I was a little disappointed not to be able to trade technologies as I often used this as a way of gaining supremacy over other nations by being clever with the technology trading process – however Civ 5 does allow you to have a research agreement, but this isn’t quite the same, and is perhaps more realistic.

• As the ‘technology’ tree has been reduced and Social Policies have been implemented, a lot of the ‘social policies’ that used to have a direct impact on your relationship have less effect in Civ 5 – this is an improvement to me as I often wondered why my internal social policies would really change my diplomatic relationships. Thus you can move forward with your chosen social path a lot easier knowing it won’t change your diplomatic status.
• As you begin to explore and create settlements you can influence your diplomatic relationships – quite often an upset leader will ask you not to expand in their direction, or will make a comment about your military units being close to their borders – this is far more realistic, and if used correctly can be a great way to intimidate other leaders.
• Agreements expire – I’m not sure about this yet, but most agreements expire – I guess this is more realistic - as governments change then there definitely could be changes in diplomacy – however to have an arbitrary expiration date seems to be unrealistic – perhaps in future they can have expirations when government changes, for instance if you move from Monarcy to Democracy.

Diplomatic options:

Gold – same as always – you can give a gift of gold often stopping war or helping diplomatic relationships. I only tend to do this when I’m caught with my ‘pants down’ and have to avoid war!

Gold Per Turn – similar to a gift, but a continued payment every turn – keeps other civs happy. I try not to get into this sort of agreement unless they are paying me – a one-off gift seems to be just as good and can be a lot cheaper!

Open Borders (Requires Writing) – unless I really need to expand outside of my main area I tend not to enter into Open Border agreements – I like to build cities close together so that I can essentially block other civilizations moving to certain areas of the map if possible. Trying to defend an open border is a lot harder too, especially with some of those dastardly civilizations that double-cross you!

Defensive Pact (Requires Chivalry) – again another option I use rarely as I find that many civilizations will break this pact before gaining any real benefit.

Research Agreement (Requires Philosophy) – this is an interesting change to the ‘swapping technology’ and involves both parties investing in research and gaining a random technology after 20 turns. Bear in mind that you could be helping an opponent receive a technology they may not have gotten so quickly.

Pact of Cooperation - this is perhaps one of the useful pacts and generally improves diplomatic relationships with the other civilization.

Trade Cities – I have to be honest that I’ve never used this option – I guess that if you happen to get a city that is totally isolated from your empire then you might swap it with a closer city, thus gaining extended borders and the benefits of being close to the capital.

Other Players - you can make agreements to make war, make peace, have embargo against etc on other civilizations – this is quite a useful tool especially when you are at war with someone and want to try to put additional resource pressure on them.

Pact of Secrecy Against - this is a new option in Civ 5 and essentially helps reduce the diplomatic efforts of a third party – the one you agree the pact with will be less friendly to the third party and in some circumstance will go to war against the third party. I try and get all the other civilizations to have a pact with me against the current leader!

Trade Resources – as in Civ 4 you can trade resources – with Civ 5 this has become far more important as often City-States or your own cities will demand certain resources to make them happier.

Don't settle new Cities – as mentioned above, you now have an option to ask other civilizations to not settle too close to your borders – this often does make them a little more aggressive diplomatically though, so should be used sparingly.