Noio

Most complex diplomacy system on a strategy video game

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I’m a fan of strategy video games. Recently I’ve listened to some interesting podcasts of 3MA, discussing about crisis management in video games.

 

I would like to know what is the more complex diplomacy system developed in a game.

 

As an example, in Victoria II you have some options for diplomacy (form alliances, prepare a ‘cassus belli’, get access to foreign territory) and advanced options if you are a great power (one of the 8 first countries in the game).

 

I would like to know which is the most complex system of diplomacy developed on a strategy game. In addition to declare war, peace offer or have granted military access to a foreign country, I think a very comprehensive diplomacy system should deploy options for economic intervention in other countries, to form coalitions not only to attack one common enemy, but to have an economic cooperation, etc.

 

Maybe Europa Universalis 4 is one of the games that have more options in playing diplomacy, maybe there are other with more possibilities to play the skills of diplomacy.

 

I appreciate your comments.

 

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Hearts of Iron is super complex and I bounced right off of it, but it might have the kind of complex diplomacy you are looking for. The issue is that it is very much a WWII game so you can't change history all that much without a lot of effort.

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Hearts of Iron has really poor diplomacy because it tries to walk the line between historical inevitability (World War II between Germany led Axis vs UK led Allies with Soviet led Comintern somewhere) and sneak in some free-form diplomacy models of EU/Vicky at the same time.

 

To give really borked examples, Germany's surrender is so hardcoded that you can beat Germany as Soviets alone with neutral USA, but when Germany surrenders, USA just eats all of France and Western Germany.

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Thank you very much for your comments. I've also heard that Europa Universalis I has some treaty systems that adds some complexity to the diplomacy aspect of the game.

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Hearts of Iron has really poor diplomacy because it tries to walk the line between historical inevitability (World War II between Germany led Axis vs UK led Allies with Soviet led Comintern somewhere) and sneak in some free-form diplomacy models of EU/Vicky at the same time.

 

To give really borked examples, Germany's surrender is so hardcoded that you can beat Germany as Soviets alone with neutral USA, but when Germany surrenders, USA just eats all of France and Western Germany.

 

Ug, those hard-coded events are why I quit playing 5 hours in and never went back. I don't play these games to duplicate history.

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I can only comment based on games I've played, but I'd say EUIV.  A combination of the mechanics, diplomatic options, and the sheer number of countries involved makes EUIV diplomacy a very involved process. 

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I don't know if you'll ever see this, you appear to have never posted again, but if you are looking for the most complex diplomacy system in a strategy game, you might be interested in my current project.

 

I'll just give a sort of overview:

Fantasy empire building game with from 1000-10000 provinces.

Propaganda:

Populations in your provinces have various ideologies and cultures that you can slowly alter over time through expending resources on propaganda.

Espionage:

Espionage system designed to function at a complexity similar to combat. Characters have political beliefs, secret desires, and potentially damning secrets which you can exploit to get them to perform various actions. You'll set up and fund an intelligence network to keep tabs on nobles, merchants, mages, generals of various nations.

Internal Politics:

Populations and characters have beliefs about how the world should be and their situation. You can control them through ideological alignment, propaganda, quality of life, espionage, magic, and cultural and political policies.

Diplomacy:

Aside from fulfilling desires you can engage in various actions through diplomatic agreements. You can foster the children of nobles or merchants or mages, work together on mutual goals, and have the ability to set an unprecedented number of policies like open trade, open migration, sharing university or private library access etc.

 

Rulers can operate a diverse set of government and rule through fear, intimidation, wealth, respect, and influence. You could be a benevolent magic friendly, culturally accepting, free trade, ruler or a feared, merciless, militant, treacherous tyrant. Different choices result in very different play styles and kingdoms.

 

There is a rather open government system where you can align with other characters/nations through various agreements. You might function as a feudal nation with divine mandate or an HRE style empire or like the Ottomans or w/e.

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I'm wondering if the diplomacy in Civ 6 will be much different. I don't want complexity as much as I just want a sense that the heads of the other civilizations have a lot of personality and I want to discover bits of intrigue that genuinely surprise me.

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