Diplomacy Questions

[sloanjh (OP)]

FAQ thread for questions about relations with NPR, Player Races, and the occasional Civilian.

[sloanjh (OP)]

"I just encountered an alien spaceship!  What should I do to make them like me?"
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Read this thread in Mechanics it describes the diplomatic rules in detail:  http://aurora2.pentarch.org/index.php/topic,1613.0.html
In general, you should make the best diplomatic team you can and assign it to them on the Diplomacy (ctrl-F5) screen.  In addition, you should start to initiate communications with them - inability to communicate will be a steady drag on the relationship.  When the "Allow Trade Access" yes button unlocks, flip it to yes.  In addition, keep out of systems in which they have populations - any ships of yours that they pick up in "their" systems will be a drag on the relationship (and vice-versa).

Of course if you don't want them to like you, you can simply start blowing their ships out of the sky  <img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_twisted.gif" alt=":twisted:" title="Twisted Evil" />

[sloanjh (OP)]

"I just encountered an alien race's ship on passive sensors (thermal or EM), but they aren't showing up on the Diplomacy screen.  What's going on?"'
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In order for an alien race (or ship class) to be "known" to you, you have to detect it with active sensors.  This is a good reason to put a cheap active sensor on your probe ships - if they run into an alien they'll be able to get an ID on it and you'll be able to open communications.

[sloanjh (OP)]

"I'd like to give an alien empire trade (or higher) access to my empire, so that they'll like me more rapidly, but the radio button is greyed out.  What's going on"
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Unfortunately, you are not the all-powerful leader of your vast empire - public opinion matters too.  If you look on the Diplomacy (ctrl-F5, aka "Intelligence and Foreign Relations") screen, you'll see a "Current Diplomatic Rating for this Race" number.  This is how much your population likes the other race - positive numbers corresponding to "favorable".  This has to be above the threshold for each diplomacy state before the button for that state will unlock.  For trade access, this threshold is 100; for others it's higher.  If this number drops far enough into the negative (due to you detecting their ships on active sensors in your populated systems without appropriate treaty status, for example), then they'll automatically be reclassified as hostile.

[sloanjh (OP)]

"I just accidentally dropped a mass packet on Chicago (oopsie).  Now my civilian trade lines are classified as hostile and I'm getting sensor interrupts every time they move in or out of sensor range.  How do I fix it?"
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Option 1:  Resign your post, get plastic surgery, and retire to Australia.

Option 2:  Use all those pesky civilian ships as live targets in your annual fleet gunnery practice.  No contacts, no interrupts  

Option 3:  (Stolen from Erik's post) Enter SM mode, go to the Diplomacy screen (Ctrl-F5), select the civilian race and modify the relations to something really large (10,000 or so).

[boggo2300]

Option 1:  Resign your post, get plastic surgery, and retire to Australia.
quote]

HEY!! we've already got enough useless leaders of our own thanks!!

Matt (and woot 100 posts, I've earnt my commision!!)

[eoa_trotski]

Hello,

i'm looking to a multiple human nations start, based on Earth nations, but with NPR.

In SM mode, you can create new empire in the F9 screen, but you can't choose their flags nor officers names and theme if you create them as NPR. .
I first start a game then create all nations i want but if i don't create new empire as NPR they just dont do anything and if i create them as npr, the AI gives them flags i don't want (ex : #### flag for URSS !)

So my questions are :
-can I change a NPR flag ?
-can I set a playable race as a NPR after its creation (ie : i create a playable race as "USA" or "URSS", with according flag, race, theme and officer) in order to give control to AI ?

thanks for this awesome game !

[TheDeadlyShoe]

I don't think there is a way to do what you want without the designer password.

even if there was, NPRs are not designed to operate this way, and will inevitably begin a cataclysmic war within weeks.

[eoa_trotski]

In fact, i wanted to play the Space Race which Steve used to play in earlier version.  But i think he was  playing the 4 differents countries. . .

So no way to have a multiple nation earth with space race. . .

[MagusXIX]

In fact, i wanted to play the Space Race which Steve used to play in earlier version.  But i think he was  playing the 4 differents countries. . .

So no way to have a multiple nation earth with space race. . .

You have to leave Spacemaster mode on and play each race.  The AI is, unfortunately, not designed to work this way.