Yep Medieval Totol War II

Diplomacy

Though not as "fleshed" out as i would have liked it's not too bad in MTWII.

Diplomacy can only be carried out by certain units in game, simulating the circumstance of not having global communication satellites i guess . This has one interesting advantage in that each unit be it Diplomat or Princess have a
diplomacy rating which aids in whetehr any negotiations succeed or not. obviously the higher the better.

When you are first greeted with the diplomacy screen you have several sections.

Details & Behavior

with the following subsections:

Relations: Relationship with othe nation ( ie So-So )
Reputation: This factions reputation throughout tha World ( ie Dismal )
Power: Factions total military might ( ie Supreme)
Wealth: Factions money situation ( ie Bankrupt)
Priorities: Insights into what that faction might want from you at this moment ( ie Peace!!)

Some of these are useful was others not so, basically because MTWII does not employ any real intelligence / Espionage portion on the levels BOTFII might. so where the game may need to show you the other nations Power in BOTFII i would assume this not to be added to diplomacy because you wouldn't necesarrily know this unless your intelligence finds it out.

I like the idea of reputation though seems it has the ability to be expanded into something more wholesome.

Next diplomacy is split into two other parts below: Make Offer and Make Demand

Which includes within them:

Ceasefire/Alliance depending on situation
Attack Faction
Give/Demand Region
Make single Payment
Regular Tribute
Map Information
Trade Rights, which is simple trading increase i guess

When making an offer there is also the ability to see what the "computer" thinks of it, ie is this a generous offer, or "Demanding" offer.

It's a very simple diplomacy system, which to be honest doesn't work to well in game .

All of the above is what is displayed for yout diplomat, the opposing diplomat contains the details & behaviour portion, it's allies and enemies and current treaties with you.

One thing i do like about the system which may be able to be added to BOTFII is the demenanour part.

Demeanour

Basically the reaction of the diplomat you are negotiating with. It starts off with there first reaction to you, so if you've just sacked there city and you send in a diplomat in to talk his attitude may not be to pleasant.

However his attitude will change depending on the next thing you do. give him a gift and it my improve from "distrustful" to something like "amicable".
With an improving attitude you are more likely to agree to a proposal, obviosuly up to a point. Don't expect bribing him gifts of money until his attitude is "Happy" and then ask him to become a "protectorate" he won't see your point of view

I do like the idea, and in BOTFII each race can have differant ways to affect there Demeanour, Ferengi wan't money so offer it, Klingons like strength and honour, so perhaps showing some sign of strength may improve relations.
Ie they demand you break off a treaty and you say NO! they may think you as more honourable and be willing to tolerate you more who knows, though it does sound a little to complicated .

Anyway there is a brief version, i'am sure the community can come up with a more engaging and complicated version but this one could work if you want to quickly move on to other things in the game.

Regards Wolfe

my plea for Events and Missions to come

Cheers, Wolfe. I may have to snag a copy of the game and play around with it a bit.

Events and Missions

For those who have played MTWII they would have seen what i think would be a great addition to the game, and possibly very emmersive if people are creative enough.

So far we have random events which occur every now and then and thats good but there is also another thing that can be implemented.

In MTWII you can recieve missions from something called the council of nobles or the Pope or Even Guilds. I don't see how this can't change into something like Star Fleet or the Tal Shiarr, however it seems pluasible it can come from a variety of places, other minor spiecies or even made up guilds

In these missions you are given a task spaced over several turns to complete. Ranging from the simple, speak with such and such faction, to harder ones. ie prince asking you to kill his stupid father so he can become king.

With each mission is a reward or penaltie for not completeing it. Rewards obviously can range and if implemented is only subject to your imagination. but normally units or money or and increase in reputation with the faction or guild.

I thought that it would make for an interesting story driven element for BOTFII, some poeple like the idea of command ships and obviously enjoy the whole exploration/mission element of the Star Trek series so why not add a small part of that in game.

Example: Missions centered around a Ship like enterprise, you could be tasked with exploring a certain region of space, with a reward of research points. Or tasked with trying to improve relation with a "Minor Race" you have to escort the ship to its homeworld, with a reward of increased reputation with the specific minro race.

It could also be possible to have a series of "linked Missions" which are a simple story driven exercise.

ie: Star Fleet intelligence ask you to explore some system. mission 1, you explore and find something. Later in the next mission intelligence decodes a transmission from this object and asks you to further investigate it etc etc.

Make for some interestin play between managing the empire and it would not seem to hard to code i think. generally just Mission and Reward of which they can be simple and arbitrary to begin with.

Just depends on peoples imaginations of which mine sucks

Regards Wolfe

Oooh, I like the idea of Missions. It would definitely add a story element to the game, which is good, as BotF never really had a story.

The only reason i thought of it was perhaps it would be simple to implement and add a nice story driven element now and then , it can always be modded in i guess.

Regards Wolfe

As Mike said the empires already have an ethical allignment, and we wouldn't want to change that, however the story thing has potential (perhaps to be added later).

Now, as president I don't want to be given any orders by anyone!!! However I have a few ideas of how a mini sub mission could work....

For example;

"We have received a communication from a Tholian Ambassador. He is due to meet with the Bajorans to discuss a vital trade agreement. Unfortunately, Pirates have been attacking Tholian vessels on route to Bajor, and the Tholians are concerned for the safety of the Ambassador.
The Ambassador will leave for Bajor on turn 456. They have requested a Federation escort to ensure their safety, this deal is very important to the Tholians, and they would really appreciate our assistance".

If successful- Tholian receptiveness jumps 2 levels.


Well, I guess that's perhaps a bit complicated, and there are many variables with a free and open games like this which would be factors. Eg, what if the Klingons wipe out the Tholians half way through this?

That's about the olny type of thing I can think of for story elements.

I agree that in game you are essentially playing GOD, but still there are openings where this can be bypassed as Son pointed out (Nice idea).

In MTWII if the faction dies before you complete the mission a simple letter comes back saying you don't have to do the mission anymore etc etc.

Though i do forsee some headaches with the many unforseen events that can occur with a game which is more complicated then MTWII.

Also i think it allows those people who wanted to have flag ships in game and do Picardesk missions have a little fun

Cool, that all made perfect sense to me, and gives us an idea of how this could be added without causing havoc.

As Centaurian said, this is so far from being a priority it's not even funny. Still, I'll think up a bunch of these and post them for discussion anyway. That way we'll have some fleshed out ideas for when the need arises.