In early August, I had the opportunity and pleasure to sit down with Brian Reynolds, President of Big Huge Games, to talk about his company's upcoming real-time strategy game, Rise of Nations, in his summer home situated in the beautiful 1000 Islands region of southeastern Ontario. This is the fourth part of the preview based on that conversation. This edition shines the spotlight on the game's diplomacy system, espionage and the theory of veteran unit exclusion. You'll hear all about RoN from the main man himself.
THE LINES OF COMMUNICATION...
It is not only war that has had an everlasting impact on the course of human history. Groups have identified themselves as belonging to nations based on language, religion, and over the past several hundred years increasingly the state – some a combination thereof concurrently or in succession. The “pen is mightier than the sword” axiom understates the complexity of the theory and practice of diplomacy while signifying its importance in everyday life. Whether desired or not, an open forum with other nations as with fellow citizens has continuously resulted in decisions reached that often accomplishes a level of intrigue and cunning that is hard to replicate by more militaristic means. Varying degrees of isolationism exist, but none that is absolute. While one need not love thy neighbour, thou had better learn to talk to them… at least for a little while, from a cynical point of view, to stave off future conflict one is presently unprepared for.
... AS CONSTRUCTUED HERE
In Rise of Nations, diplomacy is tightly integrated with borders and the overall political system. As we have seen in Part 2, if you cross into someone's national territory while at peace with them you immediately incur attrition damage (least you forget it's doubly destructive when dealing with the Russians (see Part 3)). A peace treaty avoids this problem but recall that such documents are not financially gratis, and certainly such a move in this circumstance is just if not more likely to cause a less-than-positive feeling to eminent from the nation whom you have just violated.
Disregarding the fact that the conception of the nation state is only the advent of the past few hundred years, the “Diplomacy Screen” is the medium by which you conduct your international relations. Reynolds sets up a scenario with the French. An offer of wood and food can be sent as a gift, a gesture of goodwill between the two peoples. Otherwise, you can initiate the receipt of something in exchange for these materials and stores. Here, the ball bounces into Napoleon's court and we would get a message in response effecting a 'yes' or 'no' response (this is reflected accordingly in a multiplayer match-up). If the latter, the motion is defeated. You can always amend existing proposals on the table, or you can clear them altogether.
Rise Up: Reynolds On RoN 
