Diplomacy

[Russian_King]

Sorry guys, this may not belong here with all the error talk and that, but can anyone explain to me how exactly to trade in diplomacy? when do world maps become sharable?
in general why when we begin the game cant i trade ANYTHING? and why when i put something on the table i cant always pick something else out of ANY table after that? it really is confusing and unsistematic

apart from that i love the new diplomacy and how they tell u what they like and dont like about u and how u can gossip!! that RULES!!
FINALLY an AI which does not gang up on humans! id rather it cheat than gang up, cos one of the most important things in civ is the fact that u actually have relations and communications with other players... they have really done it this time so far!

[Rathanel]

Most of your questions can be answered by reading the manual... however, I'm bored, so here we go:
[If I happen to get something wrong, please correct me. I'm at work, so I can't load up the Civilopedia to verify anything I'm fuzzy on]

when do world maps become sharable?

With the discovery of the map-making technology. Only one participant of the trade needs to have the technology (as is the case for all other trade enabling techs).

in general why when we begin the game cant i trade ANYTHING?

Because you don't have any of the technologies necessary. They decided to put most of the Diplomacy options under technologies (some /quite/ late in the tech tree, too), a decision I don't necessarily agree with in all cases.

and why when i put something on the table i cant always pick something else out of ANY table after that?

The game splits all trades into two types: immediate (e.g., gold, technology) and annual (e.g., gold per turn, resources). There is a third type - Special - but as the name implies, only a few specific options fall under this category (peace treaty is the only one I can think of off-hand).

Once you select an item that is immediate, you can only add other immediate items to the table. Same goes for annual. Special I can't remember exactly. Sorry.

[Russian_King]

what about conversion etc? why can i convert some civs and not others (ie why does the option exist in some) and why cant i offer to convert myself?

[alva]

They need at least one city that has your state religion.