Multiplayer Diplomacy...

[SteelCrusader]

So, I tried to introduce my girlfriend to civ2 via multiplayer gold edition. I was shocked to discover that hotseat doesn't let you control negotiations! Not only that, but the AI that controls it does absurd things like give away tech and threaten your potential allies. What on earth were the designers thinking? We are right next to eachother! At the very least there should just be a simple screen where we can just give/take things. We can negotiate verbally....

Anyways, is it like this in Network/internet mode? I have another machine I could install MGE on. If we both could control our own diplomacy the game would be MUCH improved. Please please let this be possible.

[DaveV]

The problem is that your civ is controlled by the AI when the other player(s) are playing in hotseat. You can set the attitude of your civ to be more or less friendly towards another civ, but the AI will still be in charge of one side of the negotiations. This is not a problem if you use the internet or a LAN to connect; you can do all of the usual trading and negotiation with both players having full input.

[SteelCrusader]

Excellent thank you. I'm so glad to hear that. This will be worthwhile for us. You gotta wonder what the designers were thinking with the hotseat mode like that. If a feature is THAT crappy you should just cut it.