Some ideas for diplomacy...

[CCCP]

1
What happened to the trade unit option from Civ2? In the real world if one nation does't have the technology or resource to produce some unit or it just can not produce it fast enough by itself, then it can import from others... But somehow this wonderful idea just did not make into the civ3. I really would like to help my allies when they are under attack, but still don't want to declare a war a someone else.

2.When two nations are at war, but one of them don't want to a negotiation, then a third nation should be able to step in. Let's say france is at war with england, but one of them doesn't want to start a peace negotiation, then the other one should be able get help from someone else to start this negotiation... Sometime in the game two nations can be engage war for hundreds year even in late ages can be very unrealistic...

[Dom Pedro II]

Both of these ideas were ones I advocated in the planning stages of Civ3 and even after its release, but #2 in particular.

In Civ3, the AI has the ability to do what it almost never could in Civ2 : wipe out another civilization. Borders shifted very little in Civ2 unless it was the player doing the shifting. Consequently then, in Civ3 two enemies beating each other up while you stand by and watch is not as profitable as it used to be. The simple reason being that rather than weaken both civs, one will most likely conquer the other making the conqueror all the stronger. That's why being able to step in and nip wars in the bud is very important...

I suggested a "Congress of Europe" type deal where you can get all of the civilizations together and iron out grievances and vote on various issues. Granted, some might argue that this would be a little overwhelming for the AI... perhaps, but I think its doable. It would function essentially as the UN voting for UN Secretary-General functions. You call all the civs together and then you make a suggestion to one... for example "Surrender Prague in exchange for 1000 gold." Then all of the civs get one vote, and the majority decides. The choices are either one side or the other... they're voting for their favorite civ, not on the issue itself.

Other issues could be proposed like to obligate all of the participating civs to try to accept the same government (monarchy, democracy, etc.) This reflects the real cooperation amongst the crownheads of Europe in the 19th century who were trying to protect their power by uniting against liberalism. It could also be for a group of democratic countries fearful of fascist and communist regimes. Other possible issues could be a General Rights of Passage allowing free movement through all participating territories. It could also be useful to have a sort of Triple, Quadruple, etc. Alliance between several nations to protect against another party. In theory then, the AIs could balance out against the player, or against the most powerful civ at the time.


Just a few thoughts...