Alright, you've probably already discovered this on your own, but just in case you haven't played the game, diplomacy is extremely beneficial for you civilization, provided you go about it in the right way.

At the beginning of the game, you typically have contact with one to four civilizations that are on your continent. If you can seek out the other civilizations, you can gain a huge advantage if you can make all your diplomatic arrangements in one turn. Typically, the first new civilization that you find will have contact with most of the others, and you can trade contacts, one for one, using the contacts for the people from your neck of the woods. Before the turn is over do as much trading amoungst all the world's Civilizations before they can do the trading amoungst themselves.

Trade contacts for World Maps, for more contacts for technology, for money, resell any unique tech you pick up from one civilization. Don't end your turn until you have bought and resold everything of value. Doing this, I went from last place in science (I was testing out full rush despotism and I think I sacrificed too many people) to first place, I had maps of the entire world, contact and embassies with every civilization, upped my treasury by around 300 gold and had 18 gold per turn coming in from rival Civilizations. As a side note, even if you have to pay through the nose for it, definately get The Republic if another Civ has researched it. Every Civilization seems to want it, and once you've sold it to two people you've at least made the cost back.

Good points. Everything has a fixed cost, and you've got to think like a Ferengi in order to cost-base it out. A civilization of accountants might make it. Every move needs to be thought out in terms of return on investment. If I put this city here, what do I get out of it? Is it worth the cost/time of the settler or is there a better place I need to put my claim on? If I give this guy the tech, what should I get for it in return? Does someone else have it already and they'll get something for it if I don't, rendering it worthless?

Resources aren't done in a free-market world economy. If a civ does a deal then those resources are tied up for 20 turns and you can't acquire them period. There's no bidding war. It's whoever is looking for the resource at the time of sale. Often I'd pay ANY cost for something I need but it's simply not available because the AI traded it for something silly.

Speaking of this, there needs to somewhere I can see how much longer I have on any given treaty, or embassy-established civ's treaties. It gets annoying trying to mentally keep track of how much longer you've got to build something before your trade deal runs out, or plan ahead for when you want to attack someone. If this already exists, please point me to it.

I have found myself doing very similar things DS. But I have to say, it makes me laugh playing this game like milo because he cracked me up. Btw, reference is to milo in Catch 22 if you have/nt read it.

I have been having some luck with trading maps for advances and gold per turn. Maximize your gold per turn by putting research to zero and you can get a high value per turn.

Then go to war - that 35 gold per turn deal you just made is history.

Missing from the game (or at least I haven't seen it) is some sort of chart showing your reputation. I know that another nation is either annoyed or gracious with me, but I don't know that they particularly trust me. I would have expected that in this game considering how hyped diplomacy was. We're negotiating with one arm tied behind our back.