It would seem reasonably simple to offer a third option between 'no to war' and 'yes to war.' A player may opt to provide help besides war, the minimum level of help might be set by the AI, who could ask for some reasonable measure of money, tech, units, etc. that would be commensurate with his increased affections. It could be that this sort of monetary or material support of the AI's war would receive less positive diplomatic points than actually going to war at the AI's request, but it would be a nice in-between option. Also, if the human were unable or unwilling to provide the AI with sufficient support of any kind, then it could be treated as diplomatically equivalent to having said no outright to the AI's request. At the least, a player should have the option of providing what aid he/she can afford while maintaining friends, but without having to mobilize for war.
I also would like to see the United Nations play a bigger role in the game as far as international relations are concerned. Membership to the UN could be assigned by the person who founds it, other nations would apply for membership and member states would vote on whether to grant entrance. Continued membership would depend on conformity to the UN's civic requirements and other requrements additionally. Of course, voting by member states would remain the path to resolutions. In that way, the UN might deny the right of certain nations to develop nuclear weapons for example. Ignoring the UN would always be an option, but sanctions could be imposed for failure to abide by the UN's decisions in the form of negative diplomacy points or other costs. Non UN nations might resent UN nations and diplomatic points would be assigned accordingly. UN nations might be called upon to provide for a common defense or offense. In this way, there would be tense relations between UN states and non-UN states....blah blah, I think the end game could be spiced up if some of these ideas were incorporated into the game.
Anyways, I am very disappointed that diplomacy did not recieve as much attention as other areas of the game. Nuanced and detailed diplomatic options would take this game to another level. Even still, I think that BTS will be a great expansion.
