Diplomatic Victory Question

[Robo-Star]

Hi, Centaurians.
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I have a question concerning Diplomatic Victory: what happens if at least one faction defies the election of a Supreme Leader, and then (unlikely as it may be) the faction of said Supreme Leader is destroyed? I mean, does victory then become impossible - assuming only Diplomatic Victory was enabled at game start - or is another election of Supreme Leader possible?

 

[Petek]

Good question. Here's what the manual says about Diplomatic Victory:

When a Supreme Leader is elected, a faction leader may choose to defy the will of the Council and refuse to submit. In this case, the Supreme Leader must, with the help of loyal factions, conquer all defiant factions to achieve a Conquest victory. Because of the military power usually required to secure election as Supreme Leader, defying the will of the Council is generally fairly suicidal. Other factions will therefore usually take this course only if you have committed atrocities against them or have grossly and repeatedly betrayed them.

This seems to say that, if the will of the Council is defied, then Diplomatic Victory is no longer possible. If so, and under the conditions you presented, I'd say that victory is no longer possible. However, I can't recall this exact situation ever arising.

 

[Robo-Star]

Thanks, Petek. I guess it is a very unlikely situation, given that the defiant factions would have be at least three times smaller than the loyal factions (otherwise they could leverage a more than 25% vote to deny the Governor their 75% vote).

 

[Verrucosus]

Usually playing as a reasonably "good guy" (no atrocities, rare betrayals), I've never seen anyone defy me. However, the 3:1 voting advantage does not have to correspond to a similar ratio in military strength of even population. My diplomatic victories were often achieved playing as Lal or with him on my side and combining the Peacekeepers' voting bonus with the Empath Guild. I don't remember whether the two bonuses are just added or multiplied, but they translate either into multiplier of either 2,5 or 3 to Lal's council votes.

 

[Petek]

I think I had a faction defy me once. I can't remember the details, but perhaps another faction framed me for an atrocity.

 

[Buster's Uncle]

...Someone should set up an MP game to test this in...