Having generally been frustrated with many aspects of diplomacy, I wanted to share something really cool that happened in my current game.
It was late in the game. I, and only I, had autocracy as an ideology and had proposed it as the world ideology for the next world congress. In the interim, I was finishing off France, who had been at war with Sweden. I liberated a Swedish city from the French, which got me onto friendly terms of Adolphus of Sweden. I followed up with several other friendly gestures, such as exchanging embassies, denouncing Siam when he asked me to (first time I've ever encountered that request, which I thought was a neat twist), and trading luxuries with him. I didn't have an ambassador in his capital soon enough to lobby him for his votes at the upcoming congress however.
So, imagine my surprise and pleasure when he cast all 8 of his delegates in support of my world ideology proposal, pushing it over the top (everyone else voted against it). It probably helped that he didn't yet have an ideology, so he wasn't voting against his own interests. But, it was a concrete example of diplomatic actions meant to strengthen a relationship with a country turning into helpful actions from that country.
Nothing world shattering, but it felt more like diplomacy could really matter than anything else I'd experienced in the game before. I hope others are finding similar gems, even though diplomacy still has some room for improvement.
It was late in the game. I, and only I, had autocracy as an ideology and had proposed it as the world ideology for the next world congress. In the interim, I was finishing off France, who had been at war with Sweden. I liberated a Swedish city from the French, which got me onto friendly terms of Adolphus of Sweden. I followed up with several other friendly gestures, such as exchanging embassies, denouncing Siam when he asked me to (first time I've ever encountered that request, which I thought was a neat twist), and trading luxuries with him. I didn't have an ambassador in his capital soon enough to lobby him for his votes at the upcoming congress however.
So, imagine my surprise and pleasure when he cast all 8 of his delegates in support of my world ideology proposal, pushing it over the top (everyone else voted against it). It probably helped that he didn't yet have an ideology, so he wasn't voting against his own interests. But, it was a concrete example of diplomatic actions meant to strengthen a relationship with a country turning into helpful actions from that country.
Nothing world shattering, but it felt more like diplomacy could really matter than anything else I'd experienced in the game before. I hope others are finding similar gems, even though diplomacy still has some room for improvement.