Great Diplomat questions

[Zymos]

What do I do with my first few Great Diplomats?

Up until this point I've specifically used them to scout foreign lands (since they can pass enemy borders) and then put up Embassies in far-away City States.

 

[infidel88]

Personally, if I can create embassy, I always do this. 1 vote in WC is always worth it.

 

[CrazyG]

Starting in far away CS is very smart. I've actually missed getting an embassy down by 1 turn before. The only situation I would bulb is if I'm about to go to war to and the CS has a good location

 

[Zymos]

Personally, if I can create embassy, I always do this. 1 vote in WC is always worth it.

What about using them for influence like the AI always does?

 

[Amask]

In my experience, 1 vote in WC is almost never worth it. Maybe once in three to five games does one vote end up deciding anything, even rarer that it decides something I actually care about.

I like to keep one great diplomat on hand in case I'm hovering around 10 happiness and someone steals my mercantile ally. Or maybe I have a CS on my undefended border that just got allied with someone I'm about to declare war on. Diplomat to the rescue.

 

[Grabbl]

I use them almost exclusively for embassies if possible - those extra votes seem quite important for me, and additionnally I don't have to invest to maintain them (as in city states or religious votes). In addition to that, there is one less embassy possible for the AI.

Through diplomats, I usually generate 2-4 votes for a non-diplomatic game, and these can be decisive for sure.

 

[CrazyG]

What about using them for influence like the AI always does?

It can be a great move if you have a special reason for doing so. Taking an enemies city state then immediately declare war can be helpful (AI does this too). Of course the embassy is generally the better long term play. I see the AI planting embassies fairly quickly, I can typically rush out 2 but after that it can be hard to find more, especially if Venice or Mongols are in the game.

 

[Enginseer]

The thing is to keep in mind is that the AI assume you're a warmonger, hence they won't expend all their diplomats for embassy. Embassy becomes irrelevant fast after a city-state conquest. That's how you limit a diplomatic victory through (assimilation)

 

[infidel88]

What about using them for influence like the AI always does?

It's all about instant over longtime profits. Yes, it may be argued that +xx culture or food now is worth more than 1 vote in the future, but:
- in later eras +90 from great diplomat is useless, as normal diplomat can easily do +60 or more, and you can spam them like crazy (note: GD influence should scale). and you often see something like "you need 500 influnce to pass X" - GD just won't help;
- you can only put 1 embassy, while you can always get allied city state. And competition is quite steep;
- you guys say 1 vote is not a lot. well, 1 vote can decide if you'll get Sphere of Influence later on or not - consider making embassies like an investment;
- building embassies will not get anyone angry, using GD might;
- embassy stays, so even if someone conquers that CS, you may liberate it and get that vote back;

 

[Galbias]

I usually use them for Embassies first, though I'd definitely consider using one to grab a CS alliance that would be helpful in a war.

It's all about instant over longtime profits. Yes, it may be argued that +xx culture or food now is worth more than 1 vote in the future, but:
- in later eras +90 from great diplomat is useless, as normal diplomat can easily do +60 or more, and you can spam them like crazy (note: GD influence should scale). and you often see something like "you need 500 influnce to pass X" - GD just won't help;

GD influence does scale, just not a lot (I think it starts out at 70 and goes up to like 100 or 120 or something). And lategame when you can easily get the minimum 60 for an alliance, they may as well be worth double the amount of displayed influence because you'll pretty much always have competition, but yeah, in general I'd say they're one of the weaker GP, especially once all the Embassy slots are taken and they're worth around the production/money/paper it would take for 3-4 diplomatic units.

 

[Stalker0]

Ultimately embassies are worth 2 votes. You gain one and deny an enemy one.

Early on you don't get a lot of votes, embassy is the way to go