Is anyone using the Diplomatic Quarter?

[bite]

I think I have built it in all may games so far

 

[Tech Osen]

I prefer building it next to the commercial hub in a city with Reyna since it's always a prime target for spies.

 

[darkace77450]

I've built it in every game I've played since it was released. The extra influence and diplomatic favor are quite nice in the mid game.

As an aside, I do with its building had citizen slots that, when worked, yielded more influence or favor.

 

[acluewithout]

I do wish its building had citizen slots that, when worked, yielded more influence or favor.

What I'd really really like is the ability to send Spies to other Civ's Capitals as Ambassadors, like you could in Civ V.

I know it's not a big thing, but it would just make Spies a bit more interesting, give everyone another tool for Diplomacy / Visibility, and would also give a bunch of mechanics another dimension (particularly Diplo Quarter, Intelligence Agency, Catherine the Black and Freemason Owls of Apollo).

I don't think the mechanics need to be particularly complex. Ambassadors could only be sent if you have an Embassy in the Civ, would be visible to the target, and would have some heavy maintenance costs. They get ejected if there's war etc. They'd only need maybe 2 or 3 "Ambassador Missions", like Increase Visibility, Faster Alliance Points, Increased Spy Performance (or maybe decreased Enemy Spy Performance), Increased Diplo Favour etc.

Seems like a small change, that would make the game a lot more fun.

 

[SammyKhalifa]

What I'd really really like is the ability to send Spies to other Civ's Capitals as Ambassadors, like you could in Civ V.

I know it's not a big thing, but it would just make Spies a bit more interesting, give everyone another tool for Diplomacy / Visibility, and would also give a bunch of mechanics another dimension (particularly Diplo Quarter, Intelligence Agency, Catherine the Black and Freemason Owls of Apollo).

I don't think the mechanics need to be particularly complex. Ambassadors could only be sent if you have an Embassy in the Civ, would be visible to the target, and would have some heavy maintenance costs. They get ejected if there's war etc. They'd only need maybe 2 or 3 "Ambassador Missions", like Increase Visibility, Faster Alliance Points, Increased Spy Performance (or maybe decreased Enemy Spy Performance), Increased Diplo Favour etc.

Seems like a small change, that would make the game a lot more fun.

Yeah, I'm not a fan of the whole spy game. For me it's more a nuisance to be dealt with than anything else.

 

[steveg700]

For me, it's a must build. I don't see a reason not to build it. You don't need to build it ASAP, but it would be a waste to ignore it.

The reason not to build it is that there's no place in a city design to build it.

Let's say in my Ethiopia game I'm doing religion. Holy sites take priority. Then I need some campuses. And since I'm on all this hilly terrain, I'm short on food and Civ VI does not do much to address low-food terrain challenges that a city in the hills will face. So, my only real recourse is to start building lots of commercial hubs and barbors. That's already taking me to pop 10 before I can even think about a diplomatic quarter as a "must-have". That's to say nothing of IZ's in flood plains and encampments on my border cities. Oh, and I need to government plaza somewhere too. Geez.

The diplomatic quarter solves a problem that wasn't begging a solution. It's actually handier for warmongers, because they're now losing DF points for taking capitals.

Worse still, it COULD have solved a problem, acting as a floodgate for the effects of getting boosts from CS's. Instead, it's just another FXS money bath for civ's.

 

[steveg700]

I don't think the mechanics need to be particularly complex.

The last thing Civ needs is another thing that's not particularly complex. Civ needs to have more depth, more choices, but stigmatizing depth and choices as "complexity" gets in the way.

Personally, the thing that would make the espionage game more interesting is to actually give the civ control a slider that lets the player weigh speed of completion against chance of failure. Push your luck.

Ambassadors could work that way too, basically just need their own brand of missions.

 

[darkace77450]

What I'd really really like is the ability to send Spies to other Civ's Capitals as Ambassadors, like you could in Civ V.

I know it's not a big thing, but it would just make Spies a bit more interesting, give everyone another tool for Diplomacy / Visibility, and would also give a bunch of mechanics another dimension (particularly Diplo Quarter, Intelligence Agency, Catherine the Black and Freemason Owls of Apollo).

I don't think the mechanics need to be particularly complex. Ambassadors could only be sent if you have an Embassy in the Civ, would be visible to the target, and would have some heavy maintenance costs. They get ejected if there's war etc. They'd only need maybe 2 or 3 "Ambassador Missions", like Increase Visibility, Faster Alliance Points, Increased Spy Performance (or maybe decreased Enemy Spy Performance), Increased Diplo Favour etc.

Seems like a small change, that would make the game a lot more fun.

The Listening Post spy mission already increases Diplomatic Visibility. That aside, I agree with the rest. I'd be fine if the only thing they did was passively increase alliance points, to be honest. That's something Ibrahim can do, but not Amani, for some reason.

 

[reddishrecue]

The AI sometimes doesn't like getting delegations from you so now with the Diplomatic Quarter, the AI will miss out on culture or diplomatic favor points. I like the new Diplomatic Quarter because I usually agree their delegations and their embassies.

 

[steveg700]

The AI sometimes doesn't like getting delegations from you so now with the Diplomatic Quarter, the AI will miss out on culture or diplomatic favor points. I like the new Diplomatic Quarter because I usually agree their delegations and their embassies.

Well, the AI might also like getting its +3 combat bonus, even if it's just for religious combat.

Another obnoxious design element. It should be a straight-up exchange of embassies, not a potentially one-sided situation.

 

[agonistes]

What kills me is it only has two buildings. Its pure agony.

 

[hhhhhh]

At the moment, it sort of feels a bit like just one more thing to build in my Pingala / Oracle City (which is sort of what @Victoria said I guess).

Why do you build it in your Pingala-Oracle city? It doesn't provide any Great Person Points.

 

[acluewithout]

Why do you build it in your Pingala-Oracle city? It doesn't provide any Great Person Points.

Pingala also gives +% bonus for science and culture, and flat science and culture for pop, so it tends to be a good city for DQ regardless.

 

[hhhhhh]

Pingala also gives +% bonus for science and culture, and flat science and culture for pop, so it tends to be a good city for DQ regardless.

But DQ doesn't give any Great Person Points, so I tend to build more GPP generating districts in that city and avoid having things like Gov. Plaza or DQ in it.

 

[monikernemo]

I guess its nice if you want to prevent Pingala from dying? but otherwise, I would also build it in a non-Pingala/Oracle city.

 

[acluewithout]

But DQ doesn't give any Great Person Points, so I tend to build more GPP generating districts in that city and avoid having things like Gov. Plaza or DQ in it.

Guess it depends on what you’re trying to achieve.

The Science and Cultural Great People are great. After that, do I really care for more Great Merchants (maybe), Great Engineers (pfft, no), or whatever?

I’m usually using Pingala to generate Science and Culture. Oracle helps with Science and Culture Great People, and is an adjacency for my Theatre. DQ is handy in that City because I’ll have Pop to build it, and the science benefits from Pingala’s +% bonus or any other +% bonuses I can squeeze into the city.

 

[King William I]

It's a great choice for the Kilwa city also

 

[darkace77450]

What kills me is it only has two buildings. Its pure agony.

Glad I'm not the only one.