Brutus2
King
The Problem with Diplomacy - (Constructive Feedback)
I think the biggest problem with diplomacy is the game not allowing the player the option to forgive or condemn opponents actions and instead taking that decision away from the player.
When the AI takes an action such as settling too close to our capital or having troops on our border, we immediately get a negative modifier to friendship. We have no control over the actions of the opponent of course, but we should have control over how we respond to their actions. It feels bad when the game tells you that you must be angry about something that does not actually make you angry. The game is forcing us to be upset with the opponent for this action rather than allowing us as the player to decide how we want to respond.
I believe that when the opponent takes an action that could be considered hostile or aggressive, there should be a notification that tells you what happened and then lets you choose to forgive (resulting in no penalty) or condemn (resulting in the usual negative modifier) the action. This puts the choice in the player’s hand as it should be. Obviously when the player takes these sorts of actions against the AI, the negative penalty should probably be enforced on the player.
I think a change like this would actually solve many other issues and frustrations. For example, people hate when the AI forward settles the player even while complaining that the AI should be smarter or play more like a human and forward settling is something most advanced players absolutely know the value of doing. The real problem with the AI forward settling is that it immediately destroys your relationship… “Too close to Capital, Borders Touching, Troops on the Border.” If the player doesn’t really care about one insignificant little city being placed in some small little pocket of area that doesn’t really threaten them, they should be given the opportunity to forgive it without a diplomatic penalty.
There are many civilization and leader abilities that benefit from maintaining good relationships and often the benefits from those outweigh whatever small transgressions the opponent may have committed. It is often in the player’s best interest to forgive these small things in favor of the bigger picture of maintaining a strong relationship if that is preferred. Of course if you want to be angry and use it as a cause for war, that should still be an option as well.
To be fair, this sort of thing is not unique to Civilization and many 4x games utilize this approach but I feel it would be a major improvement if we could let players decide for themselves how they want to react instead of making that decision for them.
Please know this was meant only as constructive feedback for discussion. I’m having a ton of fun with Civilization VII. Discuss amongst yourselves, while I try to decide which civ I want to play next!
I think the biggest problem with diplomacy is the game not allowing the player the option to forgive or condemn opponents actions and instead taking that decision away from the player.
When the AI takes an action such as settling too close to our capital or having troops on our border, we immediately get a negative modifier to friendship. We have no control over the actions of the opponent of course, but we should have control over how we respond to their actions. It feels bad when the game tells you that you must be angry about something that does not actually make you angry. The game is forcing us to be upset with the opponent for this action rather than allowing us as the player to decide how we want to respond.
I believe that when the opponent takes an action that could be considered hostile or aggressive, there should be a notification that tells you what happened and then lets you choose to forgive (resulting in no penalty) or condemn (resulting in the usual negative modifier) the action. This puts the choice in the player’s hand as it should be. Obviously when the player takes these sorts of actions against the AI, the negative penalty should probably be enforced on the player.
I think a change like this would actually solve many other issues and frustrations. For example, people hate when the AI forward settles the player even while complaining that the AI should be smarter or play more like a human and forward settling is something most advanced players absolutely know the value of doing. The real problem with the AI forward settling is that it immediately destroys your relationship… “Too close to Capital, Borders Touching, Troops on the Border.” If the player doesn’t really care about one insignificant little city being placed in some small little pocket of area that doesn’t really threaten them, they should be given the opportunity to forgive it without a diplomatic penalty.
There are many civilization and leader abilities that benefit from maintaining good relationships and often the benefits from those outweigh whatever small transgressions the opponent may have committed. It is often in the player’s best interest to forgive these small things in favor of the bigger picture of maintaining a strong relationship if that is preferred. Of course if you want to be angry and use it as a cause for war, that should still be an option as well.
To be fair, this sort of thing is not unique to Civilization and many 4x games utilize this approach but I feel it would be a major improvement if we could let players decide for themselves how they want to react instead of making that decision for them.
Please know this was meant only as constructive feedback for discussion. I’m having a ton of fun with Civilization VII. Discuss amongst yourselves, while I try to decide which civ I want to play next!
