civnoob13
King
I'm wondering if you guys have any tips for a diplomatic victory on a standard map on king. I know this might be easy for some but I can't find a way to get more than a few allies. Thanks for any help.
Tips on diplomatic victory?
- Thread starter civnoob13
- Start date
Stockpile gold, complete quests. When the UN is built, ally the city-states. You don't have to be allied the entire game; you just have to be allied when the vote comes. Wait for the gold gifts are more effective quest, and then dump a K into the city-state. Allies for a while. 
I found that after having good relations with other civs throughout the game, several voted for me without prodding, as did their allied CS. Even my one-time enemy voted for me, as he liked me better than the swedish contender
(Not that many players actually have/want good relations with their neighbours. And as Putmalk said, you can buy votes. But be prepared to dump more than 1.000 on a CS occasionally, as some have become by then the virtual property of other civs, who have far higher scores with them as the gold grants.)
(Not that many players actually have/want good relations with their neighbours. And as Putmalk said, you can buy votes. But be prepared to dump more than 1.000 on a CS occasionally, as some have become by then the virtual property of other civs, who have far higher scores with them as the gold grants.)
Muskie
Warlord
On the lower levels winning diplomatically is pretty easy. It does take time so you have to survive/prosper enough to build the UN and you want the tie breaker vote for building the UN. Basically completing quests and possibly defending/protecting City States helps, but Patronage especially the opener and first two social policies are key. Being Greece or Siam of course helps, but ultimately anyone can win diplomatically if they have enough gold.
It is very tough to win diplomatically at the top two difficulty levels. The AI just seems to have way more money and City States more often get conquered. I've seen late games where there just isn't enough votes left for anyone to win diplomatically...
Great Merchants help so building wonders that produce them or using your free Great People on Great Merchants can work. They can conduct trade missions with City States which earns you gold and friendship. You can then in turn give the gold to the same or another City State to earn even more influence.
Any building that makes gold or Civ which has gold producing bonuses such as Arabia or Spain will help.
It is very tough to win diplomatically at the top two difficulty levels. The AI just seems to have way more money and City States more often get conquered. I've seen late games where there just isn't enough votes left for anyone to win diplomatically...
Great Merchants help so building wonders that produce them or using your free Great People on Great Merchants can work. They can conduct trade missions with City States which earns you gold and friendship. You can then in turn give the gold to the same or another City State to earn even more influence.
Any building that makes gold or Civ which has gold producing bonuses such as Arabia or Spain will help.
Keep your spies in the city states if you're going for a diplo win. Doing this will let you stage coups and rig elections to not only reduce other players' standing with them but increase your own (even after you're allied).
Also it seems you can't stage a coup in a CS you're at war with (edit: 0% chance), so declaring a little in advance of a UN vote might keep your competition from robbing you of votes at the last second.
Also it seems you can't stage a coup in a CS you're at war with (edit: 0% chance), so declaring a little in advance of a UN vote might keep your competition from robbing you of votes at the last second.
1) Although it's harder to buy yourself a diplomatic victory now, gold is still really useful, especially when a civ gives out the "gold is temporarily more effective" quest or "needs gold after getting bullied" quest. Get a ton of money.
2) Keep an eye on quests that a lot of civs want completed. If a bunch of civs want a natural wonder, start exploring. If they want a Great Artist, do what you can to get one. And so on.
3) Use your spies to rig elections, except for maybe one spy on defense (until you get Constabulary, Police Station, and National Intelligence Agency). And use coups as well. Keep spies in the city states that enemy civs keep screwing around with.
4) Don't play against Austria.
5) If you're worried about losing city states to a certain civ and you're close to the vote, pull the good old "bribe everyone and then declare war" trick.
That's pretty much it. I see the extra votes from other civs as a bonus, but they aren't really necessary. Everyone always seems to get pissed off at me by the end of the game anyway.
2) Keep an eye on quests that a lot of civs want completed. If a bunch of civs want a natural wonder, start exploring. If they want a Great Artist, do what you can to get one. And so on.
3) Use your spies to rig elections, except for maybe one spy on defense (until you get Constabulary, Police Station, and National Intelligence Agency). And use coups as well. Keep spies in the city states that enemy civs keep screwing around with.
4) Don't play against Austria.
5) If you're worried about losing city states to a certain civ and you're close to the vote, pull the good old "bribe everyone and then declare war" trick.
That's pretty much it. I see the extra votes from other civs as a bonus, but they aren't really necessary. Everyone always seems to get pissed off at me by the end of the game anyway.
Gold is more than useful for a diplomatic victory; it's still required. Staying allied with a city-state still requires a lot of cash bribes; much of the time a city-state will offer quests that you can't complete, or no quests at all, and when another civilization moves ahead the only on-demand option you have (aside from coups) is gold bribes.
However, waiting until right before the vote to try to buy out all of the city-states is going to be ridiculously expensive, so you're going to want to try to get as much influence as you can throughout the game (without bankrupting yourself).
However, waiting until right before the vote to try to buy out all of the city-states is going to be ridiculously expensive, so you're going to want to try to get as much influence as you can throughout the game (without bankrupting yourself).
