[GS] Winning Diplomatic Victory w/ less than 20 points

[bengalryan9]

Apologies if this is already known, but thought it was funny.

I've been playing a game with Sweden, heading towards both a diplomatic and cultural victory. The cultural victory was a just a matter of time, but I was only a 3 points away from a diplomatic victory so I thought I'd go after that to save some time. I grab the point at the end of the civics tree and at the end of the research tree, and now I'm on 19 with a few turns left to go in the World Games event. Victoria juuuuuuust edges me out, and now I'm sitting at 19 points heading into the congress session.

I figure I'm screwed, because I know everyone is going to vote to take points away with me, but I figure if I'm smart I can at least mitigate my losses, so I vote to remove points from myself and throw enough favor at the other two resolutions to win both of those. At this point I'm set to lose 3 points, but I'll gain 3 points from voting for winning resolutions. No gain, and no loss.

But then the diplomatic victory screen comes up and I'm surprised to find the game over. It seems that the congress first adds any points you win and then subtracts what you lose, but if at any point you cross the threshold of 20 you win no matter what. I clicked the "one more turn" button and sure enough I only had 19 points... but I'll keep the win anyways.

Might be something to keep in mind if you find yourself in a similar situation.

 

[Rosty K]

It is known. Points you get count before points you lose. And if there's 20 before the world leader vote is counted, you win And yes, voting against yourself is THE strategy for a DV!

 

[qadams]

Voting against yourself is THE strategy for a DV!

That's pretty stupid. Not on the part of the players, I mean, they're just doing what they have to do to win. But it's a terrible design by Firaxis, completely counterintuitive and unrealistic.

 

[steveg700]

It is just very "gamey" to vote for the diplomatic leader to lose points in the first place. And gamey in a way that bogs the game down, because everyone gets 1 vote for free.

Should just be a blind bid really, You either get the DV points or somebody else does. Move the game forward.

It'd also be fine with a civ being unable to vote for themselves.

 

[Golkian]

A few days ago I stumbled upon this issue, too. Was in deity game as hungary in turn 236 on 18 points, when world congress was about to happen, with the first time voting on the world leader. I calculated that I did not have enough favor to outvote the ai players, but still I went all in. I had a little bit of favor left, that I spread across the most likely two other resolutions and clicked submit. Then the victory movie started!

I couldn't believe my luck and was wondering how the ai might have voted. So I clicked "Just one more turn..." and was surprised to see, that I lost the world leader vote big time (as expected). But I was lucky to vote for the winning other two resolutions.

That made me win the game, though I did not expect it. It is by design and somebody pointed out that the devs themselves explained it somewhere in a video, but I would very much like a more prominently placed explanation on this mechanic in the game itself.

Other improvement I would like to see (I mentioned that before, but let me repeat it here):
Currently I am able to see for some AI's on which resolution (A or B) they are going to vote. I do not know why I do not see it for all AI players, but I can see it for some.

But additionally I would like this:
If I have an alliance with an AI OR having a spy in the AI's capitol running the "Listening Post" mission, I would like to be able to see for which option of a resolution (Faith/Production/Gold or Scientist/Artist/Merchant...) the AI is going to vote.
Additionally:
If I have an alliance with an AI AND having a spy in that AI's capitol running the "Listening Post" mission, I would like to be able to also see how MANY votes the AI is going spent on a specific resolution option.

That would make intelligence even more interesting and it would allow for better planning of the diplomatic favor.

Also: I hate if something is too random. And for most resolutions it is too random which option of a resolution an AI player is going to select. A Theocracy might want to select the -50% discount on buying military units with faith but at the same time it would make sense for a theocracy to select the other resolution to increase the production cost of military units by 100% using production. How should a human player reliably determine what is going to happen? And since there is no game mechanic to reduce the insight on the AI's motivations to a reasonable extent, the vote becomes pure gambling.

Don't get me wrong, I had a lot of fun playing my game and was very proud to win it so early, but I would very much like an improvement on the mechanics here.

 

[TheMarshmallowBear]

That's pretty stupid. Not on the part of the players, I mean, they're just doing what they have to do to win. But it's a terrible design by Firaxis, completely counterintuitive and unrealistic.

The entire Congress system is "questionable" at best xD

 

[Ticklepink]

It's odd I just got 21 diplomatic victory points and didn't receive a victory with Simon Bolivar. addendum took a turn to give me the win..strange.

 

[Abaxial]

It's better than the Civ 5 congress.

 

[MrRadar]

It's odd I just got 21 diplomatic victory points and didn't receive a victory with Simon Bolivar. addendum took a turn to give me the win..strange.

This thread is quite old and the information in it is obsolete. One of the last changes in DipV was that you have to have the required amount of diplo points while ending the turn, then you get the victory next turn. It is no longer possible to get a DipV as described here above.

 

[leif erikson]

Moderator Action: As the information in this thread is no longer valid, closed the thread. Please start another to discuss the current mechanics. Thank you.