One of the most (or least) requested updates for Sins of a Solar Empire II has been with its diplomatic system. Half of players want more of it and the other half couldn’t care less. Both points of view have valid points, but what each side couldn’t know is how much diplomacy impacts the AI’s actions. Until now, this has been a black box but no longer! The upcoming 1.50 update shines a bright light on this seemingly insignificant aspect of the game. In this dev diary, we’re going to take a look at the first phase of updating the diplomacy system.
“It’s All About Hatred, You See…”
This sounds funny on its surface (and it is, which is why I typed it), but it’s also been 100% true so far. Until now, the AI has based its decisions on simple, pure, hatred. More often that not, this was entirely aimed at the poor, unsuspecting human too! But undirected hate just lacks focus; it lashes out just to lash out. We needed to purify the innate rage of each faction to come up with something… better.
“Or is it?”
To make the gameplay more dynamic and interesting, we have to make the AI players feel more than simple hate. As much as I love the idea of them being Sith, it’s just too limiting. With the 1.50 update, we’re adding in a number of additional factors that the AI players will consider when dealing with you and each other:
Trust: A simple enough measure - how much does an AI player trust you? This value goes up as interactions are completed in a positive manner. High Trust makes an AI player more likely to accept your proposals. This isn’t a one-dimensional figure, however; AI players will also look at how well you treat other players to determine how much they trust you. Trust can also be gained by gifts and destroying units belonging to the other player’s Rival.
Patience: Patience is an overall indicator of how annoying you’re being to an AI player. Trying to rapidly gift AI players or create deals with them will erode Patience with you, making them like you less. Patience will slowly restore itself over time if you remain on friendly terms (and stop nagging the other player).
Racial: It’s no secret to Sins' players that the various races and factions don’t really like one another. This value takes into account the inherent dislike between the TEC, Advent and Vasari as a whole. It’s somewhat randomized for each game.
Faction: Factional modifiers measure how much the factions of a race like or dislike each other. For example, TEC Enclave vs TEC Primacy will not always get along. This value is also somewhat randomized for each game.
Hate: Our tried and true companion! Hate is generated by a player’s actions against others. Destroying enemy warships, planets, trade ships and structures all generate hatred. If a faction hates you more than any other, you become their Rival. This will encourage them to target you above most other players.
There are additional factors that also impact diplomatic agreements, but we’ll cover those in the next diary.
New Diplomacy / Trade Window
Above you can see an image of the new trade/diplomacy window that’s being added in version 1.50. A brief overview is below and we’ll delve into these areas in more detail in the next journal.
Displays the selected player’s Patience with you and their current Rival.
At the top we have our usual agreement options, but below we’ve added details on the various relationship factors we discussed above. You’ll also be able to see how likely the other player is to accept one of your offers.
Gifts and bribes can be set here for both parties. You’ll even be able to trade Influence to help seal a deal!