Galactic Civilizations 2 Guide: Diplomacy

Just as war is an unavoidable part of Galactic Civilizations 2, diplomacy is an event that will happen repeatedly throughout the game. It is unavoidable, and although it is tempting to ignore diplomatic avenues - particularly for races which don't receive many bonuses to their diplomatic efforts - forgetting to make use of diplomacy means discarding a tool that could be used to further your march toward victory. With diplomacy, you can make treaties, form alliances, and manipulate your opponents. You can also buy technologies you otherwise wouldn't have and negate your opponent's edge through various forms of diplomatic sabotage.

Diplomacy only occurs in two different ways. It may be engaged by you, or it may be engaged by another race. If you engage in diplomacy, you can determine exactly what you'd like to ask for. You can typically only ask to engage in diplomatic relations every so often however, particularly if the race you're trying to talk to is hostile. If you attempt to make contact too soon, they'll simply ignore you. On the other hand, waiting for other races to speak to you doesn't trigger this penalty, but it obviously brings the penalty of having to wait for another race to make contact.

Don't forget that you can't speak with other races until you have researched Universal Translators.

Learning how to trade with other races can give you can important edge. The primary items traded will be technologies. Through tech trading, you can learn things instantly, without having to spend any time researching them. This is obviously good for you, but in order to get other races to trade, you'll need to bring something to the negotiations. Typically this will be a technology of your own. Never offer technologies which you consider to be powerful and dangerous. Always attempt to offer a technology that is valuable, but not in a way that can directly harm you. Trading sensor technologies can be good, as can trading morale technologies. It is also smart to trade weapon or defense technologies that are directly opposite of your chosen paths in that area. For example, if you prefer energy based weapons, and you are researching armor, then it makes sense to offer your opponents access to your armor research, because it won't be effective against your weapons but is valuable to other races. If you don't want to trade your own tech, you can bypass the dangers of passing your technologies on to other races by offering cash. This will drain your coffers quickly, but if you have plenty of money laying around, it is a good idea.

You may in some instances find yourself trading for cash. Trading for cash makes sense if you've come across sudden economic trouble. In exchange for cash, you can offer technologies, ships, and even planets. The AI doesn't always offer a fair price for these items, particularly if your diplomacy skills are low. But provided you can trade the right items, making this trade is a zero-risk method of cash generation. When trading tech, the previous rules apply - trade technology that won't be threat to you. But you can also do the same with ships by selling off old cruisers to friendly races.

Lastly, you might trade for warships or planets from another race. In the case of trading for ships, you can offer in exchange technologies, cash, or even your own ships. Trading for ships is not a very cost effective way of increasing your raw military might, but what it can accomplish is a sudden decrease of your opponent's military. If you're planning to launch a surprise attack, offering to buy some of your enemy's warships around key planets is an effective way to reduce your enemy's defenses. Buying planets is less effective and almost never happens, but you can occasionally convince the AI to part with a world. This would only be useful when trying to form a staging area however, as the AI isn't going to part with a planet of any significant worth.