Diplomacy Options
Basic Options War
A player’s units will attack (on sight) units and buildings belonging to a player they have declared war against.
Neutral
A player’s units will ignore the units and buildings of a player they have declared neutrality with.
Players can issue orders to attack units they have declared neutrality with and will defend themselves if attacked.
Allied
A player’s units will aid in the defense of the units and buildings of a player they have allied with as if they were his own. A player cannot target for attack the units or buildings belonging to a player he has allied with.
Special Options
These options are not yet in AGE2.
Fealty
The diplomacy interface will allow players to declare fealty to another player. Fealty causes the player declaring to become a subject of the player he declares fealty to. 50% of the declaring players resources will immediately be tributed to the player fealty is declared to and control of the declaring player’s units will thereafter be cooperative (as if the players were of the same player number). The player who has declared fealty will be unable to make any other diplomatic arrangements with other players; all of his diplomatic settings will always match those of the player he has declared fealty to. In addition, the player declaring fealty will not share the LOS of the player he has declared fealty to but the player fealty is declared to will receive the LOS of any player who has declared fealty to him (if they choose, players can set their diplomatic state to “allied” with a player who has declared fealty to them to provide their LOS). Players in a fealty status cannot target one another for attack.
Once fealty has been sworn, a player may not rescind his decision. A player may terminate the fealty status of any player who has declared fealty to him through a button on the interface and this will return control of all units to the original owner, cancel any shared LOS, and set both parties to
“neutral.” If a player is eliminated from the game, any players who have declared fealty to him are similarly freed.
Jihad
The diplomacy interface will allow players to declare a jihad against another player. Declaring a jihad provides the declaring player with a 20% attack bonus against units of the player he has declared the jihad against. While in effect, a jihad will also penalize the player who declares it by providing all other players (except the one who has the jihad declared against him) with a 10% attack bonus.
Once declared, a player cannot stop his jihad but the elimination of the player who a jihad has been declared against will stop the 10% attack bonus for other players. A jihad can be declared only once per game. Players who declare jihads against one another effectively negate each others’ bonuses but still are penalized with the 10% attack bonus all other players receive against them.
Declaring a jihad automatically places the declaring player at war with the player he has declared against and no other diplomacy options are then permitted between these players.
Mercenaries
Mercenaries are not yet in AGE2.
Implementation is TBD.
Tribute
Tribute is not currently modeled in AGE2 in the fashion described below. Currently, the Age of Empires system is in place.
Using the diplomacy interface, players will be able to tribute goods to one another. At the start of the game, a player with a market will be able to tribute goods to any other player, with 20% of the tribute lost as a fee for the tribute. Players can research several technologies to reduce this fee later in the game. The only exception to this is with gold, which can be tributed by any player with a market to any other player at no penalty.
Diplomacy Interface Elements
The diplomacy interface currently in AGE2 is not that described below. Currently, the Age of Empires interface is in place.
Note: buttons will only appear in the diplomacy dialog if they are available. If a player has no gold, there will be no gold tribute button. If he has declared fealty to another player the buttons he would use to declare fealty to other players will be absented.
Player Icons
At the left of the dialog are icons for all players in the game, each with a background color corresponding to the player’s color. Player icons are arranged in order of alliance, with allied units grouped (alphabetically by the players’ names) at the top of the screen, neutral units in the middle, and hostile units at the bottom. The player’s name will always be the first in this list (as he cannot go to a neutral or a war status with himself, this should pose no problem). Double left clicking on any player icon will bring up a chat box to send a message to that player only.
Diplomacy Icons
To the right of the player icons are the 5 diplomacy icons arranged in the following order: allied, neutral, war, fealty, jihad. Allied, neutral, and war are radio buttons, pressing any of them replaces the one currently set in that player’s row. One of these will always be active in each player’s row, telling the player what his status with all others is at a glance.
The fealty and jihad buttons to the right of these are normal buttons. Either option is declared by pressing the appropriate button in the row of the player to be targeted for a jihad or fealty declaration.
Status Space
To the right of the diplomacy icons is a blank column. When any player declares jihad or fealty, a jihad or fealty icon will appear in this space in the color of the targeted player. Thus, if you are the blue player and you declare fealty to the red player, a red fealty icon will appear in the column along your row and a blue one in this column along your opponent’s row. Similarly, if you are the blue player and you declare a jihad against the green player, a green jihad icon will appear in your row and a blue one in his row.
Tribute Icons
To the right of the status space are the tribute icons: food, stone, ore, wood, and gold. Left clicking any of these adds 100 tribute (shift left clicking adds 1000) to the player whose row the icon is in. Right clicking subtracts 100 (shift right clicking subtracts 1000). The amount a player has set for tribute is superimposed over the appropriate icon.
Mercenary Controls
TBD.
Control Buttons
At the bottom of the interface are two buttons, clear and send. Clear will eliminate all changes made by the player since the dialog was last opened. Send submits the changes (sends tribute to other players and changes diplomatic stances) and closes the dialog.