Diplomacy Rating vs. Integrity

[jdmillard]

In the diplomacy window, there are ratings for each faction (Military, Economy, Research, and Diplomacy). Each one is followed by dots. All pretty straight forward.

My question is: what contributes to the Diplomacy rating? My guess is it has to do with how you are seen by the other factions because the diplomacy advisor says things like "Other factions are distancing themselves from us." If so, is the only way to improve this rating my making everyone else "generous" towards you? Sounds like it's just a popularity contest.

Should there be another rating called Integrity? Alpha Centauri had this and it was independent of what others thought of you and had everything to do with whether or not you stab your friends in the back or committed atrocities (nerve stapling, preemptive nukes). Integrity could play a role in the AI diplomatic decisions like willingness to sign non-aggression pacts and alliances.

[boulugre]

My question is: what contributes to the Diplomacy rating? My guess is it has to do with how you are seen by the other factions because the diplomacy advisor says things like "Other factions are distancing themselves from us." If so, is the only way to improve this rating my making everyone else "generous" towards you? Sounds like it's just a popularity contest.

Yup that's it. Game adds point of your rating and it gives you your score. Be at war with everybody you will have one dot, be generous with everybody you will have 5 dots. Not really useful at all...

Should there be another rating called Integrity? Alpha Centauri had this and it was independent of what others thought of you and had everything to do with whether or not you stab your friends in the back or committed atrocities (nerve stapling, preemptive nukes). Integrity could play a role in the AI diplomatic decisions like willingness to sign non-aggression pacts and alliances.

Absolutely. Declaring war, taking over cities, having the largest army, using nuke and black holes, backstabbing factions with which you have non aggression pack should all give a malus to diplo rating with effective negative consequences, like getting everybody else hating you and declaring war on you. You could also imagine low diplo rating faction losing emigration to high diplo rating faction.

On the other hand I would also like to see more advantage from having long term strong alliance, like stronger research/economic agreements, easier to obtain alliances and mutual defense pacts.

Those change combines together will make much harder for one faction to run away with the game once it has conquered another faction and give a way for the smaller faction to unite themselves against a super power.

Another thing missing is the lack of way to influence other faction opinion. The only tool right now is the gifts and the praise, both which are limited in effect and not always rational. As research/economic agreements are always bilateral, if the other faction doesn't want it, you can't use it as a mean to improve rating. Letting player to give one way research/economic agreement to improve relation could be a first step in that regard.