Diplomacy (ETW)

Diplomacy

Prepare for a true revolution of diplomacy in Empire: Total War. One of the areas that have received an increased focus for this new title is the Diplomacy and Campaign AI.

Diplomats

In previous Total War games, campaign diplomacy was represented by a physical agent on the campaign map who the player would send to foreign nations cities to open up negotiations. Diplomats could also be used to approach specific characters belonging to another faction, for instance generals, in an attempt to bribe them to join you or in the case of an invading or besieging army, bribe the army away from the walls of your city, or of your land.

A new feature in Empire: Total War, however, is that diplomacy can now be entered at any time with the touch of a button, as opposed to having to send a diplomat out into the wilderness to encounter a foreign nation's population or city over a number of long turns. This is due to:

• The new streamlined approach to the campaign to allow for easier and simpler control over your faction and less micro-management
• De-clutter the campaign map from too many agents and unnecessary obstacles
• Simulate the 'Embassy' system which had now gone into wide use in the 18th century. In this time period, nations no longer sent emissaries when needed, but already had embassies present in other countries capitals for quick correspondences.

Consequences of diplomacy

All actions performed by players in game has an effect on the diplomacy between factions. In fact, AI factions may declare war if too much is demanded from them. The campaign and diplomacy AI have been unified, which results in more realistic diplomatic relations, complete with more useful alliances, as well as complex treaties.

As mentioned by the developers, diplomacy will allow for increased trade routes and will open up the possibility for military allies, something imperative to possess in a world that is constantly at war.

For people playing the American Colonial factions, for example, it would serve them well to improve their relations with the British, establishing increased trade routes, and possibly forging a defensive pact. Supposing that they are attacked by the French later on, the British and their naval might will sail to the rescue, either by assisting in land battles, or by attacking France at their homeland, forcing the French navy to retreat. However, allies will not automatically join the player for invasions and offensive attacks; they'll only commit to such an action if it is in their best interests, and if the alliance is strong.

New features

'Protest'

Players will also be able to protest against foreign actions, instead of just only being able to declare war, as in previous games in the Total War franchise. This feature acts as an outlet for the player to let other countries know what they think of them, and as importantly it acts as a sign for the player to know if their actions are seen negatively by the international community. In previous total war games, when a faction became impatient with a player, they would simply declare war as to vent their frustration. Whereas now, diplomacy can be represented more realistically with added options of non-war related actions.

Relationships with other factions

The decline in a relationship between factions will be slow and noticeable. For example, there might be and increase in duels between two factions' gentlemen, hinting at a possible belligerence. Diplomatic notes and requests will indicate how the relationship and standing among other factions is going, so there will be advance warnings, as well as an escalation of events building up to a conflict, as opposed to having a former ally turn into an enemy within just one turn. Furthermore, it will be much rarer for long time allies to commit betrayal.

Pope and religion

In terms of diplomacy regarding Christian factions, the Pope will no longer request Crusades, and generally, the significance of religion will be much lessened in E:TW, than it was in the previous iterations of the Total War series such as M2:TW.