It seems like the developers are aiming for that goal, but the current state of the game feels a bit "meh." Neighboring countries rarely engage in proactive diplomacy with the player (although, if you act extremely maliciously, they might declare war). On the other hand, meaningful diplomacy is nearly impossible for the player because it costs way, way too much money.

Would you spend 10M just to form an alliance with a minor nation? Instead, use that money to buy weapons, invade them, and then force them to become your protectorate as part of a peace treaty. That’s what diplomacy in Six Worlds looks like.

Additionally, I’ve rarely seen NPC nations fight each other. However, it’s already showing the kind of depth and vision that fans of Dwarf Fortress have been hoping for.

4x (as in genre) simulation as a solo developer is tens of thousands of hours of development, so i'd say you need to stay tuned for a while. :)

Originally posted by VanditKing:

It seems like the developers are aiming for that goal, but the current state of the game feels a bit "meh." Neighboring countries rarely engage in proactive diplomacy with the player (although, if you act extremely maliciously, they might declare war). On the other hand, meaningful diplomacy is nearly impossible for the player because it costs way, way too much money.

Would you spend 10M just to form an alliance with a minor nation? Instead, use that money to buy weapons, invade them, and then force them to become your protectorate as part of a peace treaty. That’s what diplomacy in Six Worlds looks like.

Additionally, I’ve rarely seen NPC nations fight each other. However, it’s already showing the kind of depth and vision that fans of Dwarf Fortress have been hoping for.

That is very disappointing, especially since the game looks quite nice. The edge in my mind this game had over DF was its grandiose world politics and diplomacy but I was apparently misinformed or made poor assumptions about this. So essentially it's a 'paint the map your colour' sim like EU4 or something?

Originally posted by BeheadThoseWhoInsultKane:

4x (as in genre) simulation as a solo developer is tens of thousands of hours of development, so i'd say you need to stay tuned for a while. :)

yeah I'm not discounting that the development is very difficult but still, I'm looking for a certain experience.

Well the lastest beta branch is supposed to have revamped diplomacy so don't write off the game just yet. Find a video on v.68 and see if it is more like what your looking for.

Originally posted by Luckycharms:

Well the lastest beta branch is supposed to have revamped diplomacy so don't write off the game just yet. Find a video on v.68 and see if it is more like what your looking for.

I did watch one on it, but I already forgot. I think it was the first one I watched and had no idea what was going on, so thanks for redirecting me there.. It'll make more sense this time.

The game's diplomacy is quite weak. The strategy and enjoyment come from building a large city with good logistics. Everything in the game is just a means to that end, including the other nations. You're not going to ever use the assassinate feature, for instance. There's just no point in it. The other nations provide very little threat to you once you understand the game's mechanics well enough. Eventually you will venture forth and conquer other lands and you will use the conquered resources to ramp your city even further and eke out ever more increasing numbers of citizens. Until then you can safely ignore the other city states.

Originally posted by Poolboy:

The game's diplomacy is quite weak. The strategy and enjoyment come from building a large city with good logistics. Everything in the game is just a means to that end, including the other nations. You're not going to ever use the assassinate feature, for instance. There's just no point in it. The other nations provide very little threat to you once you understand the game's mechanics well enough. Eventually you will venture forth and conquer other lands and you will use the conquered resources to ramp your city even further and eke out ever more increasing numbers of citizens. Until then you can safely ignore the other city states.

Is there very little benefit to trade and having some sort of diplomacy or relationship with the other cities? Is the new V.68 likely going to change that or is proper diplomacy never going to be a thing? Do other cities at least war with each other and expand, possibly becoming very big and powerful?

Originally posted by Chuddly:

Is there very little benefit to trade and having some sort of diplomacy or relationship with the other cities? Is the new V.68 likely going to change that or is proper diplomacy never going to be a thing? Do other cities at least war with each other and expand, possibly becoming very big and powerful?

The other city states do gobble up weaker city states and in doing so they do become an obstacle to your expansion. They are also a threat to you if you are not sufficiently strong by that point, which is why I said the other nations pose little threat once you understand the game's mechanics, because if you make the mistake of growing fat and wealthy but have nothing to defend yourself with you can find your state being targeted by the AI. There is definitely reason to make friends and trade as you will need their goods to grow and it's very rare that you'll be able to do everything by yourself. Once you are strong though, you can then wipe out your nearest neighbours and go ahead and make new trade deals with your new neighbours.
I don't want to make it seem like there's zero diplomacy, there is, or that the game world is entirely static, it isn't, but that diplomacy isn't the game's focus. Improvements are being made to it, and the direction is positive, but I doubt that it will ever be very deep or indeed useful, though I would love to be proven wrong.

I was extremely excited when Jake released the diplomacy updated that included character interactions that you could use on the royal families of other city states but the sad truth is that I have never found the need to engage with it. The tools are all there but, speaking pragmatically, they're completely unnecessary. The meta has always been to build up your city so you can support an army and then use that army to make yourself unbeatable and I don't see that ever changing. The other concepts such as flattery, sabotage and assassinations seem like superfluous fluff to me, but I am only one person and perhaps others have had different experiences that show those things to be both useful and fun.

Originally posted by Poolboy:

Originally posted by Chuddly:

Is there very little benefit to trade and having some sort of diplomacy or relationship with the other cities? Is the new V.68 likely going to change that or is proper diplomacy never going to be a thing? Do other cities at least war with each other and expand, possibly becoming very big and powerful?

The other city states do gobble up weaker city states and in doing so they do become an obstacle to your expansion. They are also a threat to you if you are not sufficiently strong by that point, which is why I said the other nations pose little threat once you understand the game's mechanics, because if you make the mistake of growing fat and wealthy but have nothing to defend yourself with you can find your state being targeted by the AI. There is definitely reason to make friends and trade as you will need their goods to grow and it's very rare that you'll be able to do everything by yourself. Once you are strong though, you can then wipe out your nearest neighbours and go ahead and make new trade deals with your new neighbours.
I don't want to make it seem like there's zero diplomacy, there is, or that the game world is entirely static, it isn't, but that diplomacy isn't the game's focus. Improvements are being made to it, and the direction is positive, but I doubt that it will ever be very deep or indeed useful, though I would love to be proven wrong.

I was extremely excited when Jake released the diplomacy updated that included character interactions that you could use on the royal families of other city states but the sad truth is that I have never found the need to engage with it. The tools are all there but, speaking pragmatically, they're completely unnecessary. The meta has always been to build up your city so you can support an army and then use that army to make yourself unbeatable and I don't see that ever changing. The other concepts such as flattery, sabotage and assassinations seem like superfluous fluff to me, but I am only one person and perhaps others have had different experiences that show those things to be both useful and fun.

The game sounds awesome, even with diplomacy not being that great. Guess I better try the demo. Thank you for the awesome answers.

Bear in mind that the demo is the game but several version ago, so a lot of the things that we are talking about in this thread are not available in the demo. It does give you a feel for what the meat of the game is and that is the city state.

Originally posted by Luckycharms:

Bear in mind that the demo is the game but several version ago, so a lot of the things that we are talking about in this thread are not available in the demo. It does give you a feel for what the meat of the game is and that is the city state.

Right, I wanted to see if I liked the core gameplay. It's fun and cool, I find the mouse movement annoying. Not sure how to word it.