Civilization 6 (Switch) Beginners Guide 7: Diplomacy

In this last part of the Civilisation guide,  Beginners Guide part 7, we are going to take a look at Diplomacy. Are you a leader that plays nice with your neighbors? Or do you like going to war to conquer a few cities? Read all you need to know.

If you like these weekly beginners’ tips, don’t forget to check them out under Civilization 6 Beginners Guide. 

Be sure to know your fellow world leaders

Is this final guide we are going to have a look at Diplomacy and explain what the leader screens in game mean. How you can send gifts to other Cvilizations, denounce or start a war and a few other things to help you in achieving that winning victory. All Diplomatic relationships are accessible by pressing the L shoulder button. Here you can read the info from each of the leaders you are playing against in the game.

When you send out scouts or other units to explore beyond the fog on the map they are going to find other civilisations. As soon as your scouts meet a unit or city from another civilization, you are then notified and the leader of that civilization appears on the list of leader screen in game. Once a civilization has been discovered it is best to send a delegation to that civilizations city. It only costs 25 gold coins to do so. By sending a delegation to another civilization you can improve your relationship a small amount and increase Diplomatic Access level.  Once your delegation reaches the city it stays there.

Access Levels

Above is the in-game Access Level screen this will tell you what level of visibility you have with other civilizations leaders. Access levels allows you to see the leaders agendas and how your relationship with a particular leader is progressing.

There are a few different levels of Access once you have discovered another civilization:

None: You know very little about them and their second agenda is hidden. Gossip received, any conquest of other cities, Religions founded, Declaration of war, Weapons of mass destruction strikes, space race projects completed

Limited: the reasons for a relationship are revealed, second agenda is still hidden. Gossip received, Alliances, Government changes, Denunciations, Cities founded, any trade deals taking place.

Open: all the reasons for relationship are revealed and the second agenda is also revealed. Gossip received, Districts constructed, Great People recruited, Wonders started.

Secret: all reasons for relationship are revealed and the second agenda is also revealed. Gossip received, What city states they influence, Civics completed, Technology researched, settlers trained.

Top Secret: all reasons for relationship are revealed and the second agenda is also revealed. Gossip received, Weapons of mass destructions built, Attacks launched, projects started, Victory strategy changed, Preparation for War.

There are a few ways to find out more about the other Civilizations that you are playing against once you have made that first initial contact with your scouts. There are different ways to achieve this, sending out that first delegation. After that, establishing a trade route by sending one trader to each city ( traders journey lasts approximately 20 turns ) and when the opportunity arrives establishing an Embassy in their capital city.

Also, researching the Printing Technology increases your access level to all civilisations by one level.

You also recieve Gossip from any trading routes set up with a civilization, or from Allies once an Alliance is achieved with a civilizations leader. You can also send out spies who can gather information about other Civilizations.

There is a Gossip report and an overview of how your relationships are developing in the leaders section in the game, keep an eye on the on screen notifications as that is where this information first appears.

Complex relationships

As with all relationships between Civilizations be it in real life or in Civilzation 6, they are complex. They are affected by what you do in the game, how you build your cities, what military you have and what type of government you have are a few examples.

There are different levels of relationships in Civilization 6:

Allies: you automatically share borders with allies, can not denounce or declare war against your allies and you can make agreements and you can develop research with your allies. Any Civilization you are allied with with have a flag beside their leaders icon.

Declared A Friend: when you are declared a friend of a Civilization you cannot denounce or start a war against your allies and you have a increased chance of getting good deals with the Civilization. A declared friend is shown with a blue smiley face next to their leaders icon.

Friendly: Friendly Civilizations think more positive about your civilization and you have a good chance of making deals with them. A Friendly leader is shown with a green smiley face next to their icon.

Neutral: your interactions with the civilization are standard. No smiley.

Unfriendly: Deals with unfriendly Civilization tend to be more in their favour than yours, you can chose to make demands of them as well. An unfriendly leader is shown with a sad yellow smiley face next to their icon.

Denounced: The leader that denounces you will have told other leaders that you have done something to offend them. If you can make any deals with them they will be unfavourable for you, you can chose to make demands of them. A leader who has denounced you will be shown with red smiley face next to their icon.

At War: War has broken out between your civilization and theirs, you can attack and or invade the civilizations cities, but you will gain warmongering and War weariness penalties. A leader at war with you will be shown with a red war cross next to their icon.

How to improve your relationship

Improving relationships with another Civilization can be achieved in different ways. Making a good first impression or sending a trader to their city or a delegation. Fulfilling a promise you made to them is good too, like not settling near their borders or having an open borders agreement. This allows their units to move freely through your cities borders and allows you to do the same with their cities borders. Without this agreement crossing another civilization border will result in war.  All Deals, Demands and Promises last for 30 turns.

Having the same government as another civilization, keeping a diplomatic promise you have made with them, making an alliance with them, declaring friendship and satisfying their agendas are all ways to improve your relationship.

A relationship between your civilization and another can also deteriorate by doing the opposite of the above actions and also war mongering, moving military units near their borders frequently, settling in lands they consider theirs and denouncing them or declaring war on their civilizations will worsen a relationship.

Declaration Of War!

War is a large part of Civilization and most leaders (the AI) are very quick to declare war on you and your cities. Avoiding war is impossible as you can’t please every leader at once, so someone is not going to be happy with you at some point in Civilization 6.

There are various ways to declare a war. The first requires you to move your military units into another civilizations’ military unit, this will prompt a pop up message to appear on screen as the picture below shows, the choice is yours which option you pick.

Other ways to declare war are by using the option on the leaders screen to make a declaration of a surprise war (except against your allies) but be aware you will receive a heavy warmongering penalty if you go to war with any civilization.

To avoid some warmongering penalty’s you can first Denounce the civilization you wish to go to war with, though this does declare your intent for war against that particular civilization and to all civilizations on the map. Shortly after you denounce them an option appears on the same screen to formally declare war. Choosing this option will reduce the warmongering penalty slightly. Warmongering penalties are received each time you do something war-like.

Warmongering penalties increase with each era, so in the Ancient Era there are no penalties, from the Renaissance Era up they increase significantly and so on.  Any warmongering penalties you have received will decline each turn until they disappear completely unless you do something to renew them.

Casus Belli…what is it and how do you use it.

Once you reach the Renaissance Era with “Civic Diplomatic Service” in the civic tree you receive a Casus Belli to use against another leader/Civilizations. Before using the Casus Belli you must denounce the Civilization you wish to go to war against. The following are the choices given for going to war using a Casus Belli and also the civic that has to be researched to unlock that particular Casus Belli.

Holy War: if one of your cities is converted to the enemy’s religion, the civic Diplomatic Service researched, you receive 50% warmongering penalties.

War of Liberation: if a friend or ally have cities conquered. The civic Diplomatic Service researched, you receive no warmongering penalties when liberating cities that have been conquered.

War of Reconquest: if you have had cities conquered in a previous war and would like to take them back. The civic Diplomatic Service researched, you don’t receive any penalties when taking back your previous cities.

Protectorate War: if you are Suzerain of a city state is attacked. The civic Diplomatic Service researched, you don’t receive any penalties when liberating a city state.

Colonial War: if the target civilization is two eras behind you in technology. The civic Nationalism researched, you receive 50% penalties.

War of Territorial Expansion: if the target civilization borders your nation. The civic researched Mobilization, you receive 75% penalties.

Every time your civilization goes to war your cities will suffer from war weariness, this means that productivity and the happiness of your citizens will diminish. War weariness affects all your cites by making an Amenity you own as a negative, lowering the growth of your city by slowing production. War weariness will slowly reduce while you are still at war and reduces at an increased rate when you are no longer at war.

There are a few Policy cards that reduce war weariness:

• Propaganda: Accumulate 25% less war weariness.
• Martial Law: Accumulate 25% less war weariness.

There is one Leader in Civilization 6 who’s cities do not incur war weariness at all and that is Alexander of  Macedon due to his unique ability.

The ill effects of war

When a Civilization is at war with you and attacking your city, their military units can pillage your Districts and its improvements. Until it is repaired by a builder after the war is over, you loose whatever that Districts produces. The unit that pillaged your district gains some rewards depending on the Districts production.

So if your opponent is pillaging the Theatre Square in you city and have pillaged each improvement on that Districts they gain a Culture reward.

Pillaging a Campus, industrial and spaceports Districts, Lumber Mill and Mine give a Science reward, pillaging a Commercial, harbour, Aqueduct,  Aerodrome, Pasture and a Camp give a Gold reward. Pillaging a Theatre Districts and all it improvements as well as Quarry will give a Culture reward. A Entertainment Districts,  farms and fishing boats give healing as a reward when pillaged. Finally pillaging a Holy Site and it’s improvements as well as a Plantation will give a Faith reward.

All of the above rewards are also what you gain when it’s your units that are pillaging your opponent cities Districts and improvements.

Making Peace

Making peace is done through the leaders action panel and can only be made once 10 turns have progressed since war was started. Your opponent may refuse to negotiate altogether, in which case the war continues.

If they are willing to negotiate at all, a city-state will always accept an offer of peace without preconditions. If your opponent is a civilization who is willing to discuss peace, you may negotiate the price for peace on the Trade Table. Depending on circumstances one side or the other may give the opponent gold, treaties, cities, and/or resources in exchange for peace.

Your opponent can also offer to negotiate peace. It’s usually a good idea to at least see what they’re offering before deciding upon your response. Also, once you make peace, you cannot declare war with the same civilisation for an additional 10 turns .

Well that’s all for this series of guides on Civilizations 6 on the Nintendo Switch.

Have fun finding out what is under all that fog on the map and I hope our guides have been some help in achieving the victory you are trying to achieve and remember: it’s the fun of taking part and not always winning that matters.

Thank you for reading.