Diplomacy and intelligence
Relations you can read, treaties you write article by article, named envoys and spies, and other empires' numbers shown as estimates unless you know better.
Two weeks ago Cosmarchy had no diplomacy. It now has relations, treaties, envoys and spies.
Relations
Every empire you meet keeps a Relations score toward you, and you can read the reasons behind it: shared borders, treaties, grudges, favours owed. Trust is separate. It runs one way and builds slowly. Wars have war support, peace terms and truces, and an empire can end up as one of nine kinds of subject, from a protectorate to a vassal.
The Diplomacy panel
Everyone you’ve met sits on one Relations ruler. Open an empire and you get a page with why they feel the way they do, what you know about them, and what you can do.
There are 31 actions. On the friendly side: gifts, shared star charts, guarantees and apologies. On the other: insults, demands, claims and threats. You can also ask for things outright, like a star system, an end to a rivalry, dropping a treaty with a third empire, or no more settling near you. Before you send anything that needs an answer, you see how they’re likely to reply, as a sum of reasons.
Treaties
You build a treaty from eighteen articles (non-aggression, a defensive pact, open trade, embassies, recognised borders, shared star charts, research help and more), or start from one of six ready-made drafts. The draft shows the other side’s answer live while you edit it, and an AI that says no may send back a counter-draft. Treaties bind for a set time, and leaving early costs trust.
Envoys and spies
Envoys and spies are named leaders. An envoy has to travel to deliver what you send, and their skill changes the answer. Spies run networks inside other empires and can be caught, held or turned. Both get better with experience and pick up traits along the way.
What you know
How much you see of another empire depends on how much you know about it, on a scale of five levels. With poor intelligence, their numbers show as estimates with ranges, or as the last figure you saw, marked with its year. Eleven spy actions can improve that, at a risk.
On the map
There are two new map views. One colours every empire by how it feels about you, the other by how much you know about it, and each empire’s name and score sit on the map.