Diplomacy

Diplomacy is a system of managing relations and interactions between human players, competitors and pirates. The diplomacy menu allows to sign or cancel diplomatic treaties, perform diplomatic actions, compare the military and economy ratings or see the history of relations between two characters.

Diplomacy menu can be opened by pressing the button with two crossed flags, which is located below the minimap at the bottom right corner of the screen. Or by using a keyboard shortcut, by default: R.

Reputation[]

Reputation is a number indicating how much different factions like each other. It ranges from 0 to 100, 0 meaning hatred and 100 meaning being very close and friendly. Current reputation determines how likely a character is to agree to sign a better treaty, the higher the reputation is, the higher the chance for establishing an agreement. It can also determine if a character might want to cancel current treaty or give an ultimatum. Current reputation is displayed in the diplomacy menu right underneath a character's portrait in the central part of the menu.

Reputation can be increased or decreased in several ways:

By performing diplomatic actions, such as flattering. Diplomatic actions, except asking for a quest, have a specific success chance, different for each character. When they are unsuccessful, not only might they not work, but they might even have an effect opposite to the intended one.
By gameplay actions, various actions you might do during typical gameplay, such as expanding your museums. Every character has their own personality and preferences, which determines what gameplay actions would affect your reputation with the characters.
Signing a better treaty usually increases reputation with the same faction, while canceling a treaty decreases it.
Signing or canceling treaties with other factions. Some characters might like or hate each other and will be happy or not, if your diplomatic status with specific factions changes.
Trading with a character via active or passive trade improves reputation with that character. However, trading rights are necessary and therefore reputation already has to be relatively high to be able to earn more reputation this way. Both buying and selling contribute positively. Trading many goods of high value improves reputation faster than trading fewer goods of low value.

Treaties[]

Every two factions, which are part of the diplomacy system, always have one of the treaties active between them. There are four main treaties and two time limited treaties, which determine the behaviour of two factions towards each other.

Main treaties last indefinitely, until one of the factions cancels the current treaty, or an agreement is reached to sign a better one. The central part of the diplomacy menu is divided into four sections, one for each main treaty. The position of a character's portrait indicates which treaty is active between that character and the currently selected faction. The main treaties, from the worst to the best one, or from the right to the left in the diplomacy menu, are as follows:

War - factions dislike and can actively fight each other. They can attack each other's ships and harbour buildings, they can take over their islands via an island siege.
Peace - both factions tolerate each other and have neutral relationship. A peaceful faction can offer quests every now and then.
Trade Rights - both factions like each other and can trade with each other. Trading increases reputation between the factions.
Alliance - both factions really like and will help each other during a war. When one of the factions ends up in a war, their ally should declare war on their enemy and also fight against them.

Time limited treaties last for specific time period, and can be renewed once they end. Their availability depends on which main treaty is currently active. If a time limited treaty is active, its icon is displayed at the bottom right part of a character's portrait in the central part of the diplomacy menu. The time left, after which the agreement automatically ends, is indicated by a circle around a portrait - the bigger the yellow part of the circle is, the more time is left until the treaty expires. The exact time can be checked by hovering over character's portrait. The time limited treaties available in the game are:

Ceasefire - available during war, it prevents both factions from attacking each other for 2 hours
Non-aggression pact - available during peace, trade or alliance, for 5 hours neither of the factions can declare war between each other

DiplomacyChangingTreaties — Clicking on a character's portrait and then on the button on the right shows options allowing to change the treaty.

It is possible to sign a better treaty or to cancel the current one. Signing a better agreement requires enough reputation points, higher reputation raises the chance for better treaties. Sometimes the difference between military ratings of the factions is also important, and higher strength also increases the chance of success. If you suggest to sign an agreement but the other faction is not fully convinced, they may demand some money in exchange for reaching the agreement.

In some situations a non-player character may offer a better agreement, or threaten to cancel the current one by giving you an ultimatum. When offering a better agreement they might demand or offer a payment, in case of a threat they always demand money. Signing better treaties increases reputation, while canceling treaties decreases reputation.

To sign or cancel a treaty click on a character's portrait in the central part of the diplomacy menu, then on the button on the right. Hover over each option to see details such as success chance, click on one of the options to try to change the current diplomatic status.

Diplomatic actions[]

DiplomacyActionsMenu — Clicking on a character's portrait and then on the button on the left shows currently available diplomatic actions.

There are four diplomatic actions available in the diplomacy menu. To perform one of the actions click on a character's portrait in the central part of the menu, and then on the button to the left from the portrait. A small menu opens up with the list of available actions, hover over them to see more details about them such as the chance of success or amount of coins required. Click on the action in that list to try to perform the action. The available actions are:

Flatter - if successful it increases reputation, if unsuccessful it might decrease it
Insult - if successful it decreases reputation, if unsuccessful the reputation does not change
Offer Gift - if successful it increases reputation in exchange for a specific amount of coins, if unsuccessful the reputation does not change and coins do not get transferred
Ask for Quest - impossible while at war with each other; after using that option the faction will offer you a quest, if they have a quest already available for you somewhere in the game world. Otherwise, they will simply inform that they have no quests available. Accepting and completing the quest increases reputation. However, accepting the quest and failing or abandoning it decreases reputation. Reputation does not change if you refuse to take on the quest when it is offered to you.

Success chance[]

Canceling the existing treaty or declaring war are the two interactions which always work and have 100% success chance. Other interactions, such as flattering or signing an alliance, can have different success chances, which in the game are indicated by following phrases, from the lowest to the highest chance of success:

Zero: 0%
Near impossible: 0-10%
Very unlikely: 10-20%
Unlikely: 20-30%
Low: 30-40%
Medium low: 40-50%
Medium high: 50-60%
High: 60-70%
Likely: 70-80%
Very likely: 80-90%
Near certain: 90-100%
Certain: 100%

Military and economy ratings[]

DiplomacyComparison — After selecting a character, the right side of the diplomacy menu allows to compare military and economy ratings.

Every faction has their military and economy ratings which can help to determine which faction is stronger than the other. Military rating is determined by coastal defences and military ships, the more defences and ships and the more powerful they are, the higher the rating is. This rating can also determine if a faction is willing to agree to sign a treaty, having a higher military rating might increase the success chance of signing a treaty. Economy rating is equal to the profile level, determined by global population.

To compare the ratings of two factions, select one of the factions on the left side of the diplomacy menu by clicking on one of the small portraits present there, and then on a big portrait of the other faction in the central part of the menu. The right side of the diplomacy menu will then include a comparison of the two selected factions.

Reputation history[]

DiplomacyHistory — After selecting a character and opening the history tab, you can check how your reputation with the faction has been changing so far.

The diplomacy menu includes the history of events and actions which affected the reputation between two factions in the past. It lists every previous event and a reputation change it caused. To see your history with another character, select their portrait in the central part of the menu and then click on the history tab on the right side. You can scroll up and down the list, the most recent events are at the top.