Diplomacy governs how your empire interacts with rival factions. Every faction you encounter has a relationship score ranging from -100 (Mortal Enemies) to +100 (Close Allies). This score determines what treaties are available, how AI factions behave toward you, and whether war is on the horizon.
Relationship Score
Your relationship score with each faction changes every turn based on your actions, their actions, treaties in effect, and the natural disposition of both factions. The score falls into named bands: Mortal Enemies (-100 to -60), Hostile (-60 to -30), Unfriendly (-30 to -10), Neutral (-10 to +10), Cordial (+10 to +30), Friendly (+30 to +60), and Close Allies (+60 to +100).
What Improves Relations
- Signing and honoring treaties provides steady per-turn goodwill.
- Maintaining peace over many turns builds trust through peaceful coexistence.
- Fighting a common enemy creates a bond between your empires.
- Open borders and trade agreements accelerate relationship growth.
- Naturally peaceful or diplomatic factions trend toward positive relations over time.
What Damages Relations
- Parking fleets near their colonies signals aggression.
- Settling colonies near their territory or in shared systems provokes protests.
- Expanding faster than your neighbor creates territorial tension.
- Declaring war — especially while breaking treaties — causes massive, lasting damage.
- Military engagements cause sharp drops in relations.
- Having overwhelming military superiority makes neighbors nervous.
- Aggressive factions naturally trend toward hostile relations.
Faction Personality
Every faction has a natural disposition shaped by their aggression level and diplomatic ability. Two peaceful, diplomatic factions will naturally drift toward friendship even without treaties, while two aggressive factions will trend toward conflict. Past wars leave lasting scars on the relationship equilibrium that take many peaceful turns to heal.