Diplomacy is a key part ofCivilization 6, and a cornerstone of every strategy. Even the most belligerent empire needs to be able to negotiate with others on occasion, so knowing how to navigate the game’s somewhat obtuse character interactions is a must on higher difficulty settings.
From simple trade agreements to managing complex webs of alliances, this guide has everything you need to know about diplomacy in Civ 6. When you’re done here, you’ll be able to earn a Diplomatic Victory that would make Machiavelli proud.
Diplomatic Relationships
Each AI-controlled leader has a relationship with every other leader in the game, which impacts how well they currently get along (or don’t). you’re able to always see your own relationship with every opponent in theupper-right corner of the screen, and the Diplomacy Screen will show how a given leader feels about everyone else.
In multiplayer games, your relationship with human players is entirely between you. Choose your friends carefully!
A green icon indicates a positive relationship, a yellow icon indicates neutrality, and a red icon indicates hostility. Friendly leaders will bemore likely to offer favorable trade dealsandless likely to take hostile actions against you. By contrast, unfriendly leaders willbe unwilling to trade without major concessionsand aremuch more likely to declare wargiven an opportunity.
If you have a positive relationship with a leader, you canoffer a Declaration of Friendshipfrom the Diplomacy Screen. If it’s accepted, both parties will be locked at the maximum possible relationship level for 30 turns.
You can alsoDenouncea leader, locking you into an unfriendly relationship with them for 30 turns. This is a good way to get on their enemies' good side, and is alsoa prerequisite for declaring war using Casus Belli(see below).
AI players will tend tolike players who are friendly with their alliesanddislike players who are friendly with their enemies.It’s common to see multilateral ententes form because of this, especially in the late game.
How To Improve Your Relationship With A Leader
Your relationship with another leader is primarily determined by what actions you’ve taken in the last several dozen turns,even if those actions don’t directly affect the leader in question.While it’s obvious that things like ignoring requests or settling close to their borders will upset a character, you’ll also need to pay attention to how much your priorities align.
Offering gifts without requesting anything in return - usually Gold - can improve your relationship with a character, but it usually takes a significant donation to get anywhere.
Leaders will tend to view players more favorably if theyhave the same Government TypeorOpen Borders.Each leader also has twoAgendasthat dictate their personal likes and dislikes, and a third one appears roughly midway through the game.
Every leader in the game has a primary Agenda, which isunique to them and never changes.For example, Eleanor of Aquitaine likes players whobuild prosperous cities bordering her own, while Genghis Khanrespects leaders who field large cavalry forces.
Each leader’s secondary Agendaschange from game to game, and are always hidden at the start. This can dramatically affect how they see your actions, so pay attention to their preferences as the game progresses.
What Are Warmonger Penalties And Grievances?
Declaring wars and conquering cities willcause every other player to like you less- after all, if you attack one empire, who’s to say you won’t do the same to them? The exact way this worksdepends on whether you’re playing with the Gathering StormDLC.
If you’re playing without Gathering Storm, aggressive actions will incurWarmonger Penalties, reducing your relationship with every other empire. These penalties will decay back to zero over time, provided you refrain from any further warmongering.
If you have Gathering Storm enabled, Warmonger Penalties are replaced withGrievances.If you have Grievances against another empire - for example, if they declared an unprovoked war on you in the past - then you cansafely incur a similar number of Grievances from themwithout losing any standing in the eyes of the world. Essentially,Grievances between two empires cancel each other outbefore anybody takes diplomatic penalties.
Grievances also trend toward zero, so if you want to respond in kind to an enemy’s hostility you’ll need to do so quickly.
In both cases, the following actions arelooked down upon by the international community:
Note thatthese actions can stack with each other;if you declare war on a weakened foe, conquer their last city, and burn it to the ground (thus eliminating them from the game), you may expect your international standing to plummet!
Casus Belli
You can reduce the impact of Grievances or Warmonger Penalties byusing a Casus Belliwhen you declare war. By proclaiming a formal justification for your aggression, you can keep the world from turning completely against you. Different Casus Belli areunlocked via the Civics Treeas the game progresses.
Formal War
Must haveDenounced or been Denouncedby the target between 5 and 30 turns ago.
Holy War
The target must haveconverted one of your cities to their Religion.
Liberation War
The target must control a city that theyconquered from a playerwith whom you have an Alliance or Declaration of Friendship.
Attacker takesno penaltiesfrom declaring war or liberating cities, butstandard penaltiesfrom conquests that don’t liberate a city.
Reconquest War
The target must control a city that theyconquered from the player declaring war.
Protectorate War
The target must control aformer City-Statethat the declaring player held Suzerainty over at the time it was conquered.
Attacker takesno penaltiesfrom declaring war or liberating City-States, butstandard penaltiesfrom conquests that don’t liberate a city.
Colonial War
The target must betwo or more Eras behind the declaring playeron either the Technology or Civics Tree.
War Of Territorial Expansion
The target must haveat least two citieswithin ten tiles of at least two cities controlled by the declaring player.
War Of Retribution
The target must havebroken a Promiseto the declaring player within the last 30 turns.
Attacker takeshalf the normal penalties, but takesdouble penalties for razing cities.
Ideological War
The declaring player must have eitherDemocracy, Communism, or Fascismas their government type, and the target player must have adifferent governmentfrom among those three.
