Buy more money with less money...

Diplomacy needs to be throttled back.

from GalCiv2 Forums
Has anyone else noticed that if you have a high enough diplomacy skill that you can actually buy the computers money? I just finished a game where I could ask for 10,000 from the computer in exchange for 3000 from me. I could continue to do this until I had dropped him well below 500, essentially absorbing his entire stock pile of money for free.

I did this to every race and in one turn I was at the top of the heap. I purchased all their ships, starbases, techs, etc...all for free using this method. This of course ruined the game and any kind of enjoyment I was having.

So...I was wondering has anyone else done this before? Just curious.

fyi. I was playing on a large galaxy map (normal rules) with 8 computers at normal difficulty and was able to use this trick well before I had maxed out my diplomacy. My custom race only had the top diplomacy ability bonus and not whatever political party also boosts diplomacy.
7,268 views 18 replies
Reply #1 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Nevermind found the other posts regarding this "bug"/"game quirk" so disregard. I just hope it gets fixed.
Reply #2 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Just in case... you could also start a trade offering money for tech, and they would happily accept 0 bc for it
Sins of a Solar Empire II
Reply #3 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Well, just because it's there doesn't mean you have to exploit it....it didn't ruin the game, you ruined your own game.
Reply #4 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Well, just because it's there doesn't mean you have to exploit it....it didn't ruin the game, you ruined your own game.


Lets just hope he doesn't discover cheat mode... it might ruin the game again
Reply #6 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
It's a flaw in the a.i. it should be corrected. You win in strategy games by exploiting your opponents weakenesses.

Reply #7 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
The problem is, it's very difficult to create AI so it does not react on a linear way to your offers and diplomacy skills. I think that is a weakness that can't be eliminated in the near future.
As the one's posted above, just don't use this bug or use it and get rid of the fun od the game .
Reply #8 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Bull. There's no reason why money should ever be on both sides of the diplomacy screen... Either you're paying or gettting paid. It's a bug.
Reply #9 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
The problem is, it's very difficult to create AI so it does not react on a linear way to your offers and diplomacy skills.


Then maybe they should have rethought the idiotic idea of having diplomacy as a skill to begin with. I don't recall any other strategy game that did that; maybe there's a reason for that...

Which, btw, is a reason why the game can't work multiplayer. The fact that you have a +10 in diplomacy skill means jack to a human.
Reply #10 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Lets just hope he doesn't discover cheat mode... it might ruin the game again


Oh my god you're right! Cheat mode does ruin the game! They must really address these issues in 1.1
Reply #12 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Curious tangential analogy though...

Whats the difference between doing that and openly just asking them for money? A change in how they view you?
Reply #13 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
And what difficulty are you playing ?? If you say Easy then its a no-brainer the AI is a tard. Try on intelligent or tough... its hard to get 'fair' deals anymore.
Reply #14 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
It was set on normal difficulty. I think it's high time I crank it up to the next level then.
Reply #15 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Just skip challenging and go straight to tough. Challenging isn't challenging enough for you probably.
Reply #16 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
It's a bug. But I have to say, it's not a high priority item. If you want to cheat, then cheat. The AI won't mind.
Reply #17 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
This makes a good case for limiting the amount of trades you can perform in a turn. That would limit the power of many diplomacy exploits at once.
Reply #18 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
This makes a good case for limiting the amount of trades you can perform in a turn. That would limit the power of many diplomacy exploits at once.

That means it would take a few extra turns to break the game. If you can empty an AI's treasury with one trade, limiting the number of trades to one per turn wouldn't really fix anything. It is the diplomatic players who aren't doing this that would suffer the most from this.