Hey all. I played with Terrans as a Pacifist with diplomacy and influence maxed in a large galaxy. It made for an easy victory on crippling difficulty. I focused my research on techs that boost influence and diplomacy. I traded all techs except ones that give influence or diplomacy. The key was that I worked to obtain research and then economic treaties.

Sometimes I'd throw in older ships for those stubborn Drath to tip the scale at the negotiation table. Being able to trade a good tech off to 6 others and have it yourself is worth cost. Later in the game when I had plenty of strength I traded off the diplomacy techs because the advantage is neglegable. I held on to the influence and morale techs. Exploiting the super diplomat with all races every few turns works great. Doing this the Terran grew ridiculously more powerful than the other races. They could sit back and collect 10% of the universe's economy and research. I never had to fight a battle and no one declared war on me.

To win I focused one or two maxed influencer bases near the other races border planets and had mass defections coming to my side. (Here is where I wished the AI would attack my influencer bases - wasn't it obvious they weren't long for this world?) Other races were still attacking each other and weakening each others planets. I ignored them. This has got to be one of the laziest ways to win. Influence victory using diplomacy is possible before powerful weapons and defense even exist and my enemies still had medium hulls. Granted, not moving a single defensive ship can be a bit boring and who wants to talk to aliens all day?

The other extreme of diplomacy is when I play an evil race or even a neutral Yor and I can't trade a Ferarri for a loaf of bread.