My experience with Diplomacy:

I avoided it altogether at first and locked teams while learning the game. After learning the game I still kept it locked because of what I read here on the forums and from my initial impressions.

However, I can say now, that I actually very much like the current diplomatic system. Why? It ADDS depth. Because of the diplomacy system one game will never ever be the same as the other. I've found that you can ignore missions from AI's, but if you choose to do them strategically it can really shape and affect the flow and direction of the game, as well as factor on your judgement as to your military campaigns.

As an example, in one game, I had my heart set on taking out AI "A". However, 3 AI's gave me missions to attack AI "B" in some fashion, be it ships, tactical, or civvie structures. From this I assume that AI "B" is one of the most powerful factions in the game and possibly a bigger threat to me than AI "A". Why else would other factions be ganging up on "B"? It altered my strategy, I went after "B" instead and not only ended up eliminating "B" but got favor and rewards from multiple factions at the same time.

Remember that this is not a true 4X so it can't really have a diplomacy system like GalCiv or Civilization. The diplomacy system adds another strategic layer to the main objective (the last X in 4X), which is exterminate.

Azeltir,

Totally see what you mean. If players had a more robust system to make requests of the AI then that could only add more depth. It all depends on the scope of the diplomacy engine and if the dev's looked at diplomacy in its current form more as an RTS than the 4X side of things.

What if the developers just don't think that kind of feature fits into the Sins model? We've heard of them overhauling it but we don't know exactly what and how much of the upcoming changes are really warranted. I trust the dev's and their employed testers to steer the course of the game.

As an idea, perhaps they could somehow enhance the ping features of the game, giving us more ping options and receiving more responsive messages back from the AI. Or how about for example, if you ping them to attack, maybe they will ask you for credits or metal or crystal or a combo. It's another potential resource sink which would extend gameplay.

Why I love this game.

I also like the pirates, they can be really useful allies if you bribe them right and stay out of there way. However, the last game I played with them there got to be so many pirates at the base that it lagged my game down. I think there were something like 120 Kodiak look alikes and 100 cobalt look alikes ect so that there were well over 400 ships in the pirate base area

Hi Chris,

I've found playing with unlocked teams to be better on the medium to large sized maps. I've also found that as the devs have said, the AI does seem to pick weaker players to attack or they do try to gang up on the strongest. In order to stop them from picking on your I've found that on a large map with 8 players that locking down at least one full ally is pretty important. That will help you deal with the other AI's teaming up against you, because it's probably fair to assume they have formed alliances against you. I think an divide and conquer strategy is best. Have to keep on the defense and make nice surgical strikes taking out one AI at a time. I hope that helps.

I can't answer about the trade alliance. I can only assume that it increases your credits over time derived from the trade income.