I've played about half a dozen games and am finding it way to easy as a player to exploit diplomacy currently. I can win in just about any situation against non-human opponents using cheap tricks. For instance, re-selling technologies after just acquiring them. Or an even dirtier cheap trick is buying all of an enemies capital ships immediately after they declare war on you, then using their ships to sweep their territory. Surprisingly, you can continue to enter the Diplomacy every turn and keep buying all of their ships, locking in the advantage. Why build constructors of your own when you can get them so cheaply from your competitors and cripple their game plan in the process? There's lot's of other exploits involving Diplomacy (all shamefully cheap and dirty) allowing the player to easily win without challenge. In fact, every time I even feel like clicking the Diplomacy button, I feel so dirty that I need to shower. Kind of like Ben Obi-Wan Kenobi!
Stormtrooper: Let me see your identification.
Ben Obi-Wan Kenobi: [with a small wave of his hand] You don't need to see his identification.
Stormtrooper: We don't need to see his identification.
Ben Obi-Wan Kenobi: These aren't the droids you're looking for.
Stormtrooper: These aren't the droids we're looking for.
Ben Obi-Wan Kenobi: He can go about his business.
Stormtrooper: You can go about your business.
Ben Obi-Wan Kenobi: Move along.
Stormtrooper: Move along... move along.
The diplomacy exploits are wildly fun and historical the first time you do it, but quickly detract from the game. Sooner or later you start feeling like the only way to make the game challenging is to never research Universal Translator (i.e. Jedi Mind Trick); and especially to never initiate dialogue with an AI player. At least that's the way I feel. I know that the current AI is just a placeholder, so hopefully all of these cheap tricks are being addressed already.
Don't get me wrong, I love the game. i just don't think Diplomacy works as intended under the current AI placeholder.
