Reposted from the following thread for context: https://www.games2gether.com/amplitude-studios/endless-space-2/forums/65-general/threads/34270-alliance-rework?page=1


Ashbery76 wrote:

In my view I would change it to a mutual defence pact.That would at least solve a lot of issues without a major rework.

After reading through this thread. I feel that implementing a defence pact system of sorts as mentioned above could alleviate some issues people have with the diplomacy system, which can improve how players can interact politically with the AI, add another layer of depth of tension and trust between actual players, and still leave enough wiggle room for other things, such as refusing an offer to go to war against [faction] which would prevent you from being dragged into a conflict you have no stakes in and receive no penalties for doing so. 

The downside would be that you'd have to come to your pact-goer's aid if they are in some sort of peril, and seeing as how the AI know how to offer Truces if they're not having a fun time, I believe a similar behaviour can be implemented.


Think of it as: 

Oh we the [faction] declared war on [other faction] so you don't explicitly need to help us but that'd be sweet if you could

(No actual impact if you refuse, but it could improve your relations if you did help out)

VS

Oh we the [faction] are victims of a war declaration, please help us

(If you refuse, your relationship with the faction will sour, potentially dissolving the pact; helping would obviously show that you honour the pact and that you care)


with the potential added bonus of:

Oh we the [faction] declared war but now are loosing please help us defend our territory

(if things go south for your fellow pact-goer; basically same repercussions/benefits as the previous case)


With a potential system like this, it could also work with previous player/AI interactions quite nicely, addressing a concern mentioned by Slashman:

 

Slashman wrote:

Right but how would you balance that when the AI is going to benefit from joining that alliance? Especially if it has good relations with the other members.


Lets say an alliance forms with Sophons, Horatio and Riftborn. They then ask the Lumeris to join, and they are at war with the Cravers and Unfallen. The Lumeris has a history of hostility with the Cravers and Unfallen.  Would it make sense for him to enter an Alliance with the Sophons, Horatio and Riftborn or try to form an alliance with his empires enemies?


So it becomes a bit twisted when you say "form new ones naturally" because the natural thing to do is ally up with those empires that aren't hostile to you.

This would prevent any sort of awkward faction groupings and alliances that would for players into alliances/peace treaties with factions with whom they've had some previous negative history with, violent or otherwise.

I could be wrong in my approach about this, but any sort of criticism and potential ideas/improvements to this would be helpful.


I understand that the team would rather not want to rebuild the diplomacy system since it could potentially take enormous amounts of time and effort at risk of breaking things for everyone. They obviously take us into consideration as much as they can while working on this amazing game and universe.


Edit:

Corrected a misunderstanding I had about Slashman's concerns. I thought he was going on about lore for some reason rather than previous player/AI interactions. It still works for the idea and is still a benefit.