I propose a new set of diplomatic treaties that govern how much of major factions relationships with other major (and maybe minor) factions we can see.

I proposed previously that Humankind (and every other 4X game for that matter) should give more information about what major factions think of each other. This would allow more strategic planning for when a war might break out between whom or who might form an alliance or come to another faction's aid if attacked. At the moment, all we get is the high-level diplomatic status whether factions are at war, at peace, or in an alliance. Nice but ultimately not alll that helpful. I attach a screenshot from one of Civilization IV's foreign advisor screen. It's a lot of information to take in but you can see at a glance that e.g. Cyrus (second row) is good buddies with Justinian (third column), Shaka Zulu (fifth column), and Hannibal (seventh column). Equally, you can see a few negative relations which may at some point escalate into war, and an active war. Also, while not seen on this screen shot, you can see all the reasons driving that relationship e.g. differing religions, aligned civic/government choices etc. So quite powerful stuff, really.

 Civ IV diplomacy table.jpg

I'm pitching this differently than previously because the devs likely had a reason for not including such information. One reason could legitimately be that it's too much information to give players and factions for free. So my proposal is to give factions agency how much of this type of information they want to share through another set of diplomatic contracts, in addition to visibility, resource trading, etc. Here is what I was thinking of:

1. Base level treaty - what we have now; who is the major faction at war with or who has she an alliance with?
2. Next level treaty - what grievances and demands does the faction have with other factions? Maybe add what client states they have acquired?
3. Further level - what are overall attitudes towards other factions (pleased/hesitant; stronger/weaker etc.) but no reasons
4. Advanced level - reasons for attitudes; shared access to and use of grievances?
5. Final level - full alignment of diplomatic relations; auto-peace and war with third parties; common voting in congress? (how?)

I'm also closing off with a smaller suggestion - an overall diplomacy web so we an instantly see all cross-relations. I attached a screenshot what I envisage that to look like. Civ IV diplomacy web.png Again, easier to see at a glance what is going on. Aside from implementation effort, I'd find it hard to see a reason against this, because it just brings information that the game already offers at each faction screen together in one place.