Odd alliance behavior (or lack thereof)

from GalCiv2 Forums
I'm past turn 300 in a TA 1.96 game, as Thalans on an immense map that started with max rivals and generous worlds. We've lost one civ so far and a while ago I formed the first alliance in the game, with the Iconians.

More recently, the Iconians formed alliances with two other civs that are Close to me. But when I open the Diplo page for those civs, an Alliance is not available to offer. I can imagine there being reasons one of these civs would turn down my offer, but if we are Close and they have an existing alliance, shouldn't the option at least be visible in the UI?

On a possibly related note, this situation made me notice that no alliance formations are listed on the Events tab for this game. (I also am sad that the filter options are gone from this UI context and wish we could sort by column headings and use the Page Up and Page Down keys to scroll the list.)


10,623 views 11 replies
Reply #1 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Just a shot in the dark - did you insure they had the alliance tech? It could be that AIs do not both need to have the tech to make an alliance.
Reply #2 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
did you insure they had the alliance tech? It could be that AIs do not both need to have the tech to make an alliance.


I have tech trading off, so I can't scan them via the diplo page.

If the computer players don't both need Alliance tech to form an alliance, that's a pretty serious bug, IMO.
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Reply #3 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
A costly way to find out is to do some espionage on them until you get their tech list.

Or turn cheats on and switch to them and find out if they have the tech. Then close that game and reload w/o cheats.
Reply #4 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I'm really not willing to waste the time & BC on getting their tech lists. I've also never messed with cheats and am leery of possibly flagging an MV game that is over 300 turns in.

I tried the old "If Microsoft made cars..." approach and re-started the game. The two allies of my ally the Iconians still spurn me despite claiming Close relations. To add to the mystery, I just formed an alliance with the Terrans, who were not allied with anyone until me.

p.s. If devs are watching and interested, I have a zip with the quick save & debug.err from right after I first noticed this.
Reply #5 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Well, unless you're going for a diplo victory, I'd say to keep this save game and ride out the current game and submit it. After that, then try the cheat method to find out whats up.

I'm not sure if having a second save game file and loading up with cheats enabled and doing that check and close w/o saving would harm anything. I however wouldn't want to attempt it w/o hearing from someone who's accomplished such a thing if I was in your shoes and ad a 300 turn game.
Reply #6 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
You could try the diplo screen, and switch the window that usually has the race animation to the "techs we have in common" display. I know it can work, but I've never rigorously tried it to determine if it's intel level dependant or if it gets disabled with tech trading.
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Reply #7 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
You could try the diplo screen, and switch the window that usually has the race animation to the "techs we have in common" display.


~blinks~ Wow, you learn something new every day don't ya. Cool beans.
Reply #8 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Thanks for the UI reminder, WIlly.

I can see Alliances in the common techs list for all three civs allied with me, including my first ally, the Iconians. I have no allies in common with the Iconians. They have two allies, with whom I have had Close relations for at least several turns, but still cannot ask to join as an ally.

So, have I found a "bug" or what? This particular game is keeping me interested, but the UI context seems to indicate a violation of the GC2 goal of computer players following the same rules as the humans do.
Reply #9 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
but the UI context seems to indicate a violation of the GC2 goal of computer players following the same rules as the humans do.


Or perhaps it's the AI being smart enough to deny you a victory or an alliance since it's secretly scheming for it's own victory...

My 2bc is on 'its a bug' though.
Reply #10 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Or you could see if Alliances is a tech you can trade to those races. If it is, they don't have it.
Reply #11 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
did you insure they had the alliance tech?


the Iconians formed alliances with two other civs that are Close to me


Question asked, question answered.

Bravo, GW. You have brought to light another weakness in the diplomatic arena. The friend of my friend should be my friend also. It doesn't work this way in the game. Things like this are calculated on a one on one basis. My relationship with civA has no bearing on my relationship with civB.

This is an oversight, IMHO, and should be addressed asap. The diplomatic part of this game has always held the most promise; and I am loathe to wait another two or three years to see it come to fruition.