Friendly fire
 

In the current game - I make contact with an alien species. He initiates contact for a trade treaty which I accept. I have a mine layer on my side of the wormhole leading to his system standing sentry duty.

Before I know it - he comes through the wormhole and destroys my picket ship.

I check his states and his mood is warm!!

Wazzup widdat?

Unfortunately for him - my main battle fleet was conducting maneuvers in the neighboring system. Now his planets are my planets, his people ...

Re: Friendly fire
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">his thoughts, to your thoughts, his mind to your mind..... sorry.. Big arse Star Trek fan here, I couldn't resist... But I don't know whad up wid dat in yo game.

Re: Friendly fire
 

Elowan,
Sounds like a "squence" issue.
Are you playing Simultaneous?
What turn did what occur on?
Example:
Turn 28 New Contact
Turn 28 Request Trade Treaty
Turn 29 Nothing between two races
Turn 30 His ship comes through Warp Point with armed ship and attacks your Mine Sweeper
oops
Turn 30 He accepts your treaty.

Note:
I belive that is the correct sequence. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

Brings to mine the War of 1812 and the Battle of New Orleans
The message that the war was over reached New Orleancs 3 days after the battle was fought.

Re: Friendly fire
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Not playing simultaneous (to my knowledge) but your explanation sounds as if it may be the correct one.

Is it the usual for a first contact to end in conflict?

In any event I absorbed him. He should have read my race description which says something like 'loyal friends, implaccable foes ...'

Re: Friendly fire
 

Posted by Elowan,
"Is it the usual for a first contact to end in conflict?

Yes and no. If you do not have a treaty Non Agression or higher, then anytime different races occupy the same sector (in your case the warp point), they will automaticaly fight.

Other than that, it depends on the AI. Some will attack outright, others will notify you, and others will be your best buddies till you reach Megga Evil Empire, (MEE).
I'd profer the names and behavior of various races but I found it more fun to read the Reports and figure it out via experiance. (I also lost quite a few ships this way) http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

Re: Friendly fire
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">This is one of my biggest criticisms of the Gold manual. If I'd been writing/editing it, I would have cut all the empire descriptions in the Diplomacy chapter, or at the very least put a "spoiler warning" before them.

In fact, IMO the Quick Start Menu gives away too much information.

If I were designing a 4X game, I'd decouple the races' empire names, attitudes, and tech affinities (maybe even the shipsets). You shouldn't know everything about a race as soon as you see one of their ships.