Diplomats

[Andyinkuwait]

Hi All

as a newbie to CTPII can anyone tell me what to do with diplomats?? Are they just used to establish embassies, is there any point having more than one diplomat outside a city, come to that is there an advantage in having more than one embassy in another country.

What is the best way to use them ?

All help appreciated

Andy

[Dale]

I usually use diplomats to throw parties in the cities of AI's I want to work up to alliances. That is after establishing embassies. I usually have one diplomat per civ. They are also handy for "looking" into cities to see how much of that wonder they've built.

[Alex]

Originally posted by Dale
They are also handy for "looking" into cities to see how much of that wonder they've built.

You mean with Cradle? I also play with the Apolyton Pack and I was never able to do anything other than establishing embassies and throwing parties.

[TheArsenal]

I used Diplomats (like Dale) to throw parties, since that seems to really increase a civ's regard for me, even if temporarily. But mostly, I use them to move about inside a rival's borders to keep an eye on troop movements and such, as rival civs don't seem to mind diplomats walking on their soil the same way they do other units - a poor man's spy I guess is an apt desciption for me.

[Oerdin]

I prefer to use slavers as spies since I can also use them to catch slaves. :-)

[Hermann the Lombard]

Originally posted by Oerdin
I prefer to use slavers as spies since I can also use them to catch slaves. :-)

Slavers are my early recon unit, too, roughly until my first slave revolt. However, don't you find that bagging the slaves then raises the alertness of the target civ? Diplo spying doesn't seem to have the same effect (at least until caught).

[DeanToth]

Yes, poor man's spy and embassies and parties are my way to use them as well.

Though I don't use them consistently, especially in a world where there is lots of separated islands/continents with too much ocean to be practical.

As for having more than one diplomat, yes it's handy only for getting more land coverage in a large continent. But if you are "poor" it can get expensive, since all "special" (or elite) units have a higher per-turn production upkeep cost, even when your Army Readiness slider is at it's lowest. In these instances, you want to commit your resources to something more versatile (as mentioned, a slaver is good until emancipation proclomation)

As for more than one embassy in another empire, no I don't think this matters... once you a single embassy in a given empire, you don't need any more. (correct me if i'm wrong anyone)