Playing the diplomatic card

Part 3: Knowing when to use diplomacy

Section 1 | Section 2 | Section 3

Diplomacy, and using the various treaties can help a clan out, it can make your members feel that little but more secure and happy that they have ties with other clans.

However...

Sometime at the end of 2002 changes happened to the realm of trek gaming which turned the clock back to something similar to what it was in the days of Armada 1 and more especially Klingon Academy. Some clans in the current trek gaming genre do not do the diplomacy thing at all, in fact some clans have even completely dropped there diplomatic tendencies.

There clans can usually fall into the kinds of clans that do NOT base themselves on the Federation. Romulan clans and Klingon clans are not as diplomatically inclined as the federation based clans as these clans have taken a different philosophy to the attitude of gaming and diplomacy. You would hardly expect a Romulan or a Klingon to sit and chat at a diplomatic table in Star Trek, therefore you wouldn't expect a Romulan or Klingon based clan to do the same.

It may be true that these clans once did take part in diplomatic talks, but as 2002 went into 2003 it started to become obvious to some of the older clans that diplomacy was starting to bog down the community in red tape and 'talk' instead of pure gaming. Some clans even took a different philosophy in Star Trek gaming, settling more for the system of Quake clans that completely ignore diplomacy and consider themselves mavericks in the Star Trek gaming world...or even Renegades :)

While it's almost a certainty that Federation based clans like Starfleet will be willing to listen to diplomatic requests, clans based on the Romulans, like the Romulan Star Empire or the Klingons like the original KAF clan either are VERY hard to get to the diplomatic table, or, like in the case of RSE and RNGD, have completely dissolved the diplomatic section of there site, preferring a more direct approach and style to gaming, or preferring people to come into the actual clans forums and just basically chat.

You HAVE to know the diplomatic make up of a clan before your own clan even thinks of approaching them, if you go to clans who do not consider diplomatic talks you will be refused, and in some cases ridiculed buy the clan, it isn't there fault, its really your own fault for not checking the clan out first. Remember, if it aunt a Federation based clan, or if its a clan you are not too sure about CHECK to MAKE SURE that there site actually has a diplomacy section, if there no sign of one on there site or there boards then it's a 95% certainty that they do not wish to have any ties with other clans are have an isolationistic approach to clans outside there own.

Another thing you need to consider is the internal affairs of the clan you wish to make a diplomatic tie with. Are they stable? Do they frequently get involved in wars (in which case you don't want an MPP) have they been known to break diplomatic ties with no communication to the clan they broke the tie with? All these things have to be considered. More especially the warring aspect of a clan, usually if a clan goes to war on a regular basis they wont really have a diplomatic tie with any clan, but if they do it's guaranteed that your own clan will be dragged into a war at any time if you have an M.P.P or a full alliance with them.

The next thing you need to consider is the reputation that clan has inside the clan world. If you make an M.P.P or an alliance with a clan, and that clan doesn't have a good reputation in the clan world then the rest of the clans will look on you as being on there side and relations with your clan to the general clanning world will start to decline. All things have to be considered before diplomatic talks start cause there have been a lot of blunders and mistakes made by certain clans on the diplomatic front during 2003, and some of the blunders have been disastrous for that clan...some of them have even led to full scale wars.

The general line is look in there diplomacy section, if you see a good selection of small and large clans they are more than willing to talk, if you see a small selection then they will be harder to convince...if you see no section at all, then don't even consider it.