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Diplomacy revolves around managing relationships and agreements with other leaders, 
Independent Powers, and City-States in Civilization VII and its expansions. Unlike previous games, diplomacy is now primarily based on transactions using the new 
Influence yield. Most 
diplomatic actions — whether it's revealing each other's 
Capitals, forming beneficial agreements, or sanctioning other civilizations — require spending Influence to initiate.
Mechanics[]
Diplomacy allows leaders to interact and negotiate with one another, either through mutually beneficial exchanges or one-sided deals where only one party gains. There are four main types of diplomatic actions a leader can initiate:
All of these actions impact relationships with other leaders. Positive agreements help strengthen diplomatic ties, while hostile actions can damage them. To make the most of diplomacy, players must carefully manage their Influence — the primary diplomatic resource used to initiate and respond to proposals. A strong Influence income provides greater flexibility in negotiations and can be strategically leveraged for diplomatic manipulation.
Relationships[]
Beyond a high Influence accumulation, players who want to excel in diplomacy and gain passive benefits from other leaders must focus on maintaining good relationships. Leaders with strong relationships are far more responsive and open to negotiations, often agreeing to terms and supporting Endeavors.
Relationship tiers[]
A leader's relationship score determines how they perceive another leader. The scale is divided into five tiers (statuses), as outlined in the table below.
| Status | Score |
|---|---|
 Hostile
|
Below -60 |
 Unfriendly
|
-60 to -20 |
 Neutral
|
-20 to +20 |
 Friendly
|
+20 to +60 |
 Helpful
|
Above +60 |
Relationship status primarily affects the likelihood of Treaties and agreements being accepted. The better your relationship with another leader, the more likely they are to accept, support, or even propose Endeavors to you — giving you the advantage of deciding whether to accept or support them — and more importantly, unlocking access to powerful Endeavors that are exclusive to the other leader's diplomacy pool, which they'll only offer if your relationship is good.
Conversely, leaders with a poor relationship are often unwilling to even speak with you. They'll reject most proposals, avoid offering anything in return, and are far more likely to act aggressively or even declare war. Since rejected proposals further damage relations, recovering from a 
Hostile relationship can be extremely difficult.
Engaging in diplomacy naturally improves relationships, while strong relationships make diplomatic actions more effective. This creates a diplomatic snowball effect — accepting terms leads to more favorable terms, while rejecting them worsens relationships, resulting in even more rejections.
That said, a bad relationship isn't without advantages. Hostile leaders can be attacked without incurring penalties (Formal War), which can be a strategic opportunity — whether to claim contested land or to cripple a strong rival. War mechanics and consequences are explained in more detail further in the article.
Alliance[]
At the opposite end of the spectrum, leaders with a 
Helpful status can form 
Alliances. These come with significant benefits, including extra bonuses from 
Social Policies or 
Civics that specifically benefit from having Alliances. One of the most powerful perks is tied to spending 
Attribute points in the 
Diplomatic tree: spending 4 points grants a +% increase across all your yield outputs for each Alliance you maintain. Since these points can be spent repeatedly and the bonuses stack cumulatively, it's possible to achieve massive yield boosts just by maintaining multiple Alliances and good diplomatic standing.
In addition to these development-oriented bonuses, Alliances come with a set of diplomatic expectations and obligations:
- Mutual Defense: –
Allied leaders are automatically drawn into each other's wars. Refusing to join immediately ends the Alliance. Additionally, enemies may be more hesitant to declare war on you, knowing you're backed by powerful Allies. - No Backstabbing: – You cannot impose Sanctions on Allies (although Espionage remains allowed). Declaring war on an Ally is possible, but will completely sever the relationship for the rest of the Age and inflict maximum war support penalties.
- Increased Cooperation: – Allies are significantly more willing to engage in trade, offer deals, and support your Endeavors, creating a more stable and rewarding diplomatic relationship.
- Territory Access: – Allies will always grant you Open Border Agreements at no Influence cost, significantly improving your ability to traverse new terrain — whether for maneuvering and deploying troops or for scouting unexplored regions.
Altogether, forming Alliances is a highly valuable objective in nearly any game, as it simultaneously boosts your defense, international influence, and internal development.
Influencing relationships[]
Various actions can influence your relationship with another leader, either strengthening or weakening it.
The following actions improve relationships:
- Offering a Friendly greeting
- Complimenting their agenda
- Sharing the same Government or ideology
- Making agreements
- Accepting or supporting Endeavors
- Having an established Trade Route
- Forming an Alliance
- Fighting together in a joint war
The following actions harm relationships:
- Offering an Unfriendly greeting
- Going against their agenda
- Settling too close to their Capital
- Border friction (when your borders touch theirs)
- Failing to reach an agreement
- Rejecting Endeavors
- Initiating Sanctions
- Getting caught in Espionage
- Dispersing a befriended Independent Power
- Rejecting or breaking an Alliance
- Declaring war
- Forcing an unfavorable peace deal
- Razing a befriended Independent Power
- Eliminating another civilization
While these are not all possible actions, they represent the most significant ways to influence relationships in the game.
At the start of each new Age, all relationship modifiers reset. Instead of carrying over all previous interactions, each leader receives a single positive or negative modifier based on how their relationship stood in the previous Age. However, this modifier is heavily toned down, allowing leaders to shift their diplomatic approach — whether towards peace or aggression.
Diplomatic actions[]
As mentioned earlier, diplomatic interactions can take many forms, ranging from cooperative agreements to hostile actions. Diplomatic actions are transactional offers that can be:
- Accepted – by agreeing without paying any Influence.
- Rejected – by paying double the Influence spent back to the initiator.
- Supported – in the case of Endeavors – by paying a certain amount of Influence to benefit both parties.
Additionally, players cannot have the same action running with multiple leaders simultaneously.
Treaty[]
Treaties are formal agreements between two leaders that establish mutual rules or restrictions for a set duration or indefinitely. Treaties often modify active gameplay mechanics, such as trade or military access.
- Accepting a Treaty increases the relationship by +TBA.
- Rejecting an Treaty decreases the relationship by -TBA.
List of treaties[]
Endeavor[]
Endeavors are diplomatic gestures that showcase trust and goodwill between leaders. When a leader proposes an endeavor, accepting it provides mutual benefits — such as increased yields, strategic advantages, or cultural influence — while also strengthening diplomatic relations. Leaders can further support an Endeavor, enhancing the bonuses for both parties.
Each leader has a base set of Endeavors determined by their Attributes, but some are unique to specific leaders or must be unlocked through Civics or 
Wonders. Each Endeavor typically lasts 15 turns and grants bonuses each turn for its entire duration.
Because Endeavors can significantly boost a civilization's progress, especially at the start of a new Age, leaders with good relationships can leverage them to gain an advantage over rivals. The following reactions to proposals will influence the relationship:
- Accepting an Endeavor increases the relationship by +5.
- Supporting an Endeavor increases the relationship by +12.
- Rejecting an Endeavor decreases the relationship by -TBA.
List of endeavors[]
Sanction[]
Sanctions are punitive actions a leader can impose on another civilization, restricting their growth, limiting their influence, or simply signaling hostility. They serve as a strategic tool to weaken opponents, slow down their progress, or pressure them into changing their approach. However, Sanctions are highly provocative and can push the targeted leader toward retaliation or even war. Weak leaders who impose Sanctions without the means to back them up may find themselves facing severe consequences.
Like Endeavors, some Sanctions are unique to certain leaders. A Sanction typically lasts for 10 turns and reduces the relationship by 30. However, with sufficient Influence, Sanctions can be blocked, refunding all invested Influence.
List of sanctions[]
Espionage[]
Espionage allows leaders to secretly gather intelligence or sabotage infrastructure in rival civilizations, offering strategic advantages but also posing significant diplomatic risks. Unlocked through advancements in the 
Technology tree, Espionage missions typically take 9-15 turns to complete and cannot be completely blocked. However, they carry a risk of failure or exposure, which results in negative effects for the initiator.
Exposing a spy will reduce the relationship between the leaders and impose an Influence penalty on the spy's owner for 10 turns, while providing Influence per turn to the target. This discourages reckless Espionage, ensuring that leaders face consequences for repeated covert actions and preventing Espionage from being used without risk.
Leaders concerned about enemy spies can engage in counter espionage, which increases the time required for enemy missions and raises the chances of revealing the spy, making infiltration a riskier venture.
While some Espionage actions are available throughout all Ages, others emerge as civilizations progress and their strategic priorities evolve. Espionage offers critical opportunities to gain an edge over rivals, but its covert nature means each mission is a calculated risk.
List of espionage actions[]
Diplomacy beyond civilizations[]
Diplomacy isn't limited to interactions between civilizations and leaders — it also extends to Independent Powers. These entities exist outside of the major civilizations but can be influenced or befriended. With enough Influence, they may even transform into City-States under your Suzerainty, granting unique benefits.
Independent Power[]
Independent Powers can be influenced or integrated into a player's sphere of control. These small, isolated 
Settlements have their own culture and exist independently on the map. Upon discovery, an Independent Power may be either 
Neutral or Hostile towards you:
- Neutral powers remain passive unless targeted for a declaration of war or drawn into war by their leader.
- Hostile powers are aggressive and may construct extra units to seize Settlements when their Scouts discover them.
List of independent power actions[]
City-State[]
When a player reaches 60 Befriend points, an Independent Power transforms into a City-State with the player as its Suzerain, granting additional strategic and diplomatic advantages.
In addition to the Suzerainty benefits — such as boosts from Social Policies or the Suzerainty reward — City-States also act as permanent Allies, automatically joining their Suzerain in war. Any leader who declares war on a City-State is also declaring war on its Suzerain. As a result, it is impossible to declare war on one's own City-States.
List of city-state actions[]
War[]
In diplomacy, not all conflicts can be resolved with words, and some leaders will inevitably clash. When negotiations fail, or when leaders refuse to compromise, war becomes the ultimate resolution.
Players can declare war at any time — even against their Allies. The only exception is when peace was negotiated within the last 10 turns. There are three distinct types of war declarations:
- Formal War – Can be declared against any leader with whom you have a Hostile relationship.
- Surprise War – Can be declared against any leader, regardless of relations. However, this results in additional diplomatic penalties and a loss of war support, which scales with the prior relationship (the better the relationship, the harsher the penalty).
- Joint War – Whenever an Ally is at war, you have the option to join them. Declaring war this way carries no war support penalties, regardless of the relationship you had with the opposing side beforehand.
When war is declared, the following occur immediately:
- All existing Endeavors between both parties are canceled.
- All trade between the two civilizations ceases.
- All military and most civilian units can now be attacked by enemy forces.
- All units can enter each other's borders freely.
- All City-States will join the war alongside their involved Suzerain.
- All Allies of both civilizations must immediately decide whether to join the war and back their Ally or break their Alliance.
- Relationship status with the target leader will decrease significantly, depending on the type of war and the circumstances leading up to it.
Once war begins, peace cannot be proposed for at least 10 turns, making it a high-risk decision that requires careful planning. Poorly prepared wars can lead to devastating losses in resources, Settlements, and military forces. To ensure stability and success, players should secure the following before going to war:
- Combat Readiness: Having a strong army is essential. Analyze which Settlements and borders are exposed and vulnerable, and reinforce them with garrisoned units and fortifications to prevent enemy invasions.
- Intel & Strategy: Knowledge is power. Gather intelligence on your opponent's unit numbers, unit quality, Alliances, and potential invasion routes to anticipate their Movements and avoid surprises.
- Gold Reserves: War is expensive. Units require maintenance costs, and having a strong economy allows for emergency unit recruitment or fortifications in case of unexpected developments.
- Influence & Stability: War impacts your people. Unrest and unhappiness can lead to revolts, reduced yields, and economic stagnation. Keeping public support high is critical for maintaining a strong war effort.
After 10 turns, players can negotiate peace. A peace deal may involve demanding enemy Settlements as leverage or ceding Settlements to appease opponents. The likelihood of a successful peace agreement increases if one side has inflicted significant damage or has a strong military presence within enemy borders.
War support[]
One of the most influential aspects of war is "war support" — a measure of how much your people believe in the war and whether they consider it justified. High war support boosts army morale and combat effectiveness, while low war support results in penalties, including -1 
Combat Strength per negative war support point for military units and increased war weariness among 
Citizens.
The following elements can increase the amount of war Support your leader has during an ongoing war:
- Spending Influence: Players can spend Influence to rally their people behind the war effort, though the cost increases with each war support point gained.
- Declaring a Surprise War: Surprise wars are seen as dishonorable and cause a massive war support penalty, especially if declared against a Friendly leader.
- Militaristic Attribute: Early on players can spend 1 Militaristic Attribute point to permanently gain +1 War support on all wars.
- Gate of All Nations: This Wonder grants +2 war support for every ongoing war.
Most war support penalties and bonuses expire at the end of the war, unless explicitly stated otherwise.
Videos[]
See also[]
- Diplomacy in other games
External links[]
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