Diplomatic Favor (Civ6)

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Diplomatic Favor (sometimes called Favor for short) is a new type of special currency in Civilization VI: Gathering Storm. It represents your state influence power before other leaders in the world and is used mainly in the World Congress.

Use

It can be said that Diplomatic Favor and City-State Influence are the two sides of the same coin: diplomatic power. But while Influence (and the agents that channel it - the Envoy Envoys) represent a simpler type of diplomatic power, designed to serve with minor civilizations, Diplomatic Favor represents the high-level maneuvers used to manipulate other major leaders, and that ultimate diplomatic body, the World Congress, where these leaders battle for supremacy.

Diplomatic Favor is used to 'purchase' additional votes during every session of the Congress. The more Favor a civilization has amassed, and decides to spend, the more votes it will be able to field for a particular Resolution, Treaty or any other necessary decision. Given the huge implications certain Resolutions may have for a nation, depending on their current state and goals, the ability to swing a vote in their favor may mean the difference between victory and defeat. And ultimately, each nation will be able to win Diplomatic Victory points and head towards the brand new Diplomatic Victory!

Of course, with so much at stake, it is no wonder that leaders start 'trading' Diplomatic Favor as they would commodities or Gold. Thus, trading between leaders is the second main use for Diplomatic Favor. In fact, since the World Congress doesn't start meeting before the Medieval Era, and trading may happen as soon as you meet a leader, trading Favor well precedes using it for its primary purpose!

Sources

Diplomatic Favor is earned mainly through government activity and high-level cooperation with other game entities. Note that the keyword here is cooperation: those warmongers who only think about conquest will have much fewer opportunities to earn Favor (and in fact may discover they are losing favor!). Thus, a player who aims to influence world affairs through the World Congress should also aim to conduct (largely) peaceful policies in the interest of everyone - the true basis for a Diplomatic Victory.

There are three main sources of Diplomatic Favor:

1. Governments. Each type of government provides points each turn depending on which tier it is in. For example, the Monarchy government is of Tier 2, and will provide 2 points of diplomatic favor per turn, while Democracy provides 3 points per turn. This is the most reliable and steady source of Diplomatic Favor.
2. Suzerainty. Being the Suzerain of any city-state provides +1 point/turn per city-state. It can be increased to 2 points/turn per city-state if you have the Országház Wonder. Of course, this trickle is lost as soon as you lose the Suzerain status.
3. Alliances. Having an Alliance provides points per turn depending on the level of Alliance. Again, points are awarded for each separate active Alliance.

You can also win (or lose) Diplomatic Favor by trading with other leaders, as shown above.

Additionally, Diplomatic Favor may be earned in a number of other special cases - for example, when you liberate a city and return it to its original owner, when you score well enough in Scored Competitions initiated through the World Congress, or when you complete the Carbon Recapture project. In these cases you will instantly earn lump sums of Diplomatic Favor.

After the Antarctic Late Summer Update you can also lose Diplomatic Favor each turn! There are two main cases when this happens:

• When you have inflicted too many Grievances Grievances on other players. Now the other leaders' disapproval of your warmongering will be expressed not only via relationship penalties, but also by inflicting a negative Diplomatic Favor flow per turn. It stands to reason that the more Grievances Grievances you've inflicted, the greater the negative penalty will be (it could reach as much as -10/turn).
• When you're producing too much CO₂. In this case your blatant disregard for the planet's future will also cause a negative flow in Favor, since you're perceived to threaten the whole of humanity on an entirely different level.