Diplomatic Visibility and Gossip (Civ6)

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Diplomatic Visibility and Gossip are closely related mechanics introduced in Civilization VI. Unlike prior games, which provided automatic feedback on important happenings in other civilizations, this intel must now be acquired through the Diplomatic Visibility and Gossip system.

In short, Diplomatic Visibility reflects the level of intelligence you can gather about other leaders' agendas, their military plans, and landmark achievements, while Gossip is the news and messages you receive whenever there are remarkable events occurring in other civilizations.

Mechanics

Diplomatic Visibility, or "Access level", is a new mechanic in Civilization VI and represents the amount of intel you can receive about the actions of another civilization and the character of their leader. There are several levels of visibility. At the first level (None) you know very little about them; you don't know their agendas or even what influences your relationship. At higher levels of Visibility, you receive frequent updates about what they do. The "Access level" panel in the Diplomacy screen of a leader shows the following information:

• Your current level of visibility (None, Limited, Open, Secret or Top Secret).
• A list of the factors that contribute to the level of Visibility you have of that leader, like Trade Routes or embassies established.
• The kind of information you receive at this level.
• What you may expect to see in the next level of visibility.

The maximum Visibility level available in the Ancient and Classical Eras is Open. The maximum level possible in the Medieval Era is Secret, which can be achieved by making an Alliance with the other party. In the Renaissance Era all the levels become available once the Printing technology is researched.

This table lists the information provided at each level of access.

Access level	Leader information	Gossip items provided
None	No reasons for relationship status revealed, except those related to the leader's main agenda. Second and late game agendas are hidden.	City conquests Pantheon created Religions founded Declarations of war Weapons of mass destruction strikes Space race projects completed
Limited	Reveals positive reasons for relationship related to: meetings, trade, emergencies. Reveals negative reasons related to: war, grievances, spying, settling, broken promises. Second and late game agendas are hidden. Their Governors' location is known, but not their type.	Alliances Friendships Government changes Denunciations Cities founded Cities liberated Cities razed Cities besieged Trade deals enacted Trade deals reneged
Open	Revealed further reasons for relationship status related to second agenda. Second agenda revealed. Late-game agenda is hidden. All their Governors are identified; established status is unknown.	Buildings constructed Districts constructed Great People recruited Wonders started Artifacts extracted Inquisition launched
Secret	All reasons for relationship status revealed. Second agenda revealed. Late-game agenda revealed. All their Governors are identified; established status is known. Can view City details and current item in production in their Capital (press city access indicator).	City-states influenced Civics completed Technologies researched Settlers trained
Top Secret	All reasons for relationship status revealed. Second agenda revealed. Late-game agenda revealed. All their Governors are identified; established status is known. Can view City details and current item in production in all their cities (press city access indicator).	Weapon of mass destruction built Attacks launched Projects started Victory strategy changed War preparations

Gossip report screen

Gossip items are represented as coming from a source which more or less matches what provides your current Access level to the civilization. For example, if you only have a Trade Route with them, the gossips will start with "Our traders heard that...", while if you have an Alliance the gossip will start with "An allied friend tells us that..."

Diplomatic Visibility is mostly independent of your relationship with a leader. Having a Delegation or Embassy improves relationships a bit, and having a very good relationship is required to create an Alliance. Other than that, Visibility and relationship are not connected. In practice, however, it is very difficult to have high visibility on a civilization whose leader is hostile to you, especially in the beginning of the game (when you haven't researched Printing, have no Spies, and may not even be able to reach the other civilization with your Traders). Unless you've tricked the other leader into letting you send them a Delegation, you will then have an Access level of None. Later in the game, Printing, a Listening Post, and a Trade Route will give you up to three factors that improve Visibility even without an Embassy, and the first two will still apply if you go to war with a civilization.

Diplomatic Visibility has military implications. If you attack a civilization, your levels of Diplomatic Visibility will be compared and if one party's level is higher, they will receive a permanent bonus in every military encounter. This is known as "Intel on enemy movements" and consists of +3 Combat Strength per level of difference in visibility (leading to a maximum bonus of +12 Combat Strength if one civilization has an access level of None and the other has an access level of Top Secret). This is even more important if you play as Mongolia, for whom the bonus is doubled. This bonus is also active during theological combat.

Diplomatic Visibility allows you to receive Gossip, information about another player's actions, with more details being available at higher levels of visibility. For example, when you have just met a civilization, you will receive information about their declarations of war, denunciations, friendships, Alliances, and when they do something like found a pantheon or complete a wonder. If you gain Limited Diplomatic Visibility, you will find out some information about their opinion of you and what government they have. At the Open level, you will learn about that civilization's diplomatic agendas, their relationships with other civilizations, and when they have launched an inquisition.

Improving Diplomatic Visibility

You must accumulate Diplomatic Visibility levels individually for each civilization. You will receive a combat bonus for having a higher level of visibility on your opponent than they have back on you. Levels may be gained by accumulating various sources of Gossip, including:

• Traders. Establish a Trade Route to a civilization to increase visibility by one level.
• Sending a Delegation. Send a Delegation to a civilization to increase visibility by one level. Once Embassies are available, establishing an Embassy will replace this.
• Sending a Spy on a Listening Post Mission. Completing this mission in another civilization's city increases visibility by one level, two if the Spy is a Secret Agent or above (i.e., has two or more Promotions).
• Forming an Alliance. Alternatively to spying, you can form an Alliance with a friendly civilization. These two actions do not add separate Diplomatic Visibility levels, as you cannot spy on your Allies.
• Researching the Printing technology. This will increase your visibility with all civilizations by one level.
• Playing as Black Queen Catherine. She gives France one level of access above normal at all times with civilizations she has met.
• Activating the Great Merchant Mary Katherine Goddard. This will increase your visibility with all civilizations by one level.
• Playing as Mongolia and establishing a Trading Post in another civilization's city. This increases visibility by one level.