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6.0 Foreign Policy

The other human players in Freeciv are playing at the same time as you are, making their moves and orders simultaneously with you. You will meet them, and see their units moving around on your map. You will naturally keep an eye on them and make sure that they don't encroach on your natural domain, but some direct communication will be necessary to make sure that they keep in their place. The AI players in the game do not do diplomacy with you or any other civilization; they are perpetually at war with everyone. Other human players, however, can be interacted with and bargained with.

The simplest form of communication is the "chat" line. The Players window will show you the names of the other players (the "ruler" names, such as Alexander or Caesar). At any time during the game you may type text into the chat line at the bottom of the main window; your line must start with the name of another ruler, followed by a colon, followed by the text of your message. Or, to send a message to everyone, just start the line with a colon. The message will appear in the recipient(s)'s main message window. Such free-form communication will enable you to present yourself and your personality to the other player, and make informal agreements.

If you have established an embassy with another civilization (see Make Embassy), each player is able to see some basic information on the other nation using the Intelligence window. The Players window will also allow you to have a formal meeting with the other player. (See the Client User's Guide for an example of the windows involved.) Through this meeting the two nations can officially agree to grant to the other various treasures: maps, civilization advances, cities, and gold. Each of you may propose lines to the treaty, and each may reject lines. Once both players agree to treaty in its entirety, the game will enforce it on all concerned, automatically transferring the assets and knowledge specified.

Be aware that transferring a city also transfers all of the units owned by the city, whether or not they are within the city at the time of the transfer.

There is no way to make treaties of a more lasting nature within the game system. Unlike in Civilization and Civilization II, you are not able to formally declare peace with each other, nor have your units ignore each other's zones of control. However, you therefore will not have the case of being forced by your Republican or Democratic governments to offer or accept peace.


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