Ooooooo Kaaaay --

So am I to understand that the AI players are busily asking each other for "freebies" in order that they each are "liked" at one extent or another?
Or are human players the only suckers in the game?

Also -- can human players ask for "freebies" from the AI players? All I see in the manual is I can "ping" and have allies go after a target. At this point, I don't have any targets. I just want somebody to pay me to "like" them!

Yep (although whether it actually occurs within the game mechanic is questionable).

Another way of looking at it is that the game *requires* all players to have at least one enemy at all times (which is why one of your allies will go hostile on you as soon as all the foes are cleaned out). So in a 1v1v1v1, each player requires at minimum one enemy and up to two allies. If you are the least liked because you never respond to their requests, that "one enemy" is always going to be you.

You don't have the ability to generate AI requests in the game, other than ping and sharing things like vision and trade.

-- Retro

mehoo, my thoughts are that either that was a fluke statistic or you were optimizing your own play and the general rule of "attack the strongest" worked out against your favour.

Consider: In a 1v1v1v1 map, there is a 1/3 * 1/3 * 1/3 (or one in twenty-seven) chance, ALL ELSE BEING EVEN, that you become the target of everyone's attentions. This considerably escalates if you're playing perfectly and have a lead on everyone else, or if you have the largest territory because you may have expanded more quickly than anyone else. I can't say for certain that the enemy AI's DON'T have a predilection to always attack the player, but I have a number of examples of gameplay where a 1v1v1v1 unlocked map didn't end up with me being attacked from every angle.

Besides, if you're battling AI, they really don't deal well with a good turret+hangar defense. Even if all 3 attack you, a decent level of defense on your planets allows you to get there with your fleet and counterattack...

...and then you research phase disruption and [deep sonorous voice]MAKE THEM PAY... heh. heh heh. Heh hehheh haw. Heh HEHEHEH HAHAHA... {to avoid repetition and preserve suspense, simply end this post with maniacal cackling laughter.}

-- Retro

Actually, in real life, they certainly did. There was all sorts of cases in our own human history where empires basically paid other cultures not to attack them, or paid tribute to gain allies. Sometimes it worked, and sometimes it didn't, but many a barbarian empire got a bunch of trinkets to make them go off and sack some other city.

No similarities regarding the antics of real-life pirates, though. Unlike real-life, a big batch of free fully-crewed corsairs didn't just materialize every little while on the open seas.
Now that's the attitude of someone who can enjoy a game! Sometimes ya just gotta leave your rational brain at the door and go into the theater and enjoy the Bruce Willis action movie without thinking too hard about it.

-- Retro

That little hit of resources, or trade agreement, etc. is helpful mid game. I find that early game I can't just go gallivanting into one AI's turf just to please another AI. Later in the game I'm just picking them off one at a time so diplomacy is moot. But midgame, where some extra resources means a few more ships, which means reinforcements for that fleet that's dead locked... it can be helpful.

I never give up credits. Sometimes they'll ask for metal or crystal, and if I have a surplus I may do it.

I haven't played multiplayer yet. How is diplomacy done in multi? Or is there any?

why not give up credits? I usually end up with way more credits than I know what to do with. As most NPCs ask for 1k-4k it's not a great loss for +33% popularity (note: I play TEC).

As far as I'm concerned, they're more likely to stop shooting you. That's good in my book.

It's great to send out a scout, find a massive armada you simply cannot defend against, go give a few resources, and watch that fleet turn and pound somebody else.

Heh,

In games against the AI, I don't typically do the "give" missions. Screw those guys, they can't have my metal or money. I go aggressively fight the enemy tho, so often times I complete missions and find myself in alliances with certain players just by fighting constantly with a common enemy.

As a matter of fact, I rarely even open the diplomacy screen in single player, save once every 10 minutes or so to spot check where I'm at with certain AI players or find out if any alliances/cease fires have been offered to me.

Just be aggressive, ASAP, and you'll find yourself at peace with at least one AI player by mid-late game.

On a side note, I recently played a game against three hard AI opponents, and ended up at "best buddy" status with him. I had planet/ship vision, peace accord, trade rights, the works.

We eliminated the only other AI left in the game, together, then I won the game. Which sucked 'cause I thought I'd automagically end up at war with him when that happened. Instead, it brought up the victory screen. I was a lot more powerful than him, too. Thought I was gonna complete the "defeat 3 hard AI" achievement, too, darnit.

The diplomacy AI rather sucks =/

I find that you need to decide which of the AIs' quests you're going to accept. That is, if you've got two opposing AIs, and each of them keeps giving you quests to destroy structures or ships belonging to the other, pretty soon you're going to stretch yourself too thin.

Pick one of them and concentrate on fulfilling quests for that player, so you can build up a relationship that will evolve into trade alliances, cease-fires and maybe peace treaties.

cool...

yes there is, u'll just have to sit out their wars until they finish eachother