Alright, so here is a little context. I bough the original Sins not long after it came out and played a lot of it (mostly single player since, back then, I was a little kid (16-17) and still living at my parents and so could not afford to play a long multiplayer game)

I understood the game quite well from looking on forums and having fun bashing unfair AIs (back then I don't remember having trouble vs the Ais, in massive FFAs).

So I stopped playing after a while because the game was too time consuming and I had to put priorities between work, school and gaming.

So alright that was my story, I did a couple of massive 10 player (me + 9 AIs) when entrenchment came out and understood the change they did ont he game.

Then diplomacy came out. I'm wondering if the more experience players with it could help me with how diplomacy works (link or explanation). I understand that I need civillian ressearch labs to get the resserach to make pacts and that the diplomacy cruisers helps bolster your reputation with an AI but how does it work. I've seen in the option a diplomatic victory and I do not get how to use it to my advantage (let's just say the the starbases were easier to figure out).

Also, on a side note, how long is  a normal multiplayer game of sins? I'm getting bored of D3 and sc2 and looking on restarting playing this game.