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Diplomacy could be improved greatly over MTW if any faction you were allied to would demand a small sum of money, or a few troops, each time they are attacked by a new nation, or if they have been attacked by a nation for the last 5 turns.Failure to do so loses the alliance and makes them less likely to support a future alliance with you.
This would mean you would actually have to be choosy with who you ally with...there's no point being allied with a small faction on the far side of the board that's likely to get attacked by 5 enemies.
Building strong alliances will be useful.
You would get assistance when attacked, and be forced to give assistance when any ally is attacked...which is how alliances are supposed to work.
The initial allocation of alliances is therefore important, and a Pope or Senate that can force unwanted alliances...eg you have to support yout brothers X in province Y, because they are part of our empire... would also add to the strategy
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i think they already said in an interview that diplomacy includes, among other things, stuff that you mentioned, i.e. demanding/paying tribute, paying allies if they attack in 3 turns, etc.
