The very first thing you should know about diplomacy is how the system of determining allies works. Basically, there are five states in which you can encounter another civilization, and through diplomatic means, you can change the states from one to another. They are:

• Angry: This civilization is supremely pissed at you. If a civilization reaches this state, it is extremely hard to get them out of it, as they simply shut down all communication and attack you and your civilization frequently. You will never encounter another civilization that is automatically in this state towards you.


• Annoyed: This civilization is annoyed by your behavior, looks, doctrine, shoe size, whatever. The slightest push will send them into a homicidal frenzy against you. You want to get any annoyed civilizations to neutral as soon as possible, or they will soon become angry.


• Neutral: This civilization could care less. They lean neither one way nor the other. You can upset them or please them equally.


• Pleased: This civilization is rather pleased with some aspect of your civilization. Maybe they are naturally happy, maybe your civilization is like theirs, whatever. These guys can be allied with, but it's harder than if they were happy.


• Happy: This civilization loves you! They will sell things to you for cheap, ally and trade with you in an instant, and are hard to upset. Anything short of outright declaration of war will keep these guys in this state. Your allies will always stay this way.

Meeting another civilization for the first time will set their starting mood towards you. The general mechanic is that military civilizations will always start annoyed, industrious civilizations will start neutral, and religious civilizations will start pleased. Also, on top of this, the three civilization types, if you are within their default mood, will contact you with specific requests based on their doctrine. Military will demand tribute or they will go to war, industrious will offer to let you buy a system, and religious will send you gifts to butter you up.

Speaking of buttering up, there are a few things you can do to make a civilization happier with you right off the bat. The most immediate, which only really works once, is plain bribery. This is the method you should take with any military civilization. Simply bribe them 5,000-10,000 Sporebucks upon first encounter, and their mood will increase by one. Also, at first contact, if you aren't planning on going to war, click the top option. Talking about how awesome your home planet is will only upset an alien race, interestingly enough. Apparently, most other civilizations don't like a braggart!

Another one, which nets you money instead of losing it, is to do missions for the civilization. Each successfully completed mission will usually boost their mood by one. Each failed mission, however, will hurt the mood, albeit in a very gentle way. Upon completing a mission, you will recieve money based on how hard or how dangerous the mission was. Missions which involve invasion usually pay out the big Sporebucks, while ones revolving around fetching and economics often pay significantly less. Keep in mind, though, that anything you perform on a mission still reflects upon you and your civilization. You can go to war over a military mission!

There are a few things you can do to piss off another civilization. They are almost unilaterally hostile actions, although some can just be you being you. Go figure.

• Attack another civilization's vessel.
• Destroy another civilization's vessel. Significantly more upsetting than attacking it.
• Attack another civilization's colony.
• Take over another civilization's colony. This is an instant act of war, despite any alliance treaties you may have with the civilization.
• Take goods or artifacts off the surface of the planet. While you may find artifacts on inhabited planets, don't take them unless you are will to risk war for the 45,000 Sporebucks you get from it.
  

On the other side of the coin, there are several things you can do to make other civilizations happy!

• Defend the civilization from attackers. They can be another civilization or pirates, it doesn't matter.
• The aforementioned bribing and mission taking.
• Terraform a civilization's planet to increase its T-level.

Diplomacy by itself will not conquer planets like military might or industrial power. However, what it lacks in outright takeover it makes up for in various different support activities. These range from receiving discount prices from friendly civilizations that exceeds your discount for buying from your own civilization, netting you more badges (thus increasing your level faster), acting as a buffer zone against hostile empires, and allowing you to use their ships in your fleet. The last benefit is the most important, thanks to how difficult taking over civilization is, especially as you get closer to the galactic core. Sometimes a few wingmen are all that you need to save your behind from certain destruction.

The two final things that enhance diplomacy are items you get from any civilization that will let you trade with them and is either religious or your own civilization. They are happiness-producing items and the Monolith. Happiness items such as the happiness ray or fireworks will increase how much the civilization of the targeted planet likes you. Much like weapons, the one-shot items are more immediately powerful than the permanent items, but cost a bit. The Monolith, though, is one of the most valuable items you can have, thanks to a secondary effect. The Monolith increases the current technological progress of whatever planet it is used on by one. For example, a tribal civilization will be changed to a global civilization. However, any planet that reaches space after a Monolith has been used on them will swear fealty to the owner of the Monolith. In other words, the Monolith is allies in a can!

Diplomacy is probably the easiest part of the Space Stage, thanks to the simple way the game handles moods. It's much like befriending other races back in the Creature Stage, in fact, only with more random energy beams! Stay tuned to Big Download for the final two segments of the Space Stage, where the secrets of exploration, terraforming, and the end of the game are revealed!

Well, maybe not the end of the game.