Even the most warmongering Rulers in Age Of Wonders 4 will need to use diplomacy to achieve their goals. Managing how you're perceived by the other empires on the map - as well as how they feel about one another - is key to ensuring that you have strong allies at your back and that your enemies are too busy fighting one another to deal with you.

Related: Age Of Wonders 4: Beginner Tips

This guide contains everything you need to know about the art of diplomacy in Age Of Wonders 4. Mastering the diplomacy screen will lead to mastering the game!

Diplomacy With Other Rulers

The most intricate type of diplomacy in Age Of Wonders 4 is between the major empires on the map, whether they're controlled by human players or the AI. Your relations with each other Ruler can and will fluctuate over the course of the game. Once you've met a Ruler, you can initiate diplomacy with them at any time during your turn, either through the Diplomacy tab or by clicking on their portrait in the upper-right corner of the screen.

The very first time you meet a Ruler, you'll have the option of giving them a friendly or hostile greeting. A friendly greeting requires you to give them a gift of fifty Gold, and improves your starting relations with them slightly. A hostile greeting costs nothing, but slightly reduces your initial relationship. You can ignore both options and simply leave the diplomacy screen by pressing "Goodbye," but you won't get another chance to offer a greeting.

Most of your diplomacy will take place through the Negotiate button. This allows you to make an offer to the other player of resources, territory, or pacts. You can ask for something in return, or give a gift to improve your relations with the target.

Treaties

Treaties are agreements between two Rulers that last until broken. The most basic treaty is the Wizard's Bond, which reveals the location of each Ruler's Throne City to the other and allows for other treaties to be signed in the future. There is a cooldown between signing new treaties with the same Ruler, so even if you have amazing Relations you can't go straight from a Wizard's Bond to an Alliance in one go. Rulers with a Wizard's Bond, Defensive Agreement, or Alliance can call one another to war, with increasing Grievance penalties for declining.

On maps with allied victories enabled, all players who have an Alliance with the player who triggers a victory condition are considered to have won the game. This also means that if the only other players still in the game are your allies, you'll earn a Military Victory.

Pronouncements

Pronouncements represent your Ruler publicly stating their opinions about another. You can declare another Ruler to be your friend or rival, or denounce them for their deeds. Pronouncements usually carry a cost in Gold or Mana, and will positively or negatively affect your relations with the target.

If a Ruler falls in battle and withdraws to the Astral Void, they cannot negotiate or be negotiated with until they return!

Related: Total War: Warhammer 3 - Complete Guide To Diplomacy

How To Improve Relations With Other Rulers

Another Ruler's opinion of you is shown as their Relations score. In general, if you do things the Ruler likes, then your Relations with them will increase, while angering them will cause your Relations to drop. You'll tend to have good Relations with Rulers who share your Alignment and Affinities, and those with whom you have mutual allies.

Each AI Ruler has a Personality that can be seen on their diplomacy screen. This determines what will earn their approval or disapproval and can vary wildly by individual Ruler, but it's important to pay attention to other Rulers' Personalities when planning your campaign.

If you need to quickly improve Relations with a Ruler, try sending them a gift or buying off some Grievances (see below). You can check what gifts they're interested in on the diplomacy screen.

Threat Level

Shown on the diplomacy screen, Threat Level indicates how scared of you a Ruler is. If you overshadow a Ruler militarily, economically, or both, they'll be more willing to cooperate, resulting in slightly better Relations.

Grievances And War Justification

You can declare war against another ruler at any time, but it's always best to do so when public opinion is on your side; this is done through the game's system of Grievances. Any time a Ruler does something that's considered hostile to another, the victim receives Grievances. You can see how many Grievances you have against a Ruler (and how many they have against you) on their diplomacy screen.

Some of the things that will incur Grievances are:

• Annexing territory claimed by another (usually near their borders).
• Breaking a treaty.
• Vassalizing a Free City with whom another Ruler was negotiating (see below).
• Sending units through another Ruler's territory without permission.

As long as you have more Grievances against a Ruler than they have against you, you will be considered justified if you declare war against them. The greater the difference, the more justified the war will be. The opposite is also true; if you declare war against a Ruler with many more Grievances against you than you have against them, your war will be considered very unjustified.

Declaring a justified war will give you a boost in relations with other Rulers and Free Cities, and temporarily cause your cities to produce more resources. Conversely, declaring an unjustified war will cause others to like you less, and incur an economic penalty on your empire for several turns. The bonus or penalty scales with the difference in Grievances between you and your target.

You can use the Settle Grievances button to offer or demand a tribute of Gold to forgive one or more Grievances. Grievances can be bought off for ten Gold per point.

How To Vassalize A Free City

Free Cities are independent, small realms that appear on most maps. They have their own armies and territory, but do not conquer other cities and cannot win the game. Instead, Rulers can negotiate with them to build up Allegiance, which will cause the Free Cities to open their borders, provide tribute, and eventually swear fealty to a single Ruler as their Vassal.

Each Ruler starts the game with one Whispering Stone, which can be given to the leader of a Free City through the diplomacy screen. A Whispering Stone increases the Free City's Allegiance each turn. Multiple Rulers can have Whispering Stones at the same Free City.

You can get a second Whispering Stone by choosing the Diplomatic Focus skill from the General Affinity tree. If you have Order Affinity, you can get a third one through the Diplomatic Channels skill, allowing you to negotiate with several Free Cities at once!

Free City Diplomatic Tiers

In a Free City's diplomacy screen you can use the Boost Allegiance button to immediately gain half the remaining Allegiance required for the next tier of relations. The cost is an amount of Imperium equal to five times the gained Allegiance. This is a great way to catch up if you're racing another Ruler to vassalize the Free City!

Once a Free City reaches 46 or more Allegiance with a Ruler, they permanently become that ruler's Vassal. The other Rulers can no longer negotiate with that Free City, and their Whispering Stone is returned.

Once Vassalized, you can continue to increase the Free City's Allegiance to get greater benefits. They will automatically join your wars as well, but will generally stick to defending their own territory.

A Vassal's Allegiance resets to zero after swearing Fealty, so any extra Allegiance beyond what's required to vassalize them is lost.

Vassal Diplomatic Tiers

The regions of a Bonded, Flourishing, or Supreme Vassal count toward your total holdings for an Expansion Victory. A Flourishing or Supreme Vassal can be Integrated for a large investment of Imperium, giving the overlord full control of the city. This action cannot be undone; all of the Vassal's units disband, but the city's leader joins the overlord's army as a Hero.

Next: How To Found New Cities In Age Of Wonders 4