So back to the fleet intervene option. Great to be able to intervene and stop another faction from landing on a planet, and though I'm thrilled I don't see any diplomatic backlash. Will that change eventually?

A. I remember having a near full on battle to stop a fleet from landing and after the battle, the other race just went on their merry.

B. Can of worms here but this is where, as we're developing the game, SiS can be something we hope for. Diplomacy. I cant remember many times where fleet met fleet where diplomacy was an option.

C. When I have another AI race like mine, does the game treat it just like another alien AI where anything goes?

D. Will there be an option to Assist (not intervention) a fleet in battle? Again my experience is limited with this but when an AI race I was friends with, were being attacked by an enemy of mine, I intervened. Well, as I made my moves to attack the fleet attacking my "friends," my "friends" took it upon themselves to directly attack MY fleet first!

I enjoy most games like this pre-super tech stage where it just becomes a power play and not much for diplomacy so you can imaging I'm into the diplomacy and interaction, more so than the power plays.

Captainspire wrote:D. Will there be an option to Assist (not intervention) a fleet in battle? Again my experience is limited with this but when an AI race I was friends with, were being attacked by an enemy of mine, I intervened. Well, as I made my moves to attack the fleet attacking my "friends," my "friends" took it upon themselves to directly attack MY fleet first!

Did you have a formal alliance with that "friend"?

This goes into the same issue mentioned by Chasm in which you have to destroy a rival's colony ship to prevent them from claiming a system. That you can do so without declaration of war is kind of a holdover kludge. There needs to be a local diplomatic trigger that you can use in situations where foreign fleets are in the same system that allows you to use the threat of force to give the AI faction the option to comply with your request, without necessarily having to declare war.

Sven and I have talked about adding a Parley option in situations in which a non-allied, not-at-war foreign fleet is in the same system as yours, and when you are given the option to intercept or intervene. Essentially, it would allow you to use the threat of war to compel ships to leave the system, prevent a colonization attempt, or encourage one side in a third-party battle to retreat. If the target refuses the ultimatum, then war is declared and you can blow up that colony ship or intervene in the battle. If the target of the ultimatum decides not to fight, then the ships retreat from the system, and an appropriate diplomatic issue is created that will affect the player's reputation with that faction.

I think you should be allowed to assist in a battle, but you should have to declare war against one or both of the other parties. In the case of something like pirates, you're probably already at war with them. I don't think you should need an alliance with the other combatant in order to take part in the battle, but you shouldn't be allowed to fire on ships of a faction that you're not at war with (or, doing so will trigger a war).

You do get a small positive reputation modifier when two factions are the same race, and there are some special interactions possible between the two Ashdar factions. But there are no additional restrictions; being the same race doesn't prevent human nations on Earth from going to war against one another.

I don't think the war needs to be "on the table" in that situation. If asked to leave the third party might do so or decide to fight - without political consequences. Or you can intervene without asking - causing a reputation damage, but not necessary a war.
USSR and USA where fighting (and killing each others solders) in Vietnam (a lot) without declaring a war to each other. It would've been much worse if they did start a global (nuclear) war as a result.

Attacking another faction's vessels or installations is an act of war. There might be some special circumstances in which war is averted, but at the very least it's going to be a major international incident. I think it's simplest for the general case to require a declaration of war in order to attack another faction; allowing "free" attacks is basically giving the player carte blanche to abuse the AI. If there are special circumstances in which it makes sense to allow combat without a declaration of war, we can add those, but none come to mind at the moment.

bjg wrote:USSR and USA where fighting (and killing each others solders) in Vietnam (a lot) without declaring a war to each other. It would've been much worse if they did start a global (nuclear) war as a result.

Russian and American troops never directly fought each other in the Vietnam War (to my knowledge); proxy wars are quite a different thing. Russian pilots did engage with American aircraft during the Korean War, but it was very secret -- the Russian pilots were formally "advisors", wearing Korean uniforms and flying aircraft with Korean markings.

When Chinese troops directly attacked American troops in the Korean War, this was a major international incident that very nearly started a full-blown war between the US and China; if it hadn't been for the threat of nuclear weapons, there almost certainly would have been a war. SIS doesn't have a "mutually-assured-destruction" kind of mechanic that would make the victim of such an attack hesitate to declare war.

I wasn't around during the Korean War, but we've had a lot of jokes about Soviet pilots and special forces in Vietnam (yes, they've called "advisors"), so the secret was very "official". Border incidents with China where also quite common - fortunately they also didn't cause a war.
In MoO/MoM attacking fleet/troops could cause a war, but not necessary (unlike attacking a planet/city).

I wonder if a work around, for now, would be to have two separate instances of battles.
One that lets you attack the fleet you want to kill and a second instance where can retreat or not fight the other alien fleet you want to "help"

What we are planning to add is a Parley system whereby in a situation in which combat is an option but you are not yet at war (such as when intercepting a colony ship, intervening in a third-party battle, or when you just want another faction's ships to leave the current system, there will be a "Parley" option (in addition to "Attack" in which you can threaten the faction in question with war instead of just attacking. This should allow you to shoo away colony ships or nosy vessels without having to the destroy them. If the other faction refuses the ultimatum and you attack anyway, then you will be at war. Any situation in which you attack another faction's vessels will be considered an act of war.