The first prototype F-22 Raptor
Rulebook, Section VI
Diplomacy
This is a game of "World Conquest and Global Diplomacy". Diplomacy is an incredibly important part of the game. The starting positions are so designed that it is essentially impossible for any one position to conquer the world on their own. You will need allies. It is also essentially impossible for any one position to conquer any of their neighbors on their own without taking unacceptably high losses. If your neighbor has an ally or two willing to come to their defense, you will need twice as many allies to defeat them. There are essentially no limits on what kind of agreements various players can make amongst themselves in their quest for global dominance, and breaking those agreements can be as important as making them. Agreements can be as specific or as general as players wish, and the moderators can act as mediators for the negotiation of these treaties if the players wish. If you write out specific terms for such an agreement, it is a good idea to email a copy of the signed treaty to the moderators in case later disagreements break out over the wording of the agreement.
VI. A. Non-Aggression Pacts
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A Non-Aggression Pact (commonly called a NAP) is just that: an agreement to not attack each other. It is treaty that forbids offensive action against another specified player or group of players in exchange for a similar pledge of peaceful intentions from the other players. Some of these agreements also include clauses that the signatories will not form alliances with certain other players that their counterparts consider enemies, or that signatories will discourage their other allies from making attacks on the other signatories of the treaty. There is no formal game penalty for breaking a NAP, but if the NAP was made public (and there is no rule requiring that you do so), other players may not trust you to adhere to your other treaties with them. There is a space in your weekly orders templates for announcing new alliances and NAP agreements to the moderators, although if such a treaty is marked "secret" the moderators will not reveal the existence of such agreements to other players.
VI. B. Alliances
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More complicated than a NAP is a formal Alliance Treaty. These agreements usually specify that all signatories will come to the aid of their allies if those allies are attacked by an outside party, and often pledge the signatories to joint operations against a common enemy. Alliances can be public or secret, and each type can be useful. A public alliance is often effective in discouraging attack by enemy nations, but they also can be seen as a threat and thus prompt your neighbors to seek allies of their own, leading eventually to a sort of arms race as players rush to join ever-larger alliances. Large alliance blocs can be clumsy, however, since each member will have their own goals and priorities, which might conflict with the goals and policies of their allies. The larger an alliance grows, the more likely that it will include two or more nations with a traditional hatred or distrust of each other. Signing public alliances with your traditional enemies will lead to riots and strikes by your people, which will reduce your cash income, although a careful preparation of propaganda can lessen or eliminate this effect, and history is replete with stories of strange political bedfellows allied against a common enemy. Secret alliances do not carry a political penalty, since they are secret even from your own citizens, but they have their own drawbacks. Being secret, they can not serve as a deterrent to aggression, and if your ally breaks the agreement, no one will believe you when you accuse them of treachery in the press. Thus, secret alliances are more likely to be broken, and some players may refuse to sign them because of this fact. The exact terms of both secret and public alliances should be emailed to the moderators.
An important part of diplomacy (and economics) is trade. Aside from the standard cash-for-resource deals, arms sales, and technology transfers mentioned above, nations can sign "Free Trade Agreements". In such agreements, nations agree to lower taxes and tariffs on trade between themselves so as to increase international trade. For the first 3 turns after the signing of such an agreement, both nations lose 1 point of cash income per turn due to lower tax revenue and loss of jobs as some businesses relocate or fail due to increased competition. For 2 turns after that, each nation goes back up to its original income level as the overall level of trade increases due to lower prices and increased efficiency. Starting with the sixth turn after the signing of the agreement, both nations gain a permanent 1 point increase in their cash income for the remainder of the game, due to increased trade. There is a limit of a 5-point increase for any one nation due to free trade agreements. Further trade agreements after that time will still cause the initial decrease, but will not give any benefit over the 5-point limit.
VI. D. Multinational Forces in Combat
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When two allied forces fight in the same battle as part of the same task force, there is a penalty due to the difficulties of a divided command structure and dissimilar equipment and training. If there is a difference in the basic quality of the forces involved, all forces in the same battle fight at the quality level of the lowest nation in that group. If the forces have the same quality level, there is a 1 point quality penalty. If the nations involved have held recent joint training exercises of the same type of units (ships, planes, or ground troops), this penalty can be reduced or eliminated.
VI. E. Other Diplomacy
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Almost any agreement that two nations can make in real life can be made in the game. Nations can pool their research efforts into a new technology, exchange territory, trade units, and agree to divide territories of vanquished enemies between them. All agreements and ongoing negotiations should be reported in your weekly turn orders to the moderators. This is for two reasons. First, the moderators like to know what is going on in the game. Second, other nations may attempt to learn your diplomatic status through espionage, and it would not be fair for some nations to be immune to this type of spying because the players lie to the moderators, while honest players suffer additional vulnerability. If the moderators discover such negotiations that you have not reported, they may impose income penalties due to strikes and riots following a "press leak" of unpopular secret negotiations.
