This column is the third of four in a series looking at the four "categories" of attributes, and the Conflicts that relate to them.  These are Intrigue, Military, Diplomacy, and Psi/Misc.

So we come to Diplomacy.  Of the original four Races, there are no really "weak" Diplomats.  The Humans are clearly superior.  The Minbari are very close.  The Centauri can be near-equals, but it requires more expensive characters like Turhan and Malachi.  G'Kar lacks a Destiny Mark (giving him the additional benefit of Popular Support), but some of the more expensive Narn characters are excellent Diplomats.
So what do you need if you're going to go for a Diplomacy-based win?

There are several Agendas that are helpful.  Power Politics is the most common, since each Starter Deck has one.  It gives you +1  diplomacy.  If you have a clear superiority in Diplomacy, you can usually win at least one or two of this conflict.  Since you gain two Influence (three with your Homeworld) from it, that's typically all you need.  Power Politics _is_ expensive, though, so watch your costs carefully.

A Rising Power can give you the Diplomacy you need to win with a Conflict.  Then wait a turn and keep your high- Diplomacy characters ready, and you can win.  Meddling With Others can let you initiate a Diplomacy conflict, but unless you want a Doom Mark it is not that  powerful compared to the others.

There are a substantial number of Diplomacy Conflicts. They include:

A Brighter Future:  Good if you are using the Maintain the Peace Agenda, using News of Galactic Import, You Are Not Ready, or Order Above All to squelch conflicts, or you play with folks who don't use Military conflicts.

Affirmation of Peace:  Unlikely you are going to pass the Babylon 5 vote without some heavy bargaining with at least one other player and the use of Non-Aligned Support (see below).  Good to supplement A Brighter Future and Maintain the Peace, keeping tensions low and preventing
war.

Affirmation of Power:  A lot more useful, since you don't need to call a B5 vote.  You need to win, and win big, to really benefit.

Alliance:  Unless you're doing serious tension-reduction, not very useful.  It can backfire if your erstwhile ally pulls ahead of you and wins the game with your "borrowed" influence.

Campaign for Support:  Good for bringing out more expensive characters, giving you more Diplomacy, so you can play Campaign for Support again and bring out another high-Diplomacy character, and so on...

Compatible Goals:  This requires that you use characters from other races, and that you picked the race that someone would not be using.   Useless in a four-player game, of course.

Complete Support:  Only works on your own tensions with another race, not their's.  Easy to succeed, but typically you'll want your tensions low and can keep them that way regardless.  Unless you're pursuing an aggressive military campaign and want to start a war quickly, not very useful.

Condemn Deportations:  Good if you want to encourage others to start a war...which you can then step in and benefit from by stopping.

Consolidated Position:  A good overall Conflict, defending your Ambassador and giving you an easy Diplomacy win to play Win Diplomacy Aftermaths on.

Demonstrative Victory:  Very iffy, unless you're sure one or more of your opponent won't be playing with their Homeworld.

Euphrates Treaty:  Good for the Centauri, as they can lower tensions with the Narn (keeping the Narn from starting a war).  Not much good for the Minbari or Humans to use unless they want to make a friend for life.

Extreme Sanction:  Only good against supporting characters and rather expensive.  If you want to take out characters, use Intrigue.

Humanitarian Aid:  Iffy unless you're pretty sure someone will be starting a war.  You can target yourself if you lost a war conflict, though.

Immortality Serum:  Good for pushing yourself over the top to win a game.  Play it too early, and it could generate general distrust among the other players towards you.  But you may want to play it early before other players can bring their Fleets into play.

Loss of Support:  Requires that another race's Unrest is high, and that they use Groups.  Neither is improbable, but the combination of variables may either make this card useless to you, or require you do some Unrest tampering with other races.

Neutrality Treaty:  Remarkably useless.  It's only real benefit is that nobody will bother to oppose it, giving you a way to play Win Diplomacy Aftermaths.

Non-Aggression Pact:  Better than Neutrality Treaty. However, if someone really wants to attack you, they'll probably be able to raise the tensions enough to remove this card.

Non-Aligned Support:  Vital if you plan on using any kind of B5 vote strategy.  You almost assuredly can't succeed in winning a vote without it.

Parliament of Dreams:  Useful with Maintain the Peace and A Brighter Future (see above).  You can usually find some underdog who is being beat up that will be willing to help you.

Rally the People:  A must in any deck that uses heavy Diplomacy.  Since no one else can directly interfere, you are assured a Win Diplomacy for Aftermath purposes.  Use it with Prolonged Talks for a real boost.

Saber Rattling:  If you are going to bolster your Diplomacy with Military, this is the card to use.

Stop Hostilities:  Good if you are pursuing a strong B5-enhancing strategy.  If you haven't been bolstering B5's influence, it probably won't work.

Supplement Security:  It will probably be successful, but whether you use it depends on whether you plan on interfering in Intrigue conflicts, and how strong your characters are in that category.  Probably best used by the Centauri.

Test Their Mettle:  Like Saber Rattling, good if you plan on having Fleets in play.  Also useful if you can target an opponent who hasn't brought out Fleets of their own yet.  A good way to both gain Influence and penalize an opponent.

Trade Pact:  The last Diplomacy conflict discussed here, and probably the most popular.  Due to Trade Windfall, this card can give you a serious benefit.  Remember, however, that Trade Pact itself does _not_ give you Influence.  It becomes an Enhancement that provides Influence:  this means you can't benefit from rotating your Homeworld.  It can also be removed by Forces Collide and any future enhancement-removal cards in Shadow Wars.  If people using this bothers you, put Commerce Raiding in your deck.

Those are the Conflicts.  There are a multitude of ways to modify or raise your values or mess up your opponent's.  They include:  Assigning Blame, Diplomatic Advantage, Enrage, Exploit Opportunities, Left Vulnerable, Older But Wiser, Personal Sacrifices, Public Apology, United Front, Covert Allies, Power Posturing, Pulling Strings, Shunned, Triluminary, Crystal Cities, Book of G'Quan, Diplomatic Blunder, Popular Support, You Know My Reputation, Commercial Telepaths, Diplomatic Corps, Influential Lords (Centauri only), Religious Caste (Minbari only), and Mars Colony (Human only).

A Good Bluff, Fleets on the Border, Intrigues Mature, and Sanctions can help, but don't forget they let your opponent support with a new attribute as well.  Unless you're equally strong or better in the "new" attribute, don't bother.

What do you have to worry about if you pursue a Diplomacy path to victory?  None of the other races are particularly weak in Diplomacy.   Two or even all three of them banding against you can cause you to lose.  Don't get overconfident.

Some methods of winning with Diplomacy can give you a huge boost with only one or two Conflicts (Rally the People, Affirmation of Power, Immortality Serum, Power Politics).  Cautious opponents will watch for these, and do everything they can to stop you.

Beware of war.  Level the Playing Field can let your Diplomats use their Diplomacy if you don't have fleets.  If you do put out fleets, you'll be devoting Influence that might be used elsewhere.  On the other hand, don't forget that Level the Playing Field will let you convert fleet military strength to Diplomacy.  Minbari with the Grey Council Fleet, take note.

Overall, Diplomacy is a bit biased towards the Humans, but anybody can try to win with it.  It has the advantage of giving you a quick win.   however, if you make a move towards doing so, your opponents may be ruthless in crushing you.

Next week:  Conflicts - Miscellaneous

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Steve Crow