Highlights
- Diplomacy mechanics in grand strategy games can be incredibly rewarding, allowing adept players to negotiate their way to victory.
- Games like Civilization 6, Hearts of Iron 4, and Humankind offer complex and varied diplomacy mechanics, including congress systems, embassies, agents, and diplomatic currencies.
- Some grand strategy games, like Crusader Kings 3 and Victoria 3, focus on personal relationships and managing families, while others, like Age of Wonders 4 and Europa Universalis 4, offer expansive trading systems and covert actions for players to utilize.
For decades, the grand strategy genre has invited gamers to sink hundreds of hours into playing some of the most complex and mechanically intricate games available. Simulating everything from economics to combat, this genre is famous for giving players a wide variety of tools to use in order to outthink and outplay their opponents, with perhaps none as satisfying as diplomacy.
From dictating unequal treaties to forcing an enemy into vassalage, well-made diplomacy mechanics can often be the most valuable and rewarding to engage with. These are some of the best games to play to bring out the master negotiator.
10 Civilization 6
The Civilization series was one of the founders of the grand strategy genre on PC, with Sid Meier producing the first game all the way back in 1991. Since the original release, the series has continued to grow in both popularity and mechanical complexity, adding new features with every title and DLC.
Civilization 6 added to its original suite of diplomatic tools with the Gathering Storm DLC in 2019, introducing the "World Congress" mechanic and the "Diplomatic Favor" currency. With these additions, Civilization 6 gives the adept player the means to negotiate their way to a true diplomatic victory.
9 Hearts Of Iron 4
Building on the original release with DLCs such as Death or Dishonor and Together for Victory, Hearts of Iron 4 now includes some of the most varied and unique diplomacy mechanics of any game in the genre, giving even neutral nations powerful tools to influence their neighbors.
Players can send expeditionary forces and establish lend-lease agreements, and those nations with civilian factories to spare can find intelligence agencies that recruit agents who are able to steal secrets and foment coups. The peace conference system is unique to the title as well, allowing victorious players to demand fleets and factories in addition to territory at war's end.
8 Humankind
Released in 2021, Humankind sought to build on the turn-based formula popularized by the Civilization series, and in doing so established itself as both a familiar and fresh addition to the grand strategy genre. Like its main inspiration, Humankind introduced a "Congress" system after the 2022 Together We Rule DLC, which also added embassies and agents into the game, as well as a diplomatic currency called "Leverage."
Perhaps most unique is its "Grievance" mechanic, which allows factions to make demands for compensation when wronged in some way. If these demands are ignored or refused, anything from embargoes to war may follow.
7 Imperator: Rome
Poorly received on launch (and no longer in development), the 2.0 update of Imperator: Rome brought players a fully realized Paradox title, complete with all the hallmarks and features fans have come to expect from the developer. With a diplomacy system based on that of Europa Universalis 4, Imperator: Rome expands on its predecessor's mechanics in some key ways, adding a new diplomatic stance feature and building upon the diplomatic reputation system.
The diplomatic action "Demand Subject Transfer" is also a welcome addition, allowing players to sway and bring their enemy's subjects to their side.
6 Victoria 3
Fans of Paradox Interactive's grand strategy games had been waiting for Victoria 3 so long that it had become a meme. Unfortunately for fans of the series the game is still sitting at Mixed on its Steam page, due mostly to the highly controversial changes made to the warfare system.
Though the combat mechanics may not be the best of the genre, Victoria 3 excels in the area of diplomacy, launching with a fully realized "Diplomatic Play" system that adds depth to even the more minor diplomatic actions. The "Infamy" system from its predecessor returns as well, in addition to a new "Obligation" system that gives Victoria 3 some of the most intricate diplomacy mechanics of any Paradox title.
5 Total War: Warhammer 3
The latest entry in the long-running Total War series, Total War: Warhammer 3 builds upon the success of the preceding titles to give players the most comprehensive Total War experience to date. Though the series is most known for its in-depth real-time combat, Warhammer 3 boasts an impressive suite of diplomatic features, with the game taking into account everything from faction reliability to racial bias when it comes time to make a deal.
Once the enemy is brought to the negotiating table, the player can propose anything from trade agreements to confederations, giving this game a satisfying alternative to pure map painting.
4 Crusader Kings 3
Perhaps the most unique game on this list, Crusader Kings 3 gives its diplomacy mechanics a more personal touch, focusing on managing a family and their relationships over hundreds of years. Rather than negotiating trade agreements, players will be negotiating marriages and vassal contracts, trading favors for privileges, or, if skilled in intrigue, blackmailing their vassals and peers into submission.
Alliances are not as simple as most games either, requiring the marriage of close family members to cement the relationship (though there's a perk that grants its owner one marriage-free alliance), making the player character's offspring some of the most valuable tools in their diplomatic arsenal.
3 Age Of Wonders 4
The newest game on this list, Age of Wonders 4 launched to broadly critical acclaim and still maintains a 'Very Positive' all-time review average on Steam. Building off the success of Age of Wonders 3 and Age of Wonders: Planetfall, Triumph Studios sought to build and expand on the systems that have made their games so popular.
The diplomacy mechanics in Age of Wonders 4 received plenty of attention from the studio, with a trading system that allows players to negotiate for everything from cities to prisoners, and a pressure system that adds more depth to the similar "threat level" mechanics of similar titles, in addition to staples of the series such as fleshed-out personalities for the AI.
2 Europa Universalis 4
A veritable classic of the grand strategy genre, Europa Universalis 4 has had players navigating their way through a complex web of diplomatic relations and power politics for just over a decade. In peace, players can make use of the relatively new "Favors" system to influence friends and enemies alike, as well as all the classic covert actions.
In war, players can force their defeated rivals into anything from transferring their trade power to converting their religion. Be careful not to push too much, however, as the "Aggressive Expansion" system can punish the greedy and unprepared with hits to national stability and often insurmountable enemy coalitions.
1 Stellaris
Released in 2016, Stellaris has become one of Paradox Interactive's most popular titles, with a wider range of playstyles than almost any game in the genre. The game's seven main DLCs have continued to add to these options as well, bringing systems such as the "Galactic Community" and "Federations" to the title.
The diplomatic-minded player can find themselves with more tools at their disposal than they might know what to do with, with deep subject and vassalage mechanics that make purely diplomatic playstyles more than viable, and a bilateral agreement system that allows for relationships based on research and commerce over purely military arrangements.