General Description
Parley is a tug-of-war. -AruspexThe diplomacy gameboard. The bottom half represents you. The top half represents your opponent. To the right is the Dialogue Point Marker. To the left is the Statement play area. In the centre are the available Expression types.
The diplomacy gameboard.
- The bottom half represents you.
- The top half represents your opponent.
- To the right is the Dialogue Point Marker.
- To the left is the Statement play area.
- In the centre are the available Expression types.
Parley is the 'combat' of diplomacy, a battle fought with style, panache and Statement Cards!
All parleys take the following progression:
Hail an NPC
- A parley conversation option.
- A parley conversation option.
Target your NPC and either right-click or hail them (by pressing "H"). The dialogue window will appear.
In the dialogue window may be one or more possible parley conversations, distinguished by the small inkwell and quill icon. If there are no parley conversations visible, you cannot parley with the NPC.
Check the Conversation Type
Before going any further with the parley, make sure you check to see what kind of Conversation is involved. Diplomacy parley encounters are divided into five types of conversation. The type of conversation effects which types of Expression you will be able to use as 'fuel' during your parley.
To give yourself the best chance of winning the parley, you must construct a Strategy to overcome any restrictions on the types of Expression you can use.
Build a Strategy
A Strategy is the selection of Statements you make before you commence a diplomacy parley encounter. Although a player may have dozens of Statements in their deck, they are limited to using the Statements they laid out on their Strategy table before the parley commenced. It's like dealing yourself a hand of cards.
Strategy table containing two Statements
Strategy table containing two Statements
During early parley encounters, you will be given a limited deck by your trainer. This deck will contain three of the five types of Statements available.
- Comments - Low powered Statements that produce a little Influence to move the parley progress in your favor, but nearly always give Expression to the opponent.
- Evaluations - Statements that give Expression to you for use in Assertions, Repeals, and Rebuts.
- Assertions - High powered Statements that output a lot of Influence to move the parley progress quite a bit in your favor. They are expensive to play in terms of Expression, and also generally give Expression for the opponent to use.
To access the Strategy table, go to the Abilities Book (or press "P") and select the Diplomacy tab. At the bottom, press the button marked "Strategy".
Drag Statements from your Abilities Book into the card spaces on your Strategy Table. Click "Strategy" again when you're done, and then close your Abilities Book.
You cannot change the Statements in your Strategy after the parley has commenced, so choose wisely! In low-level parley you need to select Comments and Assertions that will give you Influence, and also Evaluations that provide you with the fuel (Expression) to play those Assertions.
Initiate Parley
Once you've prepared your Strategy, click on the parley conversation option in the dialogue window. The diplomacy gameboard will launch.
Dialogue Points
On the right of the gameboard is the Dialogue Point Marker, which is the battlefield your tug-of-war will be fought over. At the top right is the current number of Dialogue Points of your opponent. At the bottom right are your current Dialogue Points.
Influencing the Marker
The Dialogue Point Marker is balanced in between you and your opponent on a field divided down the centre. During each round, you and your opponent can each play one Statement, trying to produce the Influence which moves the Marker.
- If the Marker is on your side of the field at the end of a round, your Dialogue Points will be reduced by one.
- If the Marker is on your opponent's side of the field at the end of a round, your opponent's Dialogue Points will be reduced by one.
The First Card
Since you do not start a parley encounter with any Expression, the first card you play will usually be a Comment or an Evaluation. In most early parley encounters, it's best to start out with a Comment, as this will immediately move the Dialogue Point Marker to your side of the field.
- To move, click on the Statement you wish to play, and then click "Speak".
- When you play your card, it will be greyed out until it refreshes. The number of rounds is indicated by the Refresh Timer on the card's lower right corner.
- Comments (like Evaluations) usually have a side-effect of providing your opponent with some Expression. When you play your card, you will have given your opponent some free 'fuel'.
- Your opponent will now play a Statement and the round will end.
- If the Dialogue Point Marker is on your side of the field, your Dialogue Points will go down by one. (Good!)
- If the Dialogue Point Marker is on your opponent's side of the field, your opponent's Dialogue Points will go down by one. (Bad!)
- If the Dialogue Point Marker is in the exact centre of the field, all Dialogue Points will stay the same. (meh)
Next round!
The Tug-of-War
Parleying by simply playing Comments will rarely be successful. Comments are relatively weak moves, and your opponent is sure to be working to build enough Expression to pull out the big guns.
Building Expression
You can build Expression by:
- Playing Evaluation. Evaluations are free to play, but don't produce any Influence. But they give you the fuel of Expression.
- Letting your opponent do the work for you. Many of the Statements your opponent plays will be giving you free Expression. Never a bad thing!
- Using Repeals.
Evaluations are the work-horses of Expression-building. They cost nothing to play and, though they will fuel your opponent, they will fuel you far more. Each time you play a card, the amount of Expression which will be produced (or reduced) is represented by the numbers on either side of the colored dots.
- Numbers above represent the amount of Expression you're giving your opponent.
- Numbers below represent the amount of Expression you're giving yourself.
Assertions
Once you've built up enough Expression, you can start to play cards which cost Expression to use, such as Assertions. Assertions are your big hitters, putting a lot of Influence out there, but at the price of Expression.
When playing Statements which cost Expression, remember that there are four kinds of expression, and you can't use Inspire Expression to play a Demand Expression-fuelled card.
Listening
There may be times in a parley when there's no cards you can play. The only Statements not refreshing are the ones you don't have enough Expression to play. So what happens? You press the "Listen" button, which is the equivalent of passing your turn in the round.
If the Dialogue Point Marker is on your side of the field, listening is often a good strategic move.
Parley's End
Parley ends when you or your opponent reaches zero Dialogue Points.
Losing
If you lose, you may not be able to parley with that NPC for several minutes. During beginner's diplomacy there are usually no other consequences, but this is far from the case in the more advanced fields, such as Civic Diplomacy.
Winning
As well as the heady rush of victory, parley will also have progressed the conversation represented by the diplomatic parley. As your Dialogue Points count down during the conversation, you earn more and more lines of conversation, which is displayed in the dialogue window. Only by winning the parley will you reach the end of the conversation (which in Entertain parleys, can leave you one step short of a punchline!).
But winning doesn't only reward you with lore, plots and knock knock jokes. You may also receive:
- Loot! Money or diplomatic gear and rewards.
- Faction.
- Diplomacy Skill Levels.
- Information to use with Information Brokers.