...option (continued from the subtitle)
Ok the subject is a little confusing. It refers to an article about bad DMing (the act of playing as a refree in a Role-Playing game) in AD&D I read some time ago . It pictured a party of adventurers confronting a dangerous beholder (a magical creature). Once the monster got to the point where it was clear it had no ways of defeating the attacking adventurers, the DM had it commit suicide (through disintegration!) to spoil the players' rightly earned experience reward (frustrating!).
The AI in GalCiv2 plays exactly the same. When it turns clear that it has no chance to confront the player fleets anymore it will "commit suicide" by surrendering to ANOTHER race.
How silly is this? Try to picture a 1944 Germany suddenly surrendering to Swiss federation giving away all its territory, resources and remaining armed forces...
Is this a believable scenario?
I've seen the AI lightly-hearted surrender to races with which it shared a history of prolonged and bitter warfare, just to spoil the player's conquest...
This is terribly frustrating when a defeated faction cedes control of its homeworld to my best trade partner...
This leads me to another consideration: the array of diplomatic options is way too short. The old Master of Orion 2 and Space Empires 4 offer a lot more of them.
A losing faction cannot offer any prize to buy a quarter or a peace treaty.
There is no way to impose to a menaced faction tributes (like "cede control of this starbase, this fleet or this colony") or a special political subjugation state (like a protectorate or something similar).
