Original Post — Direct link

Prediction: Quetzali is now B or A tier in multiplayer

Why? Because turtling is now a (maybe) viable strategy. As long as Quetzali explores and meets a few tribes, grabs a few villages, and doesn't spawn next to bardur, they can rush an economy tech, then get diplomacy and build embassies. This gives them 2 free stars per turn, 4 if the other tribes also build embassies in the Quetzali capital. This, combined with shields to defend from early militaristic tribes, allows Quetzali to actually build up their cities without affecting their ability to defend themselves, until they can emerge and attack. Obviously, they still won't be able to compete with economy tribes (especially if they're too slow to develop or don't have a reasonable spawn), but chances are, since it's humans fighting, they'll focus on their more powerful opponents to stop them becoming unstoppable, and ignore Quetzali, since just by doing so, they get 4 extra stars per turn and a safe border. Allthough, in general, I think the diplomacy update kind of made the normal tribes a little more generic, since the early game can pass much more quickly, due to the extra income from embassies (still love it though).

External link →
about 3 years ago - /u/Zoythrus - Direct link

Originally posted by PM_ME_YOUR_API_KEYS

I think "turtling is now a (maybe) viable strategy" is the intention of the update. Of course adding Diplomacy is going to make the game a little slower and less aggressively rush-oriented.

This is intentional