I know that before i have said that I am going to buy this game, but a couple of issues on the forums make me bounce back and forth repeatedly whether to get the game or not.

My concern is that of the diplomacy in the game. I keep on hearing that when you first meet the AI, your friendship with them is 0, or very low, so if you don't appease them, you go to war. It seems a little strange. Is this true, or just an over reaction by "newer" players(no offense ment to you beginners, we are all there once in a while  ) If this is a problem, would it be more logical to have a system where you start out with something like a 25% approval rating or so with the AI, and originally start with small missions like - Give X resources to us/team... - with only a small decrease in friendship if you do not complete the missions. When you get past, say, 50%, the missions get harder and you lose more friendship, and once past 75%, well, lets say thats when the - Kill X ships/structures of enemy - diplomacy comes in. This would get rid of early game problems, and allow the player to actually (possibly) be able to FIND the AI they are being asked to destroy. The original way seems a little off. I mean, do you go to somebody you just met and go, "Hey, can you go and infiltrate this facility that you have never seen of or heard of, and destroy these things. If you don't, its war. Have a nice day  . It just doesn't seem right.

Also, I had an idea for the siege frigate stuff (and it works for other ideas too). Say, for instance, that an enemy fleet pops in on your planet and manages to destroy most of the major defenses on that side of the planet, then they destroy the colony on the planet. However, your influence on the planet is strong, and they can't colonize it. One of your fleets jumps in and manages to chase out the enemy fleet. You send in a colonizer ship and re-colonize the planet. I was thinking, rather than having structures destroyed when the colony is destroyed, they go into a sort of "stand-by" mode. If you manage to re-colonize the planet, you can pay a certain percentage of their original cost and "re-activate" them. If the enemy colonizes there, however, they self-destruct, and the enemy can't use them. It could be like a tech or something to have them go into stand-by.

I hope the question on diplomacy can be answered. It is my only real concern with the game. Also, I apologize for my (probable) lack of information of ingame stuffs, or if these things have popped up before, or if they are plain stupid. Ignore the rest if you want, I'd rather only get an answer to the diplomacy so I can get the game, if it means the rest is ignored.