The World Congress is a new system representing high-level diplomacy between civilizations, and begins meeting once the game has entered the Medieval Era.

The World Congress operates in two modes. In a regular World Congress session, which happens automatically every 30 turns (on Standard Speed), all the Civilizations of the world gather to vote on Resolutions and Scored Competitions. In a Special Session, which must be requested by a player that has been affected by a trigger for an Emergency, the players who are invited to join that Emergency will vote on whether or not they wish to do so. You will use Diplomatic Favor to interact with the World Congress.

Diplomatic Favor is a currency used in the World Congress and is key to winning the Diplomatic Victory and ensuring that Resolutions go your way. It represents the political clout or debt: players can use their past diplomatic deeds to influence World Congress, extract promises from other players, request Emergencies, or even receive financial benefit by trading their Diplomatic Favor to willing players. Players gain Diplomatic Favor through positive interactions with other powers and actions that benefit the whole world.

Some actions provide a steady trickle of Diplomatic Favor:
You gain Diplomatic Favor each turn based on the tier of your government
You can gain Diplomatic Favor each turn for each City-State of which you are Suzerain
Active Alliances with other civilizations generate Diplomatic Favor each turn, increasing as your Alliance Level increases

But some actions will reduce your incoming Diplomatic Favor:
You lose Diplomatic Favor each turn based on your CO2 production relative to other nations
You lose Diplomatic Favor each turn based on the amount of Grievances the world as a whole has against you
You lose Diplomatic Favor each turn based on the number of original capitals that you occupy

Other actions generate large one-time windfalls of Diplomatic Favor:
Liberating a City-State from another civilization
Liberating a city from one civilization and returning it to the original civilization
Returning a player to the game by Liberating their city after they have been completely conquered
Reaching appropriate score tiers in Emergencies and Scored Competitions

If a player spends Diplomatic Favor on a measure which did not pass the World Congress, or on a Promise Request that is rejected by the target, then the player gets their full amount refunded for the next session. If they spent it on a measure which ulitmately passes, but on a different target then half the amount of Diplomatic Favor spent is refunded.

Resolutions are joint agreements made in the World Congress which change the rules of the game. You will be able to vote on an automatically-generated selection of Resolutions relevant to the current Era using Diplomatic Favor. When voting for a Resolution, you will choose a potential target, and choose between 2 options for how the target is affected. The option that receives the most votes is binding for all players until the next session of the World Congress.

In the event of a tie, the Civilization that spent the greatest percentage of their Diplomatic Favor when voting on the Resolution will be the winner.

Scored Competitions are chances for civilizations to win esteem through events and projects that benefit the world. These can be events like the World's Fair, or Climate Accords. If enacted, players who vote in favor of the Scored Competition will compete to contribute to the cause. The players that contribute the most will receive lucrative rewards.

Two new Emergencies, the Aid Request and the Military Aid Request, are available. Aid Requests may be called when a player receives significant damage from a natural disaster. Military Aid Requests may be called when a player receives a declaration of war from another player against whom they already have many Grievances. In both cases, members who join the Emergencies will be requested to send Gold to the target player in exchange for Score that gets them closer to winning Diplomatic Favor and Diplomatic Victory Point rewards.

All Emergencies now fall under the purview of the World Congress and must be requested and passed through a Special Session before they will begin. The players who are affected by the trigger for the Emergency may request it: for an Aid Request, the player who is damaged by the natural disaster may request a Special Session. For a Religious Emergency, the player who lost the city and those players who can join the Emergency may request a Special Session. Once a Special Session is initiated, all relevant players will vote for or against each request. When a request passes, a Competition between players to combat the Emergency begins.