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I am curious what people's thoughts are on the most effective ways to use the diplomat. I often see people using it on an architect in very early stages, but how is it best utilised in the mid to end games?

It's not common that you'll acquire multiple copies of every card you want to use in the course of a game, sometimes you need a second Mercator or Architect in a cycle before you Tribune. Those are common targets, especially the upgraded Mercator. Prefect, Senator, and Consul are also common targets. I usually don't target Minerva cards or Colonists (not saying never), because if I don't have those cards myself, then it usually means I'm not positioned to really benefit a lot from it.

An example would be that you play the entire game with only one architect and focus on Saturn and maybe the farmer and mason minerva cards for scoring by building in lots of regions but not a lot of non-brick cities, and so in order to build more you have to time it so you are using the diplomat to copy their architect so you can ideally build twice each time before using your tribune. You can also use the diplomat very effectively to copy senator or consul cards to get additional cards. I also will use it to copy other players minerva cards if I have at least 2 of that city type. So for example if another player has the farmer, but I have 2 food cities, I may diplomat their farmer card to get 2 free food. One thing I find annoying is not getting a second mercator card and having to rely on using a diplomat to exchange goods, so personally I usually want to get at least one additional mercator card so I can use my diplomat(s) on other things.

Mainly, I collect Diplomats to score points .

As far as their play ability goes, I generally use them on Senator or Consul to take more cards. When I first started playing Concordia, I might copy an Architect. But I generally don’t do this. I have used it to copy Colonist. When I have a Diplomat in hand, the first thing I do is check all the played cards to see what opportunities there are. Usually the best option is a Consul or a Senator. I’ll copy a Senator even if it will only get me one card. Points are points, and the available cards are a pretty small scoring resource.

Early in the game, I often use the diplomat to copy previous player's Architect. This way I have saved my Architect to use as soon as possible, thus acquiring up to 4 trade houses as soon as possible. Later the Diplomat has many uses, byt probably the best use of all is to copy another player's Consul.

Early in the game the priority is 1. Architect and 2. Senator.

Later in the game it depends on your card purchases but you Architect, Senator, and Consul are always going to be strong plays as they are how you win games.