[SPOILERS] Bismark of Sumeria (luddite + Atlas1998)

[Cyneheard]

You don't even have to use the game account for outgoing mail.

Also, in your "permanent" e-mail account, through the settings there's "Accounts and Import" and then "Send Mail As." You can use that to send mail looks like it's from your game account, while being logged in to your permanent account. Just remember to set "Reply from the same address the message was sent to," and to check the address you're sending as from the permanent account. If you're worried about your permanent address getting out to the other players, I wouldn't recommend this, because eventually you'll forget to switch to the game e-mail when sending a message.

For chats, you'll want to use the game account, of course. There's no way to front a second account through there, AFAIK.

[luddite]

If your game email address is gmail(Which is also nice for chatting,) then you can have it automartically forward mail to another address. You can even customize it so it only forwards mail under certain circumstances(such as if a particular word is present.)

This way you wouldn't have to check the "extra" email account... You would only need to log into it to for outgoing mail.

I actually did this at the beginning, but it's not working for some reason. I'll have to fiddle with it some more to see if i can get it to work correctly.

[luddite]

So first of all, I've reached a new milestone: being average in MFG


I've signed open borders with Parkin, which will give me some extra commerce as soon as I finish Sailing. Mackoti is pressuring me constantly to agree to give him all the land in the south- his current offer is that he'll loan me gems for 20 turns or ivory or 35 turns if I do that. But there's no way I'll agree to that.

[luddite]

I got a big score increase from territory this turn, putting me back to second place. Otherwise not much going on.

My current plan is to send a settler to block Mackoti, which would arrive in about 10 turns. I'll also send a warrior closely behind the settler, and then hook up my copper so that I can upgrade the warrior whenever necessary (and build some vultures to send after it).

Unfortunately if it turns into a pillaging war then I'll have a disadvantage, since vultures are not good at attacking axemen. But I think I'll have enough of a numbers advantage from being on the defensive to make up for it, and chariots are also a possibility if he doesn't send enough spearmen.

[luddite]

Next turn I'll get sailing. I've already got open borders with Parkin, and Mackoti said he'll give me open borders too, so that will get me a trade route connection to both of them. Unfortunately I can't connect to Plako or Nakor/Gaspar yet, because of this annoying detail:


There's a mountain peak blocking the connection! So I'll have to wait for either Nakor/Gaspar to settle next to the coast near that oasis, or for Plako to settle up by the river. Or I'll need to explore the east coast more, since I can connect to that through Parkin's network.

edit: also I remember nakor saying there was another land connection north of there, so maybe it's impossible for me to connect along the coast.

On the homefront, I finished both work boats this turn. I also discovered that I was a turn early in getting an engineer for Kinsale, so I'm taking him off for one turn to help the city grow. As a result, I'm now fifth in food, slowly climbing back up that ladder.

I've hooked up the fur, which gives me enough spare happiness to let Guiness send out it's warrior, in preparation for the settler that it's about to finish and use to block Mackoti.

[luddite]

My commerce got a nice +5 bump from getting sailing, giving me trade routes with Lord Parkin. However, it didn't give me a connection to Mackoti like I thought I would. Can anyone explain why this doesn't connect me through the river? (there's another river to the north too). Note that I have two cities on the coast near him, which you can't see in this picture. Edit- I think I figured it out. It's because I have a connection to one of his cities, but not his capital, right? So I could get trade routes but not trade resources.


The most interesting news right now is probably my diplomacy with Mackoti. He's refusing to grant me open borders unless I promise to let him settle all the land in the south, so for now my scout is stuck, and he's getting increasingly belligerant. Here are his latest two emails:

hi,
I took a better look on the map and you know what is strange , you chalenge me from my piece of land and let Lord parkin to have all the area between you and him, he will have like 20 cities or even more and we will fight like fools for land which from the begging was mine but you decided no, i want his land.

And Btw i can't believe we have this king of argument it was clear for me from beggining tha me and you will setle everyone his area and not making this kind of demands,You think is fair you taking my land and having
Gems and ivory and me none,its not.I dont think its gair you dont have near you such goodie but i can bet you have something else like silver or fur.I was thinking is not fair that he has gold so close to his capitol and fishh too feed it, but because of that i didn't make demands from you.

If you reconsider you pozition we can have open borders next turn, if not i will consider our Nap still good until you pass with a setler the poit wich agreed on the beggining.
Regards,
Mackoti

And looking again to the map, you have 15 tiles to the spot where you want to setle and towards lord parkin you can build a city at 7 tiles from your capitol, and until 15... lots o f space.
Or you agreed with him that you will setle agresiv towards me and latter setle in his direction.Just stay and put your self in my pozition and think if what is right?? No way.
REgards,
Mackoti

My response:

Hello,

I think you might be getting the wrong idea about me. I'm not trying to settle aggressively towards you- so far all my cities have been very close to my capital. And I'm NOT giving lord Parkin all the land in between us either, I'm just trying to negotiate for land on both sides. I've negotiating with lord parkin too- he's already agreed to give me all the land within 8 tiles of my capital, and I'm trying to get him to promise me more. I checked and the land I'm talking about is exactly the same land distance away from you as it is from me- 12 land tiles. It might be closer to you by ocean, but land is what's important. The choke point is actually closer to me than it is to you, so that's why I can't agree to just give everything down there to you.

Also, I noticed that you have silver up in the north- did you know about that? That should help your luxury situation a lot, especially if you research metal casting. I wish you would give me open borders just as a gesture of good faith, but if you want to block me for a while then I guess I'll understand.

I have to say, it's kind of fun negotiating in bad faith- this must be what Mitch McConnell feels like. I'm not trying to reach any sort of conclusion here, in fact I'm not sure what I'd do if he actually agreed to my previous demand of letting me settle the gems/ivory spot. I'm just trying to stall him without making it too obvious. Sounds like he suspects what I'm doing, but at this point it doesn't matter- my settler and a warrior are already en route, and I know he doesn't have anything nearby.

Also, look at the map above. I'm planning to build the great library and national epic in the blocker city, which will give it two culture pops very quickly. If he settles south of the peak (behind the river) then I can attack that city from outside of my territory. South of that, I might even be able to culture flip his city . If he settles NW of that, it'll be a little harder to take, but in a perfect defensive position for me.

It'll be interesting to see if he breaks his NAP or not. If he does, there's a chance I might be able to get my scout across to contact the otherside (if not, hopefullly Mackoti will let them through). And I should be fine on defense, especially since he might not have copper yet (his only copper that I can see is outside his culture, and I can't see any horses for him either. Having trade routes would help here...). Chariots get losing odds vs vultures fortified on a hill or with culture defense, and he'd have to send a mix of axemen/spears which i could beat with pure vultures. If he sent pure axemen, i could whip chariots and then take it down. If he waits until our NAP expires on turn 120, I'll have catapults and triremes, and then he'll really have no chance to invade on that narrow isthmus.

[luddite]

Also, just to show what a hermit I am right now, here's the current state of diplomacy:

Plako, Nakor/Gaspar, WarriorKnight, and Lord Parkin have contacted everyone.
Adlain has not contacted me or Mackoti. He'll meet Mackoti soon.
Locke, Rego/sunrise, and SleepingMoggle have contacted everyone except me.
I've only met 6 people .

I really got blocked in from not sending my scout past Mackoti before his culture blocked things off, and from sending my warrior down the eastern coast. Plako and Lord Parkin are trying to help me arrange meetings with the others, though.

[luddite]

I could also have fun with early triremes here... if not, I'll have to wait until ironclads, which don't require astronomy so I can avoid obsoleting the Collossus. Very rarely get a chance to use ironclads.

[luddite]

First of all, my climb back up the demographics continues, as Murphy's finishes a forge and becomes my #1 production city. Beamish also grew in pop.

I'm first in GNP, although not by as much as I'd like considering that I have massive culture, and I'm researching writing at 100% science with 3 prereqs. The fact that I still don't have gold is really hurting me- Parkin already has 2 gold and a gems!

Diplomacy continues to break down with Mackoti:

Actualy from mine are 10 tiles, and water 8 tiles, so i should get at least how much did you get from parkin , and he gave you 8 tiles , you and he keeps 15(well very good negociation on your part)?Doesnt soud to fair.I have to give credit to Parkin.And btw i am sure that you have silver too, so dont do a big noise about mine.And perhaps you have gems too.
I supose ther is not much to talk because you dont get it you actualy want to setle in my home.Thats agresiv and can't be tolerated.
Regards, Mackoti

My response:

I was counting the distance from our capitals- 14 from yours to the choke point, 12 from mine, and equally far after that. So that's why I don't feel you have the right to just take all of it for yourself. I'm trying to work out some sort of deal, but you just insist that it's all your land so I'm not sure what I can say at this point to make you change your mind. It's true that I have silver, but it's in a really bad place (at the far north, in pure tundra) so it's hard so settle there, while I know yours is in a decent location. The only other resource I have is fur, but that's not as good as gems or silver. With parkin, I will settle 8 tiles away and get culture out to 10, he does the same, so it's an equal split of the 20 tiles between us.

Meanwhile my settler is only 6 turns away from its destination, with the warrior coming soon after. I've started another settler in murphy's, which will probably go down south also to help reinforce down there.

Oh, and I got a trade connection to Mackoti this turn, so I can see his resources. No copper, no horses Nothing but gold.

[luddite]

Does anyone know what the formula is for getting city visibility from espionage? In particular, I'd like to know how it's affected by religion. Do I need to switch my state religion to get the bonus, or is it enough just to have the holy city/shrine?