[SPOILERS] Team SsS

[Sandover]

Turn 47:

Not much worth reporting going on. Smash is searching for that DJ unit but no luck so far.

[Sandover]

Dantski (at least I think it was Dantski) approached me for a chat. Here's a summary;

-He asked about a NAP again. I declined, restating that it's not part of our gameplan to sign any.
-He invited me to join some sort of tech alliance that's being formed. I tried to get as much details out of him as I could, but he wasn't willing to share much.
-I said that we might be interested in joining a larger alliance, but only if the terms are right, and asked him to share more information with us. He said he would ask for permission to share such information, and get back to us later.
-He said that the DJ unit has moved away from us, but revieled that their borders are NE of CBE and not that far away. I responded in kind by saying that Exploit's unit had changed route, and that following Sand Peddler would lead them straight to his territory.

There might be an opportunity here to join their alliance together with Exploit, but I'm very sceptical. If the terms and size are right it might work out for us, but I really don't fancy CBE's way of trying to recruit us in a spontaneous chat, while being almost completely unwilling to reviel any information to us about the alliance we're supposed to join!

I'll notify Exploit about this tomorrow, since I'm too tired to get to it right now.

[scooter]

(Warning: nearly unconscious ramblings are about to ensue. You've been warned )

Very interesting. I suspect regoarrar has put together another tech bloc like he did in PB1. If we join something along that line, Exploit absolutely must be included, but I think that's a given. If Dantski tries to lock us out, then we'll just knock him out of the game, either way is fine with me. The whole "asking permission" makes me think it's probably something like I said - regoarrar is coordinating everything. I mean it's all speculation, but where there's smoke there's fire. Hopefully we get contact with India soon as I think we could much more easily negotiate with him.

I get the feeling the lingering issue is the NAP. Dantski "won't let us in" unless he has a long NAP with us. If that's what the hangup is, I think I would put it this way to him:

1. We're not stupid. We know what a bad idea for aggressive Rome to backstab someone they made a deal with. We'd have an instant dogpile on us. That's not to say we're entering any sort of game-long agreement with him like we did with Exploit, but to make a tech trade with him and attack him 3 turns later would definitely be pretty underhanded.
2. It's not like he's our only target. We haven't really even explored much to our west, so I'm sure there's at least a civ or two that way that could serve as potential targets.


And then obviously not share this with him, but:
2a. Should be noted that Dantski will probably have to go eventually. But if we make tech deals with him and others, it would probably just have to wait til a little later in the game.

[Square Leg]

IF it is rego organising (or anyone else for that matter) it would be great to somehow get them to exclude Dantski, not necessarily include us, so that he gets no benefit if we roll over him. There will a lot less diplomatic backlash over the war also if he isn't heavily involved in some tech trading block. He would undoubtedly be able to bring his mates in on us.

[Sandover]

Yeah, I figure it's rego pulling the strings on this one (we all know he loves it). I to would like to make contact with DJ sooner rather than later, even if only to get a better idea of what's going on, since I find the diplomacy of CBE to be rather "random" at best which makes me think we won't ever be able to work very closely with them.

I'm not really worried about CBE receiving reinforcements if we decide to attack them. All information we have thus far indicates that getting hold of strategic resources is quite a challenge unless one focus hard on exploration or gets lucky. Also, there is still quite a distance to travel to be able to provide aid without a working road network already in place, and I don't expect an early tech alliance to focus that much on protecting each others.

[Sandover]

Turn 48:

Copper mine finished. It will be connected to our cities next turn, but granaries will be prioritised over saxemen. Scooterville's borders pop in two turns.

[Square Leg]

saxemen

Ha ha - I just imagine them all wearing Dark glasses and hats like the blues brothers!

[scooter]

IF it is rego organising (or anyone else for that matter) it would be great to somehow get them to exclude Dantski

I was thinking this too last night - I think we could easily make the argument to rego or whoever is pulling the strings to say Dantski is unreliable, and (best-case scenario) ourselves and Exploit should take his place.

[Sandover]

Exploit has been notified;

Dear Exploit,

I had an unexpected face-to-face meeting with one of the leaders of CBE shortly after sending you our last message. They seem to run their diplomacy by heart and without much consistency, though it was nice being able to talk to him nevertheless. I will try to give you an accurate summary of what was discussed during his visit.

-He asked about a NAP for a second time. I declined, restating that it's not part of our gameplan to sign any.
-He invited me to join some sort of tech alliance that's being formed. I tried to get as much details out of him as I could, but he wasn't willing to share much.
-I said that SsS might be interested in joining a larger alliance, but only if the terms are right, and asked him to share more information with us. He said he would ask for permission to share such information, and get back to us later.
-He said that the DJ unit has moved away from us, but revieled that their borders are NE of CBE and not that far away. I responded in kind by saying that your unit has changed route, and that following Sand Peddler would lead them straight to your territory.

My take on it is that they are very much worried about a potential attack from SsS, and that their offer of letting us join an alliance was a spontaneous one without much prior tought, maybe in part due to heavy desire to avoid SsS aggression. They are definitly in contact with DJ, have told us about Egypt and HRE being to their south, and that they have knowledge of the Aztecs. Our best guess is that this alliance is being formed under the leadership of DJ, with CBE and Ruff both being in on it.

I don't want to speculate too much about what this means for SsS/Tech and how we should react to it until CBE returns with more information, but hopefully you can use this summary to your advantage in your initial dealings with the DJ. I think you share my opinion when I say that we should carefully look for a good way to establish trade between SsS/Tech and their alliance, rather than jump at the opportunity to join them - should such an opportunity arrise.

Regards,
Sandover
Team SsS

[Sandover]

Exploit just informed us that he has made contact with the DJ unit (it's NE of where Smash is) and has planted his second city SE of Techopolis. It's going to be very interesting to see what information he can gather from DJ.