RB Pitboss #1 [SPOILERS] - Louis XIV of Byzantium

[Kodii]

- This could be a hoax from Ruff. Possible, but unrealistic.
- This could be a trick from Krill/Memphus, trying to get their own UTA into place, leaving reg, broker, ZPV, sunrise & the lins in the rain.
- Or it is a genuine message stating the truth.
- Problem is, we have not met Krill/Memphus and Imhotep to get discussing a response in earnest.

Well, what's the downside to forming our own alliance if the UTA doesn't exist? I would be happy to fall into Krill's "trick" to have our own UTA and run over the other teams.
I do not know what Ruff would be planning if this is a giant hoax. I hope we will meet Imhotep soon enough to get some verification.

Latest message from dsplaisted also said, he is teching MC and ZPV as well. That will of course lower our own trade return from MC (should we be able to land it).
Alternatively, we could oracle another tech, if we have a tech agreement with dsplaisted fro example.

We can Oracle CoL. The "UTA" isn't researching it.

Thinking about it, I would prefer a smaller tech alliance. 2 or 3 partners max. (incl. us). Would be less efficient, but with more civs involved you run the risk of one with a hidden agenda.

I think dsplaisted & shady would make good partners. Broker as well, if he interested and we can ensure he has no ill intentions against us.

Yes, I think this is the most ideal. Daniel and Brian would make excellent partners and would leave our southern core secure.

I suggest we get back to the Lins, asking for their ETA on Alphabet and what techs they are interest in.
I would also send an eMail to the "non-UTA" taht we have met (? or all?) asking, who is on Alphabet, right now.

What are your thoughts?

I think we have a lot of e-mail writing to do.

Broker33: Assure him we have no ill intentions and would be happy to help defend his settler should anything arise. Also maybe ask for his ETA for Monarchy and somehow throw in the idea of partnering with us
Lins: Ask for their ETA on Alphabet and what trades he would like to set up
dsplaisted: ETA on MC, entertain the idea of a partnership
shadyforce: Respond to his e-mail with similar thoughts about a partnership
Non-UTAs: Who is on Alphabet?

I am going out for lunch right now and will be back within an hour and a half. Hopefully we'll get the chance to chat so we can fire off these messages ASAP

[Kodii]

Scratch that last one: shadyforce is researching Alphabet

From dsplaisted:

Shadyforce just finished Writing and has started researching Alphabet, but he thinks it's important that someone research Mathematics at the same time. Since you guys mentioned you were going to head towards Writing, this might be a good tech for you to research. How soon do you think you will be able to get Writing?

Our ETA for Writing is T73 (if Writing takes 5 turns) or T74 (if 6)

[Kodii]

I shipped off this message to Broker33, since I don't think there is any other discussion regarding his request to leave his settler alone. We can send him another e-mail regarding a potential partnership later. He is also now away, as T-Hawk is taking the next two turns for him.

Hi Paul,

We heard rumours of atrocities with regard to civilian units. We want to ensure you that we have no interest in harming your settler, but will offer our help to protect him should the opportunity arise.

We wish all the best to you and your step daughter and hope everything runs smoothly

[mostly_harmless]

HI, I am back. I created a chat room and send the invote by team eMail.
Will hang around there for a bit.

mh

[scooter]

HI, I am back. I created a chat room and send the invote by team eMail.
Will hang around there for a bit.

mh

I'm sure you guys were already going to do this- but just in case you weren't, would you mind copy/pasting your chat after you have it for us to see? Curious to see what you guys each individually think about the situation and the conclusions you guys draw .

[Kodii]

I'm sure you guys were already going to do this- but just in case you weren't, would you mind copy/pasting your chat after you have it for us to see? Curious to see what you guys each individually think about the situation and the conclusions you guys draw .

Will do.

[Kodii]

Way too many messages flying around.

I hope there are lurkers who appreciate these postings. Please let me know if anyone is reading these because if people aren't, it's just taking up room.

To dsplaisted + shadyforce:

Hi Daniel (and Matthew), hi Brian,

in the light of the recent stir up in the diplo world, we would like to
approach you with a suggestion of a close tech partnership between our
three civs.
Shady is sufficiently away from us to not interfere with each other in
the land grab phase.
And I think with Daniel we have established our borders.

We see the message from Krill with some doubts. Krill and Memphus are
good players, so some of their allegations are probably down to guesswork.
Furthermore, we are hesitant to engage in a bigger alliance. We have not
yet met Imhotep. Imhotep and Ruff are also engaged in a war that will
ultimately leave one of them but possibly both of them behind.
There is also some border conflicts with Ruff that would always
overshadow a close cooperation, we think.

Our suggestion is to cooperate on the tech front but also on the
military side in the future (once everyone has a better feel for the map).
Furthermore, we would like to keep an open mind towards the alleged
members of the UTA.
For example we have very friendly relations with Broker.

If you are in general agreement to this triple alliance, we could
discuss specific techs and ETAs in the next eMail.

To the Lins:

Hi,
regarding our in-game chat (mh & Kalin) about Open Borders:
If we read your description correctly, your scout should be fine to move
around without needing OBs from us.
In fact, once we have confirmed your whereabouts, we can give you
direction to other civs.
So for now, we would not sign it.
This is by no means a sign of distrust, but we have aggressive
Praetorians next door, so we are a bit cautious about transiting scouts.
Should the need of OB arise (your scout, our scout, trade routes), we
are happy to re-open discussion.

In your last eMail you mentioned that your were going for Alphabet and
that you are interested in MC, which is indeed high on our agenda.
Are you still interested? If so what would be your ETA for Alphabet and
what suggestion would you have for the actual deal and potential others
(filling up some early techs)?

To ZPV:

Hi Sam,

just a short message to stay in contact.
How is the scouting going?
Has your workboat reached the site of the rumoured war yet?

Regarding tech deals:
obviously one of us will have to catch Alphabet at some point to engage
in trading.
We are currently trying to sort that out and wanted to check, whether
you are sticking with your plan to not research Alphabet right away?
What would you be interested to trade away or trade for? Alphabet itself?

From ZPV:

Hi mh and Kodii!

Thanks for the message, it's good to keep in touch.

Scouting is going well, and yes, I have reached the end of the inlet with my boat, near where Imhotep lives.

I am indeed not researching Alphabet immediately, but I'm willing to listen to any offers. My instinct says the best thing to do is work it all out once Alpha is available.
I see you have met Kalin.. Can you tell me where he lives, please? (And ideally where you are, too.) How is your scouting going, in general?

From Ruff to us, Imhotep, shadyforce, dsplaisted:

here is a message that I got from Krill that he got from sunrise ...

Krill and Memphus,

We wanted to send you a formal response to your diplomatic overtures.

As you have deduced the five of us settled into an early agreement to trade techs and maintain good relations. While nothing too formal has been agreed upon, we have agreed to the tech trade that you are aware of and a mutual defensive pact. After looking at the tech tree, and discussing things at length, we feel we are served best with a five-way trade, and adding a sixth partner isn't in our best interest. This decision isn't easy, as we recognize the skill of your team, but we feel a five-way deal works best.

Sincerely,

-Broker, League of Lin, Regoarrarr, sunrise, and ZPV

To Ruff:

Hi Ruff, hi TAD,

what are you making of Krills messages?
We also heard rumours of conflict to our north?
Can you confirm that you are in a war with another civ?
If so, would you mind enlighten us on the start and the current situation?

Would you mind moving your drone W4 back into Unimatrix1?
We will eventually start improving our lands and our workers don't react too well to assimilation attempts.
They get nasty itches from the implants.
Thanks.

[Kodii]

mh from x.x.x.97 started chat and sent out 1 invitation(s) 118 minutes ago
mh: twiddling thumbs
mh: whistling a tune
Kodii from x.x.x.88 joined the chat 106 minutes ago
mh: Hi
Kodii: Hi!
mh: What is it now in your place, early afternoon?
Kodii: precisely
Kodii: 1:46 PM to be exact
mh: Cool, an hour to midnight here.
mh: Good phrasiong on the message to Broker. I work from home my whole working life and have reduced social skills.
Kodii:
Kodii: Always happy to help
Kodii: Are we using this chatroom for just us or are we planning to talk to the other teams here too?
Kodii: (and that message to Broker is 99% yours)
mh: Don't know. For now I think we just use this to coordinate our response to the UTA allegations.
mh: I meant the part about his stepdaugfhter.
Kodii: haha alright
mh: I think I created something slightyl different to the Ruff chat room used for AApo Demo Game. we can certainly set up a new room for quicker coordination with our partners.
Kodii: we also have that other room that I set up a while ago for our use only
mh: Anyway. Thinking about this some more. I find it doubtfull Krill will know the exact composition of the UTA nad their research goals. Krill and Memphus are good (see CivFAn) so they probably guess a lot.
Kodii: A lot of it makes sense, but I agree that there is probably a lot of assumptions in there
Kodii: Good assumptions, but still assumptions
Kodii: We can confirm ourselves that the Lins are researching Alphabet and Broker is researching Monarchy
Kodii: We have not met sunrise or regoarrarr
Kodii: Daniel confirmed that ZPV is researching MC
mh: yep. I think we should cultivate dspalsited as a very close ally. That means discussing the MC issue. We can surely oracle somethig else but woul dneed an third Alphabet partner. Either the Lins (UAT member?) or shady.
Kodii: shadyforce has started research on Alphabet
mh: shady (Alphabet), daniel (MC) we (either currency or CoL)
mh: If shady fronts us Alp�habet we could oracle currency.
Kodii: which is still highly non-militaristic
mh: My gut feeling is that we will lose the oracle.
mh: True.
Kodii: I wouldn't be surprised if Broker is chasing it right now
Kodii: He still only has two cities
mh: For now we are pretty much set in our research for the next 5-6 turns. After writing we will have to see what the situation is.
Kodii: dsplaisted has asked us to research Math
Kodii: which we need for Currency anyways, don't we?
mh: No, eiother alphabet or math. (oddly )
mh: Math is pretty low in beakers comapred to Alphabet and MC.
mh: But has the beauty of better chops and HG.
mh: I think we send out a message to Daniel asking for the MC situation and forming a 3 way tech deal with shady. And a message to shady asking for Alphabet.
Kodii: Well we don't need to ask for Alphabet just yet
Kodii: We can establish the 3 way tech deal and discuss our plans
mh: I will draft a message and send it to our account in a minute.
Kodii: I am wondering the feasibility of throwing Broker in there
Kodii: I am now fairly convinced that he plans to Oracle Feudalism
mh: Well, there is nothing we can so about it. All three wonders are lined up in the fastest way, to my knowledge. If we lose out one one, we at least get some cash again.
Kodii: Which we are going to need
mh: After the pyramids we will have 1-2 workers on cottage duyt non stop at CoT, I think.
Kodii: Yes
Kodii: We have enough workers for the next while
mh: Message sent to our account. Have a read.
Kodii: Very good, it sounds like an offer they can't refuse, especially since they seem to be looking for the same
Kodii: And a very interesting choice of subject title :P
Kodii: We can probably just call shadyforce Brian, since we're referring to dsplaisted as Daniel
mh: Ok, will change that and fire itoff.
Kodii: Alright
Kodii: That should suffice as a response to both of the emails they sent to us
Kodii: Okay, next order of business?
mh: Yep. whatabout the Lins? Do we want to fake interest in Alphabet even if we are sure we get it from sahdy?
Kodii: Yes, I think their response will give us a clear idea of Krill's idea of a UTA
Kodii: If they reject or make an excuse, it makes the UTA more likely
mh: The Lins asked for MC. We could write something to that effect, asking whether they are still interest in MC and whattheir suggestion is. Not comitting to anything. If they turn it down, it is clear they get MC from somewhere else
mh: Ok I will draft seomthing now.
Kodii: That would be smart
mh: message drafted and sent for review.
Kodii: very good
Kodii: so much for your so called "reduced social skills"
mh: I am trying.
mh: Will send it now.
Kodii: Do we want to send an additional message to Broker, or should we hold off for now?
mh: With Broker away for a while, that just leaves us with ZPV and Ruff. Do we want to feel out ZPV for tech trades? Asking when he is acuiring Alphabet to open up trades?
mh: x posting.
mh: Any messages to Ruff? Commenting on his weird 3rd city? and the warrior he parked next to Kobe?
mh: Once our tech partnership goes through with daniel and brian, we ahev to keep in mind to pick up Agriculture for City 2.
Kodii: Yes
Kodii: We also have Meditation and Priesthood to offer them
Kodii: We can send a short message to ZPV to catch-up on how he's doing, nothing big I guess
Kodii: Maybe a message to Ruff asking how things are going on the war front, and then asking what his plans are to combat this "UTA", especially since he is at war with Imhotep
Kodii: Did you just get Ruff's message?
Kodii: That suggestion is certainly one way to beat that nasty Krill/Memphus combo haha
mh: Ugh
mh: And a defensive pact as well.
mh: but it really changes nothing, I think. I have still mixed feelings about teaming up with Ruff (especially since he turned down NAP with us already) and Imhotep (war victim?) and Krill (not even met yet).
mh: I think we still want to send out that message to ZPV, since it is not clear whether the UTA knows about Krill forwarding this message.
Kodii: Yes
Kodii: I haven't reviewed it quite yet
Kodii: I need to brb
mh: You need to brb?
Kodii: nm, I'm back
mh: message from Imhotep. I am wondering why Ruff and Imhotep are so friendly around each other?
Kodii: I was just thinking the same
Kodii: Maybe he's doing it in an attempt to end the war
Kodii: Alright, the ZPV e-mail
Kodii: Sounds about right, I can't think of anything else to add or take away
mh: ok.
mh: If the UTA confirms Krills assumption about their techs, it does not look like anyone from the UTA is oracling right now.
mh: What is even more reassuring is the fact that we have yet to reveal another source of MArble or Stone. Although it could be some bad luck a la TeamRB in the Apolyton Game with Copper & Horses.
Kodii: That is very true
Kodii: But we still have a LOT of the map to uncover
Kodii: I would harbour a guess that we have knowledge of about 1/6 of the map
Kodii: And again, Krill is making assumptions on the tech trades, so I find it very possibly that someone is Oracling
Kodii: What else would Broker be doing to hold up his capital?
Kodii: He might be the last person to found a third city
Kodii: Good message to Ruff by the way
mh: Yes, I was comparing to the amount of other startgic resources.
mh: Probably a bit more than a 1/6. There are 2200 land tiles, but I can't be bothered to count our reveals land tile.s
mh: Settler recently finihsed in Brokers capital
Kodii: Oh that right, he is about to found a third city
Kodii: Well, that gives us better hope for Kobe
Kodii: We have a message from ZPV
mh: What is our plan for the scouting warrior at Broker? Swooping west to clear up the fog towards Kobe or continue to make some more contact?
mh: Ok from ZPV it is clear he wants to dealy tech trades. Also I am a bit irritated that the UTA has tech deals and Defensive Pacts in place when they have not met yet (or just their scouts met).
mh: Lets wait with a responce until we get some more feedback on our recent round of diplo.
Kodii: Yes that would be a good idea
Kodii: I want to meet the rest of the teams, but we also need to scout our west
Kodii: We can claim a lot of it
Kodii: our east**
Kodii: maybe our warrior can continue east in hopes of finding sunrise and regoarrarr
Kodii: and then we send another unit to finish scouting east of our capital
Kodii: our next axeman will finish unfogging the area around City 2
mh: Yes, sounds like a plan. I wish we had more units, and settlers, and .... the early game.
Kodii: We'll soon be pumping them out
Kodii: CoT will be building infrastructure after the Pyramids, but could probably produce some workers and units after the Library
Kodii: BH is in military/civilian unit mode (after the GW)
Kodii: and once Kobe is finished (or doesn't finish) the Oracle, we can get a lot of value from its forests
mh: Ok, I will head to bed. Should the turn tick over: BH needs to switch back to axeman on T68.
mh: Do we want to post this in our forum?
Kodii: I can do it
Kodii: Good night!
Kodii: And we also have a new message from Ruff
mh: Good night. Will take a quick stab at color coding the chat and post it.
mh: Yep cant
mh: do it quickly. Good luck. Tomorrow will beinteresting

[Kodii]

More...

From Kalin:

Gentlemen,

I understand your reservations regarding the OB, no hard feelings
about that. I do appreciate your offer to re-open the discussion
should the need arise. Should that need arise, I can assure you that
if you would grant us OB we would follow your instructions to move
through your territory and would not share any information with a
third party without permission.

I meant to email you about that as well and I apologize for being late
in doing so. We did get a deal for MC after we spoke. I didn't intend
to mislead you in any way and I'd like to apologize again for not
letting you know sooner. I hope I didn't inconvenienced you too much.
I would appreciate if you kept this information for yourselves.

We have some interest in Aesthetics in the future which is a tech that
you may be interested in as well, given that you are industrious.
However, that's not an immediate priority for us, and I don't want to
make the same mistake and lead you in a "wrong" direction. Another
thing that I would like to share, if it's agreeable to you of course,
is information about wonders. I wouldn't want to compete with you for
wonders of course, so if you are willing to share that we could
negotiate to avoid competition. Any information you may choose to
share would remain private unless otherwise specified.

I would like us to have good relations in the future. I think it makes
a lot of sense, given that we are relatively far from each other. I
promise to be straightforward with you and would appreciate if you
were willing to do the same. Let's keep the communication open.

From Ruff:

Ok, so lets get practical...

Summary ...

Ruff - in, can contribute IW (I already have it <grin>)
Imhotep - in
Shady - in (alphabet in 12)
mh - Kodii - ??
Dsplaisted - ??

Do we want to include Krill?

[LiPing]

Way too many messages flying around.

I hope there are lurkers who appreciate these postings. Please let me know if anyone is reading these because if people aren't, it's just taking up room.

Am reading them all, thanks for taking the time to include them