[SPOILERS - PBEM29] spacetyrantxenu - Mao of Babylon

[spacetyrantxenu]

But but, BLOOD! Fire and brimstone! Mutual Amusing Destruction!

I'm sure all that will come, in time. That was a very complete map Kuro sent, very nice of him.

If only you had argued for Mutually Amazing Destruction! Then I could have been persuaded

Who knows what we'll do. I just don't think it would be wise to go after them at this point, especially without either a tech or production advantage. The best I could manage is probably to cripple us both, which doesn't seem like as much fun as trying to go for the win for a while (at least in the context of this game. If this was PB7, well, you probably would have persuaded me already! )

[Commodore]

If only you had argued for Mutually Amazing Destruction! Then I could have been persuaded

Who knows what we'll do. I just don't think it would be wise to go after them at this point, especially without either a tech or production advantage. The best I could manage is probably to cripple us both, which doesn't seem like as much fun as trying to go for the win for a while (at least in the context of this game. If this was PB7, well, you probably would have persuaded me already! )

Rush someone else, who doesn't have a UU that counters your own UU? Who's making juicy wonders, why not take 'em?

[Boldly Going Nowhere]

The save is moving, but before that happened I received an email from Kuro this morning with the map screen shots we had agreed to exchange. I don't think he knew he was being replaced when he sent them, but if he wasn't playing the turns I don't expect he had been visiting the tech thread too frequently.

The result is that this may now be considered contraband, or not, depending on your point of view. But I've already seen them now so may as well post them:

From the images you can see he has both AH and BW. So immortals for certain if we still planned to war.

About that, the motivation to go to war was to speed up the turns by killing Kuro. If Dazed has taken over I don't see the need to go to war, nor the wisdom because he certainly would get immortals online if we get aggressive with him. Fighting an unfavorable war out of need of something to do against Kuro made sense to me. Fighting unfavorably against someone who presumably will be playing the turns on time doesn't make sense so I see no reason to continue with the war plan at this point.

Images are fair game. I agree, war only sets us back at this point. From his pictures there appears to be a lot of good city sites to settle. Let's firm up our northern border and start settling SE immediately.

[spacetyrantxenu]

Diplomacy, engage!

[COLOR="Cyan"]
Hey guys,

Just making sure everyone's email is correct. Please email me back if I got it wrong!

Also, official notice that any deals made or not made with Kuro are have been reviewed by the new government's lawyers and Office of Foreign Affairs. Partly based on their wisdom but mostly based on the "this is a new government so we'll do whatever we want" mentality that seems to prevail in the capital, all former deals are considered null and void. However, your respective diplomats are welcome to initiate new negotiations at any point (assuming we've made in game contact).

Thanks for you're attention and have a lovely day,

Dazed[/COLOR]

Our response:

[COLOR="Magenta"]
Hail, rebel leader and future Dictator!

It is with great interest that we Republicans have watched the swift rise and fall of the government in your lands. First, a tribe of pirates arose and though we could never prove it, we were certain they would be up to no good. Oh, sure, they had all the trappings of being real pirates. They wore the right sorts of eye patches and some of them had peg-legs, but we had not heard tale of a single raid or sack of a seaside village, nor the sinking of any maritime vessel whatsoever. With those oddities unexplained, we were not sure exactly what kind of pirates we were going to be dealing with and it made us uneasy. Our greatest fear was that they were some new breed of peaceful pirates, benevolently running rum between distant destinations and repeatedly telling jokes that ended with "arrrrrrrrrrrrrr!" Clearly this would not have been tolerated and we were, in fact, secretly gearing up for war against them. Why were we preparing an aggression action? They were the slowest pirates we have ever seen. The only thing their pirate ships were well known for was how slowly they did everything. Slow to pull along side, slow to man the cannons, slow to fire, and most unforgivably, they were slow to pass the save. They were, no doubt, the worst pirates you ever saw and even more unforgivably, they never did anyone any harm so far as we could tell. These are not the sort of neighbors we're interested in, being the repressive regime we strive to be.

This history lesson is no doubt old news to you, though, rebel leader. Were you not among the seaside villages not being pillaged and worrying that other nations would laugh at your pirate shortcomings? Because seriously, what pirate does not seek plunder and war? So who could blame your seeking to overthrow such a pitiful government? It would be embarrassing to be known as the pirates who don't do anything. So you rose up, smashed the organs of government, and declared yourself to be the new strong man. We have had no news beyond these basic facts, but it is my esteemed hope that you were able to ruthlessly crush all opposition and make public spectacle of the old guard at their executions. This is the way such things must be done, after all, and it shares the spirit of how we Republicans do things. Entering into relations with your new state, show yourself to be a brutal dictator and gain us as an everlasting ally -- that represents the core of Mao's philosophy. However, seek the forbidden ways of freedom and "human rights" (or be you a sissy liberal) and you will find yourself isolated and scorned from my lands. So, shall we be friends and terrorize our own populations without reason or recourse, or shall we be enemies as you ignore the ways of our enlightened and ignoble rule?

Matters of policy and introduction aside, we'd be interested to know what sort of endeavors your diplomats will be undertaking regarding my regime in the future. We have no quarrel with your abrogation of existing treaties. If the terms had been unfavorable to us we would have simply ignored the fulfillment of terms, citing a failure on your side to include an "in spite of fall of government" clause. You surely realize that we employ a massive army of bureaucrats, likely unrivaled in the world, and they slave long hours crafting my correspondence and negotiating our treaties (we give them no choice in the matter, of course). In addition to human suffering, Mao takes great pride in this kind of governmental inefficiency. Anyway, if you'd like to seek out new agreements or opportunities with the Republican Party, have your diplomats send their correspondence to us at this address.

Also, what do you now call your former pirate lands? We're busily erasing the old name from our maps and realize we don't know what to write in over it, and we assume you'd protest if we wrote REPUBLICAN all over your territory.

Hail Ronald Reagan! (so you don't offend us in future correspondence, this is the correct way to salute a Republican)

Mao,
Chairman
Republican Party [/COLOR]

[spacetyrantxenu]

Images are fair game. I agree, war only sets us back at this point. From his pictures there appears to be a lot of good city sites to settle. Let's firm up our northern border and start settling SE immediately.

Right. Seal the border up north and race into the grassy south.

I haven't exchanged screen shots with Sian yet as he hasn't seemed interested in doing so, but I'm surprised both Kuro and Catwalk left the UI up showing their information to me. No one utter the words ALT+I or CTRL+I. Without spending much time on C&D they've made it easy for me to know their tech path. It seems like Kuro was making a bit of an oracle run, just like Sian and Catwalk. I can't see why else he'd be researching Meditation with Buddhism already gone. Also, he has AH and BW already, so there go a few more techs off the board. With all three of our opponents researching similar technologies early, there may be an opening for us to make a run at the Great Lighthouse before too much time passes. Obviously our first priority will be to spam cities (without killing our economy), but the shape of our territory seems like it will lead to a lot of coastal cities anyway. In that case TGLighthouse would be very nice. Also there's that small matter of the Sian-Catwalk wonder no compete agreement to intrude upon, in due time.

Lurkers, don't abandon us yet. Just give me time to get a few cities laid down, then we'll see about starting up some mischief for you. I can see a situation where someone changes civics out of slavery and Mao gets deeply offended.

[spacetyrantxenu]

Email reply from Dazed:

[COLOR="MediumTurquoise"]
Hail Ronald Reagan!

Your correspondence is most appreciated. My lawyers have discovered proof that Pirates Who Don't Do Anything are actually quite amusing. Fortunately, they are also quite simple to overthrow since, obviously, they don't really fight back. However, in response to the failings of a society built upon doing essentially nothing, the new regime has decided that moving forward our society will be based entirely on Logic and Math. This is the only way to ensure that a civilization can grow strong and avoid the errors of the weak minded and foolish. We will gladly extend our hand in friendship as long as reason and logic prevail--we have no concern with philosophical values but simply strive to be efficient. We assure you that in all our dealings diplomatically the exchange of treaties, resources and deals will be fair and mathematically balanced.

3+4=7,

Dazed[/COLOR]

So, all introductions are complete and we have a new competitor to deal with. Mao tells me that he doesn't care for efficiency one way or the other, so long as the peasants suffer, so I think we can do business with Dazed for now.

[Boldly Going Nowhere]

Holy Great Wall of Text, Batman! You really hate Hemmingway (and his profound brevity!).

Anyway, glad the pleasantries are over. Or continuing. Dazed will be fun, if nothing else.

Can we get an update of what's going on in-game? It's been a while and I can't remember. I think our workers are building a road to city#2 and we had a bowman out toward Kuro. Guess we can turn him around and leave him to city#2 now.

How many turns until we can get city 3 settled? What is our tech situation? FP cottages seems like a good goal for the short term.

[spacetyrantxenu]

Holy Great Wall of Text, Batman! You really hate Hemmingway (and his profound brevity!).

Anyway, glad the pleasantries are over. Or continuing. Dazed will be fun, if nothing else.

Can we get an update of what's going on in-game? It's been a while and I can't remember. I think our workers are building a road to city#2 and we had a bowman out toward Kuro. Guess we can turn him around and leave him to city#2 now.

How many turns until we can get city 3 settled? What is our tech situation? FP cottages seems like a good goal for the short term.

Update: road NW to C2, bow garrison C2. C3 settled asap, settler #2 build follows settler #1 immediately. Tech unchanged, BW due soon.

FULL STOP

[spacetyrantxenu]

T24 - So the game is back on and I had my first turn to play in six days.

When I logged in I was greeted by a pleasant surprise (since I had forgotten the time frame for what was happening):

So with Mining in I went ahead and started on BW, due in 5T. The warrior scouting near Newt headed toward the city for garrison duty. Our bowman continued NW to serve as a sentry at the edge of our territory and will garrison the C3 site when it is built. Southern warrior kept exploring and didn't kill the blue scout because it no longer belongs to the Pirate civ, but to the Mathematician civ. Northern scout turned around and is heading into Sian's land since I'd have to declare war on Dazed to continue exploring that direction. And since the war is off and I already have a map of that area, it's not necessary for now to continue that way.

Our workers began the road NW to the city 2 site. The settler is on schedule for completion next turn and the city will found in two turns. Then another settler (4T) followed by a worker (3T) and a second bow (1T left on the bow, it is at 15/16 so it shouldn't decay off to more than a 1T build -- may need to work it for one turn before the worker to refresh the 10 turn unit decay counter).

Finally, I got graphs on Sian. Next turn I'll shift points to Catwalk and try to catch up on him while keeping visibility on Sian. Dazed will be a dangerous opponent but until CoL I probably won't be able to keep visibility on everyone unless an agreement is possible with each team. Sian previously was not interested in that, so I'll just keep an eye on him for now.

Photo dump:

Sian's culture from the holy city gets him the top spot:


Demographics: I think we're ahead in GNP because of the known tech discount and maybe the FP cottage. Dazed has BW already, maybe Sian or Catwalk also.


Espionage Screen: Catwalk has about 3 hammers in something so he just finished a build last turn.


Newt:

Sian's charts follow:

Score:


GNP:


MFG:


Food:


Power: (Sian was clearly joking when he said he had 2 vultures in a chat)


Culture: easy to see where he founded Buddhism


Espionage: No need to repost until he starts building zigs.

[spacetyrantxenu]

T25 - Roadwork continues NW, settler completed at EoT. Overflow in the screen below is going to be changed to a second settler, not the bowman. Also, if not mentioned previously, we're at level 3 cultural borders in Newt now.

Demographics:

I'm a bit concerned about being last in food and MFG, but as we get these next two cities down quickly with improved tiles that should get better. After the second settler + 1T bow it will be another quick worker to go with settler #2. He'll probably build another grass river cottage at Newt first, though, so we can go ahead and grow to size 5.