RBPitboss #2 Athlete4life10 & Kalin

[kalin]

I made the offer to the Greeks first.

Kalin

Hail Jowy of the Greeks,

We would like to ask if you would be interested in a deal to exchange workers for units. We are thinking about going for HBR next and we would build some HAs to try to eliminate Byzantium. We expect and hope to have some HAs left after the war that would be of little use to us, given that we'd be surrounded by friends. We would like therefore to propose an exchange at a rate of 1 HA for 1 worker: 50H for 45-60F/H.

Let us know what your thoughts are.

Kalin for Team A/K of the Ottomans

P.S.: Our other neighbors the Incas are also expansive, but we didn't make this offer to them yet. We do intend to do that if you are not interested, but would like to hear from you first. As such, please don't tell them about it, as we wouldn't want to hurt their feelings or to make them think we don't trust them. We do trust and have good relations with the Incas, but we feel you may need the HAs more

[athlete4life10]

Kalin,

I made those changes we discussed. Granary in Endor, research set HBR and at 100% for the next 2 turns. Then dial down to 0 until we have enough gold to get HBR completed.

Athlete

[kalin]

Message from the Romans. Athlete, we should formulate a response. I sent a quick acknowledgment saying we are glad he made peace and that we're still at war with Byzantium.

Dear Athlete,

Regarding relations between Korea and the Empire, you have heard correctly. In fact, a peace treaty has just been signed. As far as my understanding of the deal is concerned, the 10 turns of enforced peace will count towards what would have been the remaining six turns of the NAP. Korea also reclaimed the Worker that I had captured, so I do hope that helps erase the blemish on the Empire's record.

As for your suggestion, the Empire would certainly like to spread Imperial dominion to the unclaimed lands. However, after some preliminary calculations, we are not certain that this could be done very quickly. We believe that adding just a few more cities to the Empire will lead to a vast increase in maintenance costs, so we will have to build up a financial base in order to fund further expansion. We are still searching for terrain suitable for commercial endeavors.

I will share with you some information I recently learned. I believe that the Inca are beginning to expand to the south because Thannos spotted a Settler/Quecha pair in what I believe to be the southern part of Inca territory. Or, rather, the southern part of Interregnum territory to use the proper designation.

Are the Alliance and the Byzantines still at war? I have noticed that neither of you has been eliminated, but because I have not yet contacted Byzantium, I cannot be certain of the current situation. If you are still at war, what are your intentions? Do you plan to fight to a standstill, or will you destroy the Byzantines? The Empire would not mind seeing another rival fall. Yes. Give in to your anger and destroy them!

Best regards,

Whosit, Galactic Emperor

The Indians also sent a message and it seems they missed the point of the indefinite 2-turn NAP, which is mostly designed to avoid worker stealing. We have some options:

1) Explain the idea behind the 2T NAP and propose it again

2) Make some irrelevant 20T NAP

3) Decline a NAP

Probably not (3) given that we have no reason to make them suspicious.

Dear Rebel Alliance,

We did miss your proposal the first time around; Speaker and I had to stop yesterday and discuss it over, which is why we didn't get back to you sooner. I'm sorry that we missed it, we were caught up in the excitement of the war!

While we both appreciate the goodwill gesture shown in your NAP offer, Speaker and I don't particularly like the terms of the agreement. An indefinite non-aggression pact is too open-ended, and doesn't allow for changing developments within the game. I know that you've tried to alleviate this problem with the cancellation notice, but... there are a lot of problems with the two-turn notice period as well. I mean, two turns is not a lot of time! In theory, one could send off a message of cancellation right before ending turn, and then the other team would have less than 24 hours before facing a potential attack. The two halves of the proposal don't go together: "We'll be friends forever! Except that we might attack at any point in time with two turns of warning."

An indefinite NAP with two turn cancellation notice is virtually the same thing as having no Non-Aggression Pact at all. It does sound nicer though.

Of course, we'd be willing to sign a more standard NAP with your team! We could start with an agreement for the next 20 turns, up to Turn 80, and then decide whether or not to re-extend for a longer period at that point. It's probably not critical either way - our teams are pretty far apart - but it would indeed be nice to have a formal NAP between our teams. Let us know what you think, and feel free to counter-offer with your own proposal.

Cheers,
Sullla
The Killer Angels

Regarding builds and all, I was thinking that we may want granaries everywhere first, given that the best way to build HAs is probably 1chop/1whip.

Kalin

[athlete4life10]

My response to rome:

Dear Whosit,

We are rejoiced to hear there shall be peace for the Empire, atleast for the short term. Hopefully that does not lead to squashing any rebellion that might pop up .

We only wished to make clear the possibility of peaceful expansion known to you. You are of course the best judge for what's most appropriate for the Galctic Empire. It is both good and bad news that the Interregnum have begun their expansion southwards. We hope they are not unopposed in the race for free land so as not to get too strong of a base.

As for our current struggles with the Byzantine Empire, they have fallen back to their capital city of Athens and are only waiting for their deaths. Unfortunately it might prove a longer than we would like seige but to let them remain alive would cause even more of a hindrance to spreading the teachings of the force and restoring order to the galaxy. Thus we march on and we will, as you say, "give in to our anger" for the time being.

Athlete for A/K
Ottomans

And my response to India:

Dear Killer Angels,

The purpose of our proposal, as you point out, does seem contradictory. However, it was never meant to be a long term solution. As the game develops we would expect to (re)negotiate NAP's and other deals accordingly. The main purpose of our proposal was to alleviate any worry of short term aggression such as a worker steal. Given our distance from each other, we can not see how we would come to blows anytime in the immediate to near future apart from maybe an attack of opportunity, hence our offer.

Regardless consider this an acceptance of your 20 turn offer beginning T60 and expiring T80. We would be happy to have this official agreement with you (even though as you mention probably not critcical, given our distance) and we can then review our position at that point.

Best Wishes,

Athlete for A/K
Ottomans

I thought it best to combine your points 1 & 2. A 20 turn NAP will certainly alleviate any attack of opportunity while their Woodsman II warrior passes by.

[athlete4life10]

Regarding the granaries, I'm not so sure. It will add another 10 turns onto an already long time. We do have some time to try and work it out so we'll see.

[athlete4life10]

Kalin,

What are your thoughts on Dice and Zev? I'm leaning towards moving Dice 1SW of Athens onto the plains/hill and Zev onto the mined/grass/hill 1W of Athens. The only downfall is on T61 they could potentially attack Dice. They wouldn't if they only had 2 Archers but if they produce a 3rd on the interturn it might become a possibility. If we did this though, that would stop them working the mine this turn and we'd be able to pillage next turn while allowing Dice to move onto the tile with Zev until another Chariot can catch up.

We could make sure we're last to play as well so they can't log in after us and whip if need be. I'm off work tomorrow so can play at my leisure .

Athlete

[Rowain]

Thanks to the lurkers for your input.

@Rowain: I disagree of course I am not asking for spoilers here, but rather for an opinion given the information we know. I think this is not unreasonable, for example Ruff is asking such opinions often in RPEM. When lurkers post there's always a small risk of spoiler information, but I think it's worth given that we players learn things sometimes and it's part of the fun keeping this thread. If lurkers were not to post here, my motivation to post would greatly decrease. It's easier to communicate via chat or email. So thanks for your postings and please continue to do so.

Its not only spoilers it is also that we have to allow you to make your own decissions and your own mistakes. In the mentioned PBEM there was at least one occasion where helpfull lurkers prevented one of the players from a miscalculation. IMO this games should be played with as few lurker-influence as possible.
That still leaves enough room for comments and interaction.

Good Luck in your War

[kalin]

Kalin,

What are your thoughts on Dice and Zev? I'm leaning towards moving Dice 1SW of Athens onto the plains/hill and Zev onto the mined/grass/hill 1W of Athens. The only downfall is on T61 they could potentially attack Dice. They wouldn't if they only had 2 Archers but if they produce a 3rd on the interturn it might become a possibility. If we did this though, that would stop them working the mine this turn and we'd be able to pillage next turn while allowing Dice to move onto the tile with Zev until another Chariot can catch up.

We could make sure we're last to play as well so they can't log in after us and whip if need be. I'm off work tomorrow so can play at my leisure .

Athlete

Hi Athlete,

Just a quick reply on the run. Re: units around Athens, I'd like to play conservatively and not expose them. I can explain and discuss later, but for now please don't move them just yet.

Kalin

[athlete4life10]

Sorry Kalin,

I saw that you had already logged in this morning and didn't say anything so I assumed you were ok with it.

They've already been moved.

Athlete

[kalin]

Sorry Kalin,

I saw that you had already logged in this morning and didn't say anything so I assumed you were ok with it.

They've already been moved.

Athlete

Don't worry, it's ok. It's part of playing together and having RLs Let's hope for the best. Even if we lose a unit, we can still outproduce them.

Kalin