New "Ancient Empires" PBEM created

[Peaster]

No, in such cases, our runner has not returned. We only get a smoke signal from the South to send another runner.

[Zedd]

Posting from work. Having more problems with my internet connection at home. I can get online but when i click on the PBEM forum Iexplore.exe generates errors and closes.

I'll DL mozilla tonight and try using that I'll post the save as soon as I am able.

[Peaster]

Zedd: Did you get the Greek save ? I think Straybow also sent you a copy by email. If your Mozilla solution doesn't let you post the Minoan save, I guess you can email it to Stray instead [or bring it to work - I have done that myself a few times].

[Zedd]

Wifes PC has no problems so I stole it for the night.

[SlowThinker]

Originally posted by Kull
Pharoah is informed that General Mekret communicated directly with the Babylonian foreign ministry several days ago. He assures us that this communication, like many others was handed directly off to the Baylonian message service, which for some reason seems to enjoy discarding Egyptian documents.

Perhaps the Immortal One would see to the chastisement of his subordinates. In the meanwhile, Egypt will - again - send a repeat message - again.

We got the message of general Mekret, be we didn't get an answer to our another message although we sent it by 3 different comunication canals, and 2 of them appear to be in operation.

[Straybow]

With all this talk of paper-eaters I've got a hankerin'... for more cowbell!

Hatte units shuffle around, markets bustle, etc.

[Straybow]

Oops, genius forgot ctrl-N.

[SlowThinker]

From last monday Babylon requests a report of positions of Egyptian units near Babylon. I understand Pharaoh is busy but I would like to get the positions or a clear refusal before I finish my turn.
Babylonian units didn't move yet and are waiting for the report. Then I am ready to post the save quickly.

[Ecthy]

Has this game been going on for 3+ years?

[Kull]

May Ra preserve us.

Let Pharoah emphasize to his Brother that BABYLON IS IN NO DANGER FROM EGYPT! Egypt has been nothing but gracious to her eastern brothers:

1) We declared war against your enemy at your moment of greatest peril.
2) We supplied loans during the war whenever they were requested.
3) We offered these free of charge.
4) We still do not and have not requested payment on the last loan, feeling that we wanted to ensure our war-weary brothers had time and money to recuperate from the recently ended conflict.
5) We built roads for our brothers.
6) We supplied troops to patrol the deserts south and west of Baylon to ensure she was not surprised by a flanking Assyrian attack.

In all of these things NEVER ONCE have we issued threats or given any cause for alarm.

And now THIS! In case his brother might be confused, let Pharoah provide a brief refresher course: Diplomacy involves bargaining and discussion. It does not involve "or else" dictated security zones. It does not involve giving helpful Allies a thinly veiled ultimatum to reveal the positions of their weak scouting units with the not-so-subtle implication that destruction otherwise awaits.

Perhaps my brother is listening to the advice of weak, lying, scoundrels, and has temporarily forgotten the great and good service provided ever and always by his true Ally. If so, Pharoah suggests he take them on a one-way stroll to the Execution Square.

And lest war result, for clearly such was the peremptory tone of thy message, here are the locations of the fearsome units which threaten the very foundations of the Babylonian State. We pray that in thy great goodness these dangerous predators may be granted a stay of execution:

Chariot 1 - 131,77
Farmer - 135,81
Chariot 1 - 120,60
Chariot 1 - 120,54

Horus watches......

[Peaster]

ST - Straybow posted two saves, and you should use the second one (with Ctrl-N). But it seems nobody has DL'd it yet ... (perhaps you got it via email ?) Please play soon to avoid the Wrath of P.

Ecthy - Yes, over three years, but I think Kull is the only original player left.

[SlowThinker]

bab 2640

Sorry for delayed orders.
Nothing very interesting, except we are chasing Egyptian units.
I will say a few words about the Pharaoh's words soon.

Edit: I got the Ctrln-N save by e-mail and I used it.

[SlowThinker]

First I must say with a great gratitude I appreciate help of Egypt (and other nations) to Babylon during The World War. I must also stress that the gold provided by Egypt were offered selflessly, and that it was me came with the idea that interest should be payed for all period of duration of the loan.
Maybe we always skimped words of appreciation ... but such are manners of all Immortals. I will never be able to fully conform to terrestrial manners. Excuse me for that please.

Originally posted by Pharaoh
4) We still do not and have not requested payment on the last loan, feeling that we wanted to ensure our war-weary brothers had time and money to recuperate from the recently ended conflict.

Maybe there is a misunderstanding between Babylon and Egypt, but several times we expressed we were ready to pay the loan, and we thought Pharaoh wanted to continue it since he considered the interest advantageous for Egypt. If this is not true please accept the barter we are sending.

[SlowThinker]

Concerning the scouting units:

After The World War ended Egypt and Babylon agreed lands east from Tell Hariri will be reserved for Babylon and Egypt won't expand there.
Then an agreement about limited scouting was made:

The Immortal wrote:
> Concerning scouting:
> Babylon is not interested in scouting foreign lands and similarly we don't
> welcome foreign scouting
> of the Bab territories.
> We won't hinder that you reveal the southern non-desert coast of Euphrat
> (I mean downstream from
> Tell Hariri of course) including Zibbar, but please report movement of
> your units here.

Pharaoh answered:
Egypt has no plans to move our units north of the Euphrates, except in the
area west of Dibshiya. We appreciate Babylonian understanding and will
notify you when our units reach the environs of the River.
...
Blessings of Ra,
Ramesses II

So I supposed the understanding was:
north from Eufrat - no Egyptian units
southern coast of Eufrat and Zibbar - yes, but Babylon will be notified in advance.

Last year (2650 BC) our scouts found three Egyptian Chariots, one north from Eufrat, one near Zibbar, one near Lagash.
You can see two of them on the picture. On the picture there is position in 2640, yellow dots represent position of 2650.

[SlowThinker]

So Hushmushnak, head of our Foreign office, asked general Mekret:

Dear colleague,
Citizens of Lagash found an Egyptian chariot near the city. They ask what an armed unit does near
their city?
Hushmushnak
Ministry of foreign affairs
Ur

We thought Egyptians forgot to report the unit near Zibbar, and that the unit north from Eufrat is an error of the Egyptian dispatch service, and we awaited General Mekret will report the units now, but...

A thousand pardons O'Great One!
Egypt has many forces in the northern theatre near Nineveh, and another group returning from guard
and patrol duty near the Great Southern Road. Of which unit do you speak? We do not know where
Lagash is, and it's possible one of our "Captains of Chariots" has inadvertantly entered your
territory. Let us know which unit has offended, and they shall be whipped like curs and sent in the
direction thou shalt indicate.
Mekret,
CG Former Assyrian Theatre of War

Great Southern Road is South-West from Ur, and the Egyptian units near Zibbar didn't seem to be returning home (see the picture above). Now we didn't know if General Mekret was so ignorant of position of his units or if he was preparing secret operations against Babylon.
So we continued:
(parts of messages not related to Egyptiam units are ommited)

Dear General,
Your immense fame is known also in Babylon.
Lagash is a city west of Ur.
I think the best way will be if you send an Egyptian map (for example a rectangle with Dibshiya in
the upper left corner and the fish tile 155,91 in the lower right corner) with current situation,
position of your units and revealed terrain. Babylonian officers will draw the peripheral Babylonian
cities in, to mark what land we consider to be a territory of a high Bab interest, and how your
units should leave it.
If you wish we can send you a similar map around Egyptian territory, but there are no Bab units.
Babylon lays stress on the deals with neighbouring civs about no scouting foreign territories,
because it allows us to keep low numbers of our units that are monitoring Babylonian territories.
Hushmushnak
Ministry of foreign affairs
Ur

Illustrious Minister,
Ahhhh! Now we know the offending unit. The commanding officer had thought to travel along the Western banks of the Euphrates until reaching Egyptian Territory, but he has been instructed that Generals think and Captains simply obey orders. A little too much time in the southern desert, methinks. In any event, there is no need for maps as he has been given orders to head straight west into the desert with all due dispatch!
...
Under the Watchful Eye of Horus,
Mekret,
CG Former Assyrian Theatre of War

Dear general,
...
Maps: yes, they are important. You will get a clear information what is territory important for the Babylonian security and Egyptian units won't take a wrong way here in the future. The Immortal stresses that this point must be clear and I would lose my head if this weren't solved to his full contentment.
Yours
Hushmushnak
Ministry of foreign affairs
Ur

Excellency,
Enclosed is a long forgotten map from the pre-war times. During the war, Egyptian forces under my command operated inside the red zone - at the behest of the Babylonian military - constructing the road and patroling in search of Assyrian Invaders. Since there are no enemies here and the war is over, we will now operate outside of this red zone - and in fact are leaving this region as fast as our wheels can turn. If the Foreign Ministry has changes they would like to make, please feel free to alter this map or supply us with a new one.
...
Under the Watchful Eye of Horus,
Mekret,
CG Former Assyrian Theatre of War

(The map from the pre-war times shows Ur, Lagash and their surroundings. The red zone was a part of The Desert south of Ur. The map has nothing with Zibbar, because Zibbar was an Assyrian city before the war)

General asked a new map, so we offered it:

Your valiancy,
Enclosed is a new map. The green line represents a Bab territory (We bought Dibshiya from Minoans so it will be a Bab city soon). The red line is a Bab security zone (the line is included) - your units are allowed to travel inside if there is a need but first they must ask for visas. The white dots is a proposal of a neutral area - it should stay free of units. Although we agreed all the river downstream Tell Hariri will be Babylonian, we think there should be a distance between our cities, so we won't build a city or maintain units on the ford east from Tell Hariri and we added it to neutral area.
Now you are asked to send a list of all Egyptian units in the security zone, so that we can arrange their next movement.
...
Yours
Hushmushnak
Foreign office :-)
Ur

... but it looked general didn't like the new map:

Greetings Lord of Tablets,
I have just returned from an extensive tour of Egypt's new northern possessions, so the delay in responding is regretted. Egyptian units have been instructed to leave the environs of Babylonina territory, insofar as it is known and agreed upon between our governments. As for this new map.....well, it has been forwarded to the Egyptian Foreign Office. This is no longer a matter for generals. I will say that the Babylonian claims do appear.....expansive.
...
Under the Watchful Eye of Horus,
Mekret,
CG Former Assyrian Theatre of War

So after exchanging 8 (!) messages and eating several runners we were at exactly same point like before these messages.
Probably we Immortals have no grasp of terrestrial way of communication?
I admit I lost patience a bit and that my next message may appear to be a bit ultimative:
(It was sent directly to the Pharaoh)

Dear Pharaoh,
1)
We sent a map of Babylonian territory and the security zone to General Mekret. The amount of Babylonian territory corresponds to our agreement that Euphrat downstream from Tell Hariri is Babylonian. The security zone should ensure our security without a need of many units guarding our territory. We don't want to hinder your units enter the zone, but we want to know their goal and to monitor their positions. Of course Egypt has full right to decline the security zone, but this will have a bad impact on Eg-Bab relationship, except you provide a good reason for the rejection.
Of course we are ready to accept a similar zone around Egyptian land.
2)
Back last year we got an idea Babylon could offer one C4 to Egypt. But then we found an Egyptian unit on an unexpected position near Lagash. Therefore General Mekret has been asked to send positions of Egyptian units near Babylon. It looks he accepted there are such Egyptian units, but so far General didn't send their position. Our analysts are saying this is a very suspicious fact.
Therefore I am asking you personally, Pharaoh, that you ensure that Egyptian positions (unit type and square) in the Security zone are sent to Babylon before Bab units move. Babylonian units didn't move yet and their movement depends on the Egyptian report.
...
The Immortal
Ur

Pharaoh answered by the surprised and offended answer that you have read recently.

Indeed I don't understand anything. Either Pharaoh is completely divorced from situation in army and Egyptian diplomacy, or my Immortal way of communication doesn't conform to Egyptian standards...