Drone Negotiations

[Voltaire]

Originally posted by HongHu
Chairman, you are always on top of things. It's a great relief for us to see our great nation is in good hands.

Unfortunetaly I don't have messenger at work. Also, do you want to wait for more comrades to weigh in this issue, Chairman?

I will wait. Given the importance of the issue at hand having advisers at the turnchat is crucial.

[Snowflake]

I agree that the colony pod should remain where it is for one turn, so that it keeps outside of the Drone scout's view. We could agree to trade tech with them and tell them that we are currently discussing if any possibility of long term pact still exist. But to show their sincerety we ask that they act as they agreed, ie, withdraw the scout, and we agree to ensure its peaceful withdraw.

[Vander]

If (and that a big IF) we sign a permanent pact with the drones, it would help our relations (and the signing of the pact) if we allowed them to have two base here. Of course, two is the MAXIMUM number of bases that we can allow.

[Snowflake]

Originally posted by Voltaire

I sugggest we get them to move back their scout patrol and pertend we're deliberating whether or not to let them colonize our continet while we pump out Colony Pods and military units to ensure we get there first.

-Chairman Voltaire

I agree. This is very important. I'm sure the Drones are doing the same thing attempting to get their feet on our land before we can get there. One good thing is that their production may be tight up by the ME SP a little and if we give them IN they might want to build their network note if they feel that we'll let them keep peaceful development.

We need to see if we could use our money to rush build a couple colony pods.

[Snowflake]

Originally posted by Vander
If (and that a big IF) we sign a permanent pact with the drones, it would help our relations (and the signing of the pact) if we allowed them to have two base here. Of course, two is the MAXIMUM number of bases that we can allow.

Well there is no way we should let them build base at the two future base site of ours. We should prolong this neogotiation until we get the good sites.

[Snowflake]

What is the benefit of a permanent pact with the Drones other than that the players are extremely good? I would like to hear some arguments for it because I myself is not familiar with the SMAX factions.

[Kody]

I'm up I'll formulate the reply then.

Thanks Googlie, I needed to know the reaction of whether my team mates would be willing for a certain proposal, but now I know the answer due to their responses here. The turn will be up relatively soon.

Kody

[Kody]

Email

As may be. I cannot compel people to post, nor assume authority that they do not grant.

>
> I will shortly.
>
> I'm determining what information to tell you and what hold back. A pact
> would have simplifed things for me.
>
> Kody
>
>
> > Kody,
> >
> > I see you passed the turn. Response to my letter?
> >
> > Mongoose
>

[Kody]

Email
I am pleased to hear that you are interested in a pact. However,
disappointed that no decision was reached. The Hive is also in favour of a
pact with an 85.71% vote for a pact. This is mainly due to the fact our
land masses are so close and anything less will likely result wasteful
squabbling. If we decide on a pact we have to then discuss the degree of
the pact. The hive has already made some decisions on what pacts we will
agree to and my response should be quick.

My insight into the way Googlie set the map up is that the factions have a
roughly equal landmass. He mentioned that one faction had stunted growth
due to lack of land however a land bridge was added to allow them access
to a neighbouring island. If you are truly lacking in land area I suggest
you look for possible land bridges.

I believe Googlie in his wisdom foresaw that if the hive was aggressive
and placed in the centre of our continent we could have expanded westward
and there would be a possibility of an early invasion into your area.
Consequently, we were placed such that we would be assured to fill our
continent around the time your defences would be well prepared on your
side of the channel. Understand that the hive needs to expand west into
our continent as we were placed on the very eastern edge.

We have already discussed the implications of allowing your bases in our
heartland. If there is a disproportionate allocation of land and if we
have already agreed on a permanent pact aimed at a co-operative victory we
will allow you to build bases on our continent. In any other case I will
have to bring this matter up for debate and that may take days. We do not
have an excess of land and consequently what you ask is too much at this
early stage. From what I have seen of the expansion of drones in other
games, from the number of votes you have and assuming you didn't start at
the edge of your continent. It is quite possible that you have already
covered a continent the same size as ours.

For now let us aim to maximise our respective technologies. I have sent
forth a treaty and included is information networks. You were correct in
guessing that one of the others is Doctrine Loyalty, the third is Applied
Physics. We are currently researching Planetary Networks and will be
willing to share that too.

Since we are closer to finishing Planetary Networks than you are, I
suggest choosing mobility so we can jointly aim for flexibility after
wealth. The Hive also feels it needs to find more land area to colonise
too. Furthermore, the pirates will get a territory advantage if we do not
oppose them. I hope that if we do decide to team together we will be able
to share any new land that we find.

If you trust us you can give us both your techs next turn. Then the
hive has the possibility of industrial automation after finishing
planetary networks. We agree to give you planetary networks as soon as we
finish it, and if we are able to choose industrial automation we will
immediately give it to you if you give us flexibility when you achieve it.

If you wish our conquer technologies I will need to discuss this with my
faction as we have only agreed to a treaty. While unpacted these
technologies could be used against us.

We are appreciative that your scout will be leaving our area. Please
ignore the large number of military units moving towards your scout. While
waiting for your decision I decided to take certain precautions.

Kody

[Kody]

I hope I was not too aggressive in this response.

The first issue I was trying to address was the misconception that we have lots of land. They have moved halfway across our continent without encountering anything. I wanted to make them understand why we would reject their proposal. Otherwise it would seem we're trying to keep an advantage over them and may decide to turn on them later.

To offset the idea that we are weak and forestall any threats they may decide to make from such a conception. I placed some emphasis on our military and made it clear that we are strong enough and willing to deal with them as enemies.

Also I indirectly raised the possibility of a permanent pact without saying we are aiming for it.

Lastly, I have placed a little test to see how much they trust us. If they give us both their industrial techs straight away it likely means they trust us enough to believe our promises. That would bode well for a long term pact.

Kody

[Vev]

I eagerly wait for their reply.

[Kody]

I was thinking it might be useful to only trade for techs that we absolutely need. So ask for industrial encomics and if the drones aren't already researching information networks we only trade them planetary networks.

That way we're speeding up our tech research rate as we're skipping a few of the intermediate techs. Tech costs increase the more techs you have.

Kody

[Snowflake]

So did you and Chairman do it, Kody? Who else is in the turn chat afterall? I'm sorry I missed it. Could you post the turn in the turn update and/or turn chat thread?

[Kody]

I was doing some calculations. We can get industrial automation fastest if we don't do any tech trading. Then the turn just before when we get planetary networks. We ask them to offer us industrial economics. We gain planetary networks switch to any tech, then accept their offer of industrial economics. Since we just started researching a new tech the lost tech will be very low.

Tech cost if we trade for industrial base and industrial economics beforehand.
192

Tech cost if we have industrial economics before we choose a new tech
143

Tech cost if we get industrial economics after we choose a new tech
107

As you can see the cost to research industrial automation is almost halved using this method.

The drones might be able to do the same thing. Reduce their tech costs by skipping certain techs. I'm not sure how fast their research rate is, but if they go for mobility and then flexibility. They could might be able to get flexibility around the same time we get industrial automation.

The tech trade would hence be.
Hive -> Planetary networks -> Drones
Drones -> Industrial Economics -> Hive
Hive -> Industrial Automation -> Drones
Drones -> Flexibility -> Hive

Pursuing this method the hive and drones may be able to get key techs much faster than the other factions that just trade all their techs. Ofcourse it requires a certain amount of trust between our factions.

Kody

_________________________________________________

On another note if we don't immediately trade techs our power graph will be deceptively low, and it is unlikely that anyone will figure out we've met another faction.

Should I offer this idea to the drones? It may help them in their decision.

Kody
__________________________________________________ _

I was looking at the previous turn save file. They weren't running freemarket at that stage. It may be safe to assume that they recently acquired Industrial economics.

This means they shouldn't lose too much tech if we convince them to switch to mobility.

Kody

[Kody]

Email

"Since we are closer to finishing Planetary Networks than you are, I
suggest choosing mobility so we can jointly aim for flexibility after
wealth."

I have to apologise for the flawed reasoning behind my previous email. I
forgot about the way accumulated tech is able to be carried on when you
trade for a tech your researching.

Kody