Spartan Diplomacy

[-SafaN-]

nice work!

Greetz

[jtsisyoda]

Yes, well said, Mead. Thanks for your work on this.

[jtsisyoda]

ACDG: embassy reopening

Greetings dear Morganites,

I'd like to announce the reopening of the aimoo embassy. I've written a message for you and posted it there.

Greetings,

Maniac

[jtsisyoda]

In the Embassy...

Welcome back to the renovated embassy, Gentlemen of the Corporation. During your short absence we have redecorated and repainted a little and wired all rooms with bugs. We hope you like your new surroundings.

Now let's get to business. It seems a comment, made by Major Snoddasmannen after drinking too many fungal gins, has been misinterpreted. Namely Colonel Googlie received a Planetnet Message from Mr. Argenine indicating that Paramiria would have been captured by Federation forces. We can assure this is not the case. Instead Snoddasmannen's comment referred to the mass casualties the base in question suffered in slaying down the pacifist protests following the Hunter hostile takeover. Make no mistake though. If negotiations for compensation of your crime do not reach a satisfactory conclusion, we reserve ourselves the right to take action against Corporate assets.

For as Mr. Argenine indicates, Morgan didn't even try to open negotiations regarding the Hunter position or the Modo Doctrine: you simply immediately took hostile action. This while we were most willing to negotiate with the Corporation regarding a division of the ocean seperating our continents, and a reduction of the extent of the Modo Doctrine, should you have indicated a desire for another arrangement. The doctrine of no ships within a full eight squares of our bases is more meant against Gaian and Angel probes coming from the south in the future.

Therefore we believe we have the right to a compensation on the Hunter issue.

There is however another issue at stake. The Corporation not only took over control of the Hunter. You unilaterally threw ALL treaties, contracts and agreements out of the window, and ceased payments for our Ethical Calculus trade of a while ago. And this for the second time already. The previous time the Junta accedes it was partly justified. In fact we were planning to compensate you on our own initiative for the loss of the Defense Attorney you suffered during our infiltration mission.

But this time your action cannot be else interpreted than as an unprovoked hostile act. In this you have showed yourselves as an unreliable partner to make longterm deals with. That's why, before full peace negotiations start and a compensation for the Hunter incident is sought, the Junta would like to receive the outstanding payments for our tech trades, in one lump sum. It would be a sign of your credibility and show your commitment to a true peace process.

With the greetings of the Junta,

Colonel Maniac

My calculations show we owe 48 ec. That's not too horrible for us. We might not be able to swing it in one turn if we still want to buy HEC for 100ec, though.

How should we read this? Does it mean they're dependent on our cash? Does it mean they want to invade soon? Or simply that they don't want us to cut them off again, and don't trust us to continue regular payments? Any other interpretations?

Should we suggest a pact, to increase income, and boost trust that we won't be invaded? Maybe we could do the lump sum if they agree to at least a short-term pact?

Also, I was always under the impression (before the Hunter incident) that they agreed to the 50 ec attorney fees.

[#endgame]

They seem to have a valid point regarding the Modo Doctrine, but I (as I am sure you were), suspicious of the way they specifically pointed out to us that we were in violation of Doctrine : Modo when it was introduced.

I'd like to see peaceful trade resume, it's good for us and we get rid of a thorn in our side.

The main ACDG forum still makes it look like things are pretty tense between Sparta and Morgan, and I'd like to see it kept that way (on the outside).

I think we should push for peace (possibly even sweeten the deal by either returning the Hunter (because this reduces our drone and support problems) or by adding a few ecs to the 48 we owe, gratis. While the prospect of parting with more money than we have to might seem abhorrent to some members of the corporation, I trust you'll see the benefit of a pact-level trade agreement. They already have infiltration.

-- CTO #endgame

[Mead]

I've been away for a couple days.

Let me think of our response before we respond.

I was not too eager to respomd to them (partly because they would feel that we were too eager to respond).

I think they need the income we are throwing their way. If I am not mistaken they are not mking too much money with their social settings and basic econ configuration. Addtionally, I think they have to make regular loan repayments to the Hive (they did take out a large loan recently, yes?)

All that being said let me respond (nicely) to them. I'll try to explore a reasonable settlement.


Mead

[Micha]

Exactly, and they don´t get half our pact money... So why the heck should they agree on pacting???

[Mead]

I posted this in the embassy:

[Mead Enters, Looks Around, and Hopes that for the Future, the host nation provides better security for diplomatic missions and embassies.]

[He thinks it best not to insult the Spartans and decides it would be better to not mention that he was surprised that the Spartans lacked the discipline to prevent the burning of the embassy. He'll need to remind the Spartans of their duty to protect diplomatic missions no matter how bad relations might become. Realizing that the Spartans may already know this and may already feel shamed, he'll need to wait until later to remind them of their diplomatic duties.]

[He puts a smile and greets the Spartan delegation, knowing it's his job to get back to profitable business.]


Greetings Spartans,

We are eager to renew profitable trade.

I understand that there are several outstanding issues that we need to take care of. These include:

Restarting trade between us.

Resolving the ownership change of the Hunter.

Ensuring that the mutual security of both the Federation and Corporation.


First, I need to answer Colonel Maniac's question as to why we didn't just disband the Hunter after we captured. Although it costs us support and drone control problems, we felt that destroying the Hunter would be wasteful and not be beneficial to either Sparta or Morgan. Plus, we thought it would be an insult to destroy such a fine ship. We thought that it would an insult that Sparta would have a hard time forviging.

Keeping the ship afloat offers benefits to both sides. It gives an early warning platform that allows both Sparta and Morgan to ensure they are safe.



I propose restarting the trade between our factions and we share screenshots of all ships that within 8 squares of each others bases.
I propose that until such time (when and if) control of the Hunter returns to Sparta that Morgan support the vessel (and deal with the related drone issues without complaint (okay without too much complaint). Because of the suspension of trade during the past difficulties I propose that we extend the length of our agreements by a length equal to the suspension of agreements so that we ensure Sparta receives the the amount we agreed to (i.e. we are ready to restart the cash flow).

As before I left for my winter holiday, I would be happy to dicuss not only a trade Treaty, but also a Pact.


Please let me know what you think.


Mead
CDO, Morgan Corp.


[Mead hopes that Sparta realizes that Morgan felt threatened by the Modo Doctraine, combined with the threat that Sparta would attack any ship within 8 spaces of Spartan bases. He hopes that Sparta realizes that although Morgan values peace and free trade, that Morgan, and its units, will respond in self-defense when threatened. He hopes that the mission will be profitable for both Sparta and Morgan.]

[Finished with the meeting, Mead wearily checks out the redecorated offices, wonders if the burnt oak smell will ever go away (although it does have kinda of a rustic feel to it) and wishes for the best.]

Mead

[Micha]

Hehe, nice story part added to the core . Now let´s see what they´re up to...

[Mead]

I pm'd this to Kass:

Kassiopeia wrote on 12-01-2005 11:00:
Hello Mead,

***

Why did you not just ask us to withdraw our probe? There were several other courses for the Hunter to proceed and we would have been happy to oblige. The Junta feels you have acted whimsically and rashly on this decision, which makes it all the more condemnable. We would have probably responded to the mere threat of it being mindcontrolled, to be frank. She was a good ship.

We felt that you were very clear in your indication that you would destroy the Gator Boat. We did not want to threaten you. We thought that by threatening the Hunter you would definetly have just cause to destroy the Gator Boat.

Oh, and just an offhand question - why didn't you just disband the Hunter if it's causing you drone problems? I find this part of your actions a bit puzzling.

I am glad that the Hunter was not disbanded. That trully would have been using excessive force on our part. We did not wish to destroy your ship, merely we wanted to remove it as a threat. The ship is still intact. It still can be of use to you for the purpose you intended (floating early warning system).

We have not yet received the turn. Please let me know if we can restart the Treaty, commece payments, and screenshot sharing.


Mead

I don't mind restarting trade (although I don't mind not restarting it either, because I think they need our cash more than we need their trade plus I realize that whatever we send them will be used against us very shortly).

I refuse to give them any lump sum payment. I want them to become (remain) dependent upon our payments. Giving them a lot of cash will hurt us, plus probably more likely lead to an earlier invasion.

Mead

[Mead]

PM exchange between Kass and myself:

Kassiopeia wrote on 17-01-2005 18:06:
I think we should continue our discussions in the reopened embassy; unless you see a compelling reason to carry on private correspondence?

Kass

Although we can limit ourselves to the embassy if you wish, I hoped to use the PM's as a way of exploring our options without inflaming the passions of either the Morgan or Spartan populaces.

Plus, we seem to be much less 'formal' in the PM's.

Mead

PS

Even if you wish to limit our discussion to the embassy I don't mind receiving PM's.

PPS
Please note that, as in the past, if I am not responding to your posts in the embassy, it does not mean that i am not interested. It may just mean that I need a PM to wake me up.

Mead

[paramir]

just wondering, do we know what the full modo doctrine is, i know no ships within 8 squares of a base is part of it, but is there more?

[jtsisyoda]

They did post the full Modo Doctrine in the Embassy, I believe. Either there or in one of their Spartan News threads on Poly.

[#endgame]

One of their news threads.

-- CTO #endgame

[AndiD]

Don't know whether this was posted somewhere already, it seems that the Spartans are at Vendetta with the Hive now. They still had a treaty in the last turn. (?)