Sparta-Gaian relations

[Kassiopeia]

Okay. I'll be gunning for the level two and three techs then, with IndAuto as the obvious main goal. What else do you think they have that we might want? What do we not want to give them? I think at least DocFlex is out of the question.

[Snoddasmannen]

The message in the Gaian Meeting Room looks excellent Kassiopeia, good work

Mentioning the potential Hive pact that explicitly was rather blunt, which I really liked That'll get them talking amongst themselves ... We might be able to put some pressure on them and get a favourable trade or two.

[KrysiasKrusader]

I'll work on something - mull things over in my mind...


One question:

Besides; Industrial Base, Biogenetics, Industrial Economics, Industrial Automation; what do we know that they have which we don't?


Edit: verified some obvious techs.

[Zeiter]

Hmmm, I don't see that proposal that we sent them as having very good chances. If I were the Gaians, I'd say screw the Spartans if they want IA for only a level 1 tech + diplo support. Why not offer them NLmath instead?

Apart from that, the rest of the stuff sounds great. Excellent message with the subtle references to various things.

Also, I don't see any of those level 1 or 2 techs as being useful. Those are all techs that we can probe off of Yang, Zak, or Lal. So I would say, don't accept any techs except for IA.

[Kassiopeia]

Hmmm, I don't see that proposal that we sent them as having very good chances.

It's not supposed to. I'm testing the waters here, see what they'll come up with. I'd rather underdo the offer than overdo it. If they outright refuse to negotiate, we'll be in a trickier situation, but I'm hoping they'll understand the "rules of engagement".

[Googlie]

And I'm sure that they understand the "rules of engagement" as well (after all, they did start with an offer of level-1 techs (Industrial Base or Biogenetics) although they know that we don't yet have Ind Auto)

G.

[Zeiter]

Ah, gotcha. Well, we don't need any of those level 1 or 2 techs, so I guess we'll just have to hold out until they offer IA. If they aren't forthcoming with it as we would like, then we can always shop around for it, or at least threaten to do so.

[Dis]

I say attack. But I always say that. But attacking without more information would be foolhardy. Do we know their map or location? we definately need that.

I'm against long term friendship either way. They don't have much to offer us. They are weak, and deserve to be crushed. It's our only chance of staying in this game. If we can't take on the hive, then we should stomp the weak gaians.

[Kassiopeia]

Ah, but the whole idea is that the Gaians are weak. We can use them as a tool to take out the others, and then we'll be facing only one opponent: the weak Gaians. That would make endgame a breeze.

[Kassiopeia]

They are not going for the trade, as expected. They claim to have won battles against Yang so they aren't too worried about him. In any case, I'm going to offer the Gene Splicing for IndAuto. They seem to be in a hurry to make a trade so I'll suggest that right away. They also seem to have a really big need for Doc:Mob, I guess is despite their wormies they want to start climbing up the Doctrine ladder as quickly as possible. I'm going to try to use that as leverage, maybe I'll be able to wring off IndAuto from them for GeneSplicing and DocMob, or possibly a level two tech and DocMob. I do believe IndAuto is a crucial tech enough, we could even consider it a level four tech.

[Kassiopeia]

I decided to piggyback the DocMob <-> IndBase trade with the IndAuto <-> Gene Splicing trade. I'm thinking they'll want DocMob out of us ASAP, so it'll improve the likelihood of them approving the other parity trade. Plus it'll speed things up in the negotiations as Krysia has been hoping for.

I have seen the awesome effect crawlers can have on an economy, so I'm sure that we'd end up in the positive after this trade. As far as I can see DocMob shouldn't have too much a use for the Gaians with their wormies able to traverse quickly through fungus. They probably have a fungus barrier between themselves and Yang, so it's like fish in a barrel for them to repel Yang's advances.

Naturally Gene Splicing will make pop-booming easier for them, but we can hardly use it to popboom without crawlers. Right?

[Maniac]

Great diplomacy you're doing!
It would be great if they'd accept the trades you've offered now.
If they act a little difficult, perhaps you could remind them the value of IndAut is reduced for us due to our inability to run Wealth? And increase the value of Gene Splicing by reminding them it's a prerequisite for EcoEng, while IndAut doesn't lead to any fantastic tech choices? (They don't need to know DocIni is one of our goals)

Re popbooming without crawlers, it's certainly possible! Check out this thread for an example.

[Kassiopeia]

Re: popbooming - fascinating. We still need the industry benefit though.

The wealth part I must add if they're acting uppity, I didn't even realize that

I did remind them that Gene Splicing will open up research choices that will help them studying the planet, you could think of EcoEng as one of them.

[Googlie]

It appears that they (at least Illuminatus) like the 2 for 2 trade - in the Embassy forums they say they'll poll their membership on it.

Is it worth asking them if they have the Angels' commlink? And if they'd be willing to swap it for Lal's (assuming my theory of how Buster has set up the factions is correct, they won't have been able to pass thru the Angels to get to Lal yet.)

But I'm sure that by now the Gaians have met the Angels - or vice versa

As long as we hold on to Zak's (and don't give Lal's to Yang) we can hold off Yang calling elections as long as we deem strategically beneficial to us (to act as the honest broker in a few deals)

[Kassiopeia]

Yup, it's looking good so far. Since you've stated that we can probe off those level 2 techs quite easily, I see no need to trade for them with the Gaians? Or do we need something ASAP?

I'll ask for the commlink - it's important news if they have had contact with the Angels. We need to be aware of who has been talking to whom.