Tales From the Diplomatic Front V

[berzerker]

The beneficent shogun, Berzerker, leader of the Japanese people, using his powers of channeling and insights to future events, has led the people in building the "Oracle"- a unique structure now housing the powers of the Berzerk - the people are very happy with this addition to the empire.

Meanwhile, disaater has be-fallen our exploration team in the Americas - barbarians are massing in the heartland threatening our settlements. But our navy has discovered a passage to a vast sea beyond the Americas - it is our understanding this sea will lead us to the great civilizations to our west, thus sayeth the Oracle

[Curumbor Elendil]

This session started an hour late due to difficulties with my ISP. Once it got underway, however, it became quite a fun session. Every civilization improved its position greatly, even the AI-governed Vikings. It is a close game as well. Toward the beginning of the session I found myself at "Inadequate" power, but moved up to "Mighty" in three turns!

After 900 BC the Libertarian/Indian empire set about to rapid expansion. It was necessary to fill in the empty areas between the far-flung Indian cities; moreover, the colonization of North America awaited. By 425 BC the Indians had the second-most cities (by which we mean regional capitals--there are of course hundreds and hundreds of cities of all kinds in the world) of any civilization, and only three fewer regions colonized than the Egyptians. In 475 BC Indian settlers and horsemen completed a long trek across the Pacific and settled the west coast of North America, founding the city of San Francisco. Cartographical exchanges revealed that nearly all the continent had already been explored by the Japanese, however.

The Indian Empire also established boundaries on one front with the Roman Empire, now led by Consul Crustacian. The Asia Minor region and Caucasus area were left wholly in the Roman sphere of influence. The Indians hope, however, to build a line of small settlements along the east coast of the Caspian so as to connect the rest of the empire with her cities in Siberia.

The Vikings/Falcons were taken over by a particularly vicious king, the notorious Alfred Ingman. They actually attacked the Chinese, and several other civilizations desired to exact revenge, but they stayed their hands in the hope that a more reasonable leader would return.

This is the political map of the known world, showing the Empires of the World in their full geographic extent. White=Romans, Purple=Indians, Yellow=Egyptians, Orange=Carthaginians, Bright Dark Blue=Vikings, Bright Light Blue=Chinese, Bright Green=Japanese, Dark Green=Unclaimed/Disputed, Dark Blue=Water, Black=Unexplored.



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Curumbor Elendil
jason.sorens@yale.edu
ICQ 56126989

[Frank Johnson]

I have to say that map misrepresents my boarder with the Japanese quite a bit, it cuts off the Chinese provinces of Outer Mongolia and Russian Far East. But I'm sure that's not intentional at all....

Plus I'd like to mention that much of that western territory that lays currently as unclaimed is slated to coionized. Only set backs made by evil attacking DARK BLUES, which required the rebuilding of military forces in the region delayed my production of settlers. I expect my two allies, the Libs/Indians and Japanese to respect my claim to centeral asia...as they roll off uncontested expansion in the Americas...these territories denied be due to actions of silly AI should not be snapped up like I ignored them...because that is far from the case. I also plan to settle the remainder of Mayasia and Oceanian...which should off set the lack of any American colonies....

[Alexander's Horse]

Love the maps guys, although they do seem to verge on fetish.

[Curumbor Elendil]

The map I posted isn't supposed to be definitive. I just tried to work around the dots (representing cities of course). But my hand isn't very steady, so the map isn't completely precise. As far as central Asia is concerned, I do plan to settle part of it, but I'll focus on the desert wastelands to the east of the Caspian in order to link up the two parts of my empire. I'm also not willing just to concede Australia, New Guinea, New Zealand, and Indonesia. Expansion in the Americas will be very slow, and I will doubtless have surplus settlers in Asia that I'll have to do something with. We should just settle in our natural spheres of influence and see what evolves. If empire boundaries get too distorted, we can always trade cities.

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Curumbor Elendil
jason.sorens@yale.edu
ICQ 56126989

[berzerker]

A rather inconsequential round this time - we started with 2 subs with the ai contolling one civ. Having met both the Egyptians and Libertarians in the New World, we set out to explore the southern continent. We've added the Great Pyramid to our empire, but our Chinese neighbors have built a magnificent Library to keep the records of humanity's journey through time.

The Egyptians have built a splendid church with a beautiful (we're told) painting displayed across the ceiling in the same tradition as the celestial vision appearing on the ceiling of a temple at Karnak. The Norse men have built a lighthouse making their naval vessels the most advanced in the world. And the Romans have sent a hardy traveler east to meet the triad along the Silk Road - his name is Marco Polo. We have recently discovered it was our ally - the Libertarians - who gave away our maps of the new world - oh well... One footnote, the Romans were taken over by the ai and did in fact bribe a Chinese city .

[Curumbor Elendil]

A round that saw its end rather too soon, we were able however to make it to 1 AD before stopping. The Libertarian advance was rather slow: only two new cities founded, and one city thwarted in its building of Michelangelo's Chapel. The Libertarian civilization, despite its size, still has no wonders to claim, though it appears J.S. Bach's Cathedral will eventually be ours.

The Egyptians desired to trade maps with Libertarian cartographers. The Libertarians conferred first with our allies and were surprised when they all acquiesced, considering the considerable knowledge of the New World that would give the Egyptians.

The Libertarians were able to assist the Chinese in building their Great Library early, which we are sure will redound in technological benefits to the whole alliance.

The Romans were governed for most of the period by the ambitious Addled Intellect (as he was known informally). Despite his aggressiveness the Libertarians were able to maintain the ancient alliance throughout the period.

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Curumbor Elendil
jason.sorens@yale.edu
ICQ 56126989

[J23SE]

The round's end was partly due to my pressing personal matters. I am speaking for the Pharaoh currently, and, as he is ill (read: He hasn't been showing up ) I am currently deciding whether to take over the growing Egyptian empire.

During my reign, two wonders were built. Bezerker misreported this - The Romans did not build Marco Polo's, it was in fact the Egyptian Empire, in addition to Michelangelo's Chapel.

The Alliance between the three great powers of UFAE (The United Federation of Africa and Europe) continued to prosper, and greater understanding was reached between the nations of MLB and Egypt. Diplomacy is also good between Egypt and the rest of the earth.

It is good to be in this game. Thanks for the opportunity to play Now, I leave you... Adios

[CapTVK]

I've been looking at how the game is progressing and it seems to become an interesting 'race' for the colonization of the Americas. Seeming that control of N.america will provide the key to world domination, colonial wars are bound to show develop. Will the Japanese be able to take total control of N.America and kick the indians out? Will the Chinese help bail out the Indians in their time of need? Or will the European powers walk away the grand prize? Time will tell...

P.S Some of the maps used here are heavy on bandwidth! Contact me if you want a DL-friendly map to use. Here's an example: http://home-1.worldonline.nl/~thomas...d-23-clear.gif
I've been playing around with some graphic programs and I'm getting the hang of making decent maps for Civ2. So if you need a good lowbandwidth world map or a good regional map for your civ game, contact me.

Good luck with the game,

CapTVK

[Curumbor Elendil]

Cap--that's a pretty good map; I could download it and use it as a prototype for future maps. Is the *.gif format not as bandwidth-eating as *.jpg? Or is it the lack of colors besides black and white that makes it small byte-wise?

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Curumbor Elendil
jason.sorens@yale.edu
ICQ 56126989

[Frank Johnson]

The Chinese did their best to catch up with the world in this session. The evil Roman AI managed to bribe a small Chinese province while my funds were tied up contructing the Great Libray.

The Anti-AI party took power in the Chinese government, and confirmed a peice of legislation allowing the complete descrution of all AI controled lands. Thus, from now on the Chinese deny the AI the right to exist, so if you cant get a sub you will DIE AT MY HANDS!

In anycase....at least some progress was made. I will expect the Romans to immediatly compensate me for my losses, by returning the city and paying me 100 gold. I settled two new lands, Kasmir and Java! Clearing for Another city in Malazsia is also underway.

[CapTVK]

<center><table width=80%><tr><td><font color=000080 face="Verdana" size=2><font size="1">quote:
<img src="/images/blue1.gif" width=100% height=1>
</font><font size=1>Originally posted by Curumbor Elendil on 04-30-2000 05:44 PM</font>
Cap--that's a pretty good map; I could download it and use it as a prototype for future maps. Is the *.gif format not as bandwidth-eating as *.jpg? Or is it the lack of colors besides black and white that makes it small byte-wise?


<img src="/images/blue1.gif" width=100% height=1></font></td></tr></table></center>

Gif format maps tend to be more economical if you don't use to many colors, 16-32 colours is best. JPG is better for pictures which have a 256+ colours or more. So it jpg is okay for making screenshots, but not for low bandwith maps. If you do intend to use this map I suggest you adjust the brightness/contrast level a a bit, the ocean is a bit too dark. Then open it with a 256 colour palette, fill in the regions, reduce to 16 colors and voila! -> One DL friendly map.

[Curumbor Elendil]

In a sudden twist of fate, Albigensus Ineffectualis of the Romans and Augustinus Imbecilus of the Carthaginians signed over their civilizations to the greater powers of the world! The world now consists of five powers: Japanese (allied to Chinese, Indians, and Egyptians), Vikings (unallied), Chinese (allied to Japanese and Indians), Indians (allied to Japanese and Chinese), and Egyptians (allied to Japanese).

It is now 80 AD, and this is the shape of the world:


Onward we go...

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Curumbor Elendil
jason.sorens@yale.edu
ICQ 56126989

[berzerker]

That about sums our latest effort
Oh, other than an expolsion of Alaskan barbarians forcing me to abort a wonder about a third completed
<font size=1 face=Arial color=444444>[This message has been edited by berzerker (edited May 06, 2000).]</font>

[Curumbor Elendil]

For the past three hundred years the brutal tyrant Amaterasu Inchuyama has governed the Japanese empire with an iron fist. By her squeezing every last ounce of effort out of her citizens, the empire has actually vaulted ahead in power, becoming by far the most powerful civilization in the world. The civilized nations of the world had expected that her authoritarian methods would backfire, but apparently not.

The Libertarian Indians added Johannes Bach's Cathedral to King Richard's Crusade in their list of wonders... The Libertarians now enjoy listening to baroque music all day. It improves the mind. However, some of the young folk seem to take the music too far and are inventing new forms thereof: flighty and inconsequential most of it. Most of them enjoy one "Mozart," who is obviously a Satanist and is probably responsible for all the school violence that's been going on.

In political news, the Libertarian allies, the Chinese, defied conventional protocol by signing a secret alliance with the Egyptians without informing the Libertarian leadership. The Chinese leader, whose name Indian tongues cannot pronounce (sounds something like "Jujitsu"), confided that he "had a plan." The Libertarians wonder if they are trying to play both sides. The Libertarians therefore signed an alliance with the Vikings, who despite their isolation, were in danger of being exploited by the large alliances of the world. All will be forgiven the Chinese and Egyptians, however, if they allow the Libertarians and Vikings to join them in a Grand World Alliance. The alliance structure would make war even more difficult, since a cancellation of alliance would first have to be effected.

The Libertarian-Viking alliance was able to manage a small controversy, wherein the Egyptians built two cities near the Viking capital in land the Vikings had considered their own for millennia. The Egyptians promised to disband the cities. Alliance divisions are waiting nearby to assure that this promise is kept.

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Curumbor Elendil
jason.sorens@yale.edu
ICQ 56126989

<font size=1 face=Arial color=444444>[This message has been edited by Curumbor Elendil (edited May 12, 2000).]</font>