Ambassadors, please check in

[notyoueither]

OK. The world this morning is quite a bit different from when we all went to sleep a day or two ago. It is time to do some probing. Trading messages and chit-chat. Keeping it light and simply seeking impressions from the other diplomats.

Let's gather here and come up with our exact strategy. We will have to be very careful with our communications as we now have somethings that can not even be hinted at. Quite a pickle. Talking about prospects for war when we know where and when that war will start, but we cannot reveal that we know. I think we can handle it.

Questions/Issues:

RP: Stall? Avoid contacting them?

ND: Very difficult. The team will not want us entering into an NAP unless convincing reasons can be found and accepted. The chat tomorrow will give us some things to go on.

GoW: Make like good friends. We are.

Lego: What do they feel about prospects on Bob? Are they in any kind of position militarily to get involved if something happened? A better question would be if they think they will ever get into a war where they are not attacked. I have been curious about that for a long while.

Vox: Well, not much more to be said there for the moment.

[Shiber]

RP: Let's avoid contact, it's the best way to stall until the next time that they check up on us.
ND: I agree, we'll learn much in tomorrow's chat.
GoW: Agreed.
Lego: I doubt whether they'll be a military factor in this war. Diplomatically, they may intervene... but to actually send forces, they'll have to be prepared, and they'll have to go through the crossing near GoW's island unless they wait for ocean techs, so GoW will have a very good early warning.

[OPD]

RP checking in.

Desperately avoiding contact, things are on our terms ATM and the ball is in their court, whether they realize it's in thier court is a different matter.

Have been completely avoiding the IRC channel whereas before I was idle there alot. May drop by at a time when I know BF will be asleep.

[zeit]

I'm here- being friends with GoW seems to be the course we've set ourselves- and UnO at Co. no-BS attitude certainly helps that...

[DeepO]

RP: avoid them, perhaps, but I wouldn't do it to such an extend that they begin to wonder if something would be going on. If BF tries to chats with you, let him, just don't tell much. But don't seek contact yourselves...

Lego: Very difficult. Normally we have another chat coming up tonight, I hope I'll be able to make it (my parents are organizing a pre-anniversary party for me, so I have to attend ). The tricky part is that Lego can't suspect we're going to war, however I too would love to know whether they would be willing to attack, instead of defend only. And, we should be talking about the eta on techs, and how to reap the most benefits. That discussion should give some starting points where we can ask what their military objectives are, if done right. But then the question will return, of course.

One thing I'd like to ask Lego is whether they now have all teams agreeing on the no-Sistine clause. Oh, and can someone with the save check if all other teams have Education, and thus can't build the GL anymore? Otherwise that would also be a good thing to chat about, as it shows interest in their game, and might lead to something useful for us as well

Further, I'd like to ask if they learned something new with our map, and perhaps if they see why our lands are not so easily defended, being so long-stretched (might be a bit too much, depends on where the discussion is going)

DeepO

[Shiber]

Checked: ND and RP don't have Education, the rest do.
GoW is still building the GL (I suppose it's still possible to build it after Education, if only for its cultural value).

[DeepO]

Thanks Shiber... that leaves something to discuss with Lego, it's the perfect excuse to keep them from speeding along in research

DeepO

[Shiber]

Cost of establishing an embassy with RP: 42 gold.

[notyoueither]

Well, it looks like we missed 2 chats today. ND and Lego.

ND is being rescheduled by GoW, however perhaps we should seek them out ourselves. We have had to say no to them too many times. I do not want them to feel slighted. We should seek a chat ASAP with or without GoW. I can do any early afternoon (my time) this week, but it will have to be short as I will be at work. 8 or 9 GMT would be fine.

Lego. vondrack was looking for DeepO. He mentioned that some from Europe would be having connection problems. He indicated there was not much to chat about, but mentioned that Lego now has their LM city (we knew that). Some follow up would be good.

re GoW. We wait for a bit to hear from them re new joint chat time for GoW, ND and us. UnO enquired about the G-2 that zeit mentioned. I did not know how to respond, but the bridges are certainly being built.

[OPD]

NYE if there's anything I can do diplomatically just let me know, things are pretty much dead with RP now, but I'd still like to make a contribution.

[notyoueither]

Excellent. Thanks, OPD. I am sure something will come up soon.

Addit: Keep in mind though, that you will have a lot to do starting in about... oh, 72 hours.

[DeepO]

Lego chat: I was simply not home... things have gotten later then I thought. I didn't contact Vondrack yet, as I don't know if tonight I'll have time, but I'lll try. I agree we need to keep the conversation going, even if it will get tricky from now on

DeepO

[Shiber]

Originally posted by notyoueither
...but mentioned that Lego now has their LM city

Sorry, what's an LM city?

[vulture]

I suspect that LM city is 'Lego Minor' city, and that he meant that Vox now has their LM city, meaning that the palace jump now depends on us and Vox, and isn't being delayed by Lego any more. But that's just a guess. (They were delaying founding it due to barbarian problems IIRC).

[zeit]

A chat with ND is a must- as Shiber stated in the Diplo affairs thread. We have to assess the degree of resistance we would run into if we're heading for a lang-grab on RP.

I'd suggest the following approach:

Ask if they want help, tell them we want something for it- this leads to keeping cities and territory, which is the obvious spoil of war. We'll be probing their unwillingness, and perhaps discover some cracks between ND and GoW. We should not, however, threaten that we'd go for a land grab, nor start any negotiation on the amount of land we're allowed to keep- as this blocks the option of land-grab, and I wouldn't want to pass on it so early, before the warfare even began, and before we have a better idea on how ND, and also GoW would react to this. We will also need to hearing from GoW regarding our idea to jointly strike at ND (we'll have to discuss this with them some time soon, under the veil of utter secrecy, of course), before making any commitments to other teams.