Promising signs....

[Velociryx]

Soon as I get my next PM from Beta, I'll have some specifics on what it will take to get them firmly in the boat, and at that time, it'll just be a matter of finding some middle ground, but for the shock value alone, even if it pinches the budget some, I really think this is something we ought to do.

Of course, Beta knows (told him upfront) that this was first and foremost an informal meeting, and that we'd rush to put an official stamp on it after we had some tentative agreements.

To that end though, I NEED to tell you guys what I said to them (all of which has been hinted at above)

1) We could provide some gold support to assist them in making ready to launch the attack (rushing new ships if needed, help with upgrades, etc)

2) We would fully and publically acknowledge their right to cities on Bob, and could convince Spain to do likewise (I'm thinking this will be easy...so long as GoW and ND lose this war, I think Spain would agree to most anything)

3) IF we win, we re-awaken their proposal with the Bob civs, and make room for them to have 5 GoW/ND cities (their original request to the Bobians was for this very thing)--of course, we'd get to pick which cities those were,

and finally

4) They keep any spoils of war (cities) they take for themselves

I tried to dangle enough of a lure to make it impossible to refuse, without giving away the store.

If I have overstepped my bounds in any way, or promised too much, take it out of my hide, and not Betas, but again, he knows full well that I have no authority to make binding offers, and that this was just two guys talking for the time being.

-=Vel=-

[notyoueither]

Looks very promising. One question, 5 cities given to them on top of what they capture?

[Velociryx]

Ahhh, I'm glad you asked! I never build a deal without an escape hatch, and you've found the hatch in this one precisely.

That is...shall we say, "open to interpretation" and will be dependent on a number of factors, not the least of which include:

Our victory, and the LEVEL of our victory, and Vox's performance in this war.

If Vox mauls the underbelly of GoW and ND, and claims boatloads of cities for themselves (doubtful), then our "interpretation" of that clause can easily be that the 5-city agreement has already been met, and we give them nothing.

If Vox takes Yonder Isle and does nothing else to help us in this war....if we fight to a standstill, then obvioiusly, we're not in a position to enact that clause anyway.

If we win a total victory, and their efforts in harrassment were useful, then we can grant them whatever boon we feel appropriate (although admittedly, the more generous with them we are, the greater chance we have of getting them to betray Lego later).

So....that's very much an open-ended clause....

-=Vel=-

[notyoueither]

Very good. Keep us posted.

[Velociryx]

You bet! No word yet, but I've got the PM window open and waiting to hear back from him!

[zeit]

I too share Vel's thought about the "5 cities" clause. We acknowledge their and so forth, and also their claim for 5 cities on Bob- how will they get those 5 cities- either through conquest, or settling- we could just spare the land, or something...

[Arrian]

Excellent work Vel!

This costs us virtually nothing, but Vox might actually be able to do some damage. Every little bit helps.

-Arrian

[asleepathewheel]

re: vox

what if we had them attack yonder isle one turn, capture and reinforce, and then land on Bob with the bulk of their forces two turns later. (I hope they didn't disband their galleys) We time the landing on bob to be maybe one turn or two turns before we sack imperial city. Obviously the 3 turn units can strike our stack almost wherever, but perhaps a pike or two will be drained from the central over to the west, and it will give them a bit to think about.