Turn 39

[DeepO]

bah, there never was any real trust between us, and I don't think it will ever get there. But, as to calling them liars from now on is also somewhat overacting.

Look at it from their perspective: we know that if they offer us the deal, and we can accept it, we're faster then if we need to offer it to them. But from their side, it will look if we were just trying to get the most out of it... Sure, go ahead, and offer it on our turn, the delay will be minimal (it can take another 2 turns, if Vox 'forgets' to accept the deal), and we'll see if they can be trusted. They do not have the power to attack us, and won't have so in quite some time... and neither do we

Dom, Re: your #2: that's not exactly right. They are more or less blocking our progress North, but we are completely blocking their progress South. And, we have one warrior unshadowed, and a second close by. We're still in the military advantage, if you don't count the blocking of the isthmus.

DeepO

[Harovan]

I think we should send Slash back north and let him shadow the road builders. Leave him at jungle tiles to suggest them, that we might pillage their precious jungle road any time. They show hostilities, we should too.

[DeepO]

it may be a good idea to have Slash on a jungle road tile... without pilllaging of course (we might need the road later on )

DeepO

[Dominae]

Originally posted by DeepO
Dom, Re: your #2: that's not exactly right. They are more or less blocking our progress North, but we are completely blocking their progress South. And, we have one warrior unshadowed, and a second close by. We're still in the military advantage, if you don't count the blocking of the isthmus.

Let's just say they've got more of a presence in our lands than we do in theirs, making our expansion plans much more of a headache. In light of this I think Sir Ralph's proposal is excellent.


Dominae

[nbarclay]

I agree with sending Slash back up north. If Vox reneges on the tech trade, I'd be more than half tempted to have Grog and Slash block the two-wide area of the isthmus and pillage the road in the process (since our WCs have no compelling need for road over grassland and Vox will probably fix it eventually anyhow).

But I'm still hoping things won't come to that.

Nathan

[nbarclay]

By the way, I got this from BetaHound last night; it didn't seem important enough to log, but just in case it matters to anyone.

Nathan - we have received your recent correspondence and will get back to you shortly. .Beta.

[Harovan]

Ok, I'm playing the turn now. All as described in the initial post (Offering Alphabet, setting science to 0%), except the order for Slash, who heads back north.

[nbarclay]

Did you catch my request that you check all tech costs to help us get a better idea of what Vox has?

[Shiber]

I don't think Vox is lying, or trying to doublecross us this early in the game. I think Vox are just trying to delay us, just like last time. Maybe they spotted iron in the grassland that they're roading and they don't want us knowing so that we won't delay their efforts for getting iron.
I like Sir Ralph's idea. We should give them a constant reminder that their road is vulnerable to pillaging.

[asleepathewheel]

If I were vox, I would have planned for this moment to attack. Perhaps our fast research has caught them off guard and their preparations aren't complete? This is probably the only time in the game when they will have a military tech advantage over us and they are about to squander it. Mwahahaha

Luckily they can't have much of an immortal army and regardless it would take many turns for them to reach the front.

[Harovan]

Originally posted by nbarclay
Did you catch my request that you check all tech costs to help us get a better idea of what Vox has?

Yes, I didn't forget it. Sorry, I was diverted by my wife, who still tries to treat my flu. I'm going to do the work now.

[Harovan]

Research analysis:

Advance	Theoretical cost	Real cost	Does Vox have it?
Iron Working	144	132	yes
Mathematics	192	192	no
Writing	192	192	no
Warrior Code	72	72	no
Mysticism	96	96	no

[Harovan]

Turn and screenshots sent. No power this time, it went straight down.

[Harovan]

Oh darn, I just noticed, that I made a terrible mistake... Over all this research stuff I forgot to offer Alphabet to Vox, when I played the turn. . Bad, very bad. May be we can try to fix this by diplomacy. Again, sorry. May be I should stop to play while I'm ill.

[nbarclay]

Thanks. Looks like once the trade goes through (if it does), we and Vox will be even in tech for the moment, although they presumably are working on something.