DIPLO: Glory of War contact LOG

[zeit]

My message re: Iron and Lux:

Hot_Enamel, Honorable consul of the Glory of War.

The news of Lux demise caught me by suprised- when i was away from the boards for some 24 hours. Indeed, this incident of Vox finishing off Lux does not contribute to the regional stability, things have been delicate before, and abrupt moves such as this one does remind us to be on constant watch- the world of Civ 3 MP can treacherous and unforgiving.

I believe some explanation on our hand regarding the safe heaven Lux used to have in our continent is in order. I want to stress out, that Vox sprung their plan to bring Lux here without our approval. Once it was presented to us a given, we decided to try and live with it, rather than risk an escallation of tensions, and possibly even war, with Vox. We have witnessed the growing tension between those you referred to as "the puppet and its master". We did not expect such a move from Vox, and could only guess what led them to this. That is not to say that we were not concerned with our own interests when handling the situation- we were quite aware of the unexpected nature of Lux and the liability their staying here was. Our efforts to pacify the two faction did not succeed, and the outcome is known to all.

Regarding the Iron trade- we obviously can't carry that out right now- as there is no trading route between our two nations. Even if such trade is possible, we cannot promise it will be carried out- iron surpluses are always in need, if the unfortunate happens, and one source is depleted. We once again say- this trade will probably be possible, and will be sought after by our team, but we cannot promise anything right now, and wouldn't want you to make plans about the future. We also suggest you connect the Iron with a colony- because of the risk of major war erupting, which are a great concern to us- the outcome of which could result in the emergence of an unstopable superpower, which i think is a common interest to both our teams.

I hope things are cooling down on BOB, i don't like seeing abrupt and untimely ends like the one Lux suffered- although i can possibly understand the motives behind this. In this regard how is the GoW-ND Luxian land division negotiation going?

With Regards.
Zeit, Chief Diplomat of the Gathering Storm.

[zeit]

A reply from HotE:
7/3 15:04

Zeit,

I am pleased that you have been upfront regarding the iron issue. As I have mentioned before, we have a source, but we don't really need it until Pikes & Knights become available.
If ND was to strike, this would be the time to remove our source.
We have been thinking of structuring a deal that would give us access for the one or two rounds that we need to do a mass upgrade. The 20 turn rule civ would be negated by a 1 turn "fake war" between us.

But as you say, you cannot do a trade now, and we don't really need it yet until the next age. (And maybe we will never need it). You still need HBR right ? Perhaps this can be included in our payment to you ?

We are obviously looking at other options, but there is no need to rush into any agreement now.... I am just tossing up ideas.


My team has also asked me if you would reconsider a map trade. I realised you have already declined, but it does not hurt to ask again.


Regarding our border negotiations with ND..... they are continuing. ND are slowly returning their swordmen to their home. They settled a new city this round in the East.
But we knew this already, as we are letting each other know our settlement locations.
There have been no disagreements yet, and it may just turn out that the borders will be self defined by who gets their first.
You seem interested, and the information is not classified, so if anything is settled, I will let you know.


And finally, I would like to ask if your could clarify some of the rumours.
Vox indicated that they have "shared" some of the money they got from Lux. Certainly we did not get any, so we have assumed it was the GS team. If this is true, then firstly, congratulations, and secondly, perhaps the Vox-GS teams are a lot closer than we perceived ?
Again, this is truly good news, as we certainly do not want yet another war so early in the game.

I am obviously just fishing for some gossip here... anything shared will be kept confidential of course.

Kind Regards

Hot_Enamel of the GoW

[Harovan]

3 messages from GoW, coming in this order:

First, from Hot Enamel

Sir Ralph,

The GoW has just made contact with Legoland.
I sent the below email to Zeit, but I because of its importance, I am sending it to a few other members.

Regards

Hot_Enamel

- - - - - - - -

Urgent Message - The GoW have made contact with the lost civilisation of Legoland.

This occurred on the year 1300bc.


Zeit,

I will be sending this to a couple of your members as I want to ensure you get this message to your team ASAP.
Obviously, the GoW team is keen to share this contact with the rest of the world.
The GoW had made a considerable investment in studying MapMaking and building galleys (Prebuilds for your info Zeit), and we would like to recoup some of that cost.

I have been authorised to offer you contact with Legoland.
This information has only just been posted on our forum, so I do not know any other details.
Could you please contact us ASAP with your offer.
We are being pretty flexible...Gold, GPT, Maps , tech, Discount on next tech.

Zeit, I live in a terrible Timezone, If you want contact ASAP, then feel free to PM GF direct. Otherwise any email you send me may take another half day for me to read it. I want to give you the best chance to make first contact. All the other teams are being notified.

I hope we can deal soon.

P.S.
My ISP has had a few problems, and a couple of emails I sent did not get through. I did send and email to you 24 hours ago, and I just want to make sure you got it....(It had nothing about Lego in it)

Regards

Hot_Enamel of the GoW

Second, from Ghengis Frab

What would GS being willing to offer for contact with Lego this turn and Philosophy next turn?

Third, from Hot Enamel

Sir Ralph,

We are changing the offer

We are selling

Contact with Lego and the tech Philosophy grouped as 1 offer.
Same flexability as before, your offer can include anything.
Although, as we are selling a technology as well, we would like a tech in return.

We have done trades before which included offers on future tech, and anything like that would be OK with us. We will not be seeking a $$ guarantee...your word that you will gift us a future tech will be fine.

Regards

[zeit]

My message to HotE, about his questions and the contact offer:

Hot_Enamel, consul of the Glory of War.

I got your last 3 messages, and i'm once again sorry for not contacting you earlier. Now that things become urgent for you, i'll reply without delay.

You were concerned with how the Luxian situation worked for us, and what Vox had "shared". The issue is more complex than a simple matter of sharing.
Vox decision for admitting Lux entry into our continent was made without discussing it with us. As you probably realize, we didn't like the idea of Lux taking refuge here, for several reasons. One of them may be the reputation Lux had for stirring up trouble, but you can also imagine the obvious diplomatic liability. In addition to that, Portia's location was troublesome for the GS. Therefor, we decided a compensation is in order- our responsibilty in keeping the Lux-Vox affair secretly, having Lux as a close neighbor, and the possible degradation of our international relations were our investment in this. The compensation was supposed to come from Lux, and in fact it has, but technically it was Vox who has given it too us. I'll save you the details of the entire negotiation process, but i'm pretty sure this information satisfies you, and answers you questions.

As for the WM trade- the GS doesn't see any compelling reason to make that trade right now. I'm sure you can understand our desire to keep this sensitive piece of information to ourselves, for the time being.

The HBR trade: Although i'm sure you are quite eager to sell the tech for us, at what you see as bargain price, this tech has no serious significance for us, as we have War Chariots instead of Horsemen. This tech was already obtained by our team, as part of a tech arrangement, in which it played a minor role.

As for your latest offer for the Legoland conact along with Philosophy: we are discussing this matter at our boards as i right this letter to you. Our team is very interested in the contact, obviously, but not so much in philosophy- we have already put some investment into it, and are not interested in buying it.
I hope a deal involving only the contact on your part in plausible for you, but i'm afraid we cannot offer you anything for Philosophy.

With great respect
Zeit, Chief Diplomat of the Gathering Storm.

[zeit]

HotE's brief response:
10/3 01:03

Thankyou Zeit,

It is truely unfortunate that you are also studying Philosophy as well. I was not aware.

Let me know..or PM direct to GF.. any of your queries or offers.
Perhaps we can offer you a heavily discounted offer for Philosophy. I will discuss this with our team

Hot_Enamel of the GoW

[zeit]

my reply:

Hot_Enamel, honored consul of the Glory of War,

I'm sorry about Philosophy- a deal involving this tech will not be possible, as this tech will be in our possesion by the next turn.

As for the contact- i certainly hope a deal can be worked out- we are very much interested in getting the contact. You should take into consideration that pretty soon other teams will have contact with Legoland, and the price will surely drop by then.
So far, we have worked out trades for the benefit of our both, and we would like to keep on doing that. I hope your team will not pass this opportunity.

Best of luck in your trades.

Regards
Zeit, Chief diplomat of the Gathering Storm

[zeit]

HotE's message, regarding Lego contact:

Thankyou for your response.
Given your circumstances, of course we can trade for contact only.

I should mention however, that the GoW team has paid dearly for first contact, and a clause on the sale of this contact includes that it cannot be resold...ever.

This will ensure that the GoW will recoup its losses associated making Lego contact, and that the price will not drop too low. ie you will not be able to buy contact form any other team other than the GoW, and you will not be permitted to resell it.

The GoW is certainly pleased that our trading has been profitable for both parties. Our strategy is to form these relationships with all of the teams. Some have been more open than others.

Please consider your offer...

Kind Regards

Hot_Enamel of the GoW

[notyoueither]

Received from UnOrthOdOx:

Subject: Glory of War seeks an audience

Honorable zeit,

It is with a heavy heart that I must approach you today. There seems to have been a mistake having occured within Glory of War headquarters where one of our members accidentally offered Code of Laws in a deal to Legoland.

Legoland agreed to this deal, but when the deal was presented to GoW as a whole, it was immediately recognized that this was in violation of the no-trade clause that was agreed to in the original deal with Gathering Storm.

The deal has not been completed as of now with Legoland, but it is their intention that it will go through, despite our explaination of the situation. We are asking, therefore if there is some form of compensation that we can offer GS in order to make up for the mistake that was made in violation of our trade that will allow us to continue the trade with Legoland?

Respectfully,
UnOrthOdOx, Joint foreign affairs consul of the GoW team

[zeit]

A message to Uno, regarding the CoL incident:

UnOrthOdOx, Respected consul of the Glory of War.

It is sad that we have to discuss such an issue in the first communication we've had for such a long time.
First, let me congratulate you for returning to office.
Just clarify this one thing- who am i to send communiques to, Hot_Enamel, GF, Panzer32, or you?

And now, for this pressing business.
This issue is of great concern to our team- we hold the agreements we sign with high regard, and see this breach as a serious one.
Yet, it seems like your team is willing to work this thing out, so that all those involved are satisfied.
We realize you wish to carry on with the deal you have with Legoland, and share this desire- we don't want this incident to possibly do more harm then it already has.
But, as you said, we deserve certain compensation. Suggestion for proper compensation are currently discussed on our boards.
When our team reaches a decision on the matter, which shouldn't take very long, i'll give you word of that.

I hope this matter will be resolved quickly.


Yours
Zeit, Chief Diplomat of the Gathering Storm.

[zeit]

The reply from UnO:

Honorable zeit,

Hot_Enamel has taken over for me as the primary contact for your team. Panzer32 or GF can be copied as well if it is an urgent item. I am currently acting mostly as a backup for all positions. The item at hand was of such urgency to our team that we did not feel we could wait for the respective parties to come online. It was for this reason alone that I was the one to contact you, and the reason I copied nye when I saw you were not immediately online and that he was at that time.

We take our agreements very seriously, and always work towards fulfilling them to the letter. We felt that we had no choice but to admit the mistake openly immediately and see to making amends. If all parites cannot be pleased, we will honor our deal with GS first, since it was the first penned, and must take precidence.

Respectfully,

UnOrthOdOx, Joint Foreign affairs consul for GoW

[zeit]

A message from HotE, re: CoL screw-up:

Zeit,

I am at work now....what can I say about the CoL screw up ????

It is clearly writen in our forums that we had a 10 turn no-trade clause.
In the excitement of meeting Lego, 1 member offered it verbally in a deal, then (I believe) has actually offered it in the game.

I have left my feelings known about this within our forum. We have given Lego a damn good trade and I think they are being unreasonable to allow us to back out of 1 part of the deal. They know the circumstances.

I believe the only reason they will accept CoL is to ensure there will be bad relations between GoW & GS.

I have told my team that we need to convince Lego to not accept the CoL, and then we give them something else. Most of our team agree (Some want to offer GS something in compensation).

My timezone sux, and I am afraid I will have to let my team members figure something out.

I am personally very embarrised over this situation, as I have worked very hard to try and mend our relations after the last fiasco.

Regards

Hot_Enamel

[zeit]

My reply to HotE, mostly updating him of what was said by and to UnO:

Hot_Enamel, consul for the Glory of War.

This matter was already presented to me by UnOrthOdOx.
He has told me that you and Leog both prefer to carry with the deal, and some compensation will be given to us in return.
We would also prefer this sort of solution to be reached- this way both the Lego-Gow and GoW-GS relations, and perhaps even the Lego-GS relations won't be hurt. Since a deal is a deal, and you have already offered the techs in game, we would rather some other solution is reached, so that no one is left with a sour taste in his mouth.
If you are willing to discuss a proper compensation, and reach an agreement with the GS, we would be most pleased.
I mustn't tell you how seriously we see this violation, so i'm sure you understand how much i want this issue to be quickly resolved, and this incident to be behind us.

Yours
Zeit, Chief diplomat of the Gathering Storm.

[Harovan]

A PM from GF:

Can you meet me in the chatroom.

We would like to know what we could offer GS to allow us to trade CoL to Lego. Perhaps half of all the gold we made from selling Philosophy and Contact with Lego?

I told him I'm not able to go to the chat right now, because I'm at work and can only write short posts. Perhaps one of our diplomats can contact GF?

[zeit]

From UnO:

Honorable zeit,

I aproach you once again in hopes that we can reach a consensus about the proper course of action reguarding the afore mentioned mistake.

Hot_Enamel is currently at work, and Panzer32 is away for the week, so this is left to me at this time.

It is our desire that we resolve this situation before we send along the save, which we currently have. In an interest to speed this along, I am prepared to make an offer now, without hearing what your team has considered adequate reparations.

GoW is prepared to offer contact with Legoland, Philosophy, and half of the profits we earned from the selling of the Legoland contact as compensation for our mistake.

Please present this to your team, and respond with an answer. I am currently experiencing some difficulty with connections, so I suggest you contact GF directly with the response.

Thank you for your time, and may we meet on more pleasant terms in the future.

Respectfully,
UnOrthOdOx, Joint Foreign Affairs Consul of GoW

[zeit]

My reply, sent to GhengisFarb and UnO:

GhengisFarb and UnOrthOdOx, respected consuls of the Glory of War.

I have recieved a rather urgent message from UnOrthOdOx with an offer for compensation, so that your deal with the Legolanders can be carried out.
I'm glad you were the ones to come with an offer, and i hope it is accepted by the team.
UnOrthOdOx has told me you are holding the turn while waiting for an answer- how long do you still have?

I don't think this should take long to decide, but i'm sure you understand why i want to be certain this is approved by the team, before i give you an concrete answer.

I'll get back to you ASAP.

Zeit, Chief Diplomat of the Gathering Storm.