Will we allow Vox to save Lux?

[nbarclay]

(1) I doubt that abandoning cities teleports your forces the way giving away a city does. If Lux was able to bring any forces with them, they had to have been able to move them the same turn and moved them to the one tile in range where Hack can't see them, and I can't imagine their emptying the city like that with a Voxian spearman in a position to just walk in.

(2) Was there time for Lux to give Vox workers? Remember, by the time Lux ended their turn, (and hence by the time Vox could accept an offer made by Lux while Lux had a city on our continent), the workers weren't in Lux's capital anymore. I wonder how the game handles that.

[Arrian]

Damn. I was in NYC this weekend (drunk as a skunk) while this discussion took place.

Since it's been done, I say our next move is to take Portia (with Grog? Is he the closest?). TRASH TRIP'S ASS, right? What else would we do?

-Arrian

[Shiber]

The way I see it, our choices at this point are to either take Portia (which is completely legit, since we're not legally bound to Lux, nor have we given our permission to this) and sell it back to Vox for a fair price, or come up with a list of demands for Trip and conquer Portia later (I suggest that as soon as we've switched to Republic, and using a WC to trigger our GA).
Let's start compiling a list of demands to Lux. I suggest the following:

1. Screenshots from Bob, and their world map as soon as in-game map trade is possible.
2. Half of their workers.
3. 60 gold cash, 3 gpt or a mixed deal (as long as we get 60 gold out of it).
4. Lux may not scout outside its borders.

Any comments or suggestions?

[nbarclay]

If Lux sees it coming, they'll pop rush a spearman next turn, in which case attacking would probably be futile. But if the city is still size 2, I would have nothing against moving Grog in to see if he can take it.

Handling the diplomatic side of things could be a bit trickier. Would we want to just stonewall (not replying to messages until it's too late), or to handle things some other way?

[nbarclay]

Any Luxian workers that haven't already been transferred (which was likely not possible in any case) are stranded. Workers have to be in the capital to be transferred, and Lux's capital isn't on the other continent anymore.

I think we want at least 80 gold if we let Lux live (assuming we have any say in the matter), enough to upgrade two warriors to swordsmen to help address the security concerns their presence on our continent raises. And, of course, a world map once they get Map Making.

Nathan

[Arrian]

Nathan,

Hmm, I agree the diplomacy would be a problem. If we move in, they are gonna notice, and demand to know what we're doing.

Here's what we do, then (IMO): we move in immediately. When they ask us what we're doing, we respond with a list of demands for letting them live. Then they either have to accept, or poprush in their new capitol.

It's a minor risk, I'll admit (if they do poprush & tell us to piss off, we really can't take that city w/o an investment in things military. So it's a bit of a bluff.

Option #2 is to keep quiet while connecting our iron and upgrading 2-3 warriors to swords and then taking the city.

Either way, I either want huge concessions from Lux or Lux's death.

-Arrian

[Dominae]

Boy, you guys all sure hate Lux! Whatever did they do to us?


Dominae

[Arrian]

I don't hate them at all.

Edit: to explain further, what I DO hate is missing an opportunity. We have just been given an opportunity. I want to maximize the benifit from this situation. I feel taking the city, or extorting as much as we can from Lux in exchange for not taking it, is the best way to do so.

-Arrian

[zeit]

Arrian- we will try to extort them, that's for sure, but we mustn't put like this. We could say that Lux's new cultural center will weaken us, as well as the risk of foreign forces landing here to finnish the job, and a compensation is in order...

We must decide quickly, however, why don't we transfer the discussion to Dominae's new thread?

[Shiber]

Originally posted by Arrian
Here's what we do, then (IMO): we move in immediately. When they ask us what we're doing, we respond with a list of demands for letting them live. Then they either have to accept, or poprush in their new capitol.

I'm almost convinced that this wouldn't work. After annoyed ND and GoW, razing all of their cities and sending enemy swordsmen on a manhunt after a settler, poprushing in their capital should be a piece of cake for Trip's team. They'll most likely do it when they see our warrior coming.

[DeepO]

Looking at the screenshot, we can safely rush them, without fear of a pop-rushed spear, I think. It may depend on the specifics of PBEM, but isn't it so that pop-rushed warriors only appear at the start of Lux's turn? In this case, we can next turn move our warrior in, and before sending the turn make our demands clear to Lux. They can pop-rush all they want, but the capital will still be empty the tun thereafter, so our warrior can always take it if we want.

Demands: screenshots, and a game map would do, they won't have any cash left. We can ask for e.g. MM once they get it, if they are researching it...

Further, a similar message to Vox is also in order, to explain what we're doing. But again, I wouldn't do this before we have our warrior next to the new Lux capital.

If they don't agree, we simply take them, and try to get thing better again with Vox.

DeepO

[FrustratedPoet]

Originally posted by DeepO
Demands: screenshots, and a game map would do, they won't have any cash left. We can ask for e.g. MM once they get it, if they are researching it...

Further, a similar message to Vox is also in order, to explain what we're doing. But again, I wouldn't do this before we have our warrior next to the new Lux capital.

If they don't agree, we simply take them, and try to get thing better again with Vox.

DeepO

I like this plan

[DeepO]

BTW, in theory they could have sent workers to Lux, but I just read that they disbanded their capital one turn before accepting the city. If it was one turn faster, they could have sent a worker to Vox, get the city, disband their capital, and move the new capital to where it is now. Right now, all they have left is a few units on Bob, and an empty capital, without any way of reinforcing it (except pop-rushing last turn, which would net them a warrior, nothing more)

DeepO

[Shiber]

Originally posted by DeepO
they won't have any cash left.

Then we can (IMHO, should) demand gpt instead (2 gpt would be nice for a start), as well as maps and screenshots.
Other than that, I really like this plan.

[zeit]

I would like this demand to be put in a polite way- something like:

"Your presence here was granted by Vox, who have clearly gained something in return, however, your presence here, as temporary as it may be, is still hindering our future plans- a cultural center, and a possible military threat. Therefor, the GS sees itself in a defensive position. A proper compensation on your behalf, as well as accepting the following articles (details of our demands- no military, no scouting, and so forth) is considered an appropriate way to handle the situation, without breaking the delicate balance that was achieved on this continent, after a long period of tension"

What do you say?