An opportunity?

[DeepO]

Ah, cheese nachos and sweet thea... the stuff that builds champions...

Actually, I read about as fast in English as in Dutch, the probem is that from time to time, you want to write something to. If you lose focus off the screen for only an instant, you need to catch up another 5 lines of text. Indeed, scary, but I have to admit I use it too, although my speed isn't nearly as good as Vel's.

If it ever comes to having a chat with Vox, I think two people would be best to be our voice: Vel, for his swamping skills, but with the disadvantage of not being fully up to date to our former encounters with Vox (which might turn into a good thing), and Nathan, because he has been our ambassador, and has always been very friendly with them, even sometimes against the wishes of the team.

I agree we need some more observers there, who can advise in another room, though. If I can, I'd like to lurk too. But the past few times, I haven't had any luck in entering the chatroom...

DeepO

[FrustratedPoet]

I'll be in the chat if I can, but won't be available until about 7pm Apolyton Time (midnight UK time) since I'm going out for the evening. The chat may well be over by then, but I'll come along to the "advisor lounge" and hang out if people are still there when I get home.

[Velociryx]

If they're still interested in a meeting, I'd be happy to attend. I was actually somewhat surprised that they'd want to deal with me....raised my eyebrows when I saw the PM in my inbox!

-=Vel=-

PS to Deep-O, FP, and other CB'ers here! I'll not bog down this thread with the details, but as I'm making the various "story events" for the Furies in our game, I couldn't resist at least giving you the titles so far (note that these are not in their proper order yet, but I'm massaging that now, as well as extending the events! Each event could be seen as a "chapter" in the story of the Succession Wars, told from the Fury perspective, and so far we've got:

Proudhome
The Ride
Trechery & the Death of Sir Kenna
Borderman Alliance
Trentan Settlement
The Ghost Company
Alliance with Castillar
Trentan Inheritance
Vengeance of the King

's gonna rock!



-=Vel=-

[DeepO]

Dominae, of course you're right, however my analysis was rather on the safe side. In 15 turns, it would be no problem at all to build 15 galleys on top of the 85 units mentioned here, and that's a nice navy.

Further, I assume that, in order for them to get to a mixed 1 spear / 2 immortal each turn, they are recieving the equivalent of 40 gpt from other teams, on top of whatever they have used so far. 40 gpt is huge, it will be about the total commerce production of RP. That should be enough, no need to take extra units into account, or the whole world would be sponsoring Vox.

I agree, though, we are not swatting a fly, this will be a bloody war. But I really see no option how we could lose it, and with only minimal focus, we should be able to take Vox in, a conservative, 20 turns at any rate. This includes them having the RNG God on their side, which is not really realistical with those kind of numbers to average over.

I wonder one thing: would they realize the same thing? We can see their production ability, they only have a guess at ours. Sure, they would have been better off to come in one stack straight for Arashi, instead of using this half stack. I think it will be what makes us win this war, however, it isn't really a mistake of theirs, they couldn't have known this. And we haven't won yet.

DeepO

[DeepO]

Vel, I think part of the reason is that the rest of the forum knows that you haven't been very active in GS with all your other duties to attend to. You're more neutral then we are... a kind of referee if you like.

And kudos to the titles, they look interesting as always. But correct me if I'm wrong, weren't you supposed to finish a story that has kept us at the edge of our seat for a couple of months now?

DeepO

[Velociryx]

Indeed I am! Still working on that...or toward it, anyways....so many stories, not enough time....

-=Vel=-

[DeepO]

You're evil, Vel. Don't tell me the last part was just a teaser for a new book

DeepO

[Velociryx]

I promise it was not....and it's high on my "to do list" to get the story of Jacob Dunn completed....hmmm...that reminds me....I think I can use both him and the story as event fodder for the Nilroggi event storyline....

-=Vel=-

[Theseus]

Is there a chat going on?

[Arrian]

A cease-fire?

I suppose... it would help us. Anything that buys time helps us.

1) I don't trust them AT ALL.
2) This is not an official communication

Bah, whatever, I guess. I just wanna kill 'em.

I will be away the rest of today and most of tomorrow. It's likely that I won't log on again until Monday morning.

I leave things in your collectively capable hands.

-Arrian

[nbarclay]

I haven't had time to catch up on this thread yet, but please DON'T send anything yet. As far as I'm concerned, trying to get Vox to take an action by encouraging a hope of peace when in fact no possibility of peace (except maybe for just a few turns) exists would be a vastly greater breach of honor than merely silently going along with GoW's efforts to portray them and us as being at war would be. More when I catch up on the thread.

[nbarclay]

Originally posted by DeepO
Vel, one request, could you post a copy of this PM to the topped Vox thread? Maybe include a link to this thread... I wouldn't want to lose such a fond memory later on, and as you can see, our board gets swamped

That could easily be seen as a violation of Apolyton rules, since Vel was specifically requested not to share the information.

[Velociryx]

That's a good point.....however, I hold no diplomatic title, and as such, the communication was never intended as "formal" inter-team communication. Still, I'll happily remove it if the consensus is to do so.

No worries....I have not yet heard back from the Voxian, so as yet, nothing is outgoing or incoming.

WRT the honor thing.....I'll not lie about it, or even stretch the truth....I'll simply offer then a two-turn cease fire if they wish to consider their terms for a peace. Not offering them any hope that we'll accept it....simply giving them a chance to weigh their options.

In essence, it'd be no different than if they opted to pull back for two turns of their own accord. Nothing we could do about it.....I'm just....planting the seed....

-=Vel=-

[nbarclay]

Originally posted by Velociryx

WRT the honor thing.....I'll not lie about it, or even stretch the truth....I'll simply offer then a two-turn cease fire if they wish to consider their terms for a peace. Not offering them any hope that we'll accept it....simply giving them a chance to weigh their options.

(Emphasis added)

That's the point: if we give them the impression that there is a possibility that the cease-fire would be a prelude to peace, we are manipulating them into doing something based on a false impression of reality - not really any different in kind from what GoW wanted us to participate in. Yesterday, there was all this talk about how dishonorable it would be to go along with GoW's scheme. Today, I'm hearing almost no similar reservations regarding this matter. What happened to all those words about the worthlessness of honor if we're willing to sell it if the price is right?

Nathan

[Shiber]

Nathan, I honestly think that there's actually a good chance for a 10 turns NAP here. We can use it to build up troops and culture (which will be necessary if we're the conquerors). Vox would want it because they want to regroup (realizing that their approach so far is strategically flawed), and they want to produce more immortals (thinking that they're so smart to cut their own iron and virtually triple the rate at which they produce immortals).
Who knows, if Vox agrees to become a vassal state, peace could stretch to as much as 20 turns. There's also the possibility that Vox would want to take another shot at Bob, now that they have a serious force - I would be in favor of letting them be while they're fighting off-shore.