Lux Invicta

[ZargonX]

Hmm... reading through the Lux thread in the ISDG and Arenelos' and Trip's discussions, it seems like the whole situation on Bob is hanging by a thread, in a sense. Borders have been drawn up, ND still has a powerful standing army, and nobody really seems to like one another. The point is, that increases the odds that someone will make a move to settle on our lands, once they are aware that they exist. We need to keep our REXing in high gear, and I would not be adverse to getting some more military ready. As I said in the chat earlier today, I think we also need to be prepared to seize early naval dominance once we enter the age of sail.

[Tiberius]

Actually, once we will know how far behind techwise we are, should we be able to catch up quickly with the others, I'd strongly consider building the Pyramids in Jackson, instead od the GL. We need to REX like mad. I'm sure that once the others will see how big actually our continent is (not too soon, that's true) they will attempt to settle here.

[vondrack]

Originally posted by Tiberius
Actually, once we will know how far behind techwise we are, should we be able to catch up quickly with the others, I'd strongly consider building the Pyramids in Jackson, instead od the GL. We need to REX like mad. I'm sure that once the others will see how big actually our continent is (not too soon, that's true) they will attempt to settle here.

I agree 100%. Unless we are unable to catch up techwise, Pyramids should become a higher priority than the Great Library. Fortunately, we still have 25+ turns to make up our mind.

[vondrack]

The Decline and Death of Lux Invicta

Shortly after the ungraceful demise of Lux Invicta, I have exchanged a couple of PMs with BetaHound... other duties kept me from making a summary of the information I learned. I have finally found some time to put it together. The following information has been approved by BetaHound to be posted on our board, but kept secret.

The Decline and Death of Lux Invicta

First, let's start with that Voxes' intentions were pretty much the same as ours in the beginning. They wanted to help save Lux Invicta, mostly for the sake of it - not wanting them to leave the game so soon.

Unfortunately, the written treaty between Luxes and Voxes was a little bit rushed due to pressing RL affairs on BetaHound's side and contained a number of clauses that were OK at the first glance, but sort of problematic when thought thoroughly over later. Anyway, the deal was a deal and Voxes planned to honour it. Voxes loaned a city to Luxes and Luxes deposited their gold reserves with Voxes, promising to deliver some future technologies as well.

Alas, due to the lack of time available to consult with GS, GS was unhappy about the arrangement, as the city loaned to Luxes was close to the border Voxes and GS agreed upon before. It cost half of the gold Voxes had received from Lux Invicta to keep the peace. Still, they would have considered that ok...

They came with a plan to get Writing and Map Making for Luxes, getting like 2gpt and Construction (whenever Luxes would be able to discover it) in exchange - perhaps even waiving the gpt part. Alas, a message sent to this effect to Luxes was sort of menacing, asking Trip to deal only with Voxes and nobody else... which in turn made Trip start wheeling and dealing with all the other teams (GoW, RP, and even GS to an extent), trying to make his own way out of the situation. What he did not realize was, that Bobians, content and fairly neutral towards Voxes until that moment, started to feel like Voxes were using Luxes as a puppet-like tool to change, bend, and twist pre-arranged deals...

Considering that according to the original Vox-Lux treaty, Voxes were supposed to return 40 gold to Luxes (and Trip insisted on that, as he wanted to use them to get Writing and Map Making on his own terms, possibly from other teams), their "gains" from the whole deal were getting rather thin. Add the growing wariness of Bobians, which was affecting Voxes' ability to trade smoothly with them... and - more or less - a lack of "gratefulness" shown by Luxes... No surprise Voxes' patience was wearing thin.

Three turns prior to the eventual demise of Lux Invicta, a secret vote held by Voxes ended up in a tie (3:3), letting Lux Invicta to live on... but yet another trade crisis very soon afterwards was the last drop... 5:0 in favour of taking the city back. As there was a concern about Trip getting mad, razing the city or rushing a military unit, putting up fight, no warning was issued and the city of Portia was taken back forcefully.

BetaHound does admit now that it was the lack of communication that lead to what both Voxes and us would have preferred to never happen. The key problem was that Voxes had no information about how far we were in our negotiations and how long it would have taken us to make contact, breaking our isolation. Had they known it was like 10 turns (yes, it is now 12 turns only since Lux Invicta was eliminated!) before we would have been able to "hop" Luxes over to our land, things might have gone a different way... If Trip just quietly hid himself for 20 turns, Luxes would now (or very soon) be safe on Legos Minor, I believe...

Just thought I would relay most of the information I got through PMs from BetaHound... it certainly is interesting to know how different parties involved "felt" the events... and as you can see, even if the hand that held the knife stabbing Trip & Co. in their back, it would be hardly justified to blame Voxes only. It is my impression that Bobian civilizations had much greater influence (both direct and indirect) over what happened than they may be willing to admit.

Instead of editing the already approved text, I will simply post what BetaHound responded with, when I asked him to approve this text to be posted in our forum. It is more than enough to add what BetaHound would want me to add:

Hi vondrack. Both jon miller and I have reviewed your proposed text. It looks fine. The one thing you might want to add is that, to varying degrees, the team is still feeling down about we did. We regret what we now see was a hasty decision.

Thanks for presenting our view to your team. I hope some level of understanding is reached.

Regards -Beta.

PS -
I see us a character in a Shakespearian tragedy. We do a noble and generous deed, but then do not have the will-power to see it through when the going gets tough. A tragic decision is taken, and we are now condemned to leading the rest of our lives with the guilt that curses us.

The Luxian Tragedy. Maybe I should write it up.