Gathering Storm - correspondence & foreign affairs

[ZargonX]

An excellent analysis, Vondrack; and a nice little victory for us If I recall correctly, though, the GLit only gives a greater chance of survival on sea tiles, it doesn't gurantee it. Can anyone confirm that?

[redstar1]

One advantage is if Vox do manage to capture the lighthouse and all else goes according to plan, we will be able to trade with them. Dyes for incense would do us nicely....

[vondrack]

Originally posted by ZargonX
An excellent analysis, Vondrack; and a nice little victory for us If I recall correctly, though, the GLit only gives a greater chance of survival on sea tiles, it doesn't gurantee it. Can anyone confirm that?

It does guarantee it. Sea tiles become safe for galleys.

[Kloreep]

Yes, sea travel is guaranteed safe for any ship, even galleys. What I'm wondering is whether it really does allow sea trade... does it?

If it does, we have perfect half-truths for GS (who know we have a second iron, BTW, so no telling them we don't have any to trade): We ARE planning to build a harbor (Zargon has requested Zargonia become a naval rather than Barracks city, so it'll build a harbor after the temple); however, the completing time will be so long, I doubt we actually could get Iron to GS on time.

[vondrack]

Just a note: I did tell to GS we had two iron sources... just that it was later found out one of them was outside our cultural borders, thus not actually accessible.

The "harbour completion time issue" is the way to go.

[vondrack]

Just thought I would tell you something I found out talking to nye earlier today... do you know by how long we beat GS to The Pyramids?

1 turn, gentlemen, 1 turn...

And before you start asking... their build never shown up on the F7 screen, as the Palace cost rises with the number of cities. They had more cities, so their build was hidden behind a Palace "prebuild" all the time.



Let's keep that in mind...

[Kloreep]

Wow. Amazing how much one turn's difference can make. To think this might decide the game...

I wonder how many more things like this Trip knows? Ah well, we'll see once the game is over.

[vondrack]

Quite surprisingly, we have received a trade offer from Gathering Storm... and to be honest, not a completely bad one... we should definitely consider the consequences of such a deal:

Honorable vondrack of Legoland.

Greetings from the land of the Storm. I hope things are going well on your peaceful land. Our people envy yours, for they have almost forgotten how it was living peacefuly, with little fear of untimely death. Fortunately, our enemy's forces experience untimely death more frequently than ours, which are of course good news.

With our recent progress in the war, our minds are now set on issues other than warplans, such as tech trade.

I am sure you remember we once discussed the prospect of future tech trades, more precisely- us purchasing Theology from you in exchange to Feudalism and a sum of gold to compensate you for the tech cost difference. We assume you are still interested, and that you will soon (if not already) have the tech in your possession. Therefor, we are coming with this offer for a trade agreement. I hope you find it reasonable:

1) GS and Legoland will exchange the techs Theology (Lego) for Feudalism (GS).

2) On the same turn, GS will deliver 60 gold in lump sum, to compensate Legoland for the difference in beaker cost of the two techs.

Please reply as soon as possible, and if possible- your current estimate on the ETA of Theology, in case you havn't finished research yet.

Zeit, ambassador for the Gathering Storm.

Note, please, that DeepO seems to no longer be the ambassador to our team.

1) We absolutely need to find out if GoW is going to accept our Theo+Mono for Feu+Chiv deal. I will do my best to talk to Master Zen and make it clear that our offer is valid until Sunday midnight. Afterwards, we will feel free to arrange our deals in a different way.

2) I will immediately notify BetaHound of Voxes about this offer - though I do not expect them to mind it at all, since it draws gold out of the GS pocket in exchange for a tech that cannot be used for military purposes.

3) In case GoW does not sign a binding trade agreement with us before Sunday midnight GMT, I would suggest trading with GS for Feudalism, either asking for 80g as a balance (beaker difference is almost 200), or establishing "less than 1/3" of the beaker difference in gold a fair balance (might benefit us in the future with another deal). Either way, 20 turn NDA on the techs. I would then restructure the GoW deal to trade Theology for Chivalry + a no-Sistine clause.

4) In case GoW signs the deal, I'd let GS know that we got Feudalism as part of a Chivalry deal with another team. I would tell them that since we know Feudalism came from them in the first place, we are ready to sell them Theology just for a reasonable gold sum - and that we ask them to offer an amount they would consider appropriate.

Let me know what you think.

I will just acknowledge the receipt of GS' message, telling them we will not be able to get back to them earlier than Tuesday (Memorial Day and whatnot...).

[vondrack]

My short ackowledgment message to GS:

Honorable Ambassador,

I am hereby acknowledging the receipt of your kind offer. I have already posted it in our forum and will get back to you once my fellow Legos comment on it. Due to the change of our team government and several Legos being offline due to the Memorial Day weekend, I believe Tuesday is when I, our new President ZargonX, or our ambassador will be authorized to discuss your offer in detail. We shall have Theology ready for trading by that time.

Best regards,
vondrack, The President of Legoland

[vondrack]

One more thought:

We shall ask for the no Sistine's clause. Even if it means getting less for Theology, we shall do that, as GS is one of the prime candidates for building Sistine's - they lack luxuries almost as much as we do, PLUS they are waging war, which means they can get an insta-wonder through a(nother) GL.

[Kloreep]

Agreed, no-Sistine clause is vital.

Edit: Thinking about it, I almost hope GoW doesn't get back in time. We could still attach a no-Sistine to a Edu-Chiv deal, and GS is definitely a Sistine candidate.

[vondrack]

Originally posted by Kloreep
Edit: Thinking about it, I almost hope GoW doesn't get back in time. We could still attach a no-Sistine to a Edu-Chiv deal, and GS is definitely a Sistine candidate.

Actually, the beauty of this solution would be that we would trade THEOLOGY for GoW's Chivalry+noSistine - still a fine deal for them (4 research points in their favour) and leaves us with Education available for future deals...

[vondrack]

Alright, we should get back to GS. Let's start talking about what exactly we would be willing to offer them. Here is what I was thinking about:

1) explain we got Feudalism "almost for free" from another team. An offer you simply do not turn down.

2) tell them we are aware of that the tech originally came from them and even if the seller probably kept his NDA obligations, we would still like to somehow acknowledge Feudalism was "their" tech originally.

3) suggest a bargain deal on Theology (like, dunno, 100-150 gold) on condition they agree to a no Sistine clause.

4) 20 turn NDA.

What do you think?

[Tiberius]

Sonds good, even though I'd ask for more, say 200 and eventually go down to 150. (unless they will come with some ridiculuous proposal, in which case we will raise the sum to 250 )

[vondrack]

No problem with the sum, let everybody speak his mind up on this issue...