RP Tech Trade Offer

[BigFurryMonster]

I got this message from RP:

Tech Trade Update - Lux & RP
Hello My Friend,

I am writing to advise you that we have now reached the point where we will have Writing in 10 turns.

Can you give me an idea of how long till you have Horseback Riding? Whether this be via trade with GoW as rumored, or by research.

We would like to start working out the particulars internally so we can make the propsed trade possible with you, assuming things fall into place.

On a side note, how are other matters with Lux? Unreliable rumors have indicated some barbarians have given you a tussle - I hope this ended well should it have been true, for our friends in the North, (strong friends make us only stronger- ). We have been blessed not to have been accosted by the nasty uncivilized men in white - "the barbarians" - too badly. Otherwise, things are moving nicely in the South. The seas are splendid. I hope you will vacation at our lovely spa near Madrid soon.

I await your reply.

Your humble servant and trusted friend

jdjdjd of España

I think they start to suspect something about that horseback riding deal

I strongly suggest we get on with this deal. Writing is a very important tech, which leads to four more research options.

I saw in another thread that it might piss off GoW. We could ask RP to keep it secret, and NOT tell GoW that we traded HBR to them.

I need an answer soon, so please post reactions quickly!

[BigFurryMonster]

I already replied in a (kinda) neutral fashion:

Hello Friend!

Things have been well with Lux. We have not seen any barbarians, so do not rely on those rumours.

It is hard to tell when we will have mastered those beasts you call "horses". They seem pretty stubborn, but our scientists think we can ride them after feeding them a sleeping potion. You get the point - we are not quite there yet. The Minister of Science has assured me that we will have it in about 10 turns, so I think we'll be ready to receive you and your written scrolls by then.

I hope to learn of the location of Madrid in the future. This Spa offer sounds very tempting...

Anyway, I must be getting back to business. We're going to found some new cities in the north, just to avoid future attacks by the White Men who live there. This currently needs my attention.

Nice to talk to you! We'll stay in contact soon!

BigFurryMonster of Lux Invicta

[Zero]

RP and GoW has a fairly open contact. Dont try to play them. We can always trade mysticism for writing if we have to. Tell them we have plans to get HBR from GoW and we never tried to decieve you, (although they might take ur recent PM as attempt). We'll see...

Honest explanation of what we have planned to do would not risk our reputation. Otherwise, we'd look bad to both gow and rp.


I didnt think trying to undercut GoW from trading HBR to RP would have been very hard with GoW and RP openly communicating anyway.... :T

[Jon Shafer]

Yes, be honest with both teams (as I told BFM during our meeting with GoW and RP). However, there's a possibility of the GoW/RP deal falling apart, giving us the ability to trade HBR for Writing as we originally planned. Try to form a rift between GoW and RP, but do so without lying or putting us in a position that could hurt us later on... very subtle comments about what we've 'heard' are the best way to do this (as I did with Ghengis Farb rather successfully earlier today) I've found.

[BigFurryMonster]

So, we can propose RP: either trade your Writing for our HBR or for GoW's HBR ? If so, we can hope that the relationship RP-GoW has cooled down so much that they will want to trade with us. This causes the RP-GoW to be cancelled, in which case we have the green light from GoW to trade HBR to RP.

Am I correct in these assumptions? They are very important for our trades and long-term relationships with both GoW and RP!

[BigFurryMonster]

Also, Aidun of RP informs me (unofficially, sorta) that there are about 10 turns to go on the research of Writing. He also states that RP is very glad to have us as an Ally. They consider our alliance deal as a first step. RP people are cautious and "slow builders" (as in: they want to slowly deepen our relationship)

And he has noticed that "it is tough to negotiate with GoW" :-)

Well, well.

[WarriorPoet]

Good! Better to send my diplomatic letter, as written in the NDE thread, ASAP!

We need to get a formal response widely distributed among all of the other nations that we have contact with. If they want a war, then they should know who they're going to be fighting agains! Hopefully, my letter will bring a swell of sentiment and support from GoW and RP.

[BigFurryMonster]

I sent this message to jdjdjd:

Hello jdjdjd, trusted Spaniard!

I'm writing you because something concerns me. I have heard rumours that your great civilization might trade your Writing skills for the Horseback Riding skills of the Glory of War people.

Other rumours tell me that this deal is off.

I do not know which source to trust anymore. This troubles me.

I humbly ask you to shine your light on this issue. Since our Civ will always remain faithful and trustworthy, we do not want to offend any party involved. Especially not you, our Allies!

If you go through with the deal with GoW, please let me know as soon as possible. Otherwise, I will assume that it is your preference to trade with us, and that you will take care of cancelling it with GoW. We will have mastered the Horse skills in less than 5 turns now, so we'll be ready for a trade, in any case!

If you choose not to continue the trade with us, let me know.

We will, as always, keep this confidential between our peoples.


Your friend from Lux,
BigFurryMonster

[BigFurryMonster]

And this is the answer:

Hello BFM, Mi Amigo,

There has been many rumors, from what I can gather, from GoW. I know two things to be true,

1. We want to be the team to trade you Writing, so long as we can make a fair trade.

2. We want Horseback Riding, and based on discussions in the Palace, we want the Ottomans to instruct us.

Of some related interest, Wise Ally, we have stumbled upon a small village not too far from the great city of Madrid, from what I understand, and the villagers have been quite kind. They instructed our sages in the amazing technology of Mysticism. Mysticism es muy importante y muy bien.

We would like to know if you would like to work on a deal for Mysticism, as we can definitively trade it to you right away, unlike Writing which is still . Please let us know your thoughts.

In the interim, I ask we keep this secret of this discovery between The Ottomans and The Spanish, so the world does not become jealous.

I look forward to your reply,

jdjdjd of España, Ambassador and Friend of the Ottoman Empire

• Well, they have Mysticism now. I don't think they will be trading it to GoW, but they might trade it to ND, who in turn might trade it to GoW. Should we try to acquire it now (from RP) to be able to trade it to Gow?
• It is a good sign that they rather want to trade with us (in what they think is about 10 turns) than with Gow (which could be as soon as they have Writing - in 8 turns or so).
• They like to keep things secret. That is good, too. I think we should. Let's ask whether they are going to tell (trade with) ND. If we can cut off trade to ND somehow, we not only increase our chances in a war, it'll also mean that we are the only way of contact between GoW and RP, given that they do not trade with each other directly.

Choices, choices.

[BigFurryMonster]

We might want to promise RP Mathematics (8) for something they'll be researching (for example MapMaking (12)). This way, ND will not have a chance to trade Maths to them.

Shall we then tell RP that we are researching Maths (which is true), or HBR (to let them think we discovering this ourselves) ?

[WarriorPoet]

I would tell them that we will trade HbR for Writing.

Then I would also say that we would like to trade them mathematics for Myst when we get maths.

[BigFurryMonster]

We are getting Myst from Vox!! We would like to trade Maths for something more worthwile (i.e. more expensive).

[WarriorPoet]

So renegotiate the maths trade with vox

[BigFurryMonster]

I suggest you check the Trades thread, because Vox and Maths do not belong together in this situation.

[BigFurryMonster]

I sent this to jdjdjd:

Hello jdjdjd!

Just a quick note, since I have little time. I'm playing this game, you know, called 'real life' in which I need to go to parties and stuff. Great roleplay material, but I'll tell you all about it later.

I will reply in full tomorrow. In the mean time, it is good to know that we can send our finest Horseback Riders over to you to teach you all about this Art. They will arrive in a couple 'o turns.

The Mysticism skills are intriguing, but we are also curious what you will do with your Writing skills. Maybe you will later teach us how to make a drawing of our lands? That is not an area we're going to be very good at, I'm afraid.

Anyway - I'll post more tomorrow!

BFM

and

Hello jdjdjd,

I promised you to write you a short note yesterday and I will. I think I said most of the things I want to say to you in yesterday's letter, though. I have one more thing to add: we at Lux Headquarters value the fact that we keep things secret as much as you do. As you put it: other civs might become jealous once they learn that you have Horseback Riding and we have Writing, or if they learn about our alliance at all. We trust our secrets with your civilization, though. Let me know what you plan to research next.

I have heard rumours about the fact that your civ claims a lot of land to the south. This is of no concern of ours, since we live in the north and we plan to stay there. But the civ of ND might be forced to press southward, which might interfere with your plans.

Be warned for these events, but we trust you can handle the situation. If, however, they choose to expand to the north, we will be forced to call upon our Alliance. Their civilization is the biggest at the moment, and things should not get out of hand. Rumours have it that they have 4 cities and are planning more (to the south). Let me know your thoughts on the situation!

BFM of Lux