The Civ Files: Gathering Storm

[BigFurryMonster]

I just sent this message to NotYouEither:

Hello NYE, leader of Gathering Storm!

Let me introduce myself. I am BigFurryMonster, Minister of Peace and Furry Things of Lux Invicta, a Civilization you have probably heard rumours about, but whom you have not met yet. Let me just say - this can change.

We have information that a sea separates our continents. At one point, though, this sea is quite narrow. If you could get one of your scouts to this location, and we send a unit as well, we could yell to each other across the strait if the winds are favorable. In other words - we could trade technologies.

Let me inform you of the location of this place. It is just outside a cave, on a white cliff, at the north-western point of your continent. We have heard voices there before...

Let me know if this interests you.

Greetings from across the strait,

BigFurryMonster of Lux Invicta

[BigFurryMonster]

...and to Sir Ralph. He sent this:

Dear BigFurryMonster!

Your message has arrived and was published to the people of Gathering Storm. We appreciate the information regarding contact and will discuss this matter in our team. Please be patient and wait for the response of Dominae, our Official Ambassador to Lux Invicta.

Sincerely,

Sir Ralph
Leader of Gathering Storm

[CiverDan]

Sounds great. Unless All of GS's scouts are busy scouting very far south or East somewhere on their landmass, we should have contact within 5-10 turns. True they could use a miltary unit, but that would take more time and probably anger Vox in the process.

[BigFurryMonster]

Originally posted by CiverDan
True they could use a miltary unit, but that would take more time and probably anger Vox in the process.

Cunning, eh?

[Jon Shafer]

Any more news on this?

[BigFurryMonster]

Not yet. I will contact Sir Ralph.

[Jon Shafer]

Their response:

Trip,

BigFurryMonster contacted us recently. I've drawn up a response, but his PM box is full. Please forward this to him, or just make it available to your team collectively. Thanks.


Dominae


----

Greetings BigFurryMonster, from Gathering Storm!

First, I must apologize for the tardiness of my reply. Although I did read your message last week, I was away during the weekend and could not produce an adequate response. I hope this will not hurt my function as ambassador to your team. Please know that zeit has now taken the Chief Diplomat's seat within Gathering Storm, and you may contact him if I am not available.

On to business.

To be frank, I was quite surprised to read your message: after refusing to trade minimaps, I was certain you were planning an isolationist game. But progress knows no bounds, and you have surely met other teams, which brings promises of glory, either through warfare or diplomacy. Gathering Storm wants the latter.

To be sure, Gathering Storm wishes very much to contact Lux Invicta in-game. But the situation with Vox Controli on our continent prevents us from sending a unit up to the designated location. Thus, we will probably be meeting each other either by Galley or through Contact purchase. We're currently taking steps to ensure one of these two possibilities becomes a reality, but obviously the process would be greatly accelerated if Lux Invicta were to make efforts in this regard as well. Sending your own Galley down either coast of our continent would surely do the trick, as would buying Contact from Vox.

Concerning our future relationship: who knows the future? But let me say that Gathering Storm wants an equitable trading partnership above all. Thinking of war just a few hundred years after the dawn of civilization makes us cringe. Any fair proposal that would bring our peoples closer together and jointly increase our power will definitely be considered. Please, speak your mind.

I'm afraid I cannot provide anything of more substance at this time. I will gladly answer any questions you have, if I am permitted. For now, some questions of our own:

1. How many other civs have you contacted?

2. How far ahead are you in the tech tree?

3. What kinds of Luxuries do you have access to?

4. Do you have any military plans at the current time?

5. Would you be interested in a partnership with us?

Of course, you answer these questions at your discretion.

With this, I leave you for now. May your Settlers never be caught alone with bloodthirsty barbarians (which do exist, by the way).


Dominae of Gathering Storm
Ambassador to Lux Invicta

I think that playing the Vox VS GS game could benfit us a great deal... threaten to trade with one team if we do not get a favorable deal, etc. We can say we are close to trading for Map Making or something similar to get contact with GS soon, so we can pressure them for trade that way.

[BigFurryMonster]

What about this?

We ask for Writing from RP so that we can trade contacts.

We then trade "Contact with RP" to Vox, for "Contact with GS" (if they agree).

This way, RP will end up with Contact with Vox, which they asked for.

At this time, the Contact with Vox is actually worth something - when Galleys start to roam the seas, we'll have nothing for it. AND - this will give us both Writing as an extra trade partner.

[BigFurryMonster]

Sent this to GS:

Hello Dominae!

Nice to meet you, albeit not in the game itself.

To answer your questions:

We have contacts with several civs on our island. In fact, it is rather crowded here. GoW, ND and RP are all neighbours of us.

In the tech tree, we'll soon be acquiring Writing and Mathematics. Let me know if these techs are of interest to you and if you have anything to trade.

I cannot say anything about luxuries. Some are in lands between civs, and are not divided yet. Others are a national secret :-)
We'll let you know as soon we have anything to trade, though.

Our military plans are to defend ourselves when we are attacked. Tension is high here, but we are well equipped. On defense, but also on offense if that may become necessary.

We would very much be interested in a partnership. We will see if we can buy Contact with you from Vox (as soon as either party has Writing). Then we can open up trade relations!

We have Barbarians here, too. Not for long, though.


BFM of Lux

[Zero]

Whats the point of forcing a trade w/ RP when GS is also researching writing as well.

Plus whatever happened to NOT revealing contatcs? Sigh. This just sucks.

[Jon Shafer]

We can only get Writing from RP... not from GS. We can't get contact with GS without writing. It's a vicious cycle.

They will soon enough discover each other. If we wait too long before teams start approaching Map Making, we'll get nothing from it.

Also, getting contact with GS so that we can force more pressure on Vox, and possibly find ourselves an overseas ally will be very valuable. The sooner we can get things worked out the better. Things are acceptable now, IMO.

[BigFurryMonster]

Thanks. I will make a poll of it, since it is rather an important issue.

[BigFurryMonster]

Got this:

Greetings again BFM of Lux Invicta!

I received your last message a few days ago. Rest assured that I have not yet replied simply due to real-life reasons, and not as any in-game diplomatic trick. I plan to respons sometime this weekend.

Let me just say for now that Gathering Storm is quite excited about the beginnings of our relationship.


Best,

Dominae of Gathering Storm
Ambassador to Lux Invicta

[Jon Shafer]

Great.

I discovered from Togas that GS and Lego are researching Map Making (so they're not), so GS may end up sending a boat up through Vox to our channel eventually, so we can meet them that way if we can't get the contact from Vox. We'll have to build our own fleet after that to start exploring the world in the name of Lux.

[Jon Shafer]

Some update on things...

Had a big ol' meeting with the GS elite, including NYE, Dominae, Theseus, nbarclay, etc. a bit ago, and Just wanted to summarize things.

Basically, this is the informal agreement we hammered out:

1. Lux will move no unit more than 1 tile from Portia. That means adjacent.
2. Portia will be left ungarrisoned so that we can verify your forces.
3. Vox will be limited to one defensive unit in your territory, plus however many workers they see fit to send.
3a. GS will never move a unit adjacent or closer to Portia.
4. Lux will not sail South from Portia.
4a. Lux will not approach the Southern lands from another direction.
5. Writing and MM will be purchased from GS for 150 gold and Lux's world map.
5a, no re-sell of Map Making, Writing

Much of this is still up in the air, and nothing has been formally agreed to yet. Vox and GS are discussing a lot of things (like who's going to trade with Lux and for how much), but most of these terms will probably stand.

I think they're quite leniant... no permanent or tangible demands, they just don't want us to get out of line, etc. Vox and GS have some other things to discuss about this as well, so I'll post about them as soon as I get an idea of what's going on.