2/3 World War!

[Rhothaerill]

Well, if you haven't read the main forum threads yet, it looks like Gathering Storm is now in bed with Roleplay. Two of Roleplays weakly defended cities were gifted to GS. Now it remains to be seen if GS will fully enter the war or if they are just playing city ownership tricks.

I think this may be a good opportunity for us and for Lego. If the war drags on between sides for awhile it gives both of us a chance to continue building economically and militarily (and for us just plain building ). If it's a quick war then it won't be of much use to us, but if it takes awhile then more and more of the other four teams resources will be devoted to military.

Lego apparently declined Roleplay's city offer so we might want to get in contact with them to make sure they're not intending to get involved. We of course shouldn't get too much more involved than we already are with our spying efforts for GoW.

[Jon Miller]

yah

we are too damaged for it to be any benefit to us

funny that RP is with GS considering how they were gunning for them earlier

Jon Miller

[HarryH]

Yeah, I read it this morning before I went to work. I found it interesting, but understandable. I guess we know where RP got Engineering from. RP realized that they would be toast without help. By giving those cities to GS it gives the ND/GoW alliance another target. Do they want to bring GS into the war? Based on previous boast by ND and GoW (any civ settling on Bob will be an automatic declaration of war to get them off) they should declare war on GS. GS also has a military that has nothing to do. All those units in Inchon, Inchoff, and Elipolis at the end of our war could be put to use on Bob, and GS has the galleys to get them there. I expect GS to be sending units to protect those cities. Will ND and GoW go after those cities? If they do it now it will be easier than after GS lands troops in those cities. But that will also give GS a reason to land units in NE Bob (the old area we tried to land on) and will split the GoW forces, just what RP wants. The alternative is to wipe out RP and then turn to GS, by which time GS will have fortified their position. I also think it is possible that if RP can hold out long enough for GS to get units to the new cities, that GS will enter the war and those cities will provide a base to operate out of. It will be very interesting to watch how this war develops.

[Beta]

Yowzer! ..is all I can say.

[Jon Miller]

probably if we had been able to hold on for longer, this (well, sometihng very like it) would ahve happened anyway

Jon Miller

[Rhothaerill]

I'm sure it's been building for a while. Things are exploding and now all we and Lego have to do is sit back and watch everyone kill each other (at least that's what will hopefully happen ).

As long as no one on Bob or Estonia gets too powerful because of the war then it's good for us.

[Beta]

Hi folks. I sent vondrack a quick note regarding a pbem game he was palying for me while I was away - and I commented on the interesting turn of events in this game. Here is his reply - and it is an eye opener.

Beta says:

> The ptwdg takes another interesting turn, does it not? Please keep
> us advised of where you are politically so we don't cross wires with
> you. I gather GS' involvement is simply intended to maintain the
> status quo and extend the carnage on the continent. And it looks
> like GoW is once again having a tough time figuring out how to get
> into the thick of it.

vondrack replies:

Well, not quite so.

Our own chats with GS indicate that they are going to use this golden
opportunity to establish a solid beachhead on Bob. Which is what we
are not excited about. A 2-civ Bob divided between GoW and ND is still
more acceptable for us than Bob with whatever AND those bloody
chickens.

Because of that, we have decided to take our side this time. Even if
it is not official yet and still highly confidential at this moment,
we have recently informed both ND and GoW that we WILL come to help
them MILITARILY if they get into troubles against GS. And they WILL
get into troubles, that I am sure of.

At this very moment, we are ultimately unable to make any difference
as far as any military conflict is concerned. But we have made the
crucial decision and are now gearing our economy towards military
production (well, not fully, but much more than it's been planned).
Our goal is to have a transport fleet and a decent expeditionary force
within ~20 turns - one that could help stopping the GS advance on Bob.

After being assured of our help, ND and GoW visibly sighed in relief -
the Germans are bold, brave, and noble... but they would be no match
to the GS war machine. And GoW is... well, GoW. They were quite
desperately waiting for our assurance of support. I assume they will
take one of the GS cities on Bob this turn, the other perhaps on the
next turn.

For the moment, we are not yet disclosing our plans/stance in public.
We have made it quite clear to GS through the diplomatic channels that
we are not overly excited about them expanding overseas. We even told
them that once the balance of power shifts to where we do not like it,
we will seriously consider intervening. And we are going to make it
even more clear by setting a certain number of GS cities on Bob (not
many) we will 'tolerate'. As long as all they do is "maintain the
balance of power" on Bob, we will not directly intervene. But I
believe it is just a matter of time before they try to conquer Bob.
They are playing pretty much like machines or robots...

I had a very long chat with several ND guys lead by Darekill last
night. He presented sort of a vision... he would like to have RP gone
(fine with us), GS cut to size, left with the whole of Stormia (fine
with us), and GoW/ND splitting Bob (not exactly "fine" with us, but
still the least evil for us). I suspect that if this war ends up by GS
being pushed off Bob and the Grand Alliance of Lego+GoW+ND(+Vox behind
the stage, but on side, I assume) being victorious, suggestions to
call the game might appear... it would make little sense for the
victorious allies to fight each other afterwards - and spending the
rest of the game just building may not be the greatest fun under the
sun... we'll see. I would not oppose calling the game then. With
continents railroaded and no wars, the game is likely to become a bit
boring.

So, here is a summary:

1) We are not going to intervene against RP - that's ND/GoW business.
2) If ND+GoW get into troubles against GS, we ARE going to intervene.
3) The unofficial goal of this alliance is to have us on Legos Major,
you on Legos Minor, GS on Stormia, and GoW/ND on Bob (they seem to
have sort of an agreement about the post-war division of Bob - if both
of them consider it "fair", then I suppose we'd be cool with it, too).

As for you - stay low. Fly under the radar. Make yourself as
comfortable as possible in your new home. Build up your commerce and
science (and defense, too). This war is not about you. And I hope it
will never become about you. All we need you ATM is - to be invisible.
Be friendly with GS, be friendly with everybody. Be easy to deal
with - potential embargoes from us and GoW/ND should be enough to keep
GS in check. If you remain one of their last trading partners, just
fine - they will be less likely to attack you in order to establish a
beachhead on Legos. And that is what would help us most - with no or
little force needed to protect you on Legos Minor, we will be able to
focus on the affairs of Bob (and on our own defenses on Legos Major).

Feel free to share the info with your team, possibly even posting this
message. But make sure the information does not leak to RP or GS. We
do not want them to know (too much) in advance.

[Rhothaerill]

Interesting. We knew Lego didn't like RP, but I didn't know they'd be willing to intervene to stop GS from expanding (don't they already have enough Estonia territory anyway ). Things are definitely heating up.

Perhaps I should change the title of this thread to 5/6 World War!

What I found most interesting though is the possibility of calling the game if things go our Lego's way. I can see his point about it being a little boring if all there is left to do is build.

[Beta]

What I would like to see is us helping out by re-invading North Estonia one day. With caravels - it will be a short sail.

Few turns away I guess...

[Rhothaerill]

Originally posted by Beta
Few turns away I guess...

More than a few I think. But someday perhaps...

[HarryH]

Someday. With Lego planning to go for Navigation we will be able to take the short path right into Stormia. This may turn out to do what we started, the world at war with GS. I think though that RP will side with GS since GS is now saving them (just as we are in debt to Lego). So it may be GoW+ND+Lego -vs- GS+RP with us being neutral and silent partner to Lego, and later us going in on the side of Lego. Will the war last that long?

[Rhothaerill]

So was the whine-fest this bad when Vox and GS had their war? There is a lot of trash talking/whining going on in the main forum today.

[HarryH]

Parts of it were. Sometimes it was just a bunch of trash-talking-fun.

[Beta]

Originally posted by Rhothaerill
So was the whine-fest this bad when Vox and GS had their war? There is a lot of trash talking/whining going on in the main forum today.

It had its moments. I remember the highlight being when I dumped on GS in the new thread - maybe I can find it somewhere. But most of it was good fun.

Here's the original thread that was quite entertaining:

http://apolyton.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=83048

And here is where I lost my patience with them:

http://apolyton.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=83134

As you can see - it had its tense moments as well.