The Foreign Affairs Thread

[Beta]

So - who do you think we will meet first?

We have two civs heading north to meet us. Do you think we should ask ND if they have met Spain, or vice-versa? It may help with locating them.

And where are the others? - I have yet to hear anything back from Legoland or Lux Invicta. ManicStarSeed of Gathering Storm was chatty, but no locational stuff.

Do you think we should

1. try and exchange locational info with these three or

2. try and use our Spain and ND contact to see who they have met or

3. just sit tight on the FA fron and see who Willy meets.

Your views please?

[Dis]

I don't think we'll meet ND by land. I have screen shots I will get them out.

I have a hunch we will meet Spain. There does seem to be jungle in the latest screen shot. They might be hostile with us, so let's hope we can find iron.

And I select option #3 for right now. When we make actual contact we may request any contact info they may have.

[Beta]

Dissident - and speaking of Spain - look what came in the mail (no - not a Christmas card ), but another letter from Nuclear Winter.

Here it is. Note the issue of trading mini-maps again. This may require a poll.

Minimaps
My friend Betahound,
Our tribe has sent our hordes of mighty warriors and explorers toward the north in hope to meet your nation, but the directives are a little vague. We have also given you the directives on how to meet our team on a previous PM, but whe believe it must not be easy to. It is a vast world we live in, but our wisemen have tought on a way to overcome this trouble.
The minimaps (the small maps on the left side of the screen) can be traded. The agreement we sugest is basically we show you ours if you show us yours.
It is obvious some may think such a purpose is one with mean intentions, so to prevent this it would be a good time to forge strong bonds of friendship amongst our nations. We sugest these directives:

Minimap Trade This one is pretty self explanatory

Most favored trading nation status By this we agree to offer you better deals than we´d offer to other nations and this also implies your nation offering us better deals than you´d give to others in trading maps in the future, in tech deals and in luxurie trades.
Pact of nonagression This deal states that both of our nations agree not to attack one another for a time of 50 turns. Of course, our nation would like to extend this deal later on.

Also, we would like to ask for a copy of the book of the Voxians, wich interested us quite a lot.

Looking forward to stablish great relations with the 2nd most roleplaying team
Nuclearis Winterius the II,
representant of the Great Dictatorship of Spain

[Beta]

Reading his note again - and their non-aggression proposal - me thinks they may understand the Immortal threat.

[Dis]

and we still have turns to go before Iron Working. I really want to wait until Iron working to see where we stand. And finish exploring our continent. I know they are anxious to meet other nations. I don't blame them.

Also note in our response that trading will not be possible until we meet anyways. So note that we do hope to encounter them soon in our journey south.

[Eli]

Beta : Nuclear Winter says he sent you a Top Priority PM a while ago and that you didnt reply. He asked me to remind you about it.

[Beta]

Eli - I would like nothing better than to respond - but I need some directions from the team. I post the incoming letters in this thread to get response to the issues raised. See Nuclear Winter's letter above. Nuclear Winter raised three points for discussion:

1. Trade mini-maps. For this I ran a poll. It still reads 2 to 1. If I could get a third 'no' I would respond. I'm pretty sure that's where the concensus is - oops - and I forgot - poll is closed anyway so 'no' it is.

2. Favoured nation status for trading????

I say sure! We agree. I don't know what it means in game terms, other than what NW mentioned, but I can't see it hurting to go for it.

3. And the cruncher - non-agression pact - this could be tricky. They know we are the Persians, they know we will get Immortals in the near future. I think they want to buy time to get them past the Persian 'threat' period.

I also suspect they are south of us. So they may be our first and closest neighbours.

Now - again it means nothing in real game turns to agree. But if we do agree, and break it because we need/want territory, then Spain will probably spread it around that we can't be trusted. In this game - I'm not sure who you could trust, but do we want our reputation trashed early?

However, we have gotten off to a good start in our relations with Spain - we may want to cultivate that. Remember, they will be closer in techs to map making (and therefore galleys) than us, and we could use galleys to jump the straight east of The Voice. As discussed earlier, there is a luxury there.

So - again - I would love to respond - but I need some feedback. And especially some discussion on the non-agression thing. Pllllleeeaaassse! And thanks!

[Beta]

By the way - I still have had not heard anything back from Legoland, so on the 23rd I sent this note to another member of the team. As of yet, no response. Anybody know what's up with the Lego folks?

"Greetings esteemed Tiberius of Legoland.

I contacted your great civilization a couple of weeks back, and as of yet, have gotten no response. It may be that Jack_www to whom I sent the first correspondence, in fact did not receive it. Therefore I am contacting another member of Legoland regarding establishing a relationship on foreign affairs.

If you would be so kind as to let me know if your civilization received my first correspondence, and if there is a member of Legoland assigned to dealings with Vox Controli, it would be greatly appreciated.

With sincerity and thanks,

BetaHound
Voice of Foreign Affairs
Vox Controli"

[Beta]

Originally posted by Dissident
and we still have turns to go before Iron Working. I really want to wait until Iron working to see where we stand. And finish exploring our continent. I know they are anxious to meet other nations. I don't blame them.

Also note in our response that trading will not be possible until we meet anyways. So note that we do hope to encounter them soon in our journey south.

Follwing on my note above, I like the theme of Dissident's proposed response. We say all the nice things, but don't really trade anything. On the favoured nation status, I could probably stall and ask them to explain further - or better yet - when we meet, we can discuss this matter in detail.

But what about the non-aggression thing???

[Dis]

did we get the general whereabouts of where they are? I'm not convinced they are on our continent.

[Beta]

Diss - you may be right. After all their talk all we have from them on location is this -

"our explorers can meet yours at the middle(a little to the east) of the world localization, just near the squidda minor constelation."

And his later comment that that they are trekking their way north thru jungle.

Time will tell who our neighbours are. In some respects, the longer we go without meeting anyone, the better.

[Dis]

I don't think they are far enough east. Spain may be a better shot. We are about to enter the jungle region which of course is near the equater. So if there is anyone on our continent I expect to see them soon.

[Wittlich]

I too suggest stalling on the Non-Aggression Pact....what does this entail? Is it the same as a Rights of Passage Agreement? If it is not, what's the difference in them?...etc.

Concerning Most Favored Nation Trading Pact - I say why not? It will keep them on our "nice" side, and what harm can it do this early in the game?

Trading Mini Maps - Not at this juncture since we do not concider it to be "fair game play".....however, after our civilizations have met....trading maps would be a viable option and we can address that diplomatic arrangement after "first contact" has been made.

Well, for what it's worth, that's my two-cents worth.

[Beta]

Ok - well it seems the concensus is building towards:

1. no - to minimap trading

2. sure, why not - to favoured nation trading status.

3. hmm - not sure - tell us more - to the non-agression pact stuff.

If anyone disagrees with this sort of respones - speak up soon.

And of course, they will NEVER get a copy of the One Book. As you know, there is only One Book. It resides in the palace. And no one may copy it.

But I will continue to share excerpts from it.

[Beta]

Diss - by the way - Nuclear Winter is from Spain (ie Roleplay). I think they may be south from where we are.

The other locational info we got was from Neu Demogyptica. Looks like they are in the dead centre of the map. And dead may be the key word.

Pressured from a couple of sides - a civ willing to do an early rush. Eeeeks. Again - these are the reasons I like our start in this first human vs multi-human game - at least for most of us. The AI was quasi-predictable. Humans ain't.