Banana Embassy

[PJayTycy]

And another Banana message... They don't seem to give up about point #2.

Friends,
Concerning point #2.

Our thoughts were that there might be a situation where a 4th nation would have something to offer 1 of us which in turn would benefit all 3 of us. We would hate to be in a situation where we 3 nations could not benefit from a trade due to our own treaty. Team Banana agrees that no party to this treaty should exclusively benefit from tech trades to a 4th party, but that we as partners should keep the option open as long as all 3 of us agree to the trade with the 4th party.

That said, I would find it very rare that a 4th nation would have anything to offer 3 nations who co-ordinate tech research and have an agreement as ours.

Do all three nations agree to the 5 terms that Team Banana offered?

1. Technology trades will be based on beakers with equality being the goal.
2. each of the three civs agrees not to retrade any technology to a non-member party acquired in trade from one of the three; without prior agreement of all three member nations.
3. trades arranged are kept even if a tech to be traded for is acquired by other means
4. each of the three teams agrees to an embargo on the team known as Vox. Technology will never be traded with Vox and borders with them will remain closed forever.
5. tech trade arragements among member nations will be common knowledge to member nations - ie. when a trade deal is finalized all 3 members will be notified even if only 2 parties are involved in the trade.

Do we need a 6th point that defines the duration of the agreement, or is this for all time? Someone pick a date, age or tech far in the future. This is not a sticking point but it is something that should be defined.

Something like:
6. Upon this world's entry into the MODERN ERA, the members of 3T will renew 3T as is, with modifications, or dissolve Tech Trade Treaty amicably.

or

6. Upon discovering and successfully trading FISSION to 3T members, the members of 3T will renew 3T as is, with modifications, or dissolve Tech Trade Treaty amicably.

Again, someone fill in the date or technology and Team Banana will most likely agree to it.

That should cover it for us.

Team Banana looks forward to 3T being signed so that our nations grow strong together in peace.

The Diplomatic Banana

duration : not needed, as this is not an "obligatory" agreement where everybody *has* to trade techs if possible. It's just a set of "default rules" by which we conduct trade on this continent. When/if trades are done is not covered by this document, that's something to be agreed upon on a per-case basis between the teams.

I only now noticed their second point has two changes :
=> It only prevents retrading techs to non-member parties
=> It is only for tech acquired from one of the members, not for techs acquired by one of us from a 4th team.

I disagree with the first point, but agree with their second point. So, my proposal for #2 is :
2. each of the three civs agrees not to retrade any technology acquired in trade from one of the three; without prior agreement of the researching nation.

[binTravkin]

Agree with PJay on second point.
They're trying to make a binding agreement to save themselves from doom.

3. - what does it mean anyway?

5. - a totally unneeded point - if 2 of three will have Alpha, everyone will know anyway, as long as we keep trading

Agree on PJay about the 6th point.

[Lacero]

the second point has 3 changes.

3rd: They can veto any tech trading with 4th parties, even if they had nothing to do with the tech. eg. we trade alphabet for maths with GS and then bananas can veto either of us trading it on.

Blatent power grab and should be treated as such.


Their point 3 means that if we agree to give them iron working in exchange for sailing (or whatever) and then we pop a hut with sailing in it we still give them iron working. ditto for trading a tech, if we agree to the trade then we trade for sailing from GS we still give bananas iron working.

As we're further ahead in tech and can backfill more easily it works in their favour.

[PJayTycy]

"Their point 3" was originally proposed by GS, and I support it. Agreed-upon tech trades are long-term strategies and it's stupid if you have to change your long-term strategy because the other team popped a tech and doesn't want to trade anymore.

[binTravkin]

But that's unfair.

We can still give them Iron Working, but they must pay anyway, with another tech.

[ForesterSOF]

It sounds nice till you read it.

It is a doomed Civ trying to dictate the rules that will help them the most.

What rules we will get will be what AC and GS agree on letting B in out of the kinkness of our hearts.

[binTravkin]

Things that must be done soon:

- sending that tech trade proposal (draft by Impaler @ 21-12-2006) at last
- asking if they are committing to Fishing and how is it going
- mentioning that we will have Alphabet very soon - 13 turns and we want to make the exchanges at the soonest time possible, which is beneficial to both sides btw
- asking what is their stance towards Vox and are they really sure they want to lock out Vox out of any diplomacy thus giving GS the time and ability to evolve into powerful, dangerous and militarily well equipped neighbour (here we should point at the developments south, especially the apparent b-line towards the best military tech prior gunpowder)
- skipping the discusion of the 3-way agreement for now (we can mention there's some hot debate going on here)
- reassuring our intentions to join our nations via a road for mutual benefit, but mentioning that there will be some delay, as our workforce is overqueued, but we're planning to make more of it in short time.

[PJayTycy]

I have eventually put up some message proposal for the bananas. I know there's not much role-playing in here, but it's a rather dry and to-the-point text. Please correct / change things as necessary. Also post if you support the message, so we know what's the opinion of the whole team.

-------------------------------------------------------


Tech deal
We are very interested in this tech trade, but, there has been some discussion going on about the trade. The "terms" which Gathering Storm sent both of our teams were something we could agree with 100%. However, you wanted to change a few of those points. Untill now, we stayed aside and let you and GS argue about it. However, due to the long long silence, we feel the need to speak up.

Just for reference, here is the last message we received from you about the tech trade treaty:

Do all three nations agree to the 5 terms that Team Banana offered?

1. Technology trades will be based on beakers with equality being the goal.
2. each of the three civs agrees not to retrade any technology to a non-member party acquired in trade from one of the three; without prior agreement of all three member nations.
3. trades arranged are kept even if a tech to be traded for is acquired by other means
4. each of the three teams agrees to an embargo on the team known as Vox. Technology will never be traded with Vox and borders with them will remain closed forever.
5. tech trade arragements among member nations will be common knowledge to member nations - ie. when a trade deal is finalized all 3 members will be notified even if only 2 parties are involved in the trade.

Do we need a 6th point that defines the duration of the agreement, or is this for all time? Someone pick a date, age or tech far in the future. This is not a sticking point but it is something that should be defined.

Something like:
6. Upon this world's entry into the MODERN ERA, the members of 3T will renew 3T as is, with modifications, or dissolve Tech Trade Treaty amicably.

or

6. Upon discovering and successfully trading FISSION to 3T members, the members of 3T will renew 3T as is, with modifications, or dissolve Tech Trade Treaty amicably.

Again, someone fill in the date or technology and Team Banana will most likely agree to it.

That should cover it for us.

Your second point is a little troubling for us. It allows team 1 to retrade a tech from team 2 to team 3. There's no fundamental problem with this, we should try to trade techs between us 3 as much as possible. But, with "equallity being the goal", we think it's more fair to not retrade techs between our 3 teams. So, the wording of point 2 could be:

2. each of the three civs agrees not to retrade any technology acquired in trade from one of the three; without prior agreement of the researching nation.

We also think the 6th point about duration is not necessary. This treaty only outlines the basic "rules" of tech trading amongst our teams. It does not force anyone of us to trade some tech. The precise tech exchanges will be agreed upon on a case-by-case basis. Whenever a tech exchange is agreed upon, these rules will apply by default.

Due to our stance on these points, we can not offer you archery. First of all, we don't have it, but hope to receive it in trade from GS (although we are nowhere near a tech trade deal with them). Secondly, even if we get it from Storm, we would not be able to trade it to you under The Tech Trade Treaty Terms proposed by GS and ourselves. However, once we trade Alphabet to GS (normally this would be in the first AC<=>GS trade), you'll be able to get Archery from GS for one of the techs you gave us. As with our own rules, we formally agree not to retrade any tech you give us to GS. So, our view of point 2 is beneficial to you too. You'll be able to get something for all of those 4 techs from GS too. In your proposal of point 2, we are allowed to retrade archery to you, but we're also allowed to retrade your techs to GS, which is bad for you.

Given that, AC formerly changes its proposal to a two step trade of pre-requisite requirments (Fishing and Meditiation <=> Writing) followed the next turn by (Sailing, Priesthood <=> IronWorking). This is slightly less generous but still in Bananas favor in beakers. We're hopefull this is acceptable and that the loss of archery from the deal does not sour it. Keep in mind our original proposal was explicity described as tenitive. This proposal on the other hand can be considered firm and if acceptable a Binding agreement can be signed by both sides to set it in stone.

Here is the tech-beaker breakdown of this proposal:
AC:
Iron Working: 286
Writing: 171
Total: 457


Bananas:
Fishing: 57
Sailing: 143
Meditation: 114
Priesthood: 85
Total: 399

Our techs for trade are already finished and we are now progressing steadily on Alphabet. We predict a technological breakthrough in 1080 or 1040 BC. How is your research going? We hope to trade as soon as possible.


The trade route
Our current workforce has been given an other important task, so our progress on roading towards you is temporarily stalled. However, we are set on teaching the advanced knowledge and all little tricks about roading to some of our brightest children. Please be assured this road is still a high priority for us. We plan to extend our road up to the river around 800 BC. What's your progress on this item? Are your two cities linked over water or are your workers building a road between them?

Vox
What do you think about GS asking both of us not to help Vox? From our communcitation with Vox, it seems they really are in a hopeless situation if left alone, but they are not dead yet. We think we should at least encourage them to stay in the game and put up as good a defense as possible. Not helping them in-game, but atleast support them emotionally. The available area south of the isthmus is bigger and more resourcefull than our northern part. If Vox is easily defeated, GS will become as powerful as our 2 teams combined. It is ofcourse always a good thing if a member of the 3-team-friendship is strong, but do you think it would be a healthy situation? Please also note that GS is currently b-lining very strongly towards elephants and catapults.


Team AC wants to formally thank you for the Banana beer you sent us. We are still debating what the attached "support fair trade" message means exactly. However, we are set on always conducting fair trade with fruit-farmers from (not-so-)far-away countries.

[ForesterSOF]

For entertainment

A professor at CCNY for a physiological psych class told his class about bananas. He said the expression "going bananas" is from the effects of bananas on the brain. Read on:



Never, put your banana in the refrigerator!!!

This is interesting.

After reading this, you'll never look at a banana in the same way again.



Bananas contain three natural sugars - sucrose, fructose and glucose combined with fiber. A banana gives an instant, sustained and substantial boost of energy.



Research has proven that just two bananas provide enough energy for a strenuous 90-minute workout. No wonder the banana is the number one fruit with the world's leading athletes.



But energy isn't the only way a banana can help us keep fit. It can also help overcome or prevent a substantial number of illnesses and conditions, making it a must to add to our daily diet.



Depression: According to a recent survey undertaken by MIND amongst people suffering from depression, many felt much better after eating a banana. This is because bananas contain tryptophan, a type of protein that the body converts into serotonin, known to make you relax, improve your mood and generally make you feel happier.



PMS: Forget the pills - eat a banana. The vitamin B6 it contains regulates blood glucose levels, which can affect your mood.



Anemia: High in iron, bananas can stimulate the production of hemoglobin in the blood and so helps in cases of anemia.



Blood Pressure: This unique tropical fruit is extremely high in potassium yet low in salt, making it perfect to beat blood pressure.

So much so, the US Food and Drug Administration has just allowed the banana industry to make official claims for the fruit's ability to reduce the risk of blood pressure and stroke.



Brain Power: 200 students at a Twickenham (Middlesex) school (England) were helped through their exams this year by eating bananas at breakfast, break, and lunch in a bid to boost their brain power. Research has shown that the potassium-packed fruit can assist learning by making pupils more alert.



Constipation: High in fiber, including bananas in the diet can help restore normal bowel action, helping to overcome the problem without resorting to laxatives.



Hangovers: One of the quickest ways of curing a hangover is to make a banana milkshake, sweetened with honey. The banana calms the stomach and, with the help of the honey, builds up depleted blood sugar levels, while the milk soothes and re-hydrates your system.



Heartburn: Bananas have a natural antacid effect in the body, so if you suffer from heartburn, try eating a banana for soothing relief.



Morning Sickness: Snacking on bananas between meals helps to keep blood sugar levels up and avoid morning sickness.



Mosquito bites: Before reaching for the insect bite cream, try rubbing the affected area with the inside of a banana skin. Many people find it amazingly successful at reducing swelling and irritation.



Nerves: Bananas are high in B vitamins that help calm the nervous system.



Overweight and at work? Studies at the Institute of Psychology in Austria found pressure at work leads to gorging on comfort food like chocolate and chips. Looking at 5,000 hospital patients, researchers found the most obese were more likely to be in high-pressure jobs. The report concluded that, to avoid panic-induced food cravings, we need to control our blood sugar levels by snacking on high carbohydrate foods every two hours to keep levels steady.



Ulcers: The banana is used as the dietary food against intestinal disorders because of its soft texture and smoothness. It is the only raw fruit that can be eaten without distress in over-chronicler cases. It also neutralizes over-acidity and reduces irritation by coating the lining of the stomach.



Temperature control: Many other cultures see bananas as a "cooling" fruit that can lower both the physical and emotional temperature of expectant mothers. In Thailand, for example, pregnant women eat bananas to ensure their baby is born with a cool temperature.



Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD): Bananas can help SAD sufferers because they contain the natural mood enhancer tryptophan.



Smoking &Tobacco Use: Bananas can also help people trying to give up smoking. The B6, B12 they contain, as well as the potassium and magnesium found in them, help the body recover from the effects of nicotine withdrawal.



Stress: Potassium is a vital mineral, which helps normalize the heartbeat, sends oxygen to the brain and regulates your body's water balance. When we are stressed, our metabolic rate rises, thereby reducing our potassium levels. These can be rebalanced with the help of a high-potassium banana snack.



Strokes: According to research in The New England Journal of Medicine, eating bananas as part of a regular diet can cut the risk of death by strokes by as much as 40%!



Warts: Those keen on natural alternatives swear that if you want to kill off a wart, take a piece of banana skin and place it on the wart, with the yellow side out. Carefully hold the skin in place with a plaster or surgical tape!



So, a banana really is a natural remedy for many ills. When you compare it to an apple, it has four times the protein, twice the carbohydrate, three times the phosphorus, five times the vitamin A and iron, and twice the other vitamins and minerals. It is also rich in potassium and is one of the best value foods around. So maybe its time to change that well-known phrase so that we say, "A banana a day keeps the doctor away!"

[PJayTycy]

Message sent, although nobody commented.

I didn't include anything about the health-improving features of eating Banana's though... :-)

[binTravkin]

Message sent, although nobody commented.

I didn't include anything about the health-improving features of eating Banana's though... :-)

[PJayTycy]

sent to us and GS:

Friends of Team Banana,
While we wait for the signing of the 3T agreement please enjoy this cultural mission for Team Banana.

http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/banana.php

Expect word soon.

Yea Banana!
The Diplomatic Banana


33

warning : don't open that link at work

[binTravkin]

Message proposal:


---------------------
Greetings, our friends


As we approach the research breakthrough leading us to ability to exchange technologies, we would like to ask how are you doing in the research of Fishing and Sailing, namely what is the ETA for these technologies.

The deal we proposed sounded like:
AC:
Iron Working: 286
Writing: 171
Total: 457


Bananas:
Fishing: 57
Sailing: 143
Meditation: 114
Priesthood: 85
Total: 399


Also, what are your thoughts about the final terms of Tech Trade Agreement, GS is putting forth?
We lean towards accepting them.


Let the Banana tree grow strong and fruitful!
Your friends from AC
---------------------

[binTravkin]

Do the total lack of comments indicate agreement with the proposed message and encouragement to send it on?

[Impaler[WrG]]

I approve