I suggest that our next message, following the inevitable questioning, should go something along these lines:
- The deal is postponed, but not necessarily cancelled.
- We cannot with a clear conscience pass a powerful military tech to Kaz when they have so clearly aligned with two other nations and are warring with the only remaining nation besides ourselves. This would irreversibly skew the balance of the game.
We could also mention a lesser issue:
- In the time since the deal for Feudalism was made, Kaz has quite clearly arranged closer technological ties with other nations.
- Instead of the even trade we originally thought we agreed to, Kaz has created a situation where Saturn would effectively be sending Feudalism for free to two other nations besides Kaz.
- This would render Feudalism almost worthless to us as far as trading value goes, which is not the deal we agreed to.
Another potential area for discussion, which I feel has some powerful points, but I'm not sure if Kaz would care:
- Kaz are making a massive mistake in technologically aligning themselves with Cav. Doing this means that Kaz are sacrificing their chance at victory.
- Cav are currently setting themselves up for a runaway victory, and are practically assured of this with the support of Kaz and MS.
- If Kaz does nothing, the likely order of events will be: Cav eliminates Saturn, Kaz/Cav eliminate SANCTA, the third wheel of their alliance (MS) will be eliminated by Kaz/Cav, then Kaz face off against the much stronger Cav and lose.
- What SHOULD happen if Kaz want to balance the game up more and give themselves a shot at winning: everyone allies against Cav before they get too strong, then the game becomes Kaz/MS vs SANCTA/Saturn... a fairly even match, which gives Kaz a decent shot at winning.
(I genuinely believe that the above is true, by the way - the way things are currently going, Cav will win this game. Kaz will not win by helping Cav, but may have a chance if Cav is taken out of the equation.)
Anyway, as always, let me know your thoughts.