Team Free Embassy

[donsig]

Does he think we have to go to war to get us workers?

He doesn't think we must go to war but is suggesting that as a possible (the best?) way. I doubt that would work since a) we have no transports and b) the odds a re high that any transports we did have would be sunk by SABER before they completed the round trip between our shores and FREE's.

Here's a suggested reply:

Hi CommandoBob and all the FREEdom Fighters,

SABERS nuking of The Gulag did sever our trade route though we expect to have it repaired on our next turn. We placed workers in position to build roads into The Gulag last turn. Since SABER only sent stealth bombers into the area (according to their latest battle log) our workers should be there ready to rebuild those roads. Of course SABER might destroy the trade route again but the Council believes transferring workers via the trade screen would be faster and safer than trying to transport captured workers across the SABER infested seas.

The Council

As always, please edit, revise and comment.

 

[donsig]

CommandoBob posted that he might play the turn today so I went ahead and send the reply to him.

Spoiler :

Hi CommandoBob and all the FREEdom Fighters,

SABERS nuking of The Gulag did sever our trade route though we expect to have it repaired on our next turn. Last turn we placed workers in position to rebuild roads into The Gulag. Since SABER only sent stealth bombers into the area (according to their latest battle log) our workers should be there ready to rebuild those roads. Of course SABER might destroy the trade route again but the Council believes transferring workers via the trade screen would be faster and safer than trying to transport captured workers across the SABER infested seas.

Thanks in advance for any help you can provide us.

The Council

 

[peter grimes]

The note is good - thanks for sending it!

 

[donsig]

Here's the first one:

Dear Friends in Blue,

We were again unable to gift you workers via 'normal' diplomacy. We
did send you Coal, Iron and Spices.

We also sent you the city of Tujana.

Let us explain why.

Tujana is a rather centrally located city in Old Gong. It is adjacent
to Furs and Silks. It has an airport in the city and three airfeilds
outside the city and next to it.

And a stack of 14 settlers adjacent to the city.

Please accept this gift from Free. When you accept this gift, you
will have your own sources of Silks and Furs. And then please feel
free to airlift a unit into Tujana so that it can capture the stack of
14 settlers next turn. Which means we have to be at war but only for
a very short time. It also means you will have 28 slaves to help you
eliminate the Saber created pollution in your lands.

If there is another way to get these units to you we don't know it.

We have sent a copy of the Diplomatic screen and a city view of
Tujana. In the city screen view we blacked out both the names and
production rosters of nearby cities. It was easier to use one big
black box than several smaller black boxes for each city. We weren't
trying to hide the cities; we were just detail-challenged (lazy).


Other News
Saber has invaded the island between us, the place we called 11NW.
They captured two cities (Sid City and Freeborn) and we abandoned the
last one (Martin Luther King, Jr.).

We have ships heading towards you, but sighted no Saber fleets along
their way. A screenshot of what they see/don't see is attached.

Sincerely yours,

Art Parry
aka CommandoBob

Let FREEdom ring,
Let the white dove sing...

And a follow-up:
Oh dear,

In our previous message we stated that we sent Coal and Iron.
Actually, we sent Coal and Horses.

Oops!


Sincerely yours,

Art Parry
aka CommandoBob

Let FREEdom ring,
Let the white dove sing...

 

[donsig]

Sending this message to FREE:

Hail CommandoBob and the FREEdom Fighters,

We would like to thank you for all your recent gifts. We will send you dyes again this turn. We have not yet played our turn but we have looked at the save and are happy to report that (since we will accept Tujana) we will be able to trade workers via the diplomacy screen now (if SABER doesn't disrupt our trade route again). Any workers you can send us next turn would be greatly appreciated. We do plan to airlift a unit to Tujana so we can capture those settlers but we're not sure how we'll get them to our lands. We have no transports and rushing one or two would take gold which we are fast running short of. We thought it would be a good idea for you to recapture the workers and gift them to us and then we realized you would have to transport them to your capital city first. Well, we have time to figure out what to do with them.

We have a couple more pressing questions for you. We are having trouble with our coastal surveillance system. We are effectively blind in one sector off our west coast. We had a privateer patrolling the area but it has disappeared. We are quite worried about this since we're sure SABER sunk the privateer which means there are SABER ships - and maybe loaded transports - in that area. You have a few ships near The Phoenix which may have just sailed through the area we cannot see into. If so you could allay our fears about the presence of SABER transports in the area. Here's a link to a screenshot. Can you tell us soon if you have any intel on the fogged area?

Again, any help you can give us would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
The Council

 

[dl123654]

Why don't we put the captured workers in the city and gift it back to FREE, they get sent to our capital.

Or is that against the rules?

 

[donsig]

Not a bad idea. We'd have to look into the rules but here is how that would have to work:

1. The Council, turn 303: We airlift a unit over to Tujana.
2. FREE, turn 303: FREE gifts us some workers.
3. The Council, turn 304: We accept the workers then declare war on FREE. We capture the settlers, move them into Tujana and offer peace.
4. FREE, turn 304: FREE accepts peace (maybe give workers in the peace offer?).
5. The Council; turn 305: We give back Tujana and the workers materialize in The Gulag.

Would we be able to move the workers on the same turn they materialize in The Gulag?

If we capture the settlers, move the slaves into Tujana and then offer peace and include Tujana in the peace offer would the slaves still materialize in The Gulag? If so that would be faster.

 

[dl123654]

If we capture the settlers, move the slaves into Tujana and then offer peace and include Tujana in the peace offer would the slaves still materialize in The Gulag? If so that would be faster.

Yes that is how we would do it.

 

[donsig]

Dear Donsig and Other Stubborn Blues Brothers,

Just a brief reply.

Tujana has an airport, and the airfields outside of it should be inside your borders when you accept the city. Once the settlers become slaves four of them could be airlifted to their new home.

If we can send you workers this turn we will.

Sadly, our navy did not sail through the area in question. We can get close to it next turn. The units next to your shore mainly sailed south. And our units heading that way are on the far side of that area.


Sincerely yours,

Art Parry
aka CommandoBob

We can't really airlift workers, can we?

Well, no recon help from FREE so I need to know what to do about those three cities. Do we disband them, garrison them or keep them and cross our fingers?

 

[dl123654]

Have some time now so I checked the rules, and teleporting of units by gifting a city is illegal.

2.5 - City Trading and Misleading Naming
Teams are not permitted to trade cities with the intent of teleporting units. Teams cannot name or rename cities or units with the names of technologies, resources, maps, units, or gold, nor can they rename units to pass them off as another unit type to confuse the other teams. If in doubt, teams should contact the administrators about their proposed name.

 

[donsig]

Latest from FREE:Dear Fellow Wearers of Blue Suede Shoes,

We accepted your gift of Dyes. We replied with a gift of workers,
nine of them this turn.

We did scout out the sea area off your northeast coast, but for good
or bad it was mostly vacant of Saber shipping. We've sent you a
composite screen shot and the in-between ones too, so that you can
double check our work.

There is a small force of Saber ships just NE of Sid City on 11NW, but
no Transports are visible.

Enjoy the settlers you get from us this next turn!

Sincerely yours,

Art Parry
aka CommandoBob

Let FREEdom ring,
Let the white dove sing...


Sorry, don't have time to look at the save this morning. Anyone know if we'll be able to airlift those captured workers?

 

[donsig]

We should tell FREE that we captured the settlers and began airlifting them home. We also offered them peace. We should tell them we need that coal and those spices back ASAP. We should also tip them off about the little SABER stack we bombed and ask them if they can continue to send us intel about our coatal waters.

 

[peter grimes]

All good points.

It's looking a little less bleak for us, now!

 

[donsig]

Message sent to FREE:

Hi CommandoBob and Team Free:

Sorry for the late communique. We have captured the settlers and workers and have begun airlifting them to our lands for duty. Thank you very much. We have already offered peace and we hope to re-establish our trading as soon as possible as we are in need of luxuries and resources.

SABER has nuked us once again. They no longer target our cities directly, they instead try to destroy as many of our improvements and workers as possible. Once trading is established again, any workers you can send would help greatly.

SABER has also captured The New Yard. We do not think this is a serious threat as our intel showed only one SABER transport in range of that city. (By the way, your intel has been a tremendous help and we hope you will continue to help us in this regard.) The transport in question was escorted by two destroyers which we were able to bomb and damage but not sink.

We continue to build away at our escape vessel. We are sorry for the late communication but it seems most of the Council is holed up in a bomb shelter somewhere without access to the internet.

donsig
for The Council

 

[donsig]

Dear Gutsy Geeks and Stubborn Stalwarts of Science and Exploration,

We joyously accepted your offer of peace. We desired to send you some
resources, but there is some difficulty in doing that. We did send
you our World Map and 100 gold.

We have scouted around your Saber facing coastline and have good and
bad news. The good news is that the coast is generally clear. The
bad news is that we did find some Orange vessels in the area. Off to
the northwest is a lone Saber Destroyer, roughly due west of The Red
Tape. To the southeast is a Transport, near the ruins of The New
Yard. We assumed it was empty and instead killed 2 Nuclear
Submarines. Sub Spotter is dancing over their graves at this
moment. Sub Locater, who located and destroyed one of the
Orange vessels, has also located two more Nuclear Submarines south of
The Treasury.

In the screenshots we sent, dark areas inside the lines are considered
clean, except for the location of the Saber Destroyer.

We took a big military hit this past turn. We had forces on their way
to invade Saber. This was a risky venture, and we knew that, but a
little enemy action on their shores would have turnabout-fairplay. If
only it were so. They were detected and destroyed. Eight transports
and their protection were turned into radioactive mist; the only
survivor is a red-lined Cruiser. Saber consumed two nuclear weapons
in the destruction of our forces.

The times are grim, as Saber continues to darken the skies and pollute
the lands with their trademarked orange mushroom cloud.

Learn well and build quickly. The hopes and dreams of all the Blue
people are resting on your lauch pad, whereever it is hidden!

Sincerely yours,

Art Parry
aka CommandoBob

Let FREEdom ring,
Let the white dove sing...

So, SABER razed The New Yard. That's not good news about FREE's losses but it is two less nukes to be used against our production. We should be able to sink that SABER transport with our bombers. I wonder if we can do anythng about those subs.

 

[donsig]

Note to FREE:

Greetings CommandoBob and the FREEdom Fighters,

We thank you once again for all you've done for us. Your intel has helped greatly. We ask that you continue to send what information you can along with any surplus workers and resources you may have. We continue on in our struggle though we really have no defense against SABER's nukes and bombers. The recent SABER rattling in the UN has caused the Council to take a fresh look at defensive strategies. One way to counter a SABER domination is to abandon coastal cities and use tactical nukes to strike any invasion force that lands. This strategy is limited to the amount of tactical nukes we can produce. It also relies on an intact road system, which SABER can pretty much destroy at will.

How is your navy doing? It seems to be our only hope of stopping or delaying SABER invasions. We will send detailed information of the size of SABER's military if our spy is still active when our turn comes.

The Council

Since CB hopes to play today I'm going to send this out to him.

 

[General_W]

Looks good to me.

 

[donsig]

Latest from FREE:
Dear Dark Blue Buddies,

The orange stain of Saber now controlls all five of the small islands,
which brings their land control to 38% and their population to 58%.
Were they to take control of Gong, which we fear they could do, that
would bring them to around 58%. A city here or there on our fair
homelands, beyond the range of tactial nukes, could give them
Domination.

But to do so would take several turns, so the end is not yet here.
There is still time for you to reach the stars.

We will continue to scout your shores for as long as we can, but our
forces are few, thin and widespread and thus easy to pick off. We did
find one group of Saber ships this turn, 7S of The Nursery. And we
have long range views from our ships in the area, both at the start
and end of the turn, for your intelligence analysts to enjoy.

We sent you W073, a worker and our World Map. We weren't able to send
any luxuries or resourcs, however.

We plan to send more workers next turn.

Sincerely yours,

Art Parry
aka CommandoBob

Let FREEdom ring,
Let the white dove sing...



Should we tell FREE there's no way we're gonna launch in a few turns?

 

[donsig]

Sent to FREE's gmail:

Dear Light Blue Brothers,

Here is the latest intel we have on SABER's forces:

1 settler
53 workers
20 marines
1 infantry
1 tank
92 mech infantry
100 armor
6 artillery
1 tactical nuke
16 transports
5 carriers
19 destroyers
4 battleships
18 nuclear subs
41 jets
8 stealth fighters
18 stealth bombers
1 leader
8 armies
1 cruiser
12 mobile SAMs
uncounted slaves

Thanks for your help,
The Council

 

[peter grimes]

Yes, I think we should tell FREE precisely how many shields we have remaining for the Engine, and how many shields we're likely to produce...

But I could be persuaded to withhold.