Greetings to our Sirian Allies,
This is a long message, but now that we are going to be long-term allies, we have much to talk about.
We are very excited to be working with you to build a strong tech alliance. We have sent a copy of the ETTT to Quatronia, but they have not responded to us yet, although they seemed very interested in working with us. We should discuss who we want to add to the ETTA (Exclusive Tech Trading Alliance). We will meet the Mavericks soon, who are between you and Quatronia. We have already met House Merlot, and you will meet them next turn. Then the only team we will not have met is CDZ who must be south of Merlot.
We have accepted the techs offered. We see that you have also accepted Mysticism, Hunting, and Masonry which we offered to you. We will offer Polytheism next turn. We think that the trades will not go unnoticed by the other teams, and it may even help put pressure on the other civilizations to join our alliance, which will mean increased teching potential for all of us.
If the Voyager just follows in Martha's wake you should make contact with them next turn. We can see Merlot's borders this turn, and since we think you are only one turn behind us, you should meet them next turn. Two tiles south of Martha there appears to be another channel opening similar to the ones that are on either side of Andromeda/Jennilund. We have speculated that our creator may have made waterways that lead from the center of the star to each civilization to increase contact. We think the presence of these waterways could have given the barbarians the idea of building the Great Lighthouse. The presence of a third one of these "openings" makes us suspect it seem likely that this is the case. The presence of these canals must be even more exciting to you, considering that your civilization is capable of fielding a very strong navy.
We were disappointed that someone discovered Monotheism first. Only three teams gained points that turn: you, Quatronia, and the Mavericks. Since we know that you teched the second era tech Alphabet and Quatronia teched Writing (not only did they tell us that's what they were teching, but we can now offer Open Borders), it must have been the Mavericks. In that case it is a team that already had a religion. We think they may want it more for the production boost of Organized Religion than for the religion, and we think they plan to build more wonders. They possibly now have forges (MC from Oracle?) and Organized Religion.
Consider we have solidified our Trading Alliance, we will continue to research toward Monarchy. We appreciate the reminder of the benefit of having both optional prerequisites. We will proceed to get Monotheism and Priesthood, followed by Monarchy. How long do you think it will take you to research Mathematics, because we would probably switch to Priesthood first if you are going to start teching Currency before we finish both Monotheism and Priesthood. Right now we are running at 0% science to gather gold for binary research, and taking into account the fact that we will meet the Mavericks soon who have both Priesthood and Monotheism it seems wisest to do 0% research before we meet them.
You also undoubtedly noticed our score decrease during this turn. For efficiency reasons due to our IMP trait, we wanted to whip our Settler. Some of us were concerned that this might be construed as neglecting our research rate after we have secured a tech alliance, however we want to assure you that it did not pull off any of our commerce-producing citizens and did not decrease our tech rate at all and actually lowered our maintenance cost for the time being. Another city will result in a continued net gain in beakers for our alliance. We only mention this because we want nothing to call our intentions into question regarding this Alliance we have just entered into. We consider this alliance, and our close relationship with the Sirians in particular, to be our top priorities.
We want to start discussing a settlement plan for Andromeda/Jennilund. We have landed a scouting party on that landmass and have uncovered some resources. We would like to share the positions of these resources with you and keep you updated on what else we find, so that we can more quickly come to an agreement about the settling of this landmass. Coming to such an agreement, not only allows us avoid potential tension, but also gives us the option, if we so choose to focus our primary colonization attempts away from each other having already by agreement secured the land between us.
Here's a description of what we know the landmass looks like as we can see it:
Rows listed from North to South, tiles listed from West to East. A question mark is a guessed tile, still in Fog of War.
1st row: 3 land tiles: Desert, Desert, Desert
2nd row: 3 land tiles: Desert, Desert?, Desert
3rd row: 3 land tiles: Desert, Plains hill?, Desert
4th row: 3 land tiles: Desert, Plains hill?, Desert
5th row: 3 land tiles: Desert, Plains hill Marble, Desert
6th row: 3 land tiles: Flood Plains, Flood Plains, Flood Plains
7th row: 5 land tiles: Grass, Grass, Grass, Grass, Grass
8th row: 5 land tiles: Grass forest, Grass?, Grass?, Grass, Grass forest
9th row: 5 land tiles: Grass, Grass forest?, Grass, Grass, Grass
10th row: 7 land tiles: Grass, Grass, Grass?, Grass Banana, Grass, Grass forest, Grass
11th row: 7 land tiles: Grass, Grass hill?, Grass forest?, Grass, Grass, Grass hill Horse, Grass
12th row: 9 land tiles: Grass forest, Grass, Grass?, Grass?, Grass, Grass, Grass, Grass forest, Grass forest
13th row: 8 land tiles: Grass forest, Grass?, Grass jungle?, Grass jungle Banana, Grass, Grass, Grass forest, Grass forest
We are almost positive that the Grass hill in the 11th row on your side is also a Horse. We suspect that it was designed to cause conflict, with resources directly in the middle and a source of horses right next to each other's capitol. Hopefully others spend more time squabbling and less time working together. We want to work out a deal rather quickly so we can both plan our future settling strategies.
We would like to propose what we call the AMAZON-Sirius Pact (or ASP), and continue to work on a settling agreement with can be added as an amendment to the ASP. We incorporated our existing NAP and all of the terms you suggested to us in your last letter.. Let us know what you think.
The ASP
The AMAZON-Sirius Pact
Section 1. Members of the ASP
1.1. Team Sirius
1.2. The AMAZON
Section 2. Pact Duration and Cancellation Terms
2.1. The pact continues indefinitely until it is canceled.
2.2. The pact cannot be canceled until 1000AD.
2.3. The pact will be canceled if at any time there are no non-member teams left in the game.
2.4. The pact can be canceled by either member if the other member knowingly violates the terms of the pact.
Section 3. Non Aggression
3.1. Both members agree not to attack each other at any time while this pact is in effect.
3.2. If a third party attacks either one of the members, the other member agrees not give aid to that third party.
3.2.1. Giving aid to a third party includes providing gold, gifting military units, and granting passage to troops.
3.3. Both members agree to help each other where possible if either of them are engaged in a defensive war.
3.3.1. If either member is engaged in an offensive war against a third party, the other member is not obligated to get involved, although help may be given voluntarily.
3.4. If the pact is canceled because there are no non-member teams left in the game (Section 2.3) a Non-Aggression Pact will go into effect that will last for 10 turns after the last non-member team is eliminated.
4.1. Both members agree to maintain an Open Borders treaty to facilitate trade and unit movement for the length of this pact.
Section 5. Resources
5.1. Both members will seek to trade excess resources with the other member first before attempting to trade it to a non-member.
5.1.1. If the other member is unwilling or unable to make a reasonable trade offer the resource may be traded to a non-member.
6.1. Both members agree to cooperate with complete openness and honesty.
6.2. Neither member will hold back any information which we feel the other member would like to know. This includes but it not limited to all of the following.
6.2.1. Contact with new nations
6.2.2. Important diplomacy with other nations
6.2.3. Positions and strengths of suspicious rival units
6.2.4. Information gained through espionage
6.2.5. Settlers being sent anywhere close to the line running North to South bisecting the mainland area between the two members.
7.1. Both members agree to conduct tech trading honestly and fairly.
7.2. Both members agree to continue to coordinate tech paths to avoid duplicate teching for the length of this pact.
7.3. Both members agree to the terms of the Exclusive Tech-Trading Treaty (ETTT) and agree to remain members while both The ASP and The ETTT are in effect.
7.4. Neither member will vote for the other to be removed from the ETTT.
7.5. Both members agree to seek to add at least one more member to the ETTT (for a total of 3 members) to ensure that both ASP members are not on the outside of a major tech trading alliance.
Section 7. Religion
7.1. If either member gains a religion in any way while the other member is without a religion, the member with a religion agrees to make an effort to provide the other member with a missionary within a reasonable time limit.
Section 8. Wonders
8.1. Both members agree be open with each other about plans to build World Wonders, to avoid duplication and the tension that could arise from secretly competing against each other.
Section 9. Temporary Exceptions
9.1. Temporary exceptions can be made to the terms of the pact with the express agreement of both members. This is meant to allow either member to react to unforeseen circumstances.
Section 10. Amendments
10.1. A proposed amendment may be submitted by either member.
10.2. A proposed amendment will be adopted upon agreement of both members.
May the stars continue to show you favor.
Your allies,
nabaxo, AMAZON Special Diplomatic Envoy
SilentConfusion, AMAZON Diplomat
) + Mysticism (50
