Embassy to CDZ Land

[CharlemagneXLII]

I like it.

 

[Earthling]

All right, since this is just a simple message, and time is rather the more important thing, since we just met MERLOT, I'll just send it. Still hoping we get a full response to our last real message sometime soon though, they said they are on it now.

 

[Earthling]

Message received from CDZ. Doesn't appear to have gotten/responded to anything about MERLOT yet, this is a response to our last message (see here)

Dear Earthling,

Once again I apologise for the delay in our reply to your message. With regards to the map, we have also started on an island surrounded by ocean tiles and like you we used a culture bridge to get our workboat accross. Our workboat explored north between the two landmasses that we could see however that led to a dead end. We haven't done any more exploring at this point but we will be launching some new vessels soon and will keep you updated on what or who we find.

There has been a lot of discussion amongst our team whether or not a trade connection is possible over an ocean tile with a culture bridge prior to astronomy and to be honest we are unsure, its not a situation that comes up often. All we can say is that we will have the knowledge Writing shortly so we will find out then. With the other technologies, we already have Sailing but don't have Agriculture.

Finally with the Non-Aggession Pact of 50 turns you nation offered. We are happy to agree to it, although we suggest we make it run to the 100th turn for simplicity as that is just about 50 turns anyway

Regards
Robi, Team CDZ

Pretty much what we expected. They don't have another boat out but that's confirmed as they did not head towards MERLOT yet either. Interesting what they are doing on tech, we probably should emphasize in our next message that we are teching Alphabet; but if they go Math or Iron Working or even a couple other things that's all good.

 

[cav scout]

Yeah, sounds like they might be going for Alphabet too... ideally we would like them to tech something else.

So I agree we should tell them that we have already started Alpha and we were wondering if they would like to trade something for it down the road?

(Oh, and have we started Alpha?????? I have no idea what is going on in the game anymore, the turn tracker thread is worthless at this point ).

It would be good to get a reply to them SOON so they don't start on Alpha also.

Dear Robi,

Thanks for the reply back. No worries on the delay, we know it takes time to put a letter together and get the whole team to look it over and stuff. Maybe one day our relations will develop to the point where we can comfortably bounce informal messages back and forth as diplomats.

Anyways, we have already started Alphabet and we were hoping you guys would want to trade something for it down the road. Did you have any plans for what you are doing after Writing? We think Math or IW would be useful.

Sincerely,

Earthling
Team Quatronia

 

[Provolution]

We are two turns away from initiating Alphabet, so we need to impress on them, that we are already in the process researching Alpha.

We also need to bundle in Agriculture with CDZ in an agreement, and ask them if they have hunting, animal hubandry or anything like that.

 

[Earthling]

That would be fine, though I doubt they have hunting or AH if they don't have agriculture. Still, they have to have teched something.

I don't lexactly ike the statement about "Maybe one day our relations" because I really don't prefer to do things that way myself, and in the near-term, might not be available often enough to really do that, I'm going to have a few weeks where I'll check in maybe once a day or something, and don't want that kind of impression on messages, unless someone else has a different suggestion I'm not quite understanding. I think I see the intention, just not the implications - getting quicker messages and agreements is fine, I don't want to handle a zillion PMs or other messages that don't go through the team email. If their team specifically asks for something like that, fine, we'll adapt, but rather not start on that path ourselves.

But yes, I like telling them about Alphabet, I don't think there is too much more to tell right now, though perhaps say that we're pretty sure the "trade over oceans" will NOT work right now, we've checked it out in singleplayer and we don't actually have resources available to trade so it must mean we have to wait.

 

[cav scout]

Ok, how bout this revision? It removes the objectionable sentence and adds Provo's good ideas.

Dear Robi,

Thanks for the reply back. No worries on the delay, we know it takes time to put a letter together and get the whole team to look it over and stuff.

Anyways, we are poised to start Alphabet and we were hoping you guys would want to trade something for it down the road. Did you have any plans for what you are doing after Writing? We think Math or IW would be useful.

You mentioned that you don't have Agriculture- that is certainly something we could trade to you if you can hold out until we get Alpha. We were also wondering if you could help us backfill some of the early techs that we bypassed. Do you have Hunting, AH or stuff like that?

Sincerely,

Earthling
Team Quatronia

 

[Earthling]

This sounded fine, I don't think it's been sent yet but I'm ready to do so today, so last call if anyone else has thoughts, additions, or changes on what we want to say to CDZ right now.

 

[Earthling]

Sent the message (yes, past tense, they should have it now )

They should meet MERLOT soon too but it would be great to have a solid plan with the Vikings, say if they get Iron Working as we'll have Alphabet, hopefully the response is favorable.

 

[cav scout]

Hey I just realized we didn't respond to their question about whether turn 100 was an acceptable marker for the NAP. Perhaps we should send them a quick note to remedy this and give a much needed bump to our conversation.

Dear Robi,

We just realized that in our last message we neglected to confirm our agreement to turn 100 being the intial expiration for the NAP. This just makes plain sense and we readily accept- a NAP until turn 100 with the option to renew of course.

Anyways, we anxiously await your reply about tech trading possibilites. We see friendship and cooperation between teams as essential to this MTDG. We think you guys are a solid team and if we work together we can both go really far in this game.

Earthling
Team Quatronia

 

[Earthling]

Sure, if no objections anyone who wants could send this by tomorrow morning; I am fine with the message, but we could of course use more voices. I do hope they are around/receiving and discussing messages, since the next full one we send will probably be a doozy about the tech trading alliance - regardless of whether we accept AMAZON's deal, even if for some reason we decide not too, we'd still have to give heads up on that then.

 

[cav scout]

Just noticed this in our Gmail account:

Hi Earthling,

Unforunately the game has been down for a while and I have not been able to log in. This means I haven't been able to look at the beaker values of all the techs so the team can make a decision about a tech swap, so our reply will take a bit longer.

Regards
Robi, Team CDZ

My first reaction is that this sounds like a stall tactic. They need to log into the game to compare tech values? But perhaps it is legit, whatever...

We could respond back with something like:

Dear Robi,

Civfantics has a great resource page with beaker values for tech:

http://www.civfanatics.com/civ4/info/techs

This gives generic beaker values. The in-game values are different of course based on difficulty level ect. But the relative value between techs stays the same, so it's quite handy to compare beakers. Alphabet is 300 while Iron Working is 200 for instance. Hope this helps.

Sincerely,

Earthling
Team Quatronia

 

[CharlemagneXLII]

Here's their latest message:

Hello Earthling,

The tech boffins and bean counter here in the CDZ have been doing their thing in regards to your offer of a tech swap.

With regards to your offer of Alphabet, we looked at the techs we have currently or will have in the very near future. We can in return offer Iron Working and Masonry. Please let us know if this proposal works for Quatronia.

On a different matter in my last letter I suggested that your offer of a 50 turn NAP be slightly changed so it runs until turn 100 for simplicity, however you didn't not answer in the affirmative. While it can be assumed that you are happy for a NAP between our nations given your offer for swapping techs, we would prefer to have a clear response one way or the other as in our experience working with assumptions can lead to arguments in the future.

Finally I can inform you that we have also met Merlot's fishing boat flotilla. We will of course inform you of any further discoveries.

Regards
Robi, CDZ

I think we should send them the copy of the ETTT that Amazon sent us, and throw in our two cents. If we frame it right, they should accept since it would be by far a better option for them.

 

[Earthling]

Yes, our next message probably should explain the full ETTT offer, it would be a good place to start, I'll help work on that tonight too, but before we get writing too much we should consider the goals of the message, for discussion and agreement:

-Agreed/no problem with Non-Aggression suggestions, that of course makes sense
-Propose the ETTT, letting them know they will be in an alliance of 4 teams if all continues to go well, and what tech cooperation this entails.
-Avoid duplicate tech efforts, if they suggest, perhaps saying Iron Working would be duplicated as things stand, though I don't exactly have a better idea; maybe they do Masonry then Code of Laws once we get those prereqs in for all alliance members?
-Stress to them that MERLOT is out of the alliance, and should be handled with caution; also we've got a lot more exploration and knowledge than CDZ so I'd help them clear up some of that, give them a better outline of the overall map.

 

[galdarian]

CDZ might already be halfway thru IW. Probably best to ask them EXACTLY where they stand, particularly if they are interested in joining the ETTT. Indicate that this has been offered to us by team Amazons and that we're not the instigator. Credit where credit is due after all.

 

[cav scout]

We don't need them to do Masonry, the ETTT already has it. We need to find out how far they are into Iron Working. If they have beakers invested in it we might want to switch something else.

 

[galdarian]

They may already have Masonry as indicated in the last communique. Let's hammer out this deal and at the same time I believe we should be thinking about an overall strategy for the ETTT based on what we know thus far. I.e. what are we heading for? say a 10 tech horizon? who should get Liberalism / Music / Economimcs / CoL / Theology?

 

[CharlemagneXLII]

Also, make sure you copy and paste the original agreement so they are signing on to the right thing.

 

[Earthling]

I don't have a lot of time/Internet access right now, but I'm happy with a blank check/you all can sign my name onto these diplo messages, I'll try to be back full time in a week. Anyway, I still approve of offering the ETTT and we probably should work out who will be teching what.

 

[CharlemagneXLII]

Ok, here's a draft:

Dear Robi,

First, we must come forward and admit that we in fact have two exploring workboats that set out from our homeland a long time ago. We have met every team except one, Sirius, who we will meet shortly. The layout of teams around the star-shaped continent is as follows (going clockwise): You, Quatronia, Mavericks, Sirius, Amazon, Merlot.

Even though the Amazons are furthest away from us, we have met them since they also sent out a workboat some time ago. Amazon has informed us that they are working on the Great Wall. They are very eager diplomats, and have sent us the deal below. They brought in Sirius before us, and Sirius already had knowledge of alphabet, so we are able to begin trading right away. We will act as liaison between yourselves and the rest of the alliance at least until Amazon's boat reaches you (they've just met Merlot).

We have accepted membership into this ETTT that Amazon proposed, and we (that is, Quatronia, Amazon and Sirius) wish to offer you membership as well. Here it is:

The ETTT​

The Exclusive Tech-Trading Treaty​

The Exclusive Tech Trading Treaty is the governing treaty of the Exclusive Tech Trading Alliance (ETTA), which is composed of the members of the ETTT.

Section 1. Members of the ETTT

1.1. The AMAZON, Sirius, Quatronia​

Section 2. Addition and Subtraction of Members

2.1. New members may be added by unanimous agreement of all current members.

2.2. A member may be removed by unanimous consent of all other current members.

2.3. A member may be removed at any time if they are proved to have violated any of the terms of this treaty.​

Section 3. Treaty Duration and Cancellation Terms

3.1. The treaty continues indefinitely until it is canceled.

3.2. The treaty can be canceled at any time by the mutual agreement of all members.​

Section 4. Trading Policies

4.1. Members agree to trade freely and generously with all other members.

4.2. Members agree to trade with non-members only with unanimous consent from all other current members.

4.3. Members will be open and forthright about research plans to avoid duplication of effort and ensure rapid progress.

4.4. All technology shall be shared openly, upon request, without regard to beaker value.​

Section 5. Amendments

5.1. A proposed amendment may be submitted by any member. The proposed amendment must be sent to all members.

5.2. A proposed amendment will be adopted upon the agreement of all members.​

We look forward to hearing from you again shortly. We hope you accept membership into this treaty and that we can work together as allies in the future.

We should probably send this today.