Embassy to Sirius

[Earthling]

Yeah, it's certainly great to send that and volunteer ourselves for compass. (And especially make sure everyone is clear we're basically done on Calendar) Getting machinery before optics may be a little tricky but we'll have to see - we do want compass first though.

I'm really glad they are thinking along the same lines regarding Astronomy too. Sure, it would take a team like 30 turns to research but if the alliance holds together, and it should, it's still a safe bet and it will give us all a huge leg up.

 

[galdarian]

Ok, I replied all with this.

Greetings Irgy of Sirius,

The Continuum is always pleased to hear from our partners from across the world.
The Q have been discussing similar things and were drafting up an email even before we received word from our neighbors.

In regards to our technology paths we also wanted to align plans for the near to long term. We are indeed researching Calendar as you so rightly acknowledge. Our scientists anticipate we will understand it secrets it 2 turns. Depending on what or treaty partners think our short term plan was to then head for Compass as it aligns with the will of our people. It may therefore be reasonable for us to also finish of that tech path by researching Optics.

Looking forward to hearing the thoughts of our other Tech partners,
Sincerely,
CharlemagneXLII

 

[CharlemagneXLII]

Trystero sent a PM:

Dear CharlemagneXLII and Quatronian friends

This is just a brief note to keep you abreast of recent developments. We noticed your declaration of war against Merlot, and surmise that you sank one of their work boats. Apparently a Merlot warrior attacked the Amazons drawing them into the conflict.

We have made contact with Mavericks this turn. Their work boat encountered a galley of ours near our cultural borders. Unfortunately, our cultural borders won’t pop in time to prevent them from passing. We have a galley in position to sink the work boat, however we are concerned because they informed us that a trireme was following close behind the work boat. Even if we sank the work boat, we could not stop the trireme.

Also, they offered us Machinery in trade in 2 turns, suggesting they could have crossbows soon if they hook up iron (We don't think they have Iron Working yet). The combination of triremes and crossbows could cause problems for us. We are therefore inclined to let the work boat pass to buy us time, but we wanted to consult with you first. We have warned Amazon of its approach with the hope that they could prepare to stop it.

We would appreciate your thoughts on these developments

Thanks,

Trystero, Sirian diplomat

Sent this in reply:

Dear Trystero:

We have indeed sunk a Merlot workboat. Their attack on Amazon indicates that they may be aware of our alliance.

We suggest you do not worry about the Maverick boat, and leave it to Amazon if they are able to deal with it. We are actually letting a Maverick WB through to CDZ, where culture will stop it. This way members of the ETTT are not at war with their direct neighbours, and we do not violate the non-aggression pact we signed with Mavericks when we met them.

The Mavericks have also offered us machinery, hopefully CDZ can research it relatively soon to counter that. They've finished metal casting, so we'll be able to counter triremes soon at any rate.

 

[Earthling]

Right, I think it's best to stick with the idea of AMAZONs/CDZ blocking the Mavericks, and we and Sirius block MERLOT. AMAZON culture should cut off the Mavericks, so it would then be up to the Mavericks to be the bad guys and declare war.

We could certainly mention that Mavs are trying to offer the same things to us - trades for Machinery and talking triremes and so on. But if we hold our ground, the Mavericks are outnumbered and we'll be easily able to handle them in the end.

Incidentally, we need to make sure everyone keeps up with all embassies or that we do a good job keeping each other informed! Not sure if we knew from latest messages with AMAZON what actually caused the war with MERLOT (a MERLOT warrior, I guess it turns out.) Anyway, hope for the best and that MERLOT isn't too troublesome for our allies.

 

[CharlemagneXLII]

So apparently these guys went for religion instead of currency. Its no big deal, except it probably would have been better if they told us. I will likely be unable to post in the next few days, so if anything comes up go ahead and put my name on any message.

 

[TyBoy]

It may go without saying, but they should also let amazon know if there is actually a trireme following the work boat. It seems like a good possibility there isn't.

 

[Earthling]

Right Charlemagne, I guess that's how things work out, not too big of a deal on tech. And thanks for the headsup, team should be fine I hope.

Have we done enough communicating, in general to all of the ETTT members, that we would hope to be after Optics next? I really don't know if CDZ has made much progress on Machinery though.

Also, both Sirius and AMAZON have built up some gold reserves, about a hundred each. We talked about spending money on tech or gold, but we could surely be fine to do the same, get a small gold reserve, our allies should not be angry. (also would be useful in upgrading to axes if we ever need against barbs, and specifically to upgrade triremes to caravels)

 

[galdarian]

Well, we're not going to research Machinery so it can be a good excuse to gold farm if we finish Optics before CDZ finish Machinery.

 

[cav scout]

Sent a pm to Trystero requesting Civil Service and updating him on our tech plans and the Merlot Holkan.

 

[galdarian]

It would be ideal if Sirius could clean up the holkan before there's a chance Merlot makes contact.
In fairness it seems that Merlot made the correct deduction that in order to reach their "partner" they had to go thru the middle.

 

[cav scout]

Got this back from Trystero. I'm going to wait for a few other teams to log in and out before I log in and accept CS.

Hi Cav Scout,

We did indeed offer you CS. As you suggested, I declined your request and have offered you CS again in-game. We'll be in contact again regarding your update shortly.

Regards,

Trystero

Greetings,

Not sure if you offered Civil Service to us yet. We have a thing where if someone who isn't our turn player logs in and gets a diplo offer they just exit out. So that may have happened if you sent an offer to us back when you accepted Compass from us.

Anyways, I sent a request for CS. If you want to avoid the obvious indicator that you are the ones gifting it you can refuse and then make your own offer to gift. We are hoping to switch civics this turn so if you could get it to us before the turn roll that would be greatly appreciated.

Updates:

*We are still waiting for CDZ to finish Machinery so we can start Optics. We are going 100% on Horseback Riding in the meantime now while we wait. When Machinery becomes available we will switch to Optics and then finish HBR off later.

*Merlot has a holkan on the petal/peninsula between you and the Mavericks. It is located on the south shore in the first jungle tile W of the desert hub. I'm guessing they will make contact with Mav culture in around 6 turns.

Sincerely,

-Cav Scout

 

[CharlemagneXLII]

Another message from Sirius, to all the ETTT.

Fellow ETTA members,

Based on feedback from other teams, we will pursue Paper next to enable trade map trading. This is not necessarily a high priority for us, but other members seem to have the immediate tech needs covered. Our current understanding of the research plans are:

Sirius: Paper
Amazon: Theology > Construction
Quatronia: HBR (partial) > Optics
CDZ: Machinery > Feudalism

We are always open to discussions of alternatives.

Quatronia alerted us to a Holken at the eastern end of the arm between us and Mavericks. Our settlement on this arm has been under constant barb attack, so we have not been able to fully scout this arm. We are even uncertain of the location of the Mavericks city. The only unit we have nearby is a wounded archer, which is far enough away that it is doubtful it could prevent the Merlot unit from contacting Mavericks, and is likely to be ineffective. If the Holken takes an indirect route (i.e. it heads north) we could intercept it with an axeman.

Sincerely,

Trystero, Team Sirius

 

[cav scout]

Got this. They seem to be having a lot of barb trouble.

Thanks for the update. Sorry we couldn't be more effective at preventing their contact, but every time we've sent a unit south on that arm we've run into barbs. Our first warrior was almost killed, recovered and then was attacked by two more barb warriors simultaneously and reduced to 0 hp. We sent an archer south to defend him and they ran into another barb warrior and a barb archer. Our almost dead warrior retreated and our archer defeated the barb archer and is healing. Needless to say our exploration has been somewhat hampered.

Fortunately, it appears neither Mavericks or Merlot has Alphabet. That should further delay them.

Update: The holkan advanced 1 tile W last turn. And we just discovered a Mav warrior 2 tiles W of the holkan on the other side of the channel. So if the holkan moves W or the warrior moves E this turn (before the other guys moves inland) they will have contact. Oh well.

Also, we just spotted a Mav chariot in the vicinity as well (two jungle tiles for them to traverse before they are in the desert hub).

 

[CharlemagneXLII]

I just had an idea- we could offer to buy Sirius's workboat for say 40 gold. (That's the cost of one in hammers plus a 30% tip.) They've explored most of the mainland already, and we can hook up our whales after optics.

 

[Earthling]

That's not a bad idea at all, and it's very flexible if we needed to adjust by 10-20 gold, if they'd be willing to do it sounds very reasonable on both sides. Nice thinking, forgot we'd have whales too, so rare you get them in games you don't think of when they unlock.

 

[cav scout]

I like this idea! We should send an offer right away. I'm not really sure they will take it but it doesn't hurt to ask. If they are anticipating conflict with the Mavs they might just take the cash instead of risking a dangerous passage.

 

[CharlemagneXLII]

Sent an offer via gmail.

 

[CharlemagneXLII]

Got a reply from Sirius:

Dear Quatronian friends:

We would be willing to sell you our work boat for 40 gold, if you are willing to trade maps once we complete researching Paper. Our primary interest is intelligence regarding Mavericks territory, which we have not scouted yet.

Sincerely,

Trystero, Sirian diplomat

That sounds good to me, it would probably be necessary to trade maps in order to coordinate against the Mavericks.

We should also mention the Maverick situation in our reply.

 

[Earthling]

Sounds absolutely great. And we'll have scouted a bit more of the Mavericks peninsula/lands out too, unfortunately not so much by sea though, but maybe more than Sirius.

 

[cav scout]

Agreed, I was thinking we would all do map trading anyways so this works out great.

We just need to make sure we don't accidently mess up our circumnavigation gambit.