Embassy to Team Quatronia

[SilentConfusion]

This is the thread where we put all the information we have on Team Quatronia. Any information that might be useful in diplomacy or in making strategic decisions will be in the first couple posts.

The way it works is this: Anyone can post any information about Team Quatronia and any new bits of information that might be useful will be added to the first post so that it is easy to find.

The second post will have links to important communications and treaties with Team Quatronia.

The third post will be reserved for any other unforeseen use.

The Information​

Starting Info:
Leader/Civ: Hannibal of Carthage
Leader Traits: CHA and FIN (+1 on each tile that produces 2, +1 per city, +1 from monument and broadcast tower, -25% XP needed for unit promotions)
UU: Numidian Cavalry (Horse Archer, 5, 2Movement, 50; immune to first strikes, doesn't receive defensive bonuses, can withdraw from combat (20% chance), flank attack vs. catapults and trebuchets, starts with Flanking I promotion, +50% vs catapults and trebuchets, +50% vs. melee units; reqs. Archery, Horseback Riding, and Horse) Differences from Horse Archer: -1, +50% vs. melee units, starts with Flanking I promotion
UB: Cothon (Harbor, 100, reqs. Compass; +1 trade route, +1 from Fish, Crab, Clams, +50% commerce from trade routes) Differences from Harbor: +1 trade route

Technologies (most recently acquired on top):
Agriculture (t=9)
Fishing (Starting)
Mining (Starting)

Members:
1. Provolution
2. Earthling
3. Bowsling
4. Arakhor
5. skystream
6. Sherlock613
7. TyBoy
8. Galdarian
9. Super Sonic
10. RegentMan

Member profiles (i.e. play styles, tendencies, preferences):

Other Info:

 

[SilentConfusion]

Our communications with Team Quatronia will be linked to here.

 

[SilentConfusion]

This post is reserved for an unforeseen future use.

 

[SilentConfusion]

Provolution was logged into the game for a long time the other day. I was going to log in to get demo-screenshots, but didn't want to do it while someone was in game, because every move they make shows up instantly in the demo-screen, so I waited. Indiansmoke make a joke out of in the UN forum in a thread called "The Mystery." Provolution responded quite sharply that he didn't appreciate that kind of metagame banter before teams had met in-game and wanted to keep all communications in-game. Indiansmoke and BCLG (and myself) were all a little surprised at how harshly Provo reacted to the joke.

We need to keep this in mind with regards to future communications.

 

[nabaxo]

Indiansmoke and BCLG (and myself) were all a little surprised at how harshly Provo reacted to the joke.

Yeah, what the heck was that all about? Anyone played with Provo before and have experience with his special brand of serious cat?

 

[Sommerswerd]

I have, and it is very simple really. I actually was not surprised at all by his reaction.

1. Indiansmoke and Provolution do not get along that well. The Merlot King regards the Continuum Sage as annoying, and a rank amateur... and that is being nice about it. They fought constantly on Kaz, which was part of the reason Provolution left the game.

Everyone on Kaz fought a lot... to be fair, but with those two, it got personal more often than with other disputes. When Provolution talks about condescending, and ridicule in the Quatronian charter, it is mostly Indiansmoke he is talking about... mostly. They had some bitter disputes...as did we all.

If you want examples, check the Kaz link in my Sig and just browse... it should not take long. Or for something more recent, take Indiansmoke's spat with our own remake20,during the planning stages of the game... maybe remake can provide a link or synopsis. That exchange was like deja vu all over again with the disputes between Indiansmoke and Provolution.

There may be some way to use this imbedded enmity to our advantage, one we meet both teams, which is why Provolution said he did not want to engage in the argument... he did not want to provoke Indiansmoke and hurt his team. I suspect Indiansmoke was just making a joke with an old teammates, but also trying to stir up Provolution into giving something away.

Both of these players are smart, cunning and capable IMO, and we should respect their skills. They are both dangerous in different ways.

2. Provolution set himself up as the villain of the team fairly early on... a mantle that I took up after he left. What I mean by villain, is not that he was a bad person, just that he was constantly at odds with what the majority wanted. In the mid game, a sort of opposition faction started to form comprised primarily of Provolution, damnrunner, and myself. We were constantly fighting with the majority over everything. It was fun... at least it was for me.

Provolution remembers this, and does not want to become similarly isolated this game by making himself seem like a villain. He seems sensitive about it, because he is sensitive about it.

 

[Sommerswerd]

We just met the Q Continuum's workboat "Ganges"

I will post a screenshot soon, but I did not want anyone who logged in to the forum to miss this.

 

[Sommerswerd]

As far as diplo goes, Provolution and cavscout are both on MSM and Provolution especially loves to communicate via Instant Messenger (and PM) as opposed to strictly formal communications like LP.

Also, Quatronia already took their turn, so they may not notice we made contact until next turn.

We should send a short greeting to Quatronia BEFORE we end the turn. The theme of the message should include MSM contact and at least one alternate MSM contact person. Also, The theme of the message should acknowledge the dual role-playing of Quatronia...

Provolution imagined them as a sort of LoTR fantasy/medieval style team, whereas Earthling, cavscout, and the rest of the team seem to have embraced the futuristic, Star-Trekkie, Q-Continuum theme. Our messages to them should try to include both if possible... should be interesting.

Spoiler :

 

[SilentConfusion]

Great news. I think we're not far off from meeting someone on the other side as well.

I'm on it. I'll try to draft up a short intro message with some fantasy/sci-fi overtones. I am taking a trip in 5 hours so I will try to do it before that. The trip is only a 3 hour trip to my other residence so I'm not going away or anything.

I have a Skype account. Do you think I should make a MSN Messenger or AIM account as well?

I think it makes sense for Sommerswerd to at least be one of the alternate contacts, since they had a relationship from the previous game. If damnrunner or someone else wants to be listed as an alternate post info so it can be incorporated into the message.

Ganges is a reference to the USS Ganges from Star Trek: Deep Space 9 (may also make an appearance in Next Generation) and I found this description of an episode called "Q-Less" that involves the USS Ganges, a runabout vessel.

 

[SilentConfusion]

Just looked in-game and Quatronia has converted to Meditation now and their capitol's called Continuum, so they may be leaning more in the Star Trek direction.

 

[Calis]

Or they are concentrating especially on the character "Q", who mainly appeared in TNG, of course.

 

[Sommerswerd]

Glad youre still around. I was getting ready to start scrambling to draft a message of greeting.

Listing me as an alternate contact is fine since no one else seems to be falling over themselves for the job. My MSM is sommerswerd@live.com, but Provolution and cavscout already have it, so it might be nice to introduce them to someone new on our team.

You could probably use the message of greeting that we sent to Sirius as a template, with the sci-fi/fantasy theme of course.

Any thoughts about what to do with espionage before the end of the turn? Either way, it will give away to one of the teams that we made contact with somebody else, so we should be prepared to disclose this as well, right away to who ever we are going to let know we made contact with another team.

 

[SilentConfusion]

@ Calis : True, could be the character or the race. The race is more dealt with I think in DS9 than in TNG, while the character is frequently in TNG. I haven't seen them all so might be overgeneralization.

Here's a draft of a short message of introduction. We need to add an alternate contact to it.

I tried to put some not over-the-top Star Trek references and close it with a paraphrase of "live long and prosper." Not sure if we want to say that we tried to build SH. They faced the question of whether someone would beat them to it and had to sit through the tension before it was built. It might allow them to relate to us. But I can understand not wanting to put it.

Please give thoughts and if possible Sommerswerd should add contact info.

I am leaving on a 3 hour trip to my other residence. If we don't get it ready to send out by then, Sommerswerd should feel free to add his contact info and send it out. I will be back at a computer most likely before the turn ends, but better to get it sent out earlier. Also we could send a PM to Provo telling them that they have a message.

I thought it best to send an introduction first from us introducing the diplomat to them before actually signing it from the diplomat. I thought the deference of asking them what they want to be called makes sense.

Feel free to add or remove things as you like. I'm still here for 40 more minutes and will keep checking. After that I'll check back in about 3 hours so long as I can get the computer hooked up to internet.

Greetings Quatronians,

This is an auspicious day. Our brave ship Jenny and her crew rounded a point and saw your ship, the Ganges, off in the distance. The sight of another ship filled a deep space inside the crew members' hearts that had been growing since leaving their friends and families back in The AMAZON. They then sent word back to the homeland where the news was met with vigorous celebration and fireworks.

Our brave Jenny is on a mission of exploration, and has been for the last 840 years (since Turn 28). Our people are eager to know how far the USS Ganges has traveled from the Continuum exploring and if you have met any other sentient races.

Our people are impressed by the religious power of your Stonehenge, although we had hoped to be the ones to be impressing you with it when we met.

We are looking forward to further communications with your team and the opportunity to build a good relationship with you.

In future correspondences, how would you like to be addressed?

Our diplomat, SilentConfusion, will be handling most of our communications and he is also often available on Skype (username: silentconfusion) if you wish to contact him that way.

We hope your people will live long lifetimes and flourish in whatever they do.

Sincerely,
The AMAZON

 

[SilentConfusion]

Glad youre still around. I was getting ready to start scrambling to draft a message of greeting.

Listing me as an alternate contact is fine since no one else seems to be falling over themselves for the job. My MSM is sommerswerd@live.com, but Provolution and cavscout already have it, so it might be nice to introduce them to someone new on our team.

You could probably use the message of greeting that we sent to Sirius as a template, with the sci-fi/fantasy theme of course.

Any thoughts about what to do with espionage before the end of the turn? Either way, it will give away to one of the teams that we made contact with somebody else, so we should be prepared to disclose this as well, right away to who ever we are going to let know we made contact with another team.

X-Posted with my draft.

We should add an alternative contact even if they already have it. It just looks better.

I wrote it from scratch but we can incorporate elements of the Sirius letter if you think that was better.

I think EP should go on Quatronia. It's my opinion that we are going to be allied for sure with Sirius (there's almost no avoiding it without being able to attack them before Astro) and we're not sure about Quatronia. I think it's better to be open with Sirius and just tell them that we met someone. If they have a boat out ahead of us they'll know that we're hiding something by not telling and switching EP to them and we don't want them distrusting us. And we also have the perfectly logical reason of "we already have Sirius's graphs but we don't have Quatronia." Even if we tell them both I think it makes sense to put all EP on Q. We can split it evenly when we have their graphs as well. Oh I just thought, have we been checking Sirius's EP with us? Maybe we can tell if they met someone.

 

[SilentConfusion]

I can see you're on the thread now, Sommerswerd. I have to hit the road. If you could put together the final touches to the letter and send it from our team account that would be great. The team emails are in one of the UN threads.

Otherwise I'll send it in 3 hours when I get there, but hopefully we can get it sent out before.

I guess I already have a windows.live account I just didn't know it.

 

[SilentConfusion]

I noticed that someone wrote up a draft of a message to Quatronia and it's in the draft folder in our gmail account, but it looks like it wasn't sent. Is there a reason it was not sent, or has it been sent and I'm just not looking at it right?

I don't want to send it twice or send it off if there's reason to hold it.

EDIT: Nevermind it's being worked on as we speak. I guess I was logged in at the same time as Sommerswerd was writing it. Thanks Sommer for doing that. How do I tell what my windows.live account name is?

 

[Sommerswerd]

Yep Im working on it. As far as your windows live account goes, you should just check the "I forgot my account name" box that most internet accounts have.

EDIT:This was sent to Quatronia. I will log in Now and change our to Quatronia before ending the turn.

Kapla, and Well Met Brave Quatronians!

This is an auspicious day. Our intrepid explorer Jenny and her crew rounded a point and saw your ship, the Ganges, off in the distance. The sight of another ship filled a deep space inside the crew members' hearts that had been growing since leaving their friends and families back in The AMAZON. They then sent word back to the homeland where the news was met with vigorous celebration and fireworks.

Jenny is on a mission of exploration, to go where no Zenobian has gone before, and has been traveling for the last 840 years (since Turn 28). Our people are eager to know how far the USS Ganges has traveled from the Continuum exploring and if you have met any other sentient races.

Our people are impressed by the religious power of your Stonehenge, although we had hoped to be the ones to be impressing you with it when we met. Indeed the legendary powers of the Q are wondrous to behold, and no doubt served you well in your quest for Stonehenge. We do not begrudge your success, as we are impressed with a people who were able to succeed where we could not. Hopefully, our peoples will be able to co-operate in our future goals so that we never again make the mistake of seeking to do what the powerful Q are able to do with a simple flick of the wrist.

The AMAZON would like to enter into preliminary negotiations with the Continuum and discuss a potential for Open Borders, a possible Non-Aggression Pact and the potential for future tech trades.

Please send all diplomatic correspondence to AMAZON1 @ gmail.com. We look forward to hearing from you. Our official Diplomat, SilentConfusion, will be contacting you soon with a much more detailed correspondence. Feel free to address all future official communications to him.

In future correspondences, how would the Q of Quatronia like to be addressed?

SilentConfusion, Diplomat of The AMAZON, will be handling our official communications going forward, but our people are also available for more informal communications through dreamspeaking, spirit-walking, and other ethereal forms of communication. For example, Our Diplomat is also often available on a mystical medium called Skype (username: silentconfusion) if you wish to contact him that way. Also, myself, our Diplomat and others are available on a legendary dimensional plainswalking gateway called "MSM" where ideas can be exchanged live and instantly as if we were in each others presence. I can be contacted at sommerswerd@live.com.

We look forward to a long, amicable and beneficial relationship with the Continuum and it is our wish that your people live long and prosper,

Sommerswerd
Captain of The AMAZON

We have about 12 turns until Quatronia reaches the Sirius home island.

 

[Sommerswerd]

I followed up the above message with PMs to Provolution, cav scout and Earthling. Good thing, because cav scout replied that they had not received the message, probably because they changed their email address from what is posted in the UN. Their new email is quatronia10@gmail.com. Also, it was a double-good-thing, because our email was wrong in the previous message. Our email is TeamAMAZON1@gmail.com.

I resent the message... we still have not recieved anything from them yet, although they are undoubtedly aware that they met us because their wb sailed past us. This is most probably because they are already in some sort of alliance, or in negotiations to enter one. Otherwise they would have leapt at the chance to make contact with a new ally, and would not have ended the turn without doing so.

So I would guess that if we want a relationship with the Continuum, we will have to pry them away from their current ally. This is bolstered by the fact that they have DEFINITELY met someone else, as their against us did not increase last turn. That means it went to someone else... either CDZ or Mavericks because it cant be Merlot. We should send them a message explaining why we assigned all our espy to them.

The fact that they did not switch espy to us is actually a good sign. It means that they are trying to conceal the fact that they met another team from their neighbor-team. That indicates a level of distrust. I would guess that Provolution is hoping to broker some sort of side-alliance, or just holding out for a a better partner. We should offer them such a deal ASAP. What they did is the OPPOSITE of what we did with Sirius, and so they probably are not as enthused as we are about their current neighbor. (Because oof that I would have guessed Merlot, but it is definitely not Merlot since Martha just spotted the Merlot border.) Also, they do not have Alphabet yet, so there is still possibly time to sway them to our side but we have to work fast before they consummate their potential alliance with tech trades.

 

[SilentConfusion]

Glad we sent the PMs too. They should probably get the UN Post updated.

Yeah I saw that Provolution took their turn for them very early in the turn. They are not a team that sits around and waits to take their turn. They don't have many people logging in (not like Sirius) and Provolution usually takes their turns early, just over and done with. I think that's most likely a sign that they don't have a lot of discussion going on, quite possibly because of lack of participation.

Could just be Provolution and a few others.

We should wait for their reply (for a little while anyway) before sending another, but we should tell them about Sirius (they'll find out soon anyway) and explain our EP spending. It's easy to do and it looks good to be open and honest. Especially if they are not fully sure they want to ally with their neighbors.

We need to be real diligent on diplo in the upcoming turns. A large portion of the game will hinge on who is on what side early. If we can manage the diplo right we can put ourselves in a very good spot. We need to keep the dialogue flowing and keep showing that we are open, honest, and trustworthy. Be willing to sacrifice something to help them. It's easily worth it in the long run. A lot of the things we can do to help them don't cost us much if anything. Information is one thing that is pretty much free for us to give out and can help our cause a lot. I think we should just approach each diplo message trying to be open and forthcoming and helpful. Teams are going to be wary of other teams who are looking only at their own self interest.

I'll come up with a preliminary draft for the next letter to Quatronia after I get some sleep. But good work Sommerswerd. I think we're in a good position to succeed diplomatically. We have Merlot on our other side. We want them too, but it may not work out like that. I am hoping that Indiansmoke will want to work with us more than the Mavs or CDZ. But it could be that what we have are 3 pairs of teams trying to work together. In that case it'll probably be easier to bring a whole pair to our side. I think we sent out boats in both directions pretty quickly so we're in a good position to know more people than most at this point. We have to offer to Merlot and Quatronia good deals and if they say they are already working with someone, we can suggest that all four of us work together.


I think that's a good analysis of the situation.

 

[SilentConfusion]

I totally thought yesterday was still Friday and that I still had Saturday before Father's Day. But I am back at my computer now and should be able to write up something today both for Quatronia and Merlot. And we also need to prepare our next one for Sirius.