Embassy to Team Sirius

[SilentConfusion]

I think there's some vital news in that letter.

First, good to know they're not building the Great Wall, although frankly I was pretty certain they weren't. It's Quatronia I'm less sure of.

Next, they plan to do just what we're doing, grabbing the horses and then settling on the other spoke. We have no problems with that and they will certainly not have problems with us doing the same.

The best news of all is about the Copper. This all but confirms the theory that there is copper on the peninsula between us and Merlot. I think we need to settle this ASAP, especially in light of the other large bit of news that Merlot has landed a scouting party on Marthaton. I think they chose our land mass first because we're an expansive team. They will shortly see the copper and will realize the value of keeping us from getting Copper. They will be leery of pissing us off while we may still bring them into the Alliance, but if we tell them they are out we'd better have a city ready to go on the Copper before they try to keep us from it. It was a warrior they dropped off not a Holkan, probably chosen because of the lower hammer cost, but they could have Holkans not far behind.

 

[SilentConfusion]

Draft for Sirius to keep them updated on barb situation on Jennilund (notice they called it Jennilund in their last letter) and to let them know that Mavs don't have Sailing yet, which might affect their plan for their other landmass. Tried to keep them updated on where we are with the search for a fourth member. If you think I give too much information anywhere let me know and I can take some of it out. I think we are building a strong relationship with Sirius. I think they respect us. I think Quatronia wants to be friends but they may just be too slow to develop this kind of bond.

Greetings to our Sirian Allies,

We want to thank you very much for you last message. We are happy that we are sharing so much with each other. It not only allows us to face situations more prepared but also brings us closer together.

Andromeda/Jennilund

We appreciate the information about your troop placements. We have encountered two barbarian warriors on the landmass. The first is way in the north and will attack our Warrior next turn who will be defending from a hill. Above the Marble we have found 2 plains hills and then an Oasis tile. Hopefully our warrior will defeat this barbarian. The other barbarian is close to Vesta. This barbarian warrior is 2S1E of that jungled banana tile. Our scout managed to slip away out of its reach but be on guard. We also found 2 Ivory resources buried in the southern jungle (3S, and 3S1E of jungle banana). There are also more clam resources in the canals. Other than the Ivory and the barb we have found only jungle tiles to the south, although there looks to be a couple of desert tiles south of the jungle.

We believe that it will take 3 or 4 units to completely spawnbust Andromeda. Are you planning on settling the horse or copper site first? If you're settling the horse site soon or will have troops back on Jennilund let us know and we'll keep you updated on the barb situation.

Merlot

Thanks for the information. We did get a message from them telling us of their resources. We wonder if the Great Mapmaker has a sense of humor giving House Merlot wine resources.

Merlot has told us flat out that they do not already have an alliance with CDZ. They could be lying, but they seemed sincere.

Quatronia and CDZ

Quatronia has officially accepted the ETTT. And have provided us with Meditation, which you now have also. We have given them our technologies. They are currently talking to CDZ, trying to get them to join. Quatronia has said that CDZ has offered them Masonry and Iron Working for Alphabet. We have made it clear that they will not get Alphabet unless they join, and in that case they will share their techs with us completely. It does mean that they have Iron Working. We are waiting for Quatronia to get back to us about them. Quatronia has a slow diplomatic process. We'll keep pressing them to hear about it. If we cannot get CDZ we'll have to accept either Merlot or the Mavs. Any fourth member is better than no fourth member.

The Mavericks

We just recently met the Mavericks (this turn) and we just got a message back from them. They asked for Writing and Sailing for Priesthood. While this is blatantly a bad deal in any circumstance, it means they must not realize yet what they are up against. If they did they would have been more generous. We did learn that they are researching Sailing but don't have it yet. You may be able to use this information to your advantage. They are also in OR and Slavery. They don't have Meditation, Sailing, Writing, Hunting, or AH.

We'll keep the information flowing and we look forward to your next message.

Sincerely yours,
nabaxo, Special Diplomatic Envoy
SilentConfusion, AMAZON diplomat

 

[Sommerswerd]

I like the letter, I don't think it reveals too much information. However, I would replace:

While this is blatantly a bad deal in any circumstance, it means they must not realize yet what they are up against. If they did they would have been more generous.

With something like:

We have rejected the trade in-game, and politely informed them that we must discuss all trade proposals within our team before agreeing to them in-game.

The reason I would change this line, is because what Mavs did is EXACTLY what LP suggested would be appropriate in this situation (ie., a backward civ meeting an advanced tech-alliance should expect generous gifts of tech to generate goodwill). Calling the deal "blatantly bad" may be taken by LP as a subtle implication that we think he used poor judgment, or had unreasonable expectations in the last game... It is a very nuanced point, I'll admit, but since things are progressing well so far... no reason to sow seeds of discord.

I would also acknowledge that they called Andromeda Jennilund, thank them, and add a line proposing that we re-name Andromeda/Jennilund, Anjennida, combining the two names as a symbol of the joining of our two nations.

In the "Mavericks" section, we should also mention that the Mavericks seem to not have met CDZ or Merlot, and since they don't have Triremes, we have an opportunity to keep them isolated, if they don't join the ETTT. This would require using Galleys to turn their workboats back, and turn back any workboats attempting to make contact with them. We can call it a "quarantine" (like in the Cuban Missile Crisis). Ask them their thoughts on contributing a Galley towards the enactment of such a blockade if the occasion to do so arises (ie, if we find a 4th ally, OR we cant agree on a 4th ally).

This last part would need to be brought up to the Q as well... we would need their Galley to guard the South approach... Maybe this is the kind of thing to discuss in a PM (Sirius) or IM (Quatronia) before making it part of an official communique.

 

[damnrunner]

I just made a comment in the Mavericks thread before reading this. Things make far more sense now.

Good job on diplo Sommers

 

[SilentConfusion]

I just made a comment in the Mavericks thread before reading this. Things make far more sense now.

Good job on diplo Sommers

And I responded to your comment in the Mavericks section before seeing that you figured it out.

 

[SilentConfusion]

This short message from Irgy:

Hello again

Just a quick note to give you some news. Our galley, just before it had to turn around, has discovered that the channels into the centre are dead-ends, and do *not* connect to each other. So, the star is technically one landmass, and contact is only via the outside path.

Our inclination is to turn Voyager back around at this stage rather than sending it into a dead-end, as it's not likely to reveal anything of significance on the way.

Best regards,

 

[SilentConfusion]

This is interesting. If they canals come close together but do not meet, it could be powerful to plant a city there and use the city and forts to connect or disconnect (pillage fort). If this is the case cities in the very center could control access to all of the canals. This would be powerful. It is possible that Sirius saw this and left this small detail out since they are a naval powerhouse and plan to settle there in the future.

 

[SilentConfusion]

Reworking of the draft, with Sommerswerd's concerns addressed. Thanks for that bit of info. I didn't know that from the last game. We definitely don't want to call something they did last game bad.

I didn't say anything about a Quarantine. If you think we should feel free to draft a paragraph or sentence about that.

Greetings to our Sirian Allies,

We want to thank you very much for you last message. We are happy that we are sharing so much with each other. It not only allows us to face situations more prepared but also brings us closer together.

Andromeda/Jennilund

We noticed that you called the landmass between us Jennilund in your last communication. We thank you for this gesture. We would like to propose that in the future we call the landmass, Andromeda/Jennilund, Anjennida, combining the names to symbolize the joining of our two civilizations in the bonds of friendship. We appreciate the information about your troop placements. We have encountered two barbarian warriors on the landmass. The first is way in the north and will attack our Warrior next turn who will be defending from a hill. Above the Marble we have found 2 plains hills and then an Oasis tile. Hopefully our warrior will defeat this barbarian. The other barbarian is close to Vesta. This barbarian warrior is 2S1E of that jungled banana tile. Our scout managed to slip away out of its reach but be on guard. We also found 2 Ivory resources buried in the southern jungle (3S, and 3S1E of jungle banana). There are also more clam resources in the canals. Other than the Ivory and the barb we have found only jungle tiles to the south, although there looks to be a couple of desert tiles south of the jungle.

We believe that it will take 3 or 4 units to completely spawnbust Andromeda. Are you planning on settling the horse or copper site first? If you're settling the horse site soon or will have troops back on Jennilund let us know and we'll keep you updated on the barb situation.

Merlot

Thanks for the information. We did get a message from them telling us of their resources. We wonder if the Great Mapmaker has a sense of humor giving House Merlot wine resources.

Merlot has told us flat out that they do not already have an alliance with CDZ. They could be lying, but they seemed sincere.

Quatronia and CDZ

Quatronia has officially accepted the ETTT. And have provided us with Meditation, which you now have also. We have given them our technologies. They are currently talking to CDZ, trying to get them to join. Quatronia has said that CDZ has offered them Masonry and Iron Working for Alphabet. We have made it clear that they will not get Alphabet unless they join, and in that case they will share their techs with us completely. It does mean that they have Iron Working. We are waiting for Quatronia to get back to us about them. Quatronia has a slow diplomatic process. We'll keep pressing them to hear about it. If we cannot get CDZ we'll have to accept either Merlot or the Mavs. Any fourth member is better than no fourth member.

The Mavericks

We just recently met the Mavericks (this turn) and we just got a message back from them. They asked for Writing and Sailing for Priesthood. We have rejected the trade in-game, and politely informed them that we must discuss all trade proposals within our team before agreeing to them in-game. We did learn that they are researching Sailing but don't have it yet. You may be able to use this information to your advantage. They are also in OR and Slavery. They don't have Meditation, Sailing, Writing, Hunting, or AH.

We'll keep the information flowing and we look forward to your next message.

Sincerely yours,
nabaxo, Special Diplomatic Envoy
SilentConfusion, AMAZON diplomat

 

[SilentConfusion]

I will send this draft to Sirius unless I hear suggestions or objections. I added that Q mentioned sinking boats and that we met CDZ and they might be able to meet them too.

EDIT: Sent just as is.

Greetings to our Sirian Allies,

We want to thank you very much for you last message. We are happy that we are sharing so much with each other. It not only allows us to face situations more prepared but also brings us closer together.

Andromeda/Jennilund

We noticed that you called the landmass between us Jennilund in your last communication. We thank you for this gesture. We would like to propose that in the future we call the landmass, Andromeda/Jennilund, Anjennida, combining the names to symbolize the joining of our two civilizations in the bonds of friendship. We appreciate the information about your troop placements. We have encountered two barbarian warriors on the landmass. The first is way in the north and will attack our Warrior next turn who will be defending from a hill. Above the Marble we have found 2 plains hills and then an Oasis tile. Hopefully our warrior will defeat this barbarian. The other barbarian is close to Vesta. This barbarian warrior is 2S1E of that jungled banana tile. Our scout managed to slip away out of its reach but be on guard. We also found 2 Ivory resources buried in the southern jungle (3S, and 3S1E of jungle banana). There are also more clam resources in the canals. Other than the Ivory and the barb we have found only jungle tiles to the south, although there looks to be a couple of desert tiles south of the jungle.

We believe that it will take 3 or 4 units to completely spawnbust Andromeda. Are you planning on settling the horse or copper site first? If you're settling the horse site soon or will have troops back on Jennilund let us know and we'll keep you updated on the barb situation.

Merlot

Thanks for the information. We did get a message from them telling us of their resources. We wonder if the Great Mapmaker has a sense of humor giving House Merlot wine resources.

Merlot has told us flat out that they do not already have an alliance with CDZ. They could be lying, but they seemed sincere.

Quatronia and CDZ

Quatronia has officially accepted the ETTT. And have provided us with Meditation, which you now have also. We have given them our technologies. They are currently talking to CDZ, trying to get them to join. Quatronia has said that CDZ has offered them Masonry and Iron Working for Alphabet. We have made it clear that they will not get Alphabet unless they join, and in that case they will share their techs with us completely. It does mean that they have Iron Working. We are waiting for Quatronia to get back to us about them. Quatronia has a slow diplomatic process. We'll keep pressing them to hear about it. If we cannot get CDZ we'll have to accept either Merlot or the Mavs. Any fourth member is better than no fourth member. Quatronia has proposed possibly sinking Work Boats to keep the Mavericks isolated from the other two, so they can't form a counter Alliance before we can get a fourth member.

We have just met CDZ. They have a Galley named "Furiey" that just met our Work Boat, Martha. Voyager may be able to meet it on coming back out of the channel.

The Mavericks

We just recently met the Mavericks (this turn) and we just got a message back from them. They asked for Writing and Sailing for Priesthood. We have rejected the trade in-game, and politely informed them that we must discuss all trade proposals within our team before agreeing to them in-game. We did learn that they are researching Sailing but don't have it yet. You may be able to use this information to your advantage. They are also in OR and Slavery. They don't have Meditation, Sailing, Writing, Hunting, or AH.

We'll keep the information flowing and we look forward to your next message.

Sincerely yours,
nabaxo, Special Diplomatic Envoy
SilentConfusion, AMAZON diplomat

 

[SilentConfusion]

Sent the message in the last post to Sirius.

 

[SilentConfusion]

Draft to Sirius:

Greetings Sirian Friends,

Just to let you know what's happening with CDZ, we wanted to tell you that they seem to have been stalling, not responding over the whole weekend to the ETTT. We put some pressure on them to make up their minds and told them we'd have to choose someone else if they didn't give us an answer quickly. We have heard that the Q Continuum has also put pressure on them to stop stalling. Now that you have met them they have met all three of us. They have been given until the end of the current turn to give us their answer. If they still do not respond then they clearly do not want to be allied with us and we will have to offer the deal to either the Mavericks or Merlot. The Mavericks would be better for the alliance tech-wise than Merlot and we are not sure that Merlot and CDZ are not a bit too closely allied. What are you thoughts on this?

Sincerely yours,
SilentConfusion, AMAZON diplomat

 

[Sommerswerd]

I would hold off on this. Merlot would make a better ally overall, and bringing in the Mavs negates the opportunity to exploit their poor diplomatic position. See my comments in the Merlot and CDZ threads.

 

[SilentConfusion]

this message from Sirius:

Warmest greetings again to all of the people of the AMAZON

Anjennida

Our plan is to settle the copper site first. By the way, we are calling this other spoke of the star to our southwest "Bode". After that, it is still being hotly debated whether we will settle the horses next, or yet more sites on Bode first. I'll keep you informed if that debate resolves itself.

Vesta can see the barbarian across the lake, it's of no threat to us as
Vesta will leave Anjennida next turn. In hindsight we should have mentioned this barbarian's location to you ourselves, my personal apologies for not thinking of it. We wish you the best of luck against both of these native Anjennidans.

Other Teams

We have now made contact with every team except Mavericks. Despite being our neighbours in this layout, it feels like we're going to first meet them only when the borders of each of our settlements on Bode expand to meet each other. It's interesting to hear that they do not yet even have sailing, and they don't appear to have sent any workboats out either. At that rate, our plans to generally prioritise settling Bode may lead to us owning most of that continent.

It is good news to hear that both Quatronia has entered the ETTT. They have informed us that CDZ has entered the ETTT as well, are you able to confirm that? We have met CDZ but have yet to hear from them.

It is good to have finally meet the rest of our technological allies as well. It may be worth having a four-way conversation about tech paths sometime in the near future, now that (as far as I'm aware) all four members of the ETTT have finally made contact with each other.


Not much other news at this stage. You will have already seen that we have discovered Mathematics, and have shared the knowledge. We are now developing a system of Currency.

Best regards as always,

 

[SilentConfusion]

Draft to Sirius in which I try to get them focused on the idea of keeping Merlot and the Mavs separated, hoping that they will use a Trireme and maybe an Axe to keep them from meeting. If we can continue to keep them in the dark without having to kill their units ourselves, we don't lose as many diplo points with our enemies as our allies do.

Dear Sirian Allies,

We just wanted to give you an update. We are 5 turns from researching Monarchy. We also have Iron Working which you have not yet requested. If you have not yet hooked up the Copper that you found you could alternately build Axes and Swords with the Iron that is located on your island as we have found that your speculation was correct about the unforested hill in the center of our islands being Iron. Whoever on your team suggested that it was very observant. If you hook it up you could have Axemen up and running to deal with barbs.

Another reason it may be good to have an Axeman is that we have spotted a Merlot Holkan headed West towards that side of the map. There is also a Merlot Galley headed our way. Without Metal Casting (which CDZ says they are researching for the Alliance) we will need multiple Galleys to defeat. The Mavericks and Merlot have Work Boats heading towards each other in the South, but Quatronia has agreed to sink them to delay their meeting. If we can get Metal Casting before Merlot's boat gets past us both we can sink it with a Trireme. We have asked CDZ for an ETA on Metal Casting. If it comes sooner then we can build a trireme to counter their Galley, otherwise it may be up to you whether to build a Trireme to sink it or not.

We can close borders, but they can declare war and just go on by.

Our scout has confirmed that there is copper on the peninsula between us and Merlot. So everyone has Copper on one side and Horse on the other. In the spot where the elephants are on Anjennida there is incense on Marthaton. Did you find incense on Bode? Have you encountered many barbarian forces over there?

That's all the news that has come up, but we'll continue to keep you updated on the actions of Merlot and anything interesting we hear from the southern allies.

Sincerely yours,
nabaxo, Special Diplomatic Envoy to The AMAZON
SilentConfusion, AMAZON diplomat

 

[Sommerswerd]

Sirius just finished Currency. We also need to find out what they will be teching next so we can go after something else after Monarchy.

 

[Sommerswerd]

I will go ahead and send this to Sirius. Additions in BOLD

Spoiler :

Dear Sirian Allies,

We just wanted to give you an update. We are 4 turns from finishing Monarchy. We also have Iron Working which you have not yet requested. If you have not yet hooked up the Copper that you found you could alternately build Axes and Swords with the Iron that is located on your island as we have found that your speculation was correct about the unforested hill in the center of our islands being Iron. Whoever on your team suggested that it was very observant. If you hook it up you could have Axemen up and running to deal with barbs.

Another reason it may be good to have an Axeman is that we have spotted a Merlot Holkan headed West towards that side of the map. There is also a Merlot Galley headed our way. Without Metal Casting (which CDZ says they are researching for the Alliance) we will need multiple Galleys to stop this Galley. The Mavericks and Merlot have Work Boats heading towards each other in the South, but Quatronia has agreed to sink them to delay their meeting. If we can get Metal Casting before Merlot's boat gets past us both we can sink it with a Trireme. We have asked CDZ for an ETA on Metal Casting. If it comes sooner then we can build a Trireme to counter their Galley, otherwise it may be up to you to stop them.

Closing Borders will not prevent them from moving past us, as they can still sail around our coastal borders.

Our scout has confirmed that there is copper on the peninsula between us and Merlot. So everyone has Copper on one side and Horse on the other. In the spot where the elephants are on Anjennida there is incense on Marthaton. Did you find incense on Bode? Have you encountered many barbarian forces over there?

That's all the news that has come up, but we'll continue to keep you updated on the actions of Merlot and anything interesting we hear from the southern allies.

Finally, we noticed that you completed Currency and requested it in-game. Please advise us what knowledge the Sirains will be pursuing next, so that we can consult our Goddesses on what tech we should pursue.

Sincerely yours,

nabaxo, Special Diplomatic Envoy to The AMAZON
SilentConfusion, AMAZON diplomat

EDIT:Made some edits and Sent this to Sirius:

Dear Sirian Allies,

We just wanted to give you an update. We are 4 turns from finishing Monarchy. We also have Iron Working which you have not yet requested. If you have not yet hooked up the Copper that you found you could alternately build Axes and Swords with the Iron that is located on your island as we have found that your speculation was correct about the unforested hill in the center of our islands being Iron. Whoever on your team suggested that, was very observant. If you hook it up you could have Axemen to deal with barbarian natives.

Another reason it may be good to have an Axeman is that we have spotted a Merlot Holkan headed West towards that side of the map. There is also a Merlot Galley headed our way. Without Metal Casting (which CDZ says they are researching for the Alliance) we will need multiple Galleys to stop this Galley. The Mavericks and Merlot have Work Boats heading towards each other in the South, but Quatronia has agreed to sink them to delay their meeting. If we can get Metal Casting before Merlot's boat gets past us both we can sink it with a Trireme. We have asked CDZ for an ETA on Metal Casting. If it comes sooner then we can build a Trireme to counter their Galley, otherwise it may be up to you to stop them. Closing Borders will not prevent them from moving past us, as they can still sail around our coastal borders.

Our scout has confirmed that there is Copper on the peninsula between us and Merlot. So everyone has Copper on one side and Horse on the other. In the spot where the Elephants are on Anjennida there is incense on Marthaton. Did you find incense on Bode? Have you encountered many barbarian forces over there?

That's all the news that has come up, but we'll continue to keep you updated on the actions of Merlot and anything interesting we hear from the southern allies.

Finally, we noticed that you completed Currency and requested it in-game. Please advise us what knowledge the Sirains will be pursuing next, so that we can consult our Goddesses on what tech we should pursue.

Sincerely yours,

nabaxo, Special Diplomatic Envoy of The AMAZON, on behalf of
SilentConfusion, AMAZON diplomat

 

[SilentConfusion]

Thanks for getting that out Sommer. This week and weekend there's a big event at my house, so everyone around here is hectic and preparing.

Got this from Irgy and Sirius:

Warmest greetings again.

Firstly, we congratulate you on your recent success in building a large wall around your island, and marvel at its power to keep barbarians away from your settlements.

We have had our own first military victory, as the proud warrior Vespa defeated some native savages on Bode.

Sinking Exploring Boats

We agree that preventing Merlot and Mavericks from meeting is wise. We have still yet to meet Mavericks. From what we have heard, Mavericks took Metal Casting from the Orcale. We may struggle to prevent them from sending a trireme past us if they attempt to do so, which could be problematic particularly if Merlot's galley gets past your borders.

We are not sure how much Mavericks know about their situation. It's not ideal however to declare war against them so early on if we can avoid it, especially while we are unprepared and they have the advantage of Metal Casting.

We will have to keep each other closely informed on what progresses here.

If they're clever enough they'll both sail a galley down their own channels and offload a unit in the centre of the map (we can all try and prevent this but it's not easy). But, even if they do figure this out, the longer we can keep them out of contact with each other the better.

Technology

We now have Currency, and will then start on Code of Laws. If we are successful in getting Confucianism from it we will endeavour to spread it to you. We are undecided on what to go for after that. I intend to start a four-way email conversation on the issue.

Settling

Have you had any further thoughts on the settling plan for Anjennida? We have seen most of the way to the bottom of that area, and assuming it's symmetric we have all the information we need to decide what to do. I am assuming you have explored most of the south yourselves by now, but we're happy to fill you in with what we've seen. We haven't spotted any resources in the southern jungle other than the ivory you have described and the clams which seem to be evenly spread around everywhere.

There is incense on Bode in what we can only assume is a similar location to on Marathon. I am going to hazard a guess that stone is in a similar place on Bode and Marathon to the marble on Anjeniida. We have encountered a fair few barbarian warriors, but have yet to lose a battle against one. The hills, jungle and rivers all contribute to easy defense.

Best regards,

 

[SilentConfusion]

And we got this from Irgy. They sent it to all alliance members.

Greetings fellow ETTT members.

Now that we have all finally met each other, it seems sensible to co-ordinate our technology plans into the future.

Our current understanding is:
Sirius: Code of Laws
Amazon: Monarchy
Quatronia: Calendar?
CDZ: Metal Casting

There are many benefits to getting Astronomy on this map, so it is our suggestion to tech towards it as quickly as possible. This means there should always be one team should be researching one of:
Metal Casting->Machinery->Optics->Astronomy. Another team can get the cheaper techs of Compass and Calendar in parallel (both fairly beneficial techs on their own). It also seems wise to pursue Civil Service soon for the bonus Beaurocracy can provide to all of our research rates.

In principle it shouldn't matter which team researches which techs, if we're all sharing them. Although it may be wise for the teams with faster research rates to look after the Astronomy beeline and the key economy techs such as Civil Service which will speed up everyone's research.

What other technologies do people think are important?


One final issue; Our understanding is that it is best to transfer techs as gifts rather than damnds or trades, to avoid making it clear who is trading based on who is logged in when the teams' scores increase. It should therefore be the researching team's responsibility to push out the techs as they discover them. Now that all members have made contact this should not be a problem in the future.

The likelihood of disguising what's going on is low, but for the moment in particular we have not even made contact with Mavericks, so it is unlikely they know all of what's going on. It is better to keep them in the dark for as long as possible.

With all that in mind, we would greatly appreciate it if the next team to log on could offer us Iron Working in game. It seems to have been lost in the shuffle with all the techs swapping back and forth.

Best regards,

 

[damnrunner]

Can we get a good map of Anjennida so that we can start thinking of various settlement plans.

 

[Sommerswerd]

We should let Sirius know that Merlot attacked us... I think that under the terms of the SAP, they are obliged to help us against an unprovoked attack like this.

We should also let everyone know we are probably after Theology next.