Embassy to the Amazons

[cav scout]

Got this from Sommerswerd:

Just a quick update to our friends... The AMAZON are currently polling next tech and it looks like Construction is going to win, possibly unanimously. We will have Theology very soon.

Sommerswerd, Zenobian Captain

He asked about our tech situation and I told him we are going for Optics next as soon as CDZ finishes Machinery.

 

[cav scout]

Got this from Sommerswerd:

Dear Allies,

Just to make sure there is no confusion. I repeat that The AMAZON has started teching Feudalism. We have offered Construction to each of you in-game.

Also, it is obvious that the prospect of being the first to tech Music, and thus receive a Great Artist is attractive indeed. In fact, we Zenobians considered pursuing Music as well, but this path was voted down.

We are however concerned about how the great Artist will be used, so we thought it best to ask our allies how and where they plan to use the Artist, before any irreversible act occurs that causes unnecessary strain on our enlightened partnership.

In about 3 turns, we will be founding a city on the extreme Western end of Marthaton, the landmass between ourselves and Merlot. This city will be at the base of the landmass, and form an impassable, barrier to our enemies, making it impossible to access Marthaton by land without traveling through the city.

As you are all aware, we are currently engaged in a bitter, but righteous, blood crusade against the evil Merlot murderers. This upcoming city is absolutely critical to our strategic efforts, for three reasons:

First, the city will prevent the Mavericks from sending units to reinforce their M&M allies... now that we have denied Mavs OB, their boat is headed back towards Sirius, and them attempting to assist Merlot is the natural next step.

Second, the city will form a Canal which will allow us to move our navy into Merlot waters without sailing all the way East around Marthaton, saving precious time and giving us the element of surprise. Our navy is already headed that way as we speak.

Finally, the city location was chosen specifically because it was the farthest East we could build and still accomplish our strategic goals. It occurred to us that our allies might also desire to place a city near the center of the map to serve a similar purpose as a Canal, and by placing our city several tiles off center we are attempting to share the powerful center with our allies, rather than greedily claim the entire center for ourselves.

Therefore, we respectfully request that our allies commit to NOT using a Great Artist to performance a great work near the center of the map, as this will disrupt our city plans in this time of war, and place undue hardship upon us as we attempt to contain the evil Merlot.

In appreciation and friendship,

Sommerswerd, Zenobian Captain

 

[Earthling]

That's an amazingly well-written message, they must have done a lot of work in their team forum. Interesting news and nice that AMAZONs are being reasonable.

I say we still propose the Great Artist is used to bulb, and suggest the same thing be done with *Economics* and *Physics*

I really wish we'd suggested that earlier, but as a response to this message, it gets us out of trouble with our allies.

Mentioning Mavericks planning to attack the area is optional, but we could warn both AMAZONs and CDZ (cause when we look at this now it's possible Mavs could raze the AMAZON city)

 

[galdarian]

A rough suggestion about what we can reply with.
It needs to sew the seeds of doubt which we all have about CDZ. It needs to point out that they are not assisting Team Amazon with the war effort against Merlot. It also needs to point out that they are not really complying with the terms of the ETTT.

Mighty Zenobia,

It pleases the Continuum to hear that you war with the vile Merlot bodes well. At this time we apologise that we can not assist in this endeavour militarily however if there is another form of help that Quatronia can provide you have but to ask.

Your assesment of the current political climate is mostly accurate however The Continuum wishes to clarify the following details.

As you are aware team CDZ have been rapidly settling the common arm between our nations. This has forced us to commit extensive resources to the same in order to secure some resources. We have asked on several occasions to broker a convention to this strategy but CDZ have failed to negotiate their position at all. Our relations with them are strained and overall do not feel that CDZ are acting in accordance of the ETTT.

Our current plans pertaining Music are out of concern to national preservation. We feel, as you have rightly concluded, that any nation securing a Great Artist may use it to expand their influence. Considering that CDZ do not appear to be listening and our reasonable attempts to bargain with them are void The Continuum would like to ensure that the Great Artist is used appropriately. To that end we have decided to pursue Music ourselves in order to prevent it being wasted or worse.

It is of utmost concern that the current technology arrangement continues to be taken for granted by team CDZ. We wonder how their current plan assists them in neutralising the Merlot threat? We are continually surprised at their lack of correspondence, not just with us, but also with all the members of the ETTT. In short, Team Quatronia are wondering if we made the right decision about including them in the ETTT.

As we approach the end of our non aggression pact with Team Maverick (T100) we anticipate a war with them imminently there after. Team Quatronia can not afford to be waging war and have our economy crippled by a rogue element making a poor choice even though they profess to be our ally.

Your humble friend
Team Quatronia

I did want to say arse hat move but thought better of it. Do we need to mention anything else? Do we need to explain that we feel wasting ~600:beakers: is worth paying the cost of holding the ETTT together? DO we think that it's worth asking them to politically force team CDZ to bulb the GA?

I have deliberately omitted how we intend to use the GA. We should focus on our reasons for denying the GA to CDZ. i.e. It destabilisies the ETTT further. I think we should also be sending a similar message to Sirius to explain our position.

 

[Earthling]

I would really, really prefer personally to mention we would use the GA to bulb on a tech approved by our allies (well, non-CDZ perhaps). But I won't force that - if no one else is feeling that's the right way to go diplomatically then that's ok.

Like the message overall though, very good work. If we are sending this out without another general message going out, (this goes to both AMAZONs and Sirius or just AMAZON?) we could give a bit more details on the secret offers/war plans Mavericks are making.

 

[CharlemagneXLII]

Great message. I agree with sending a similar version to Sirius. Can we remove the last line of the second to last paragraph? It's a bit harsh, and we don't want anything coming back to bite us (Amazon might've gifted them that money after all.)

About using the GA to bulb- I agree that that is how this will probably end up going down- but it would be great if we get get away with culture bombing. If Amazon or Sirius suggest it, or CDZ begs for it, then that is what we should do. Offering to bulb will make us look better, but not doing so could get us some CDZ territory (as they might agree to a deal if we hold it over their heads). If we lose the race without agreeing to bulb, then we're pretty much screwed. I believe we'll win, we're first in GDP now and only 1 turn behind.

We should also give an all-treaty Mav heads up.

 

[RegentMan]

Does our team really feel that it was a mistake to include CDZ in the ETTT? We would rather have the mavericks or Merlot?

I'm all for making them look bad, but these two lines:

...overall do not feel that CDZ are acting in accordance of the ETTT.

In short, Team Quatronia are wondering if we made the right decision about including them in the ETTT.

are very strong.

 

[Earthling]

I think I would rather have had MERLOT in the long run or a slightly different alliance. For instance leaving CDZ and Sirius out but Mavs and MERLOT in seems like it would have worked better in this game, so that CDZ and Sirius would be on the outside and no long term military advantages or anything as the 4v2 would have crushed them.

But I agree that's not what we're trying to communicate to our allies though, we probably should adjust those lines, nice thought.

 

[cav scout]

Let's go easy on any outright "CDZ is evil and we should kick em out of the ETTT" statements. It's much better to present the facts calmly and let the shrewd Amazon's reach their own conclusions regarding CDZ.

My revised version:

Mighty Zenobia,

It pleases the Continuum to hear that you war with the vile Merlot goes well. At this time we apologize that we can not assist in this endeavour militarily. We have maintained our state of war against them but we lack the units to actually join in the fight at this time. However, if there is another form of help that Quatronia can provide you have but to ask. We think your idea of locating a city in the strategic core is brilliant and we support you fully. We won't do anything that would compromise your new city or hinder your fight against Merlot.

Your assesment of the current political climate is mostly accurate. We can clarify a few details for you though.

As you are aware, team CDZ have been rapidly settling the common arm between our nations. This has forced us to commit extensive resources to the same in order to avoid being left out. We were very disappointed and frankly shocked when they founded a city on our coastline of the shared peninsula. This city of ereh rO denied us the copper resource right across from our Capital.
There was still plenty of good land on their side of the peninsula when they founded this provocative city, including the middle city location of Pulsar Plateau (which we founded in response).

We have asked on several occasions to broker a convention to this settlement strategy but CDZ have failed to negotiate their position at all. We would happily agree to return any culture flipped cities, share resources, etc in order to reach some sort of understanding with them. We really want the ETTT to work and we see the danger that conflicts between members poses to the health of our alliance.

Our current plans pertaining Music are out of concern to national preservation. We feel, as you have rightly concluded, that any nation securing a Great Artist may use it to expand their influence. When CDZ quietly shifted their tech path towards Music we took note. All other members of the ETTT had been forthright and open with tech coordination up to this point. So we found it a bit troubling when they failed to follow the tech path they had publicly declared (Feudalism). This seemed contrary to the spirit of cooperation and openess enshrined in the ETTT.

The Continuum has decided to complete Music before CDZ to ensure that the Great Artist isn't used against us. We didn't ask for or instigate this race and we find it very unfortunate that we have to duplicate beakers with one of our allies because of their actions. We would like to point out that we were the first ETTT member to publicly declare our intent to tech Music.

It is of utmost concern that the current technology arrangement continues to be taken for granted by team CDZ. We wonder how their current plan assists them in neutralising the Merlot threat? We are continually surprised at their lack of correspondence, not just with us, but also with all the members of the ETTT.

And most alarmingly to us- it seems someone quietly gifted 51 to CDZ last turn, presumeably to allow them to continue at 100% research. If this was you or team Sirius we would hope to get some clarification on this. And if it was Merlot or Mavericks... well this would be very serious indeed.

As we approach the end of our non aggression pact with Team Maverick (T100) we anticipate a war with them imminently there after. Team Quatronia can not afford to be waging war and have our economy crippled by a rogue element making a poor choice even though they profess to be our ally.

The Mavericks have just offered, completely unsolicted by us, to capture ereh rO and gift it to us in exchange for tech. We find the timing of this offer to be quite the coincidence in relation to our dispute with CDZ. We won't even entertain this ETTT spliting gambit by the Mavs. But we do want to warn you that they might have a stack that could threaten your central core city.

Yours in friendship and solidarity,

Team Quatronia

 

[Earthling]

Sounds really good, I'm sure AMAZONs (and Sirius if a similar revision goes through to them) will have time to think this one over. Revision sounds basically good to go, if we can send it sooner that's probably better for me than worrying about every last line here.

I might remove one part on the gold "presumably to continue 100% research" though. Just cut off that sentence - maybe after "if it was mavericks or MERLOT" we could mention something about upgrading military units or research deals there. But don't want to make that into a specific argument about researching Music all over again.

 

[galdarian]

I agree, we don't need to spell out the 100% research to Amazons, they're smart enough to figure it out themselves. We will need to adjust the message slightly to send to Sirius but I think it's generic enough to suit both of them.

 

[cav scout]

Sent the message minus the 100% research sentence.

 

[RegentMan]

Am looking forward to their response.

 

[Earthling]

They sent private messages to me and the following other folks (or maybe they sent the message to more people too, max number of receivers on CFC, don't know why they weren't using a team email)

I'm going to quote this, don't care if they viewed it as official or not but they sent it to CDZ as well:

Also to BCLG, cav_scout, Robi D

Please give us until the end of the current turn to respond. We are voting on a proposal to assist you in resolving this situation.

Also we ask each of you to put your tech at 0% until you have at least seen our proposal... Again, it will be coming at the end of the current turn, or right at the begining of the next turn.

I don't want us to turn down our tech at all, leave it at 100% by the way. Can't trust CDZ and no guarantee of a compromise.

We still should have mentioned artist bulbing earlier I think but whatever, we'll see if AMAZONs can help diffuse the situation.

 

[cav scout]

Got this:

Be wary, the crew of Dora's Revenge have spotted Pirate ships off the coast of Anjennida.

Guard your seafood accordingly.

--Sommerswerd of The AMAZON

 

[cav scout]

Got this from Sommerswerd:

Hey cavscout,

Can you guys help us out with some money for upgrades? We need 370. We would plan on paying you back in 10 turns.

Let me know, or just make the offer in-game.

Thanks,

Sommers

 

[RegentMan]

Replied:

Good morning,

Quatronia will gladly transfer the gold over to our allies. You should find it waiting for you upon logging in. We hope the war against Merlot is going well.

RegentMan
Team Quatronia

 

[cav scout]

Got this from the Amazons:

Greetings honored allies.

Let me first introduce myself. I am 2metraninja of the Amazons and I am serving the Zenobian Omnipotent Nation as a General.

Hard times comes to us and we need your help now to pull this off and even we all to gain something in the process.

As you may or may not know, we was able to capture one Merlot city and raze another with heavy losses on the Star.

Now, as we expected and warned you all in advance, Maverics and Merlots armies are marching to the center of the Star and our brave Amazon soldiers in Nabaxica are the only thing that will stay in their way before they can join and ravage any ETTT city on the star. Their combined forces numbers more than 15 xbows, 7 maces, few catapults, spears, horse archers and elephants, so no one is safe.

We need you to assure us that you will use this time to prepare and launch attacks on Mavericks cities on the Star when their whole army is heading to the center, so at least we dont take in vain the chance of our soldier dieing alone resisting and slowing the enemies in the center. Also we will appreciate if you are able to send soldiers to reinforce our position in the center. If you are unable/unwilling to launch such attacks or/and send armies to the center of the Star in less that 5 turns, we need you to inform us urgently, so that we to retreat our soldiers to defend our own cities on the peninsula of Anjennida.

We need to hear from you that you are with us in whatever comes around.

Brothers, what we do now, it echoes in eternity. We await your decisive actions now.

2metraninja, General of the Amazons

I don't think we are in any position to reinforce the center of the star in 5 turns. We should tell them we are building an army but there is no way we could get there in time to challenge the main mav/merlot stack. Instead we will go after Mav cities as they suggest (just don't tell them we are going after the home island).

 

[CharlemagneXLII]

This is excellent news actually, it means it is likelier our gamble will work. I'll post a reply to the whole ETTT in the other thread.

 

[cav scout]

Got this from Sommerswerd:

Hello ETTT allies,

This is a short message to inform allies in advance that we are building the illustrious Versailles Palace to counteract the enormous, potentially crippling costs of managing the unruly cities liberated from the Evil Merlot Kingdom. It is our hope that this palace will serve as a shining example of the righteousness of the ETTT and pacify the former Merlot citizens.

Sommerswerd, Captain of The AMAZON