Internal Affairs

[Whomp]

I haven't started any chops so that's not an issue. We are 8 ish turns from machinery. It could be good trade bait because I have a feeling we're going to meet someone within the next 10 turns. The Leader's power number just spiked and surpassed us for the first time so my guess is they have one or two axes likely not enough to take us on. We are running out of time on our peace deal so it may be worthwhile to see if they're interested in extending it. If they stall then we know where they stand.

 

[pindicator]

At this point it may be better to finish Machinery, and dangle that for trade bait for anybody that comes calling. Xbows will keep us safe until Knights, and if they have Eles, well Spears work better in a strict hammer to hammer ratio.

8 turns to go? Finish Machinery. Do we have iron hooked up?

Sorry I haven't contributed much lately, but "tis the season"

 

[Kickbooti]

Why not skip extending the peace deal? When we have crossbows (8 tunrs?) we should be safe enough and it may distract/divert them from their research and expansion.

We don't have to pee in their soup, just vauge it up - something about exploring other options or dissention in the anarchist ranks. Something like that.

Oh, do we have iron hooked up? We need that for crossbows don't we?

 

[Whomp]

Heh. Now that I think of it. We don't have any iron nearby.

 

[Conroe]

We have NO iron? That means that we will receive absolutely NO benefit from researching Machinery!
Change it.

As for trade bait, we don't know if the next civ we meet will even have MC already. Heck, we could always do like we did with Epsilon -- "you guys research blah-blah while we research Machinery and then we do a trade" or something along those lines. They don't have to know that we are almost done with it.

But please, do not pour another 8 turns of research into something that will not benefit us.

 

[Whomp]

OK I'll start on maths. I hadn't even thought about it but I can't recall seeing iron anywhere either. We may have to go for that ivory.

 

[killercane]

Perhaps Leader lacks Currency, enabling a CoL for Currency trade with gold to spare?

 

[Conroe]

Thanks for posting the save, Tubby!

Perhaps Leader lacks Currency, enabling a CoL for Currency trade with gold to spare?

It is an interesting idea. I don't know about the rest of the team, but Epsilon has reached my WFYBTA limit. But, it is usually better to be flexible, so I took a look at the save.

Our Great Merchant will be born in 2 turns. Our two tech path choices now look like this:

Meditation -> Priesthood -> Code of Laws = 14 turns
Mathematics -> Currency -> Code of Laws = 28 turns​

Earlier I advised Whomp to start us on Mathematics, because the longer tech path had more useful techs. But, that was before there was a 100% difference in the time between the two paths.

I'm now wondering if the religous techs might be the better way to go. True, we have no use for them at the moment. It is a tough decision. We can also trade Archery for Priesthood in a straight up 85 beaker deal. That saves us 2 turns. I'm thinking its not worth it putting them 1 tech closer to their UU to save 2 turns.

What tech path do we want to take? Post your thoughts!


@Whomp: Hold off on playing the save. Depending on which route we go, we may want to change some builds.

 

[Whomp]

Gotcha covered Cap'n.

I guess another question is should we hit the diplo front with Epsilon? We are 12 turns from our peace deal ending and around that before meeting someone else. If we extend it for another 10 turns beyond AD there's a possibility for a 2 or 3 fer deal. The more techs we have the more marketable they'll be. The downside is whether Epsilon has met someone.

Without iron, or more exploration for it, we are stuck with axes for awhile. Should we fill in that ivory spot with the settler?

 

[Conroe]

Without iron, or more exploration for it, we are stuck with axes for awhile. Should we fill in that ivory spot with the settler?

I'm wondering if the "no iron" issue is a Sirian special. What if nobody has any iron?

My guess is we will find an Epsilonian city at the Ivory/Rice spot at the top of the penninsula. I think our next city should be south of TC. Picks up horses and silver.

 

[Whomp]

Yep we need both of those I'd think and we don't have a boat to send him to the ivory. Their warrior is conspicuously fortified outside our border.

 

[Tubby Rower]

I would really like ivory.. it serves a dual purpose of pleasing the masses and beating down neighbors

 

[Sweetacshon]

We'd all like the ivory spot, but I agree they probably have it already. This is why we need scouts!!! We could, of course, just try and take it off them.

 

[Whomp]

I'm going to leave the save for someone else this turn if that's ok. I want to make sure I'm not messing this whole thing up.

 

[Conroe]

All right, I'll give it a shot then, Whomp. Bear in mind that this will be my absolutely first PBEM turn ever. So it is possible that I will mess it up worse than you possibly ever could ...

 

[Whomp]

You can't mess it up. Just hit enter when you're done and then wait for the save icon to appear. In your PBEM save file it will have a MTDG file nicely prepared for you.

It's just I want to make sure, as you know, that other people on this team are engaged in this game. We need good discussion.

 

[Conroe]

Well, I was right, Whomp. I did mess it up. Unfortunately, it wasn't a PBEM related error -- I forgot to change one of the builds.

 

[Whomp]

Here's what I sent.

General W and the Servants of the Leader,

Thank you for your generous offers and understand your concern on construction.

We would like to agree to peace through 500AD.

Open borders with a "trade-only" clause; meaning that no units may enter either civ's borders.

We would be very interested in the technologies of Code of Laws, Mathematics, and Monarchy (1286 beakers) @ 50% off for 643 beakers. CoL would be especially helpful before your turn if it's possible.

As we have nothing to offer in return, the 643 beakers will be an available credit for a future trade deal? Though minor, we would like to offer Archery (85 beakers) for free, as a show of good will.

Sincerely,

Whomp of the Piffles

 

[Whomp]

OK some clarification...

Hey Whomp,

This isn't an official team letter – but we've got a couple points that need some clarification, esp. if we want to have the possibility of sending you some technology with the next save.

First – you letter was a bit unclear, are you agreeing to the "traders only open border agreement" ? You didn't type an "accept" or "not acceptable" next to that!

Also – I made a typo of my own in our last letter. The 20% deal was in regard to beakers. The 50% offer was meant to be paid in gold (once Currency is available). Is your team still interested in the deal with the understanding that it's to be paid in Gold, not in beakers? If you're at the very least still interested in paying for CoL in gold, I can try to push my team into sending CoL right away.

Please respond as soon as you can, as the save could be upon us at any time!

You can also catch me on MSN – if you want to get this sorted out really quick! usaman77@hotmail.com

Thanks,

- General_W (Josh)

 

[Whomp]

OK here's the clarification. It still sounds awfully good and they haven't tied our hands with other teams.
Do we need CoL before the turn?
Someone agree and we're done!

50% discount on gold for beakers

20% discount on beakers for beakers