MIA meeting scheduled for 10:30 EST (2:30 GMT)

[gmaharriet]

We did have a second chat open.

Wish I'd known. I really wanted to be "a fly on the wall", but I was afraid to join the main negotiation for fear of just confusing things. I often fear I'm the least knowledgable team member, both about PBEMs and game strategy itself.

Maybe next time some info could be posted for us "flies"???

 

[Tubby Rower]

If you don't have MSN messager, go ahead and install it.. The next diplo, we'll have another Team KISS (TK) conference room. Hopefully it won't take 4 hours again. :suicide:

The 2 diplomats will be in the diplo room with a scribe. I believe that Chamnix was MIA's scribe. Some of their members have AOL & no MSN.

 

[gmaharriet]

If you don't have MSN messager, go ahead and install it.. The next diplo, we'll have another Team KISS (TK) conference room. Hopefully it won't take 4 hours again. :suicide:

I have it, but I rarely use it. I updated it over the weekend for "just in case". I'm (surprise) gmaharriet@hotmail.com. My Yahoo ID is just gmaharriet. I never leave either one up and running unless I know in advance I'll be IM'd...it used to drive me crazy to be interrupted 25 times an evening for "Whatcha doing?" messages.

 

[Tubby Rower]

Make yourself "away" or "busy" then don't respond when people send you those messages.

 

[Daghdha]

My 2 cents
As part of the in-jumpers I may have confused things and, if that was the case, I am sorry for that. All in all we got a fair deal and did well but were way to slow, that goes for both sides. Suggestions made about how to do this more effectivly seems good. Fewer participants and drafts can be easily arranged. Concerning the goals, that is harder. They were reluctant to speak about such except for "everybody wants peace w everyone". Maybe us both knowing the other team has the ultimate long term goal of winning complicates things a bit.
I suggest Bugs and Pent start working on a research plan and post it here whenever ready. I agree it's a vital part of the whole pic.

 

[Whomp]

I have edited out some of the conversation about “stuff” but here's my conversation with Rambuchan today. Some good progress and I think we should prepare our letter for Fe333au today and forward it on. Daghie do you want to send it?

Spoiler :

Word to the Whomp . Well I didn't edit that because I want to show you Ram's positive communication skills.

Well it turns out we have met in the MTDG. It would be nice if you could be our liasion. I was a little disappointed we could only consumate a short term deal after 4 hours on IM, partly my fault for bringing some of my teammates into the conversation. I think you and I could communicate better. If you are interested in doing this, of course.

Let me know your thoughts.

Well what with the move, no broadband hooked up in my new place, lots of work to do, my new 'living schedule' etc I've found it quite hard to get back into the Demo game. I'm trying but I've got shiit loads to do this week.

I noted that we've made contact and I'd love to get involved but all those things above are getting in the way atm. Plus I am a total multi-player noob. I'm really just spectating and making humorous inputs, with the odd inspired piece of advice here and there.

I hope to get more involved but it would just be irresponsible for me to volunteer for anything like that right now. Maybe next week you will see more of me on that front.

Peace out!

Sounds good on the MIA front. We had some difficulty disusssing things with Kentharu and felt so much more comfortable when Emp. Napoleon joined in. It shouldn't have been so difficult but there was a sense of distrust when speaking with Kentharu and some of my teammates got out of hand and have apoligized in our forum.

I think we'd prefer another person and have drafted a nice letter we plan to send to Fe3333au. Take your time getting in on everything because we hope to make this a long lasting relationship.
Talk to you later.

I'm not aware of any wrong words, so this is news to me.

fe33 and also General W seem to be the good folk to talk with in our team. Both very dedicated to the game and reasonable.

I will work on catching up on all the detail in good time.

Some players on my team starting getting hot and I had to shut them up. They did not like dealing Kentharu who couldn't even return a few pm's to establish a meeting or accomodate times because he needed to sleep till 10:30 am. Then he gave us the feeling he had no capability to be a decision maker after 4 hours of conversation. Not my idea of a good time.

This is why I'd prefer to deal with you, Emp. Nap., Fe3333au, Chamnix or General W. It's fine if Kentharu wants to be involved but honestly there was no reason this should have run 4 hours for a very small picture deal. I'm not trying to hurt his feelings and I don't want to stir anything up with him but hopefully we can, delicately, request another person. My .02.

I see where you are coming from Bernster. All those four guys you mention should have been doing it. I don't even know from which rock this Kentharu character crawled out from. Is it acceptable for me to share your sentiments with the team in our private forum so that we can get this change of diplomat happening?

I don't want to make him feel bad. Especially when dealing with two guys who were given carte blanche to make team decisions. I made the mistake, when Bede left, of adding some of my teammates to the conversation. We've already discussed this and it won't happen again.

I think we would like to send our letter first to Fe3333au and maybe you can give him a heads up. I have no problem having Kentharu involved but would prefer if he is secondary in the conversations.

I think both teams should put together their perception of life together before our next discussion. Which I'd like to see happen sooner than later. From our perspective we've hardly touched the surface.

How does that sound?

With that said, I think that it would be valuable for Kentharu (and our young players for that matter) to be able to see the negotiation process develop. There are valuable life lessons that can be learned through this game we love. Compromise, asking questions and handling objections are what make the diplomacy aspect so interesting IMO. I don’t see any harm if he’s secondary in this process. Just my .02.

 

[Tubby Rower]

Assuming that we won't make the sling, I included the Republic in the costs.

Feel free to play

 

[Tubby Rower]

Here is the excel spread sheet. Just put a 1 in the column on either side to get that tech added to a team's total.

One other thing of note, some tech costs will lower once the other continent is known.

 

[Crakie]

I read the transcript yesterday (as was obvious from my previous post in this thread)... it may not have gone smooth, but it was pretty much new territory for everyone involved.

My remarks:
- As was suggested, the 'audience' should keep quiet. 2 diplomats is the max.

- Having a plan before the meeting is nice, but you can never count on MIA in going along with it. They seem to have some odd research priorities as it is. The objective is simple: any deal that will save us money is desirable as long as they do not get too much out of it. Now trying to determine what deals satisfy this criterium is very difficult... the diplomats should have a firm grip on the game, know our priorities, and be backed up by number crunchers. If we are going to share the beakers in the AA, things are simpler fortunately.

- I got the strange feeling that these guys are lying about their contacts. What prompted this most is them claiming to research writing so easily. It seems to me that they seem to be able to get a deal with someone else. They were also very eager to know whether we had made any other contacts.

- The deal we struck was the best we could do, I'm sure. Still, we gave out a monopoly tech. Granted, monopolies aren't as big a deal as when playing the AI, but if they contacted the other continent...

 

[Kickbooti]

Here are my random thoughts as an observer and (unfortunate) participant in the negotiations...

1) Make sure that MIA has a decision maker at the table. Or, failing that, we KNOW what thier process is and the time-frame it will involve.

2) SET A TIME LIMIT!!! I think that part of the problem was a difference of approach. Everyone was interested in 'playing the game,' saying flowery things, talking in subtle and oblique terms. Unfortunately, it didn't work as well with MIA. The negotiations seemed to go better when things were more clearly (bluntly) stated.

A time limit (no more than 90 min. MAX) may help focus everyone's thoughts.

3) As has been said, no more than two negotiators. I would hope a time limit would help facilitate that. I also have to apologize for jumping in. It was just like a bad movie, you know when you scream at the screen. Unfortunately, this time I COULD type. It was cathartic, just not helpful.

4) It looks like we are moving this way, but I wonder if both teams could have appointed ambasadors? I'm not sure how it would work precisely, just a thought...

I promise to sit mute next time. I have other venues to vent my spleen

 

[Daghdha]

I have edited out some of the conversation about “stuff” but here's my conversation with Rambuchan today. Some good progress and I think we should prepare our letter for Fe333au today and forward it on. Daghie do you want to send it?

I will PM fe33 the note revised by Brother Bede.

 

[IroquoisPlisken]

Just got done reading it. It was all over the place, but it was, like Crackie said, "new territory for everyone involved".

I agree with the 2 diplomats per side at a time. At some points, Kentharu seemed to be by himself, negotiating with 3 or more of us. I can't blame him for being intimidated.

There is something strange about them, though. Even though it was mentioned several times that we have no contacts besides them (and we COULDN'T have any, without Alpha), they kept asking. Perhaps they don't trust us? We do have an offensive Civ by nature, we do have WC already, and you guys did mention that we believe the best defense is a strong offense.

About joining the next session, I'd like to, but unless it's on the weekend, I doubt I could be there very long. My hotmail address is: nintendo_is_king@hotmail.com

And I have to say, I at this section:

Whomp says:
and what are the repurcussions if we get beat to the sling?
Kentharu says:
i would say sorry

 

[gmaharriet]

I agree with the 2 diplomats per side at a time. At some points, Kentharu seemed to be by himself, negotiating with 3 or more of us. I can't blame him for being intimidated.

I'm getting a bit confused. The number of diplos has been mentioned in more than one thread, and I can never find the post(s) later.

I'd agree with 2 diplos per side, plus a scribe who is to be silent except for c&ping any of us who may be in a separate chat. Just possibly we might want to include a 4th as an advisor (Tubby) who can provide numbers when required and requested, but most conversation should be limited to 2 on each side.

I think there should be a 3rd diplo available (in the separate room) as an alternate if the primary ones are unavailable, and all three should be authorized to commit to deals or to specify that it would need to be taken to the entire team for a vote.

Whether or not "silent" observers should be allowed in the main negotiation, I have no preference except that they be required to remain silent and all greetings be surpressed. This should be a point agreed upon by both sides prior to the start of a negotiation session. It might also speed things along.

Another thing which might facilitate the negotiations would be a mutually agreeable written agenda, which could be covered point by point, with an "other topics" as the last item.

Hmmmm, do you guys have any idea how MUCH I hate long meetings, like at the office?

I think all of this should be in a written "policy" form to be used by us, regardless of with which team we may be dealing.

 

[Sir Bugsy]

Harriet - Excellent idea about a meeting policy. I have a quote on my wall at work. It's from Dave Barry's Sixteen Things it Took me Fifty Years to Learn.

2. If you had to identify, in one word, the reason why the human race
has not achieved, and never will achieve, its full potential, that word would be
"meetings."

 

[gmaharriet]

I'm am going to immediately email that quote to myself at my work email. It SHALL be posted on my wall tomorrow!!! Thank you.

 

[Kickbooti]

I have included an attatchment that, I think, should be the motto of our diplomatic corp (as demonstrated by our recent negotiations).

If you like that, check out despair.com or http://www.despair.com/indem.html#viewall
for the full collection of their "Demotivators."

Unfortunately, they don't match the decore of my workplace...

 

[Sir Bugsy]

I love those despair posters. As a quality professional, I have the one with the leaning tower of Pisa next to my meetings quote. Mediocrity - it takes a lot less time and most people won't notice the difference until its too late.

 

[Daghdha]

Good morning Ladies and Gents. Spat out my @ despair.com. The slacker generations vault of wisdom. Thanks Kick

 

[Tubby Rower]

Here's one that fits our team too..

 

[Daghdha]

@Tubby
What a coincidence . Idiots "think" alike
'nother thing byw. How do figure MIA would respond if we gifted them your excellent spreadsheet on research, just as a hint. Like, "Here's a gift from the Celts. Could be used for work as well as play. Have fun"