Team SABER

[Elephantium]

The MAAP with the Council doesn't put any strings on lux trades, does it? I'd hate to agree to something without making sure of the MAAP first!

 

[Empiremaker]

Proposed letter:

SABER,

We have sent you spices, without accept. We were thinking of a 1:1 deal for luxuries.

Team FREE

 

[Kuningas]

sounds good.

 

[Empiremaker]

Sent to SABER

SABER,

We sent you spices, without accept on the last turn. We were thinking of a 1:1 deal for luxuries. Would you be interested at some point in the future?

Team FREE

 

[Empiremaker]

Reply from SABER

Dear Team Free,

At the moment we have no real need for luxuries since our citizens are already perfectly happy living in our beautiful country. However, we do have a spare luxury that we would be willing to sell for gold/turn. How much would you offer for our spare luxury?

Yours,

dutchfire

 

[Kuningas]

I would pay 35gpt. 10% lux taxes cost us 39 commerce per turn. We would gain a bit gold and could run 0% lux taxes.

 

[CommandoBob]

So let's offer 25 gold per turn. It is extra income to them and gives us 14 more gold into our treasury at 0% luxury. 30 gpt would be the max I would be willing to pay. 35 gpt is too close to break-even for me to consider.

Now, that is all from the money side of the equation.

On the diplomacy side, it might be worth 35 gpt to help keep Sabre from joining with Babe\Gong.

On that I am less sure.

 

[Elephantium]

Proposed letter:

Dear SABER:

After discussing the matter, our FREEthinkers believe that 25gpt would be a fair price to pay for an extra luxury. Is that acceptable to you?

Regards,

Elephantium of team FREE

 

[Empiremaker]

My only concern is how much that extra lux will help. Our outlying towns will be specialist farms, while the main towns would benefit a little. Some CAII/map examination would be good before making a final deal.

 

[Kuningas]

I sent 25gpt to SABER. If they accept that it will be really cheap price for what we gain from extra luxure. It's 3 happy faces in all cities with Marketplace.

 

[Empiremaker]

Not much of a surprise:

Dear Team Free,

We were rather unimpressed by your offer of 25 gpt for our wines. Our Domestic Office has had extensive experience in the production of alcoholic beverages ever since gbno1fan's rule and our wines are now considered to be top class, and as such we believe they are worth significantly more than 25 gpt. Our experts have calculated that a price of 40 gpt would be more appropriate.

Please let us know what you think about our offer, so we can work out a good deal.

Yours,
dutchfire

 

[Elephantium]

Possible points to raise in our response:

* It doesn't matter how much they think the wines are worth if they don't actually trade them. 1gpt for wines is a better deal than no wine trade.
* Although we have about 40 cities, we won't actually get one extra happy face per city (specialist farms, smaller cities with markets). Assuming that 1 happy face is "worth" 1gpt, 40gpt is too high a price for the benefit the wines will confer.
* We'd be more than happy to do a straight lux-for-lux trade.

 

[CommandoBob]

If we counter with 30 gpt, they might drop their price to 35 gpt and we might settle on 32 or 33.

Is that still a good deal?

 

[Elephantium]

I need better numbers.

How many science farms do we have?
How many cities with markets?
How many cities need one more lux for us to avoid riots at 0% lux?
How many extra happy faces do we need in cities with markets to avoid riots at 0% lux?

Hmm, I'd better grab the latest save and do some investigating...

 

[Kuningas]

It is a possibility to do a lux trade with GONG, Spices for Silks. This would improve our relations with them and they wouldn't anticipate a backstab from us.

Actually I'm not so worried about GONG or BABE. SABER is the worst threat we have at the moment and it seems like the Council is giving techs for free to the SABER.

 

[Empiremaker]

What would people think of a trade: Refining for steel? SABER has the corporation.

 

[Elephantium]

Seems like a fair trade to me, either with SABER or the Council.

 

[Empiremaker]

Proposed Letter:

Dear SABER,

We noticed that you have learned the secret of large businesses, also known as Corporations. We will learn Refining on turn 181. Would you be willing to trade Steel for it. Also, to protect our advanced techniques, we ask that you do not trade Refining to other teams. We would promise not to trade steel.

Team FREE

 

[Elephantium]

Did we ever send that letter?

 

[Empiremaker]

I never got confirmation, and I've been busy and forgot to send.