The Council

[Elephantium]

Odd. It works that way in single-player.

Wait. Don't we need to have a city on their continent (or vice-versa) in order to trade workers?

 

[CommandoBob]

I looked for something to explain how trading workers works in PBEM, but didn't find anything. Maybe we do have to be on the same landmass.

 

[CommandoBob]

I reopened Turn 291 (1500 AD), before we lost Freedom Central. Moved a worker into the capital and opened F4. Resources, luxuries, gold and cities, but inidcator for workers.

Looks like this works differently in an MP game.

 

[CommandoBob]

Received from The Council before we played Turn 302.

Hi CommandoBob and all the FREEdom Fighters,

SABERS nuking of The Gulag did sever our trade route though we expect to have it repaired on our next turn. Last turn we placed workers in position to rebuild roads into The Gulag. Since SABER only sent stealth bombers into the area (according to their latest battle log) our workers should be there ready to rebuild those roads. Of course SABER might destroy the trade route again but the Council believes transferring workers via the trade screen would be faster and safer than trying to transport captured workers across the SABER infested seas.

Thanks in advance for any help you can provide us.

The Council

 

[Elephantium]

I reopened Turn 291 (1500 AD), before we lost Freedom Central. Moved a worker into the capital and opened F4. Resources, luxuries, gold and cities, but inidcator for workers.

Looks like this works differently in an MP game.

Huh?

 

[CommandoBob]

Sent to The Council after we played Turn 302 but before the turn was sent to them.

Dear Friends in Blue,

We were again unable to gift you workers via 'normal' diplomacy. We did send you Coal, Iron and Spices.

We also sent you the city of Tujana.

Let us explain why.

Tujana is a rather centrally located city in Old Gong. It is adjacent to Furs and Silks. It has an airport in the city and three airfeilds outside the city and next to it.

And a stack of 14 settlers adjacent to the city.

Please accept this gift from Free. When you accept this gift, you will have your own sources of Silks and Furs. And then please feel free to airlift a unit into Tujana so that it can capture the stack of 14 settlers next turn. Which means we have to be at war but only for a very short time. It also means you will have 28 slaves to help you eliminate the Saber created pollution in your lands.

If there is another way to get these units to you we don't know it.

We have sent a copy of the Diplomatic screen and a city view of Tujana. In the city screen view we blacked out both the names and production rosters of nearby cities. It was easier to use one big black box than several smaller black boxes for each city. We weren't trying to hide the cities; we were just detail-challenged (lazy).


Other News
Saber has invaded the island between us, the place we called 11NW. They captured two cities (Sid City and Freeborn) and we abandoned the last one (Martin Luther King, Jr.).

We have ships heading towards you, but sighted no Saber fleets along their way. A screenshot of what they see/don't see is attached.

Sincerely yours,

Art Parry
aka CommandoBob

Let FREEdom ring,
Let the white dove sing...

Attachments

xcSWCouncil

Spoiler :

xcTujana

Spoiler :

xcTujana2

Spoiler :

 

[CommandoBob]

The recent PMs from Donsig were also sent to our email account.

 

[CommandoBob]

Sent to The Council while posting Turn 302 and before Turn 302 sent to The Council.

Oh dear,

In our previous message we stated that we sent Coal and Iron. Actually, we sent Coal and Horses.

Oops!


Sincerely yours,

Art Parry
aka CommandoBob

Let FREEdom ring,
Let the white dove sing...

 

[CommandoBob]

Received via PM from The Council while they held Turn 303.
This was probably also sent as an email, but I have not checked on that.

Hail CommandoBob and the FREEdom Fighters,

We would like to thank you for all your recent gifts. We will send you dyes again this turn. We have not yet played our turn but we have looked at the save and are happy to report that (since we will accept Tujana) we will be able to trade workers via the diplomacy screen now (if SABER doesn't disrupt our trade route again). Any workers you can send us next turn would be greatly appreciated. We do plan to airlift a unit to Tujana so we can capture those settlers but we're not sure how we'll get them to our lands. We have no transports and rushing one or two would take gold which we are fast running short of. We thought it would be a good idea for you to recapture the workers and gift them to us and then we realized you would have to transport them to your capital city first. Well, we have time to figure out what to do with them.

We have a couple more pressing questions for you. We are having trouble with our coastal surveillance system. We are effectively blind in one sector off our west coast. We had a privateer patrolling the area but it has disappeared. We are quite worried about this since we're sure SABER sunk the privateer which means there are SABER ships - and maybe loaded transports - in that area. You have a few ships near The Phoenix which may have just sailed through the area we cannot see into. If so you could allay our fears about the presence of SABER transports in the area. Here's a link to a screenshot. Can you tell us soon if you have any intel on the fogged area?

Again, any help you can give us would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
The Council

 

[CommandoBob]

Reply to Donsig via PM:

Dear Donsig and Other Stubborn Blues Brothers,

Just a brief reply.

Tujana has an airport, and the airfields outside of it should be inside your borders when you accept the city. Once the settlers become slaves four of them could be airlifted to their new home.

If we can send you workers this turn we will.

Sadly, our navy did not sail through the area in question. We can get close to it next turn. The units next to your shore mainly sailed south. And our units heading that way are on the far side of that area.


Sincerely yours,

Art Parry
aka CommandoBob

 

[CommandoBob]

Sent to The Council after we played Turn 303 but before the turn was sent to them.

Dear Fellow Wearers of Blue Suede Shoes,

We accepted your gift of Dyes. We replied with a gift of workers, nine of them this turn.

We did scout out the sea area off your northeast coast, but for good or bad it was mostly vacant of Saber shipping. We've sent you a composite screen shot and the in-between ones too, so that you can double check our work.

There is a small force of Saber ships just NE of Sid City on 11NW, but no Transports are visible.

Enjoy the settlers you get from us this next turn!

Sincerely yours,

Art Parry
aka CommandoBob

Let FREEdom ring,
Let the white dove sing...

Attachments

xc237ne

Spoiler :

xc237nc_1

Spoiler :

xc237nc_2

Spoiler :

xc237nc_3

Spoiler :

 

[CommandoBob]

Received via PM from Donsig of The Council while we held but before we played Turn 304.

Hi CommandoBob and Team Free:

Sorry for the late communique. We have captured the settlers and workers and have begun airlifting them to our lands for duty. Thank you very much. We have already offered peace and we hope to re-establish our trading as soon as possible as we are in need of luxuries and resources.

SABER has nuked us once again. They no longer target our cities directly, they instead try to destroy as many of our improvements and workers as possible. Once trading is established again, any workers you can send would help greatly.

SABER has also captured The New Yard. We do not think this is a serious threat as our intel showed only one SABER transport in range of that city. (By the way, your intel has been a tremendous help and we hope you will continue to help us in this regard.) The transport in question was escorted by two destroyers which we were able to bomb and damage but not sink.

We continue to build away at our escape vessel. We are sorry for the late communication but it seems most of the Council is holed up in a bomb shelter somewhere without access to the internet.

donsig
for The Council

 

[CommandoBob]

Sent to The Council after we played Turn 304 but before we sent them the saved game.

Dear Gutsy Geeks and Stubborn Stalwarts of Science and Exploration,

We joyously accepted your offer of peace. We desired to send you some resources, but there is some difficulty in doing that. We did send you our World Map and 100 gold.

We have scouted around your Saber facing coastline and have good and bad news. The good news is that the coast is generally clear. The bad news is that we did find some Orange vessels in the area. Off to the northwest is a lone Saber Destroyer, roughly due west of The Red Tape. To the southeast is a Transport, near the ruins of The New Yard. We assumed it was empty and instead killed 2 Nuclear Submarines. Sub Spotter is dancing over their graves at this moment. Sub Locater, who located and destroyed one of the Orange vessels, has also located two more Nuclear Submarines south of The Treasury.

In the screenshots we sent, dark areas inside the lines are considered clean, except for the location of the Saber Destroyer.

We took a big military hit this past turn. We had forces on their way to invade Saber. This was a risky venture, and we knew that, but a little enemy action on their shores would have turnabout-fairplay. If only it were so. They were detected and destroyed. Eight transports and their protection were turned into radioactive mist; the only survivor is a red-lined Cruiser. Saber consumed two nuclear weapons in the destruction of our forces.

The times are grim, as Saber continues to darken the skies and pollute the lands with their trademarked orange mushroom cloud.

Learn well and build quickly. The hopes and dreams of all the Blue people are resting on your lauch pad, whereever it is hidden!

Sincerely yours,

Art Parry
aka CommandoBob

Let FREEdom ring,
Let the white dove sing...

xc236wc

Spoiler :

xc236swc

Spoiler :

xc236Trade

Spoiler :

 

[CommandoBob]

Received from The Council after we played Turn 305.

Greetings CommandoBob and the FREEdom Fighters,

We thank you once again for all you've done for us. Your intel has helped greatly. We ask that you continue to send what information you can along with any surplus workers and resources you may have. We continue on in our struggle though we really have no defense against SABER's nukes and bombers. The recent SABER rattling in the UN has caused the Council to take a fresh look at defensive strategies. One way to counter a SABER domination is to abandon coastal cities and use tactical nukes to strike any invasion force that lands. This strategy is limited to the amount of tactical nukes we can produce. It also relies on an intact road system, which SABER can pretty much destroy at will.

How is your navy doing? It seems to be our only hope of stopping or delaying SABER invasions. We will send detailed information of the size of SABER's military if our spy is still active when our turn comes.

The Council

 

[CommandoBob]

Sent to The Council after we played Turn 305 but before we sent the game to them.

Dear Dark Blue Buddies,

The orange stain of Saber now controlls all five of the small islands, which brings their land control to 38% and their population to 58%. Were they to take control of Gong, which we fear they could do, that would bring them to around 58%. A city here or there on our fair homelands, beyond the range of tactial nukes, could give them Domination.

But to do so would take several turns, so the end is not yet here. There is still time for you to reach the stars.

We will continue to scout your shores for as long as we can, but our forces are few, thin and widespread and thus easy to pick off. We did find one group of Saber ships this turn, 7S of The Nursery. And we have long range views from our ships in the area, both at the start and end of the turn, for your intelligence analysts to enjoy.

We sent you W073, a worker and our World Map. We weren't able to send any luxuries or resourcs, however.

We plan to send more workers next turn.

Sincerely yours,

Art Parry
aka CommandoBob

Let FREEdom ring,
Let the white dove sing...

Attachments

xc235hwj

Spoiler :

xc235Early6SNursery

Spoiler :

xc235Early6WArboretum

Spoiler :

xc235Late6SNursery

Spoiler :

xc235Late6WArboretum

Spoiler :

 

[CommandoBob]

Received from The Council shortly before they posted in the Turn Tracker thread for Turn 306.

Dear Light Blue Brothers,

Here is the latest intel we have on SABER's forces:

1 settler
53 workers
20 marines
1 infantry
1 tank
92 mech infantry
100 armor
6 artillery
1 tactical nuke
16 transports
5 carriers
19 destroyers
4 battleships
18 nuclear subs
41 jets
8 stealth fighters
18 stealth bombers
1 leader
8 armies
1 cruiser
12 mobile SAMs
uncounted slaves

Thanks for your help,
The Council

 

[CommandoBob]

Recieved via PM from donsig of The Council while we held Turn 306.

Dear CommandoBob and the FREEdom Fighters,

Thanks once again for your intel and other help. It saddens us to hear that SABER may soon be able to add the old GONG lands to their empire. We must confess that it will take more than several turns for us to reach the stars. We have no defense whatever against SABER's stealth bombers and nukes. While we have 9 of the 10 needed spaceship parts completed these are useless without the engine. We are still over 40 shields away from finishing the engine and sadly we are only able to manage one shield per turn given SABER's relentless bombings. We do not hold out much hope for a launch any time soon.

donsig
Speaking for The Council

 

[CommandoBob]

Not yet sent to The Council; prior to Turn 306.

O Wise Ones of The Council,

Your latest missive has caused great unrest in land of Free. Unrest, sorrow and gnashing of teeth, as we reflect upon what might have been.

Companions through thick and thin, if indeed it is true that 40 turns are needed to complete the rocket-sled to the stars, then all is lost. Saber cannot be denied for that long. And if they sabotage that production, then 40 turns becomes only a dream.

If there is a chance that 40 turns could become 10 or less we would stand strong with you and defy the Men of Orange.

Otherwise....Saber has won. Not officially, but practically. They control the seas and the pace of the game.

Close friends of Free, the world has changed much since we first met. And as heartbreaking as it is, the shape and posture of the world do not favor anything Blue.

And we should consider how to end this with honor.

I most humbly suggest that either we both consider resiging from the game or else consider gifting all of our cities to Saber to give them a Domination Victory. Of the two choices, speaking only for myself, I prefer the latter method. Just resigning, at this point in the game, seems petty. Giving them our cities, while painful, would somewhat negate Saber's victory, since they needed our help to achieve it.

Free is not advocating quitting. Free is advocating the recognition of a lost cause.

This is our current military, spread out over two continents:

Spoiler :

• 00 Settlers
• 14 Workers
• 06 Marines
• 37 Mech Infantry
• 25 Modern Armor
• 07 Artillery
• 07 Cruise Missle
• 00 Tactical Nuke
• 00 ICBM
• 02 Transport
• 02 Carrier
• 02 Destroyer
• 00 Battleship
• 00 Nuclear Submarine
• 05 Bombers
• 09 Stealth Fighter
• 09 Stealth Bombers
• 02 Cruisers
• 02 Mobile SAMs

Sincerely yours,

Art Parry
aka CommandoBob

Let FREEdom ring,
Let the white dove sing...

 

[CommandoBob]

The message above has been sent to The Council. Turn 306 has not been played.

 

[CommandoBob]

Received from The Council, via email, before we played Turn 306.

Dear FREE,

We ended last turn showing the engine completing in 13 turns in The Silo. The population of the city was four with two civil engineers working giving us an output of four shields per turn. We have 590 shields in the bin and need 640. SABER nuked the tile east of The Silo and killed one citizen. (The battle log is in the spoiler.) I am not sure what happens to worked tiles and specialists during nuclear strikes but I doubt we'll make all four of the projected shields. There are no roads leading into The Silo and our attempts to boost production have failed due to SABER's nukes and stealth bombers. On turn 304 we had 589 shields. We had the same on the turn 305 due to riots. Turn 306 (our last turn) we added one shield to get us to the present 590.

SABER knows which city to target and we can do nothing to stop them. In order for us to launch in less than ten turns SABER bombing capacity would have to be significantly reduced. We have another prebuild in The Igloo that could be turned into an ICBM with an infusion of gold but we have no idea if a lone ICBM would make a dent in SABER's air force.

At this point the few Council members who have spoken up are supporting the idea of gifting cities to SABER. I am hoping others will speak up soon.

donsig
speaking for The Council

Spoiler :

Nuclear missile hits east of The Silo killing 1 citizen.
The Chamber:
Stealth Bomber: Bomber 3/3 -> destroyed.
Stealth Bomber: Bomber 3/3 -> 1/3.
Stealth Bomber: Citizen killed.
Stealth Bomber: miss.
Stealth Bomber: miss.
Stealth Bomber: miss.
Stealth Bomber: Bomber 1/3 -> destroyed.
The Treasury:
Stealth Bomber: citizen killed.
The Aerie:
Stealth Bomber: Citizen killed.
Stealth Bomber: Citizen killed.
Stealth Bomber: Enemy units injured.
Stealth Bomber: Enemy units injured.
The Nursery:
Stealth Bomber: Citizen killed.
The Arboretum:
Stealth Bomber: Enemy unit injured.