The ETTT

[Earthling]

I think I ought to make this post seeing as I had not read the arguments on the main forum before and I too was surprised, so for anyone curious or just to summarize:

-Lord Parkin, Sommerswerd, some prominent members of CDZ and other teams were involved in arguing about "dishonesty" and breaking deals and cheating and so on. Really heated stuff, not random people but major players on various teams, it wasn't what I expected to see either.

I would of course say again we just stay out of this. And going forward I think it's only fair to know that all "treaties" probably will not be followed to the letter and we shouldn't get angry at other teams, some might get a bit angry at others for breaking treaties though, but it just has to be expected in a game like this.

 

[CharlemagneXLII]

I think we should get back in touch with our allies, to keep each other up to date:

To all the members of the ETTT:

Just to start, a tech update: Quatronia has completed research on compass and we have starting on optics. We are not entirely sure what the rest of the alliance is up to techwise, so if you could give us an update that would be great.

We have been exploring the mainland quite a bit and have discovered several strategic resources. We suspect that the peninsulas are quite similar, if not exact copies of each other. On the peninsula with plains at the tip we have discovered stone, bananas, incense and copper (both us and CDZ have settled here). On the desert peninsula, between us and the Mavericks, we have discovered ivory so far. We would be interested to hear of any of your discoveries on the mainland.

We have just spotted the Maverick work boat heading back the way it came after being turned back by CDZ, so good work there guys, denying contact between Merlot and Mavericks will maintain a bigger advantage for the alliance. Have Sirius and Amazon seen any exploring boats from those two?

If Amazon is ready, Quatronia would like to enter a peace agreement with Merlot, seeing as we are not going to do anything to each other, and the double move rule has become a bit of a hassle.

Now to bring out an important issue that has that has gone largely unspoken in the alliance so far- Quatronia believes that this kind of tech-trading pact might as well be a military alliance, with the large advantages gained by all members. We had this idea when we first agreed to become part of the ETTT: Sirius and Quatronia take out Mavericks and Amazon and CDZ take out Merlot. We think that the tech trading pact will inevitably become a military one, and most teams probably agree, we just want to make it official, and possibly begin coordinating.

Both Mavericks and Merlot have probably figured out a lot of this by now; Mavericks have adopted a police state and have stopped pestering us for a trade (which is nice), and have now been turned back by CDZ. Merlot is, well, at war with two of us. If any of these two teams have sent any interesting messages recently, it might be helpful to share it so we can figure out their level of awareness of our alliance, especially any from the Mavericks, as they have a bizzare way of conducting diplomacy.

Quatronia was disappointed by the recent spat of arguments on the main forum between allied members, and we hope this has not damaged any inter-team relationships. We would also like to say that we have full confidence in the honesty of all teams.

Cheers, from sunny Quatronia.

I thought it is probably a good time to point out that this is pretty much a military alliance. If you guys are uncomfortable revealing what resources we've found, then we could change that, though, as said in the message, it is likely that other peninsulas are quite similar- I really just want to know if anyone has found any horses. There is probably no major rush to send this, I will be away a few days so go ahead and send it if enough people approve of it or any new and improved draft.

The last paragraph is probably unnecessary, I included it in case we wanted to say something about it.

 

[cav scout]

I wouldn't rock the boat right now by sending this message. I don't really see what the point of sending this is.

The only info we really need right now is when CDZ will get Machinery so we can start Optics (the proposed message above incorrectly says we have already started).

We are in a potential bind if CDZ decides they want to be the ones to tech Optics.

 

[galdarian]

Woah, slow down a sec there! That's not a message I'd be comfortable sending in its current form.
As has been noted, we'd be incorrect in stating that we've started Optics as we need the pre req Machinery, which we assume, is currently being researched by CDZ.

The congrats is good, the info is OK however I'm not sure I'd be sharing this with everyone right now.

To also take the position of calling a spade a spade, ie. the ETTT = a Miltary Pact, maybe seen as quite aggressive on our part. Sure it's parallel however I don't recall there being anything said about NOT attacking another member of the ETTT. I would concede however that until we get privateers it's prolly not a smart move.

 

[Earthling]

I think this could use revising but I appreciate the sentiment and thoughts behind it. Anyway, we probably don't want to go too far into military/alliance matters, after a bit of sparse communication don't want to startle other teams.

I do like doing all of the following:
-Informing/offering Compass and asking about Machinery so we can tech Optics.
-Mentioning the war with MERLOT and whether AMAZONs might want peace - the little paragraph in the message here really is great
-Discussing the resources on the "peninsulas." Our description of the plains-side is fine, for the desert I'd maybe just say we suspect ivory and marble. Anyway CDZ knows what is around our shared landmass and I'm sure Sirius/AMAZON have done some exploration, so a slight revision here and it is a fair discussion for our allies.

So again I don't like talking overly militaristic about Mavs/MERLOT and the recent arguments on the forums probably need to be avoided, again they didn't involve our team so it's ok to stay out I still think.

But a good start and idea for a message, thanks as always.

 

[CharlemagneXLII]

We should probably start talking to these guys again, namely CDZ (about their city) and Sirius, that's the main reason I cooked up this message. We do want to make sure the ETTT becomes a military alliance, but it is probably best to talk directly to Sirius about that, since they would be the ones working with us, since you guys think that it could come off aggressive on our part. Mainly, I think that the more we communicate with our allies, the better an advantage we'll have (we are denying Merlot and Mavs contact so they don't have the advantage of talking to each other), and we can avoid situations like CDZ's unexpected city. I cut the more aggressive parts out, how does this look:

To all the members of the ETTT:

Just to start, a tech update: Quatronia has completed research on compass and we will start on optics, once we have the required machinery. When can we expect this? We are not entirely sure what the rest of the alliance is up to techwise, so if you could give us an update that would be great.

We have been exploring the mainland quite a bit and have discovered several strategic resources. We suspect that the peninsulas are quite similar, if not exact copies of each other. On the peninsula with plains at the tip we have discovered stone, bananas, incense and copper (both us and CDZ have settled here). On the desert peninsula, between us and the Mavericks, we suspect ivory and marble. We would be interested to hear of any of your discoveries on the mainland.

We have just spotted the Maverick work boat heading back the way it came after being turned back by CDZ, so good work there guys, denying contact between Merlot and Mavericks will maintain a bigger advantage for the alliance. Have Sirius and Amazon seen any exploring boats from those two?

If Amazon is ready, Quatronia would like to enter a peace agreement with Merlot, seeing as we are not going to do anything to each other, and the double move rule has become a bit of a hassle.

We would probably want to sort out the CDZ issue first.

EDIT: @ cav scout: I figured we'd send this message after starting optics, I've revised it if that is not the case. The other reason for the message is to find out if anybody has found any horses- that would be obviously very important.

 

[cav scout]

I like that version.

 

[Earthling]

I like this message a lot too, nice work and a solid revision right to the point of what we want to say. Sending it sooner is also ok by me, we might not be started on optics for a while, also some teams like AMAZON already noticed we have Compass so just to be on the same page for tech.

 

[CharlemagneXLII]

Sent it, along with PMs to Trystero, Robi D and SilentConfusion:

Just a quick note telling you to check your team email for an update.

-Quatronia

Hopefully we can get replies soon, so we know what to do techwise.

 

[CharlemagneXLII]

Reply to all from Sirius:

Fellow ETTA members,

Tech update: This seems like a good time to coordinate our activities. We anticipate completing Civil Service next turn. We have not decided what technology it would be best to pursue next. Given some of the military entanglements, we were considering Feudalism, but Paper is also an option once Theology is complete.

Mavericks situation: We were contacted by Mavericks ~10 turns ago, when their work boat entered our territory. At the time, they stated it would soon be followed by a trireme. Since we had no vessel that could contend with a trireme and our borders had not expanded enough to prevent the work boat’s passage, we let it pass. However, we have since seen no sign of this other vessel. It’s possible it turned around when we let their work boat through, or that they were bluffing about its presence. Regardless, their work boat took a detour into the channel leading to the mainland’s center. It re-emerged a few turns ago, and is just now leaving our territory. We will alert you if we see a Mavericks trireme, but it looks like Amazon could halt the work boats progress by refusing to open borders.

Resources: We are currently exploring and settling the mainland arm between ourselves and Mavericks. This arm has a plains tip with stone, pigs, copper, and incense resources. Mavericks may have settled a city here as well, as they claim to have settled near copper, but we haven't seen their cultural borders. We'd expect to be able to see them but we haven't fully explored the continent yet. The arm between Amazon and us appears to have a desert tip with marble, bananas, horses, and ivory resources.

First thing, we will be getting CS soon, meaning we'll get bureaucracy soon- shortening our build queue in Continuum, along with hereditary rule.

I think we can assume that there will be horses for our warrior to discover on the Mav peninsula soon- this could affect our settling.

We'll have to decide what we recommend Sirius research, and we might want to start a dialogue discussing what to do about the Mavs with them.

 

[galdarian]

If Sirius do Paper, which would be my suggestion, then Map trading will become a hot topic. Something we definitely don't want CDZ to be doing just yet. It's difficult to give a good answer on all this until we know what turn we will get Machinery.

 

[cav scout]

I think their interest in Feudalism is good. Longbows might come in handy when Mavs and Merlot decide to go raging on the main continent. It would suck to invest all this effort into REXing only to have someone swoop in and raze all of our 1 warrior garrison cities.

 

[galdarian]

As I said elsewhere it would be better to have CDZ tied up in Fued for longer allowing us to get started on Aesthetics thru to Music.

Just in...

Greetings fellow ETTA members,

Team CDZ will we finishing Machinary in a couple of turns. We were planning to do Feudalism but if Sirus wishes to take this task on then we will need some feedback so we don't end up doubling up on a tech.

Regards
Robi, Team CDZ

 

[Earthling]

I'd be very happy if CDZ wants to do Feudalism too. I think us going for quick HBR and then Optics is good. Steer others clear of Aesthetics just a little longer too - Construction/Engineering might be a decent path?

Map/resource updates are cool. Does strongly suggest we have horses over on the Maverick peninsula. It's a real shame that's the desert peninsula though and the one with CDZ was the plains one we had to fight to settle over.

 

[Bowsling]

Seriously? They send a message to us without even bothering to check their spelling?
Someone hasn't been putting much thought into what they send their allies, even if it's just a quick updates.

 

[cav scout]

I think a minor spelling mistake (Machinary) is forgiveable. I'm sure Robi proofed it but it "looked" good to him. We all make spelling/grammar mistakes from time to time that we are blind to. So lets not get our feathered ruffled up over unintentional things.

 

[Bowsling]

No, I can live with spelling mistakes. It's just that when you're doing written diplomacy with your allies, making spelling mistakes show that you were not paying as much attention to writing the message as you could have been.

 

[cav scout]

Got this in our gmail:

To all of our Friends in the Mighty ETTT Alliance:

We Zenobians hope that our allies are prospering, and we wish to share some important news.

First, our spies have confirmed, that Merlot has indeed made contact with Mavericks. We are not sure when this unfortunate event occurred, but we discovered it at the beginning of this very Year of Our Lady 800.

With this unhappy, albeit inevitable turn of events, a new M&M alliance is no-doubt soon to form. Although we were enjoying the advantage that our enlightened ETTT had been providing, we also relish the opportunity to feast upon the sweet candy-coated hides of our enemies, like so many delightful chocolate confections.

Towards this end, we would like to respond specifically to our friends in the Continuum regarding the recent hostilities with Merlot. While we would prefer that all of our friends remain united in open opposition to the evil Merlot, we can certainly appreciate the logistical difficulties with a restricted turn timer. Therefore, if you wish to press the King of Merlot for peace with his Kingdom, we would bear no grudge against you for that. As is said in our land, “I ain’t mad at cha.” Although, we are curious whether Merlot has actually offered peace, because we were suspecting that this war with Merlot would be a permanent state of affairs, having serious doubts tat the proud Merlot King would ever seek peace with the ETTT.

Additionally, our scout Marian has located Merlot’s copper source, on Marthaton, which they are currently attempting to mine, as well as the city nearby, called “The circus.” At this very moment, we have Pyrgomache, armed with large, broadly bladed weapons en-route to this city. Finally, since the evil, drunken Merlot warriors were the aggressors, we anticipate that their people will become weary with the war, while the Zenobians remain resolute in their righteous quest to avenge the murder of our beloved scout Dora the Explorer… May she rest in peace. Consequently, we will not be seeking any cease fire, or peace treaty with Merlot at this time.

We can confirm that the peninsulas are quite similar, if not identical. On the peninsula with plains at the tip we have discovered copper, incense and cow. On the desert peninsula, between us and the Sirius, we have found ivory, horse, bananas and marble. We have not located any stone yet.

We still have not seen any Maverick or Merlot boats near our waters, but with recent developments, they may prefer to just turn around rather than risk being sunk.

Last, we can confirm that we are pursuing Construction, however, we are in the midst of political and religious upheaval as we have thrown out the Barbarous, Pagan government and replaced them with a strong Bureaucratic government that will keep our Religion Organized. As Christianity was recently discovered in our lands, we have also declared Christianity to be our official State Religion. However, we still believe in a degree of religious freedom, and welcome your Missionaries to our lands. We hope that you will welcome ours as well. News of the Continuum’s mysterious Stonehenge has already resulted in some of our people adopting the Buddhist faith, and we hope this trend of religious diversity continues in the lands of The AMAZON.

Be Well,
Sommerswerd, Zenobian Captain

 

[CharlemagneXLII]

So the real war has begun. It seems Amazon is gung-ho on a grand alliance. Maybe it is better to stay at war if we can do the restricted turn timer to keep our allies happy- Merlot won't go to peace just so our timer is no longer restricted.

 

[cav scout]

I'm fine with us staying at war. The turn timer thing is a minor annoyance.

Still, it might be good to quietly mend fences with Merlot without Amazons feeling let down. We might need Merlot to be friendly (or friendlier) to us down the road. We gain nothing by staying at war now except for giving the Amazons a feeling of solidarity. If we can effectively reassure them then peace would be a good thing.