We are not alone!!!

[donsig]

Chamsuri succeeds in making contact!!!

Our very first curragh has found FREE!



We are in the midst of our turn - all moves made except for Chamsuri's last movement point. I think she should sail back to the safe tile.

I've got the save open and just wanted to wait awhile and see if The Council has any emergency instructions concerning this new and important development.

 

[peter grimes]

Why head back?...

We're eventually going to have to attempt that crossing, and now is as good a time as any, as far as I'm concerned. Dont' you want to see where they come from? I do.

Sail Forth!

 

[donsig]

If we hold the spot we prevent them from seeing where we are from. I doubt there are further contacts in that direction that we can't get to easier from our homeland.

How do contacts work anyway? Now that we can contact them does that mean they can contact us, too, even if they've never seen Chamsuri on their turn?

FREE started with bronze working and pottery and have researched alphabet (150 beakers) and writing (240), for a total of 390+??? beakers. We've done 480+169 (so far for lit).



Will see if I can figure out what other techs they have.

 

[Aigburth]

Brilliant news!

I Have no idea how the contacts work but I think a short 'hello we've made contact, more to follow' email should be sent.

Regarding Chamsuri, why don't we just bring him back to safe waters for this turn then decide if we want to push on?

 

[peter grimes]

I forgot how units work here. You're right: We should protect that safe tile.

Retreat NW, and Drop Anchor!!

 

[General_W]

Retreat NW, and Drop Anchor!!

​

An e-mail should most certainly be sent. – and we should probably start a "Team Free Embassy" to collect conversation about our dealings with them.

This is extra good news, in my book, as Sumeria (FREE) is likely to be the least threatening team to us – and therefore the easiest for us to cooperate with.

We should really try to get things off on the right foot, get some trading going, and generally try to make good friends, imo.

I think AutomatedTeller is still our Foreign Minister?
I serve as the FM for team Epsilon on the Civ4 MTDG, so please just let me know if I can help in anyway.

 

[donsig]

Yes, we need to start up a friendly conversation with them. No rush though since they don't have much to trade for. According to our newest research rates it looks like FREE has ceremonial burial. That puts their beaker output at 450+??? beakers versus our 649 beakers so far. Either we're producing many more beakers than they are or they are close to finishing another tech. Might be a good trade available soon. Also, if we wait we can see if they e-mail us. Maybe they dont' know we are around.

Chamsuri went back to the safe tile.

 

[Niklas]

This is most excellent news.

I see little point in holding back now. Chamsuri has served well and done all we could hope for and more. The most important thing with the exploration was to find a contact, and he (she?) did. Anything from now on is just a bonus.

• Going back to try some other crossing seems just not worth it, why risk another three turns at sea when we can have a new Curragh out soon to do it instead? Just stating the obvious here.
• Holding in place means Chamsuri is safe, but what's the gain? The only possible gain I see is that we deprive FREE from the chance to explore in our direction. But do we really care? Why not let them sink a few curraghs on that? Also it likely won't stop them from seeing where we are from, on their turn they will likely move into a spot from which they see us. And even if they did not, again would we care?
• Going forward means risking probably one more turn in hostile waters. It would make sense, looking at the map, that the jungled coast we are seeing is indeed the FREE lands. So by going ahead we have a 50% chance of not gaining anything (but not much is lost either), and a 50% to be able to gain valuable map knowledge, very useful in trade negotiations.

I think the case is clear for pushing onwards.

EDIT: Thinking some more, there is also a slim chance that the curragh we're seeing is also out exploring someone else's home turf. By pushing on we'd know for sure.

On their techs, they could easily have more techs that we won't know about since we don't have the prerequisites. If they have CB (probably popped from a hut) then they could have Myst too and we wouldn't know. And since they have BW that we don't, they could have IW.

Negotiations should start immediately. They are the other peacefully scientific civ in this game, they are exactly the civ we wanted to meet. We should negotiate a research pact and cartel, so that we don't duplicate each other's work, and that we don't sell techs onwards. They will most likely be interested in this, since they won't see us as a threat. We should also try to glean whether or not they have other contacts, unlikely as it may seem.

This is oh so exciting, we could be the first to make contact anywhere in the world, that will give both our nations a great advantage if it's true.

 

[peter grimes]

Research Cartel is an interesting idea. By conjoining, we can lock out the other 'idiot' teams. It would likely take the other three quite a bit of time to figure out that the wise ones are allied, and actively seeking to prevent the other teams from keeping up. It would also make both of us a target. But likely, that won't happen till the Middle Ages.

That would mean 2 free techs at the start of each era!
Plus accelerated research most of the time.

 

[donsig]

We need an ambassador then! Automated Teller hasn't posted in a few days. fe333au has't been here in quite awhile. (I glimpsed him on Aim last night but didn't have time to chat.) There is no message from FREE in our g-mailbox. They only played their turn a couple hours ago.

@Niklas: We do have BW so they don't have IW. They may have mysticism though as you pointed out. That would put their total beakers up to 710+ versus our 649. (I used CAII to get the figure gathered for lit so far. If that's a turn behind we have 30 or so more beakers. )

There seems to be a consensus to push Chamsuri further. I still like the idea of holding that tile but blocking FREE could be considered (by them) to be hostile so I will join the consensus.

Well, if Automated Teller doesn't post by tonight (or if we get a message from FREE) we should start a new thread in order to draft a message to them.

 

[AutomatedTeller]

I'm sorry, guys. My work schedule has made it very difficult for me to be online with any consistency - a lot of travel. I've had to basically drop out of my SG's, as well.

This is terrifically exciting, though!!
We should be able to figure out what 1st level techs they have, though, from the way that tech costs dropped in CivAssist from the turn before we found them to the turn after, no?

 

[donsig]

We should be able to figure out what 1st level techs they have, though, from the way that tech costs dropped in CivAssist from the turn before we found them to the turn after, no?

FREE started with bronze working and pottery. We can only offer them philosophy in trade so that means they also have alphabet and writing. Our cost for cremonial burial has now gone down by 11.43% so they must know that tech. Our cost for iron working, masonry, code of laws, map making, the wheel, warrior code (and I think literature) has not declined, meaning FREE does not yet have those techs. As Niklas pointed out they may have mysticism.

Their beaker total is 710 versus our 649. If they got ceremonail burial through a goodie hut then the beaker totals are 650 for them versus 649 for us. Since part of our 649 beakers is invested in literature it seems logical that they are also well on their way to their next tech. That may be literature as well since they are also scientific. If we're lucky they chose to research map making instead.

Now they can figure out that we have bronze working, alphabet, writing, pottery and philosophy. They will also figure out from this that we didn't get a free tech for philo so they will know who did.

Here's an interesting thing. I reopened the last turn to look at the civlopedia and checked our contacts. Even before moving Chamsuri and seeing their ship we can contact them. Doesn't this mean they saw Chamsuri on their turn 55?

Also, their curragh has no name.