[SPOILERS] Team EggHeads: DMOC and TeddyKGB (Now Lurker-Friendly!)

[DMOC]

Diplomacy Updates --- 150 BC (Turn 109)

As expected, Blame Caledorn don't need the stone.

Hi DMOC,

Your message came with very interesting timing. I don't know if you spoke with Teddy, but we had been chatting about this very issue shortly before you sent the message. I basically let him know that we are no longer in need of the stone, since we are finishing up Moai pretty soon. Also, I was surprised to see that it was being traded to SuttOxy, since Teddy had been clear that you needed the stone for Moai when I asked about the possibility of you guys sending it our way.

At this point, we are ready to settle the furs ourselves. When Teddy brought it up originally, he acknowledged that the furs are in our sphere of influence, and asked how we would feel about you settling them instead. I proposed a solution that we would feel comfortable with, but he declined and never suggested a counter-offer. So we thought you were no longer interested in that area and started making our own plans to settle it for the much-needed happy.

Now, we don't want to cause any rift between our two teams. We've cooperated very well so far and I don't see any need to let this cause a problem between us. Therefore, I diverted our settler to a runner-up location to secure a source of horses. The next settler is on it's way though, so I'd like to get this concluded and decided as soon as possible. If you absolutely must have the fur, we would be happy with a GPT deal in exchange (money is the only thing we're hurting for worse than happy right now). An extra city location + happy resource feels pretty valuable, so we were thinking 10 GPT for 30 turns. What do you think about that? If that is not something you are interested in, then we will probably proceed with settling the fur soon. To show our good will, we'd be willing to gift you a duplicate happy resource, as soon as we are able to hook up a double of something that you don't already have yourselves.

Let us know how all that sounds. Ultimately, what is most important to me is that we can continue cooperating and get past this issue without impacting our valuable in-game friendship.

Yossarian

Since that's said, we should trade stone to Asterix. Thus, I sent him this message:

Asterix,

Yes, we are officially interested in trading our stone for your spices. I'd like to correct you on one thing, though. According to our (massive!) diplomacy logs, our trade with SutOxy lasts until turn 112, and thus our stone is available on turn 113, one turn earlier than you claimed.

That said, would you be interested in the trade starting at turn 113 and lasting to turn 122? (Inclusive on both ends, so it's a 10-turn deal.)

Note: IF I turn out to be wrong (I don't think so; our logs clearly say that the trade with SutOxy started on turn 103 and lasts 10 full turns), I'll let you know promptly and we can start the 10-turn trade on turn 114.

Sincerely,
DMOC

Representing Team EggHeads

EDIT: We already got a response back from Asterix:

Hello,

I would actually be interested in starting Stone for Spices trade as soon as possible, so if it is available earlier it is even better. I just must have remembered incorrectly when your trade with Suttocrats started.

Asterix

So I sent him another quick confirmation:

Okay, even better. So consider the deal set: a 10-turn trade, our stone for your spices, lasting (inclusive) from turns 113 to turn 122.
-DMOC

We also got a new message from Team Orgynized:

Dear DMOC and Teddy.

I am happy that our cooperations goes well, and I am talking sometimes about issues happen and stir the world. I do understand that sometimes things don't go as expected, so I am ok with yo gifting the worker at late t107.

I was talking to Teddy yesterday and he shared your consern of bordering Rome and issues that may come with that. This is also the reason you have piled up 300+ gold. Yesterday I did suggest to borrow 300 gold, if I promised an interest on it afterwards, recalculating, I did some numbers and suggest following:

*Arkipeller loans 220 gold at t111 from Teddy/DMOC/Dick
*This loan has to be paid by t121
* I add 3g/turn as interrest, meaning you get 250 gold back by t121, if I use that many turns.

IF Team Eggheads are attacked by Rome during this trade, Arkipeller loans 3 axes to Eggheads for protection and safety.

Could this work?

Here is a draft of a response to Arki -- I did NOT send this yet but it expresses my thoughts.

Arkipeller,

I'm glad that our Missionary/gold - worker trade succeeded, despite the initial rifts. We look forward to continued cooperation.

That said, I looked at your proposal about gold, and I'm sorry to say that I'm not sure if we want this deal. Right now, we're badly in need of extra happiness, even with us pumping Hinduism throughout our empire, and we've been saving up gold so that we can start researching at 100% to get Monarchy soon (with a detour to get Monotheism along the way). Monarchy makes sense for us in a lot of ways, because we're producing a lot of axes and catapults so we might be able to use some for Hereditary Rule happiness.

I'm happy that you offered this deal, though, and it pains me to turn it down, but right now the gold we have is simply too important for us now.

Sincerely,
DMOC
Representing Team EggHeads

PS: The only active members of our team are DMOC and TeddyKGB.

NOW FINALLY … let's get back to the original message by Blame Caledorn! Again, this is a draft, so I did not send this yet, but it expresses my initial thoughts. I don't really think we're in any position to *demand* some stuff from Blame Caledorn, especially since they're just about to found the city while we don't have any settlers in production.

Blame Caledorn,

Yes, Teddy informed me soon after I sent this that you don't need the stone, so I apologize for being a bit late. In case you're wondering, I'm planning on devoting more time to this game once January starts, since the current semester (the hardest one I've faced thus far) will be done by then. It was also a bit too much for me to expect that we could just get the furs like that, but I'm glad that you're willing to offer some alternatives. Thus, here is my idea about how to approach this situation:

1. You found the city to claim the furs, so we won't contest it.
2. You let us found a city to claim the marble resource near our city of UIllinois. We're hoping to do so as soon as Rome happens to (hopefully) attack someone else, since founding a decent city would otherwise put pressure on Rome's borders.
3. Both of us consider fur-marble trades in the future.
4. Say, I'm not sure if we've ever made serious NAP agreements (didn't see it in our emails). We do have a Defensive Pact against Rome lasting to turn 130, but just to be clear, I think the two of us should have our own NAP just so there are no hard feelings. How does an NAP for our teams lasting to turn 170 sound?

Out of curiosity, we're also planning on getting Calendar along the way, though this may not be for another 10 to 15 turns at least. We have multiple sources of spice (but only one dyes); what are the calendar resources you have? We may consider trading for those in the future.

-DMOC

Team EggHeads

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And now for our current deals, just so we're not all over the place:

1. TEAM CARE BEARS (INDIA)

The former runaway, they now seem to be falling behind. (I still cannot fathom why they chose to revolt to Police State instead of Representation … were they trying to lose their lead on purpose?) As far as deals go, we have an old border agreement (they won't settle west of Cheer; we can settle up to 3 tiles east of areas south of our stone). We have an NAP to turn 140.

2. TEAM SUT-OXY

The current runaway, and the team to keep an eye on. We have an NAP to turn 150. We also have our stone for their silk from turns 103 to turn 112 (inclusive).

3. TEAM MASTER & MARGARITA (ASTERIX)

The mysterious team. We currently don't have any official deals (not even an NAP), but we will give them our stone in exchange for their spices, from turns 113 to turn 122 (inclusive).

4. TEAM ORGYNIZED

We have an NAP to turn 125, and an espionage agreement. We also had a (sometimes contentious) agreement on turn 107 for their Hindu missionary + gold for a worker from us.

5. TEAM BLAME CALEDORN

Defensive pact with them vs. Rome until turn 130 (and I assume an NAP until then, but no official agreement). We are currently negotiating with them about the furs location. EDIT: Sent them a message below, they've responded saying that they'll let us found marble, if we let them found furs. And we have an NAP to turn 170.

6. TEAM GLADIATOR'S GLORY

There has been no diplomacy with them.

7. TEAM BOWSLING/AIVOTUROSO

NAP to turn 150, with espionage agreements until them. They seem to be in a very weak position so they are unlikely to play a major factor in the future.

8. TEAM DINOSAURS

Defensive pact with them vs. Rome until turn 130 (and I assume an NAP until then, but no official agreement).

9. TEAM MLM CANNIBAL PONIES

We have no deals with them. They have 5 cities right now and seem to be in the worst position of anyone, so there's not really much point to helping them out when they'll probably be swallowed by a northern superpower soon.

Currently on my TODO List:

1. Respond to Blame Caledorn about possible alternatives. (Edit: Done)
2. Respond to Arki saying that we're probably not interested in this (we need Monarchy ASAP and thus the gold we have) (Edit: Done)

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As far as the game goes, I still stand by the stuff I said earlier:

(1) We get more sources of happiness now (can be Monarchy, do we have enough to run research at 100% now?)
(2) Get a 13th city soon
(3) Keep several cities on military, but most should focus on growth or wealth. We also want maybe another worker.
(4) Which city gets Washington's missionary? I suggest Carnegie Mellon. And I also suggest that Washington build another Hindu missionary right after its current one.

And in addition:

(5) After Stanford finishes its monastery, I'm not sure if there's a city other than the capital that will need them. Maybe one of our border cities for culture?
(6) Tech path after Monarchy? We should probably get Calendar at some point as we would also get dyes. But Metal Casting and forges give us +2 happiness.
(7) I'm not sure a colosseum is the best build for the capital, but I guess it's cheap and can be whipped (?). Maybe we need another worker/settler out of there?
(8) Don't forget the axes! We have catapults but will need more raw strength in axes to counter a possible Rome attack.

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Our naming schemes (assuming we can get these cities founded ):

13. UMichigan (University of Michigan, Ann Arbor)
14. UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles)
15. UC San Diego (University of California, San Diego)
16. UMaryland (University of Maryland, College Park)
17. Columbia (Columbia University)
18. Harvard (Harvard University)
19. UPenn (University of Pennsylvania)
20. Brown (Brown University)

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Finally Teddy, are you available to play throughout the entire U.S. holiday season? Just wanted to check since the players here should decide soon about the extended turn timer.