will edit this in a sec. i'm sending pegasus + co a PM now acknowledging receipt. we'll prepare a response but this is something we need to get dazed's input on so we draft something all 3 of us are happy with.
edit: ok, i've acknowledged receipt. now onto the nitty-gritty.
my thoughts
1) we should not agree to the information exchange straight-up. our information-gathering ability is approx. 2x theirs and will remain that way for some time. i'd like to make this point clear to them in a friendly way
i'd be very interested in hearing suggestions on what we can ask in return to make the agreement a fair one. i'm leaning towards just asking them what they think would be fair.
2) we should agree to a NAP
but it's too early. i WOULD like a NAP with them, as long as (and this is the key point) a settling plan is built in. there's a simple reason for this - they are CRE as well as EXP. a settling race with them is a losing proposition for us. if we're able to come to an agreement we're happy with regarding settling, with clear locations for city sites, then it's in our favour to lock it up.
for now it's too early though - we need to get a better feel for the lay of the land. a possible path this could go down is, we agree with them that they scout the area for us, providing us with edited screenshots showing the area but hiding their capital (allowed under the game rules). this could be the counterweight in the negotiations over point 1) above.
basically, i think it IS in our interests to get a NAP done with them as soon as we have a clear idea of what the land around us looks like. the NAP must go hand-in-hand with a settling agreement though.
just throwing thoughts out there, would be great to hear what you guys think. it's very early days but it's always good to have a direction you'd like to take negotiations in so you can work towards that goal.
edit: ok, i've acknowledged receipt. now onto the nitty-gritty.
my thoughts
1) we should not agree to the information exchange straight-up. our information-gathering ability is approx. 2x theirs and will remain that way for some time. i'd like to make this point clear to them in a friendly way
i'd be very interested in hearing suggestions on what we can ask in return to make the agreement a fair one. i'm leaning towards just asking them what they think would be fair.
2) we should agree to a NAP
but it's too early. i WOULD like a NAP with them, as long as (and this is the key point) a settling plan is built in. there's a simple reason for this - they are CRE as well as EXP. a settling race with them is a losing proposition for us. if we're able to come to an agreement we're happy with regarding settling, with clear locations for city sites, then it's in our favour to lock it up.
for now it's too early though - we need to get a better feel for the lay of the land. a possible path this could go down is, we agree with them that they scout the area for us, providing us with edited screenshots showing the area but hiding their capital (allowed under the game rules). this could be the counterweight in the negotiations over point 1) above.
basically, i think it IS in our interests to get a NAP done with them as soon as we have a clear idea of what the land around us looks like. the NAP must go hand-in-hand with a settling agreement though.
just throwing thoughts out there, would be great to hear what you guys think. it's very early days but it's always good to have a direction you'd like to take negotiations in so you can work towards that goal.