RB PBEM #2 - Justinian (SPOILERS!)

[Dreylin]

Also had a quick chat with Yaz ... enlightened him about a way of gathering in-game info and got an update on his war:

yazilliclick: Hey Dreylin

me: hi, how's the war?

yazilliclick: Can you quickly confirm something for me? Has SL traded you his horse?

me: erm
not to my knowledge

yazilliclick: k

me: does that mean it's going elsewhere?

yazilliclick: It's gone somewhere unless somebody disconnected it

me: Hmmm

yazilliclick: And the only war I know of atm is me and darrell

me: Barb is possible
You know SL & Darrell though, right

yazilliclick: Maybe, pretty big coincidence

me: so could see in F4 if they were trading
just click on one of the leaderheads
and then hover the other
should show you existing trades

yazilliclick: damn didn't know that
:P
Confirmed that's where it's going ffs

me: Hmmm

yazilliclick: Haven't heard anything about some sort of ruff/sl/darrell alliance have you? Or is everybody just out to kill me?

me: I haven't heard anything, no
but once you declared on Darrell, logically Ruff would see that as an opportunity

yazilliclick: Oh I think Ruff has already been working to help darrell in this.
Even though he and I have a NAP he's working hard to get me killed

me: Hmmmmm
Well, there may be a way to cut off darrell's horses
depends on whether SL'd route to Darrell runs through your borders

yazilliclick: Yeah, declare on sl

me: 'k so you know

yazilliclick: His workboat that went over there passed through my capital and land to get over to him and I currently have OB with him from that.

me: (means I don't have to feel guilty about plotting against anyone... )

yazilliclick: Nah, only thing you've showed me is where it shows the trades for other people.

me: (also useful in SP to assess relations between two AIs)

yazilliclick: Yeah I've checked it like that but never noticed it showing trades before. Tunnel vision I guess.
Or the AI just never traded anything :P

me: heh

yazilliclick: Well guess I'll wait for SL to have a chat with him. Turn will probably take a while.

me: np, Krill will be poking you then

yazilliclick: I'm poking him atm :P

me: heh

yazilliclick: Don't want to have to declare war on EVERYBODY

me: heh
I think you're safe from me

... probably
:D

yazilliclick: ...
:P
Well you'll just have to wait in line for me to burn your cities I guess

me: heh, gotta come through SL first

yazilliclick: Yeah well I think I'm probably screwed. 3:1 is a bit much
But I'll keep it interesting for em

Yeah, 3v1 he probably is screwed, but with the lands open for me to settle, a bit of a distraction for everyone else isn't a dreadful thing for me.

[Dreylin]

t55 -

Const finishes a Worker & starts a Buddhist Temple. Will raise the Happy Cap, allow me to start running a Priest specialist & SPI means it'll fast ... in only 2t.

New Worker starts a Cottage between Const & Thessa, while Eastern Worker starts mining the bare Plains Hill at Adrianople.

Damn; looks like the NW route isn't going to lead back down to the 'phants:

[Dreylin]

Well it could be said that I'm aiding both sides, but I prefer to say that I'm not burning any bridges....

Darrell: you there?

me: I gather you're having a little war...


Darrell: yeah
Was wondering if you are gong to playthe save tonight
Highly curuios to see what happened and all that
You're not obligated of course :P

me: yeah, just finished

Darrell: ah
game still open?

me: but my "poke delay" has kicked in now

Darrell: I'll have to wake Krill up

me: instituted to put Krill off

Darrell: heh-heh...yeah
he was actually the last to end turn in PB3 today.

me: no save upload for 10mins after last poke ....

We chatted earlier; he's been sick as a dog for the past few days

<....>

uploaded

Darrell: yeah, I spoke to him as well
that's why I didn't needle him in the email thread
um...just an FYI there might be a short delay on maths due to the war
what turn was the trade planned for?
I was pretty sure I was early but now maybe not

me: t60 was my estimate for CoL

Darrell: hrm
you will now beat me

me: so t61 before SL has it probably
& t62 before it gets to you

Darrell: oh yeah we have to proxy via SL don't we

me: unless you get to me before then

Darrell: i haven't even got to ruff yet

me: Yeah, and I probably just ran into a dead end
trying to chart a different route than SL

Darrell: going east or west?
I can guarantee you can't reach us going east

me: can you
that's interesting
West

Darrell: yes, krill is boxed in and probably planning my destruction as I fuddle around with Yaz

me: heh
he'd probably be planning mine otherwise
I hear you've got support though

Darrell: I was going to ask you to see ifyou cuold request horse from SL
Yaz seemed to think he could DoW SL and block the resource trade. I'm 99.999% sure he cannot, but now I worry
Actrually woke up at 4 a.m. last night after a nightmare that Yaz had elephants in his capital

me: Trade went through
Heh

Darrell: Hate to get so vested in a game, but here I am
that's good

me: but I think your route to SL passes through Yaz's lands

Darrell: correct

me: so per PBEM#1

Darrell: however, you can only block trade routes, not resource trades
I think

me: declaring on SL will cancel deal

Darrell: really?
I could have sworn in the poly demogame that didn't happen

me: Remember when I (finally) declared on sooooo

Darrell: hmm
did you see if yaz declared on SL then?

me: it blocked health trades between him and mh
didn't notice
& haven't met Yaz yet

Darrell: Well that's going to be pretty bad for me
because I was counting on that horse fairly badly
be a gent and not clue yaz in on that, will you?
just in case

me: I think he knew

Darrell: he certainly mentioned it

me: Well it definitely came up in #1
I'll see if I can see anything in-game
a la PAL v. Rabbits

nah, iirc that required a third-party

Ah

Darrell: if you can see SL has horse to trade
I'm dead

me: um
bad news

Darrell: shoot
you have met Ruff?

me: don't die before Maths comes in, OK
not yet, no

Darrell: hmm

me: my exploration West sucks

Darrell: well this is going to get interesting
carefully laid plans and all that, I spent a lot of micro time assumign horse

me: ah
Maybe Krill will lend you some?


Darrell: horse?
he doesnt have any
he will get copper though I don't know that he'll send it to me
or that it will be in time

me: That bad, eh?

Darrell: well, he's got 3 axes and an Immortal
gonna be let's see 4 turns to attack
I can get horse online in 3, so I can probably get a few out
only positive is he is across a river I guess

me: Archers?

Darrell: I have hunting but no archeyr
not sure how many turns it would take to tech

me: Ruff has it

Darrell: really?
that's neat

me: well he offered it to me

Darrell: okay, I will check with him
I shoule have alpha

me: I assume he held off Yaz with PRO archers

Darrell: probably
he said "he's back" but hasn'r replied to my 30 questions

me: heh

Darrell: yaz declared on ruff too

me: wow
blaze of glory!

I guess Darrell wandered off to consult with Ruff at that point. Interesting to hear from him that there is no route between Krill and myself. I wonder how long they've known that ... and how long Krill has been threatening me with an early war since finding that out!

[Dreylin]

Another chat with Darrell this morning:

Darrell: might as well declare war on yaz too and make it a party
do you have any tech trades lined up with him?
me: yeah

Darrell: bummer

me: 'cept I haven't met him and don't have Alpha


Darrell: dont mind CoL, maybe he will put courthouses in all my cities
just dont want to see him get any military techs

me: ahahahahaha, me have Military techs!?

Darrell:
just wait for cataphracts

me:
Thought Krill was the arms dealer here

Darrell: when I rolled that leader for you, I really really wanted to pretend it never happend and roll another :P

me: (what do you think I'm doing... )

Darrell: stupid conscience

me: heh

Darrell: at least you aren't near me

me: Especially now Krill can't kill me before I get there

Darrell: nope
uh...no need to tell him you found that out from me, right?
gonna find out where I stand with krill real soon when I ask to borrow his copper

me: Well I had worked it out myself

Darrell: ah okay
that's good

me: So Krill has known for a while now...?

Darrell: I think so yeah
he's right at the edge, he has to have known for a while
cataphracts require machinery
that tech seems to go well with civil service
be nice to have a mace monopoly

me: will need to get MC from Krill

Darrell: him and the oracle, he does it every game

me: Well he's making use of IND

Darrell: yeah
and CHA, with stonehenge

me: Urgh
well you got tGL, so stop complaining!

Darrell: not complaining

[Dreylin]

An e-mail from Ruff, followed by a chat:

Dreylin,

I know both SL and Darrell and they both have Myst available to trade - Darrell also has archery and alphabet. Would you mind if we started out tech sooner rather than later? If that is ok with you, could you ask SL or Darrell to flip me myst - I will ask Darrell to flip you Archery when he meets you (about 4 to 5 turns).

Ruff

Ruff.Hi: dreylin - you there?

me: yep
got your message

Ruff.Hi: talked to SL this morning

me: waiting for the game to arrive

Ruff.Hi: I am sending him archery

me: OK

Ruff.Hi: so it should be ok to get myst from him and you get archery

me: Cool
I had no problem starting the trades early

Ruff.Hi: just that neither you nor i know alphabet

me: was going to ping him after I'd seen the turn
yeah

Ruff.Hi: no rush on myst - there is nothing I can actually do with it for 2 or 3 turns anyway

me: Did I owe you Med as well?

Ruff.Hi: ditto - no rush
what ever was in the trade email
I owe you archer, aesth and lit
aesth in 3 at the moment - might go out a little

me: sure, all sorts are happening

Ruff.Hi: yeah - no kid

me: my Northern route is starting to look like a dead end

Ruff.Hi: I have no idea where you are
have an EMPTY galley heading your way
not sure if it will be south or north route at the moment

me: heh, mine is Empty also
I think the link is SE of the Ivory
I'm not certain that there's a link NE of the Ivory (that's where I am now)
(I assume you've seen the Ivory between you and SL)

Ruff.Hi: oh - you are heading north past SL settler / chariot?

me: brb
Ah, he's settling Ivory now?
but no
not in that area, unfortunately
I've been to the West end of SL/my continent and could see an Ivory on an adjacent Island
SL then told me that SW of that Ivory was another Island with a Horse (which you can't see yet)
and then got to your/Yaz mainland
There is an island NE of the Ivory island - reachable from our mainland - and I was trying to come that route to meet you
but it seems thay might not link up

Ruff.Hi: oh
that sucks

me: yeah

Ruff.Hi: darrell was hoping to met you soonish at my border

me: still a chance they will link, but looking less likely/speedy

Ruff.Hi: you might be miles away

me: yeah
I'll have a Scout heading over to the Western edge of my continent though

Ruff.Hi: do you have a pic of the horse island?

me: I've not seen it myself

Ruff.Hi: my galley is just to the east of that and heading east

me: Have you seen the Ivory yet?

Ruff.Hi: I have seen 2 ivories
as I understand it - there are 3

me: Ooooo

Ruff.Hi: 1 is in my 3rd city, 1 in SL city and 1 in SL's 3rd border pop

me: I only know of 1

Ruff.Hi: ahh - SL might have been trying not to tell you that there are 2 where he is
oops

me: Ah, np
OK, from my maps: there is an Ivory on the Southern tip of an island
our landmass is East of that, with a plains forest visible first

Ruff.Hi: that I can see
when you find that ivory, go SW and you hit horse island (it is actually the same island as Ivory Island), then further SW to my island

me: yeah, that's what SL told me
If you travel along the Northern shore of our landmass you will reach my borders faster
that along the South

Ruff.Hi: not thinking of doing that
plan is to go on south border so that I can branch off south if possible
further north will just be cold
btw - do south and north always get capitalized - I use to but then I stopped

me: I thought they did, yeah
I'm 98% certain that the only route South from our landmass is via SL's borders
i.e. through a tile of Ocean

Ruff.Hi: which I cannot use

me: exactly
I have a similar island to myself further East

Ruff.Hi: well - guess it is just a run along your land mass for fun - maybe I can loop over the top and complete my run along the top

me: Landmass ends in Ice, but you can use my canal cities to switch sides

Ruff.Hi: oh nice - canals

me: Personally, I would prefer having more land!

Ruff.Hi: does it wrap to Krill?
well - that is what happens when you go with this map script

me: oh sure
& no

Ruff.Hi: no wrap to krill
hmm - guess I will hve to get another boat int he water heading west to meet krill
going to be hard with Yaz in the way

me: Didn't Darrell mention a Southern route?

Ruff.Hi: yeah - he is coming that way
long way but I am not sure if Yaz border doesn't block
could be possible as I expect Darrell to flood Yaz's territory with galleys

me: if he can survive that long, right?
or has the multifareous plotting saved his butt?

Ruff.Hi: both Darrell and I are scrambling to cover our cities but the tide will turn pretty quickly
block of horse trade was brilliant
declaring on me was good play
attacking me was bad play
he is now in 2 fronted war

me: yeah, I was surprised things went that far

Ruff.Hi: I think after he declared on SL he thought - why not Japan too
he had immortal near my 2nd city - could see it was empty and took the opportunity to declare and rush it

me: ah
so he took it?

Ruff.Hi: sitting on its doorstep
I had a spear in it that I sent off with my settler
while I was building archer replacement

me: ah

Ruff.Hi: archer now installed

me: whipped defender?

Ruff.Hi: but I was within 3 or 4 hammers of having a spear in there - rats!
no - whip overflow

me: so 50/50-ish battle?

Ruff.Hi: yeah - I think so
protective archer, no promo, no XP in flat city v immortal
combat 1 but I think it is due promotion

me: cultural defenses?

Ruff.Hi: it is slightly damaged - 3.4 (I think)
0%
no myst
no religion

me: coin toss

Ruff.Hi: hover after EOT said +70% from city

me: BTW, I can send you religion...

Ruff.Hi: darrell got 3 religion spreads for free
bastard

me: wtf!
I've only got 1 & SL 0 so far


Ruff.Hi: I have 0 in pitboss #3 and it has been like 50 turns so far

Some discussion of exploration routes - trying to describe the map without pictures - and getting more updates on Yaz's blaze of glory.

[Dreylin]

t56 -

Thessalonica: Missionary - Missionary

He starts walking South across the desert.

NW passage does look like it'll take a turn West, but maybe not in time to meet up with the next island. If not, I'll send the other Galley Westward after it drops off the Scout and bring the NW explorer back to act as ferry.

Elmer Fudd starts looking for barbs ... no luck so far.

I offer Priesthood to SL as our agreed brokerage fee; I'll follow with an e-mail.

[Dreylin]

Chasing SL:

Hey Sitting Bull,

First Missionary is on his way, should be reaching you in a couple of turns or so. I also went ahead and offered Priesthood as our agreed brokerage fee, that should cover any trades I need to use you as an intermediary for. On that note, could you pass Mysticism to Ruff for me; I should be receiving Archery back from him in exchange.

I was also wondering whether you thought your state of war with Yaz would be a temporary one, or whether it'll extend for a while? Obviously I'd been hoping to get hold of Monarchy via you, but if you two are at war that seems unlikely. 8-(

Regards,

Dreylinian I.

[Dreylin]

t57 - no conflict in my lands, no way!

Get Archery from SL.

Constantinople: Budd Temple - Warrior (1t to build, 1t to grow) then Settler.

Scout on Chariot & sails back to mainland.

Oooo, still progressing Northwest ... might be able to get back South to find Ruff.

Fudd de-fogs another corner, but no sign of pesty wabbits.

[Dreylin]

t58 - Back in the saddle; what was I doing again!?

Constantinople: Warrior - Settler (not sure where for yet; might depend on exploration progress in NW whether there's a Galley available)

Warrior heads for Copper Desert as that is next mainland spot.

NW Galley finds no route across to the Ivory Islands, so SE Galley will continue to travel Westward around the South of SL's lands to make contact. I'll need a third Galley to take further Settlers to Nicaea & points South; will probably build in Adrianople.

Elmer Fudd finds his first Barb; he'll probably be attacked on the inter-turn, so only 1xp to be gained.

[Dreylin]

Quick note from SL also waiting for me:

Hey dreylin, i have passed myst to ruff and you should have got
archery ok. Not sure about the was with yaz, may have pissed him off a
little bit... I think the only person getting monarchy from him will
be krill and you eventually. I'm writing this from my phone so will
respond again later on with more details. Thanks for sending the
missionary. The extra happy is going to be really useful! The area is
fog busted. Cheers, sitting bull