Gillette Diplomacy Thread: Dossiers, Scheming, and Puppet Strings

[Old Harry]

This from TEAM:

Just accept one of the gold deals.Although I think it'd be physically impossible to accept both

First one offers 290, second one offers 283.

Presumably they're trying to help us get to compass quicker? Could have been useful for upgrading chariots to knights (200 gold each) last turn... Does that mean they've got to Knights? I'll see when I log in later.

I think we need to say something like this to Trolls:

Awww, why couldn't you have said that fifteen turns ago? We've gone to all this trouble now. Hum, well how about if you conceed that we're the winners?

Honestly you guys have got far enough ahead that if we don't do something about it now its gg. So lets see if you can make it gg anyway? If you want an offer it's your 4 mainland border cities and your island city, but we don't expect you to go for that.

[Old Harry]

While I was checking out the domestic situation Plako caught me on chat:

plako: hi
me: Hi plako
Sorry not to get back to your latest message
plako: np. Just checking, if you're intrested in a deal. If not then we'll just fight couple of fights and see what happens after that
me: We're a bit stuck on what you could offer us that would mean we won the game but you'd still be happy to give us...
plako: What would you've in mind?
plako: You've paid a plenty for summoning this army while other 3 teams are mainly developed in peace. Not sure where that would turn
me: Something like Bloody Mary, On the Rocks and your other border city along with Cuba Libre...
But then we've still got this big army that we'd need to do something with
plako: Islnad city is Cuba libre
me: Yeah, on the island
With the quality of people on your team I'd still not be confident of beating you even if you did give us those,
which I don't see you doing...
plako: Maybe some part of your army could be bargaining chip here
me: interesting...
plako: I had to verify these things with my team mates, but e.g. 10 catapults in exchange of Pyramids+HG city + long NAP could be something to consider
WIFOM is the Pyramids city and not too pressed by our culture
We need the gold gift though
me: I don't think that will be enough, TEAM aren't going to be that difficult to roll over, meaning we get a decent deal but you can use the maces you've been drafting to get a much better one.
plako: So what would make it?
me: WIFOM, On the Rocks, Cuba Libre and Bloody Mary. We've got some Zerks and Knights that could make weight in the deal too, if they are interesting to you?
plako: Bloody Mary alone is very bad city for you
It will be crushed by culture from our cities
me: I'm just having a look in-game
plako: Mai-Tai on the west. Deerslayer north and we've 2 new cities East from it
plako: I can present this suggestion to team, but I don't think it gets much support
At least I'm not favoring it
me: I didn't think it would...
plako: This is totally alright we can see where the battles go. Lot depends on RNG
me: I'll discuss with my team before doing anything rash, then we'll probably do something rash.
Good luck
plako: good luck to you too
me: Will let you know what we decide to do - we've got a while before the turn rolls...

[Cheater Hater]

Wait--they're considering it? Do we really need to think of a serious offer?

[Old Harry]

Yeah, if we give them the means to destroy TEAM - how do you feel about that?

[Cheater Hater]

We've been telling TEAM to ramp up their production, and they have been--I certainly wouldn't mind getting 4 cities, giving away some (not all) of our military, and removing the person that keeps holding up the turns--I mean, I feel like the military build-up has hurt them more than us at this point (they've had to draft, and they've already burned their one-person GA), and encouraging them into another war against someone who is prepared/is preparing will hurt both of them. If we do that, we could move back into econ mood by finishing our buildup of the peninsula, seeing if there are any more islands we could colonize, then maybe planning on attacking M3 in 35 turns. Any word back from Trolls yet?

[Old Harry]

Hey C-H gmail says you're offline at the mo - let me know when you're on...

[Old Harry]

Shall I send this to TEAM:

Thanks Tasunke, the 290 gold is very helpful - hopefully it will ensure our naval supremacy - we'll pay it back when hostilities cease...

I take it from that and the power graph that you have guilds and are building up now - just so you know Trolls offered us WIFOM for peace but we didn't think that would be a good move as then they'd come after you so we're going all-in.

Good luck!

[Old Harry]

This from M3:

Hey guys, THH here; haven't talked with you in a while so thought I'd check in.

First of all, congratulations on your capture of two Trolls cities.

We thought you should know the Trolls have three triremes either 1E, 1NE or 1E, 2NE of your fleet just off the mainland (we moved the scout in question so can't double-check).

We are attempting to monitor the progress of the war with our scouts and have become concerned about the Trolls' strength at WIFOM. We wondered what your thoughts were on this, if you think you'll be able to defeat them there, and what you will do if you can't.

We are probably going to send you a couple more catapults that are in production; it's not much, but it may help.

We were also wondering what had become of your overtures to TEAM regarding the Trolls; we notice TEAM has begun producing knights.

We wish you continued good fortune in your war with the Trolls.

Your faithful friends,

[Old Harry]

Sent to TEAM:

Thanks Tasunke, the 290 gold is very helpful - hopefully it will ensure our naval supremacy - we'll pay it back when hostilities cease...

I take it from that and the power graph that you have guilds and are building up now - just so you know Trolls offered us WIFOM for peace but we didn't think that would be a good move as then they'd come after you. We're now pretty bogged down (they have 18 maces protecting WIFOM!) so the sooner you can attack the better - can you give us an idea when that will be?

Good luck!

and sent to M3:

Hi Menagerie,

We burned G&T and have taken Cuba Libre (their island city) - unfortunately On the Rocks just had too many maces behind their castle walls. We've split up our fleet and they won't know which flotilla the remaining zerks are on so we can go and threaten some other cities.

Thanks for the trireme info - we've got another two incoming and hope to get some caravels over there soon to keep the upper hand in the water. If they produce any new boats in White Russian can you let us know?

As I said to THH we're bogged down at WIFOM and unless we can draw away some of the defences I don't see us taking that city. That doesn't stop us threatening other cities (we could potentially take White Russian and Bloody Mary next turn, but expect them to be reinforced) and doing some pillaging. In an ideal world we'd reduce a lot of their cottages to rubble, but only time will tell if this is that world...

Interesting times!
Old Harry

[Old Harry]

I also got around to sending a begging letter to Pirates

Hi there Pirates,

Just thought I'd drop you a note to let you know that for the good of everyone else in this game (entirely altruistically!) we've decided to try and take on the Troll might.

I know it doesn't really affect you and you probably have plenty of stuff to get on with in Piromania, but if you'd like to contribute at all to the war effort we could really do with cash and wine.

All the best
Old Harry