Yeah, he did offer it to us. But then he changed his mind and made OB a condition, which I wasn't so sure about. I made a counter-proposal a few days back (2 gpt for OB, re-evaluated with time) which he hasn't responded to yet. I think part of it is that he's been busy, but he also might not be interested.
A Banana trade with Rego could be possible if Nakor's not interested, of course. We'd just have to wait longer (until Spices), since we don't have anything to trade in return to Rego right now. Unless he's still willing to send us Banana in advance, but I'm not sure that he is.
Figured I might as well give Adlain a hand, since it seems the most likely target of Locke's possible aggression is him. Not sure it'll help him much, but it's worth a shot anyway.
Hi Adlain,
Hope all's going well for you. That Buddhist shrine must be helping out a bunch with your economy - good thinking there.
In world news - WarriorKnight seems to be on his way out of the game, although he recently planted a new city that I believe must be off the coast near Rego's land or yours. (Nowhere else he could get to as far as I know, and my Scout near his former territory hasn't seen any borders.) Interesting turn of events... I wonder how long he'll be able to hold on out there. Perhaps you can shed some light on the situation, if he happens to be near you.
In more alarming news - I'm not sure if you noticed, but Locke just got Construction this turn. His last tech right before that was Horseback Riding, as well. I don't know about you, but to me that seems more than a bit suspicious - like he might be up to something. Not sure if he's considering fighting you or Nakor or someone else, or if he's just preparing a defensive force in advance. However, I thought I'd let you know about it anyway.
Now to get Mackoti on board. Let's just hope he doesn't have too many qualms about breaking potential NAPs with Luddite. Hopefully he'll be convinced enough by the prospect of reclaiming his empire in a 2 vs 1 that he'll jump at the opportunity.
It was seriously incredibly dumb of Luddite to tick me off like this. Now he has two aggravated neighbours, and any hope of his success in this game is rapidly fading.
Hi Mackoti,
Hope you've been doing well since we last chatted... it's been a while!
Firstly, congratulations on holding off Luddite from your lands earlier on. Even though he claimed a few of your city sites, it was great to see you proved more than a match for him on the battlefield once you went into full military mode. Some truly impressive military tactics must have been employed there - I wouldn't expect any less from you. Well done.
Which brings me to my next point... there's been a rather interesting development recently, which opens up an opportunity for close cooperation between us in the near future. Luddite has - bizarrely - started acting extremely aggressively towards me recently, signing a border agreement and then only a few days later deliberately violating it by planting a city right next to my territory in breach of the agreement. (I believe you experienced a similar thing with him earlier, trying to steal city sites from you. It seems this is a pattern for him.)
Then, just today, I discovered that he has a stack of 23 units heading directly for my territory (you can see most of them in the screenshot I've attached - there are more further east). This is quite clearly an extremely aggressive move, and I am almost certain that in a few turns Luddite will declare war on me (also violating a NAP he only recently extended). Such a war will initially net him a few cities, but we will soon build up a large enough military to squash his advances and turn things around.
I'm letting you know about this because it reveals a few very interesting things. Firstly, I calculate that the 23 unit stack near my borders accounts for about 60% of Luddite's entire military power, and that's only for units I've happened to see so far - there are likely even more troops just out of site, perhaps bringing the total in the east to 80-90%. The stack has clearly traveled east from the earlier battles with you, which means that his entire western empire must now be very lightly defended, almost certainly with only 10-20% of his former troops (perhaps 4-8 units) in the area.
In other words, this means that there is no better time for you to re-declare war and reclaim the cities which he took from you! Not only would you easily crush his now very light western defences, but you would almost certainly be fighting him 2 vs 1 this time around, with us on your side - and better yet, once he declares war on us we would be killing the bulk of his army for you, keeping him occupied in the east while you reclaim the lightly defended west.
There will never be a better opportunity than this for you to return to your empire to its former glory!
I'm aware that you probably have a NAP with Luddite now that your war has ended, and you may have some reservations about breaking such an agreement. However, I remind you that Luddite has proved to both of us multiple times that he has no qualms about violating agreements he makes, and he will almost certainly be violating a NAP himself in a few turns against us. I would certainly support you 100% in a righteous endeavor to reclaim your empire from the slimy Luddite, and I believe others would be on your side as well. Luddite may cry about a violated agreement, but he will only be known as a hypocrite to the masses.
I encourage you to very seriously consider war with Luddite in this time of awesome opportunity, regardless of any NAP or other agreements you may have with him. It truly is your best opportunity to get back into a powerful position in this game, and I really think that you have nothing to lose in this situation. Don't be dissuaded by keeping to paper agreements with the slimy Luddite - who has shown time and time again that he is fine with violating such agreements himself. Let's instead work together to crush him, 2 vs 1 style!
Anyway, I very much look forward to hearing back from you. I hope we can work together to eliminate our common enemy.
Figured I'd feel out the possibility of a NAP with Locke while I'm at it.
Hi Locke,
Just thought I'd check in with you as we haven't chatted in a while. You're continuing to do well on the tech front... I noticed that you just got Horseback Riding and Construction recently. Do you have any campaigns in mind, or are you merely preparing your defences just in case? (You of course don't have to share that info with us if you'd rather not.)
In world news, WarriorKnight seems to be on his way out of the game - although he recently planted a new city that I believe must be off the coast near Rego or Adlain's land. (Nowhere else he could get to as far as I know, and my Scout near his former territory hasn't seen any borders.) Interesting turn of events... I wonder how long he'll be able to hold on out there.
I noticed in the trade screen that you have a source of Wines which we don't have, while we have a source of Ivory you don't have. I'm not sure if you have a second source of Wines (or accessible Ivory, for that matter)... but if you're interested, we could certainly arrange a Wine for Ivory trade later on. Let me know what you think, anyway. Seems to make sense to help each other out as the two nations doing the best behind Plako.
On another matter - with techs like Astronomy on the horizon, distances around the world will soon start to become much shorter to travel, which will open up new possibilities with warfare. As such, it seems to make sense to start thinking about a non-aggression pact between us, to help us both ensure our coastlines are safer into the future. Do you agree? Personally, I have absolutely no desire to war with you at any time in the forseeable future. A war between us wouldn't really make sense anyway due to the huge maintenance costs from distance, not to mention the issues with reinforcing settlements. In addition to war between us making little sense right now, we also have a lot of common ground due to the runaway target of Plako that we will likely want to fight together eventually. So to me, a long term NAP between us makes great sense. What do you think?
That's about all for now. I look forward to hearing back from you.
Reasonably friendly response from Nakor. Nothing much of importance, just chit-chat.
Hey Lord Parkin,
Thanks for the compliment, we're trying to do our best. Score doesn't reflect everything, as you well know!
Vassalage swap indeed! Just for fun, of course. You got to love all the mails we suddenly get...
Seriously, for now it's purely an economical choice, but it might help with the LB's we're producing to get a better defense.
A serious war is still some turns away since we have good relations with our neighbours.
Good to hear that WK fled to another part of the world. Might be interesting from a diplomatic point of view.
We'll think a bit about possible trades for Ivory. Our Forges do wonders for our happiness!
I missed Locke getting Construction. I think Adlain should prepare himself, though he is probably a bit out of his league in this game.
We're not worried ourselves, though we did steal an awesome city spot from under Locke's nose! Once you set sail please visit Paradise, just south of Dashboard Light.
In other awesome news: with whip overflow and a chop, along with the final 2/8 Courthouses being completed next turn, we can build the Forbidden Palace in Felidae in 3 turns. Sweet.
We can also finish the Statue of Zeus in 2 turns if we choose. Just, you know, to give Luddite an extra present if he's silly enough to declare war.
Ooh, nice... we got a Taoism autospread in Pardus. Third Monastery in the capital, here we come!
Speaking of the capital, National Epic was completed there this turn, so I've switched over to working max Priests (3 for now). We'll have a new Great Person in 8 turns. Should be about 85% odds of a Great Prophet, 10-12% for a Merchant and 3-5% for an Artist. Let's hope we don't get unlucky this time.
Response from Mackoti. He's understandably a little cautious, but seems open to the idea. Excellent.
Hi Emperor,
everithing is true what you said , yes I negociated a borders split whith him and him and he didn't respected. The true been said i allredy gave up on this hame i jus wanted to be fair with the others and dont let ludite to gain to much advantage from me. Actualy we were negociating deals when he declared war.Well ihope this is not a trap and you go straight to Luditte and report if we agree on anithing.
Well the question is a litle bit different, if luditte will not declare on you will you prepare a fight against him?
Because for me going military rout again will be very costly and if i gain nothing will be very bad for me.
And another question are you willing to sent me iron so i can build some crosbow?
Please don't pass this to anyone because you do that i will never have trust in you again.
regards,
Mackoti
My reply is below, in which I assured him that there is no trap, and offered him our only source of Iron for at least 10 turns if he commits to a war with Luddite. We shouldn't need that many Crossbows, and can build Macemen which will be pretty much just as good anyway. Or we could always whip out a bunch of Crossbows just before we send the Iron to Mackoti, assuming he takes up the offer.
Looks like the wheels of war are starting to turn, anyway.
Hi Mackoti,
Of course, all of this is completely secret between us and I will not pass it on to anyone. Especially Luddite, he has completely lost any trust from me from his recent actions. I can assure you that this is definitely not a trap; Luddite has simply acted so badly towards me in the past couple of turns that I refuse to trust him again.
We will see in a couple of turns whether Luddite declares war on me, but from his actions and unit placements so far I'd be very surprised if he pulled back at this point. If you would prefer, you can wait a few turns until we see if Luddite declares war on me before you engage him. If Luddite doesn't declare war, then I will not be declaring immediately simply because I don't have an army to declare war with right now, but I will be building up an army and then declaring war when I'm ready. Either way, you can definitely make some serious advances into Luddite's land while almost his entire army is on the complete opposite side of his empire.
Iron placement has been extremely sparse on this map, as I'm sure you've noticed - even with 20 cities, I only have one source in my entire empire (and no others in any remaining land near me)! It's a bit crazy, given how much Copper there is on the map. But I'd be willing to help you out and lend my only source of Iron to you so that you can build Crossbows, as long as you'd be committing to a war with Luddite. I'll still be able to build Macemen, which should be just as good as Crossbowmen against the obsolete units Luddite is fielding, so I probably won't miss them too much. (Or perhaps I could keep the Iron for a couple more turns so I can whip out a few Crossbowmen before I lose access to it for 10+ turns while I send it to you - that might work best. Let me know what you think.)
Anyway, looking forward to the opportunity to work with you in the future.
hi,
I will buil anyway 1 or2 catapults and i stay ready.What i wanted to ask if the war will not broke now do you think you can help in turn 190? Because i am sure that Luditte will came for Pyramids that time.Well want i want to ask is some of mutual agreement to help eachother if ludite declares war.
How is that for you?
regards<
Mackoti
And one from Ioan76 too (apparently a second personality to negotiate with... hope that doesn't complicate things too much ).
Hi MÃghty Lord Parkin !
This is a very exciting news ... I should chat with Mackoti but until then I will require total secrecy regarding these email-exchange ...
Best regards,
Ioan The Apprentice
This basically seems good for us. If Luddite doesn't declare war on us, I'm not actually that keen on us declaring war on him for a while yet. But if Mackoti's willing to be on board either now or around turn 190, that's great. Covers us on both bases.
I'll draft another response to them. In the meantime, we wait and see what Luddite does over the next turn or two.
![[Image: Civ4ScreenShot1615.jpg]](http://i328.photobucket.com/albums/l323/LordParkin/Realms%20Beyond%20Pitboss%204/Civ4ScreenShot1615.jpg)
![[Image: 02.gif]](http://mail.yimg.com/a/i/mesg/tsmileys2/02.gif)
.Well ihope this is not a trap and you go straight to Luditte and report if we agree on anithing.