[spoilers] Gaspar and Commodore welcome you to the islands, mon!

[Gaspar]

One other thought while I'm at it before I go back to not really thinking about this game much...

...we really missed the boat here. I mean if rego doesn't take this NAP extension, we're going to go down and we're going to go down hard. Like, he could wipe us completely off the map in 5t hard. Should absolutely have skipped Communism and just thrown everything we had into Combustion. Seriously, think about 5t from now... Gunpowder/Rep Parts/Banking/Rifling is ~6t of research away. We can't draft anyway. So our best city defenders are going to be longbows. Against Jans at a minimum and probably much worse.

Combustion is a pipe dream, still probably 20t away. For that we still need:

Engineering/Gunpowder/Chemistry/Banking/Replaceable Parts/Steam Power/Steel/Railroad/Combustion

He's probably not going to take the NAP extension, that's why he's strung out the conversations this long. And we're going to go down really, really fast.

For the lurkers, here's our relevant military as of EOT138. We have another Galleon or so now.



Here's the power graph. Rego didn't build all those units for MP.



I apologize for not really paying enough attention to the turns and letting us continue on this pixie dust path this long. But we'll be eliminated in 15t, tops, and there is quite literally nothing in game we can do about it now. To even stall like Sian did we'd need at least Gunpowder and Nationalism, which we won't be able to get to in time.

[Ceiliazul]

Seriously, think about 5t from now... Gunpowder/Rep Parts/Banking/Rifling is ~6t of research away.
...
To even stall like Sian did we'd need at least Gunpowder and Nationalism, which we won't be able to get to in time.

How could you be more than 6 turns from Nationalism and gunpowder? Seems like you could get there given your huge GA gnp.

[Gaspar]

How could you be more than 6 turns from Nationalism and gunpowder? Seems like you could get there given your huge GA gnp.

I think I meant to say Rifling and Nationalism. Or that the part where we can't draft for another 5t. Or something. Don't hit me with details and rationalism when I'm in Chicken Little mode!

[Ceiliazul]

Don't hit me with details and rationalism when I'm in Chicken Little mode!

Get out of Chicken Little mode and hit me with war plans! :neenernee

[Gaspar]

Get out of Chicken Little mode and hit me with war plans! :neenernee

Sure - I like a good war plan*

Well, it all depends on your objective. To actually compete on a map like this, the best defense is a good offense - Sirian Doctrine rules the day as all these little islands are quite literally impossible to reinforce. I haven't checked rego's techs in a few turns, but I fully expect him to be able to field metal ships by the time the NAP is up. So literally all we can do in that situation is draft/slave ourselves silly.

Logically it would make sense to concentrate our defense around the two home islands and the area between them, as it is the land most able to be reinforced. Ensuring a Galleon chain is available to support them. And naturally slaving/whipping all the rest of our territory completely to the ground out of spite. (Not that truthfully, its all that far from it anyway.)

Perhaps the thing to do here is just research Gunpowder and Nationalism and then save gold and upgrade everything we have. Commodore?

[SIZE="1"]*I don't have the most war plans never enacted award named for me for nothing.[/SIZE]

[Commodore]

Thoughts?

Good, I'd rewrite thus:

Hey rego,

So given we are coming up on the end of our NAP and there's been little to no cooperation I assume that you're intending to attack us at its expiration. While I'm sure a little naval jousting will be fun, ultimately when pin steamrolls over Yuri and we prove a slightly tougher mark it will all prove just a prelude to your eventual concession. That doesn't sound like fun for anyone, truthfully.

We'd like to therefore propose an extension to the NAP - another 26t perhaps, through turn 165? I'd also like to really explore some options where we can work together to bring a bit more parity to the world. For example, if we're not preparing to fight you we can prop up our good friend Yuri a bit in the coming military action. I'm sure its not hard to envision some scenarios where we can work together otherwise. As much fun as it would be for you extract a pound of flesh from us I can't imagine you wouldn't rather win the game. While we're unlikely to be able to influence that particular kettle of fish, its all about surviving. And much as taking a bite out of the top dog is what influenced our first altercation, that would be the primary motivation for this encounter.

Anyway, let us know your thoughts. Time is of the essence, though. Its a very different next few turns for us if we're expecting you to attack versus if we're planning a future Viking engagement.

Regards,
Gaspadore

Thoughts?

[Gaspar]

Looks fine.

If there's an ensuing discussion, we should be willing to offer concessions to get the NAP.

[Commodore]

Meh, so here are the two relevant messages:

[COLOR="Lime"]Thanks for sending this note. I'd been meaning to check with you for awhile to discuss the future but just keep forgetting. As for my eventual concession, have you noticed the Food, Prod, Land and GNP leader? I'll give you a hint, it's not me. Yes, I do have a beaker lead, but I bet by the end of his current GA that will be gone as well.

In any case, let me think this over and let's see if we can catch each other on chat to hammer out some details.

Your Mom[/COLOR]

Then after I needled him on chat about his stonewalling (TJ Jackson), he followed up:

[COLOR="lime"]Hey guys,

I apologize for not being around much today. I wasn't trying to be TJ!!!

But after thinking things over, I think that I will have to decline a NAP extension as currently offered.

I do know that oftentimes in RB, a non-renewal of a NAP is interpreted as almost a pre-declaration of war. I think that's one of the things that you don't like about NAPs. I know that it's one of the things that *I* don't like about them. But having said that, I don't think my / our course is set. You guys of course will do what you gotta do. I know that I have spent the past few turns at least trying to make sure that I wasn't going to be hit with "Diplomacy by Other Means, part 2" :-) I'd say that I've been much more worried that YOU are going to attack ME (again), than the other way around.

Like you said, while restoring some Yourmomian city names to some of your Troll hangouts would be fun, you are correct in saying that I'm much more interested in winning. And like yourselves, I have not been unaware of Capt. Viking "Parkinizing" the last 10 techs or so, including some pretty heavy hitters. So I'm open for further discussions, but wanted to at least give you this in case you were waiting on hearing from me before passing the save. I am heading home from work now but will be around later this evening (in about 3hrs time) if you want to discuss other alternatives.


Your Mom[/COLOR]

Oh, and the turn revealed this:



Just in case we were tempted with the notion of defending. We're going to rifling, nationalism, and then Chemistry to fight this. Dangit, Rego, you looser. Here's why Pindicator, newbitude aside, stands a chance to win this:



Concessions? Only thing I can thing of that he might bite about would be a rolling short-term NAP. Not willing to give up first-strike rights for that, though.

[Gaspar]

Not willing to give up first-strike rights for that, though.

What first strike? Hope his defenders laugh themselves to death at axes coming off galleons?

Yeah, its Sianic defense time. Let's make it as painful as possible.

[Commodore]

Brief turn report. As Rego turned us down, we're going full-bore towards nationalism and then rifling, with chemistry just around the corner after that. I'm not sure yet if we'll be able to swing a third non-scientist Great Person this golden age, but if we do we'll have the option of paying for some pretty massive upgrades. I think the most efficient for us would be caravels to frigates, to knock him back in at least some places until transports come online.



I'm shadowing Rego's little individual galleons with caravel/galleon pairs of our own. Nav1 is actually superflous in these cases, so C2 promotions on our galleons should ensure the first turn of the war that he loses there potential raiders. This is going to bleed Rego, I think. Maybe Pin is about to attack us rather than Yuri?



With end of turn, Civil Service came in, finally irigating the homeland wheats. We'll research Nationalism next. When we swap to start drafting we'll lose the vassalge XP, but I've been spreading Confucianism everywhere we're going to be pumping units so Theocracy should largely make up for it.



We'd be doing great if they weren't doing better.