Diplomacy Master Thread- Helping Your Opponents Beat Themselves

[scooter]

I'm sure CFC's massive whipped army has nothing to do with our buildup.

...or they have a pathetic backwards neighbor with no NAP to bind them and just the right sized window with which they can kill them before T175? You know, kind of like what we're doing?

If we do any diplo with CFC whatsoever we should confirm that the NAP remains in force and they aren't going to weasel their way out.

If you can provide even a shred of evidence/reason why they would do this, please share. The constant baseless conspiracy theories are distracting to this thread.

Of course, it would have been better weeks ago when we still had some leverage/opportunity.

Oh good, this again. Yeah you're right, we totally should've used the silly marble clause to void a NAP deal with a neighbor while we were already committed to a war with a different neighbor on the complete opposite side of our territory. That would have been just fantastic.

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More usefully - I got another quick response from Tatu about the German team diplomacy:

Hello,

I can answer about the German team diplo.
14 days ago they sent a message that "they have noticed our increase in power, and would like to smoke a peace pipe".
We just said to them that we are modernizing our army and garrisoning all borders. Obviously peace was not an option.
Basically I said "Go away, we have no interest in talking to you" to them in more ...ahem... diplomatic way.
We have not heard from the German team after that.

I think they know our nation will attack them at some point, but I think we can catch them by surprise with the speed and strength of our attack. We've just entered a golden age before the attack to give a last boost to our efforts.

Best regards,
Tatu of WPC

In a few minutes I'm going to send that previous draft (with some minor edits) as a reply asking about their communication with CFC and/or other neighbors of ours. Maybe we'll get lucky and they'll have some info.

[scooter]

Sent to WPC:

Tatu/Beta,

Thanks for the info on German communication, that helps. I've got another (possibly odd) question for you guys, but I hope you don't mind. Has CFC or any of our neighbors approached you guys about helping out in a war against our team? We have reason to believe CFC intends to declare war on us sometime around T175, and I don't think they'd be willing to try that if they didn't have help. Have you heard of anything along that line?

Just figured it was worth asking since I trust your team, and it's difficult to find people to trust this late in the game.

Thanks,
scooter - Team RB

[Ellimist]

Of course, it would have been better weeks ago when we still had some leverage/opportunity.

Oh good, this again. Yeah you're right, we totally should've used the silly marble clause to void a NAP deal with a neighbor while we were already committed to a war with a different neighbor on the complete opposite side of our territory. That would have been just fantastic.

That's not what anyone was suggesting. We could have easily kept the existing NAP in place but had CFC worrying about our intentions and messaging us to verify/confirm it (when they had their pants down militarily).

Considering how they plan to utilize the window before T175 in the same way we do, they wanted to be absolutely sure their shenanigans(presumably including their messages to other teams) had not affected our plans for them. They were already in a position of uncertainty about our intentions and we had an opportunity to exploit it.

[pindicator]

If we send anything to CFC, I would just send:

We will be ready for your armies

And leave it at that.

[Sisu]

"We'll be ready" sounds a little too bravado-y for my tastes. IMO, the three possibilities for a note to CFC are:

The "involved diplo route" (trying to preserve them as temporary nonaggressors (read: bribe them into a longer NAP) while we digest still more land)
No response (which might encourage them)
Extremely short and entirely dismissive (Ruff's proposal, which I love - "yeah, whatever, you aren't worth our time")

[fluffyflyingpig]

Of course, it would have been better weeks ago when we still had some leverage/opportunity.

Oh good, this again. Yeah you're right, we totally should've used the silly marble clause to void a NAP deal with a neighbor while we were already committed to a war with a different neighbor on the complete opposite side of our territory. That would have been just fantastic.

That's not what anyone was suggesting. We could have easily kept the existing NAP in place but had CFC worrying about our intentions and messaging us to verify/confirm it (when they had their pants down militarily).

Considering how they plan to utilize the window before T175 in the same way we do, they wanted to be absolutely sure their shenanigans(presumably including their messages to other teams) had not affected our plans for them. They were already in a position of uncertainty about our intentions and we had an opportunity to exploit it.

Basically. Water under the bridge now, oh well.

If we do any diplo with CFC whatsoever we should confirm that the NAP remains in force and they aren't going to weasel their way out.

If you can provide even a shred of evidence/reason why they would do this, please share. The constant baseless conspiracy theories are distracting to this thread.

I'm not sure why such hostility is warranted? Let me try again:

Reworded: Outside of confirming CFC plans to follow their agreements I don't see any point in diplo with them.

If you see some reason to send a taunt or some such, I am all ears.



What was that analogy someone made about our team not idling well?

[pindicator]

"We'll be ready" sounds a little too bravado-y for my tastes. IMO, the three possibilities for a note to CFC are:

The "involved diplo route" (trying to preserve them as temporary nonaggressors (read: bribe them into a longer NAP) while we digest still more land)
No response (which might encourage them)
Extremely short and entirely dismissive (Ruff's proposal, which I love - "yeah, whatever, you aren't worth our time")

Well, if you think that there is any chance that they will extend the NAP then certainly don't send what i proposed. But does anybody honestly think that CFC isn't going to attack and hasn't been orchestrating a dogpile? So show a little bravado, and really the worse and more forced the bravado sounds, the better.

[Sisu]

So basically, you want to make it sound like we're trying to sound strong because we're actually weak, when we're actually strong and just want them to march to their deaths?

...twisty. Interesting.

[pindicator]

So basically, you want to make it sound like we're trying to sound strong because we're actually weak, when we're actually strong and just want them to march to their deaths?

...twisty. Interesting.

Well, I don't expect them to march to their deaths. But if they feel like we're acting strong because we're panicking, then maybe they won't have as much incentive to explore alternative ideas or put as much energy into diplo with other teams.

[antisocialmunky]

Lets start planning for the CFC defense/counter offense in its own thread then.