RBP3 - [SPOILERS] - Team DIM (Mehmed of HRE)

[Ilios]

I've sent greetings to both Portugal and Rome.

Rome:

Subject: Greeting

To the leaders of glorious Rome,


Hello and well met! It always pleases us to encounter another proud nation.
We hope we have shown our peaceful intentions by not swiping your worker.

If you could direct us to other nations whose whereabouts you know, we would be much obliged.


Highest regards,


Ilios, Principality of DIM

Dear Principality of DIM,

To our west you will find JANK (Inca). To our east you will find Tech (Sumeria) somewhat to the north, Cath Bruig (Portugal) somewhat to the south and DJ (India) directly east. To our north you will find wasteland and to our south... well, we honestly are not really sure what you will find to our south. Maybe this is where your explorer come from?

Now that we have shared this information with you, we hope that you will respond in kind.

Regards,
Sandover
Team SsS

Funny for them to give us directions, as we already know the locations of every nation on earth.

[Ilios]

T61 played.


The barb warrior moved away, but I left Cain 1 turn from DIM if he decides to move in.

Tricky has promoted to Woody II, and is healing on Horse site.

DIM and Midas are connected. Midas will pop its borders next turn, in time for both workers there to mine the Copper.

I thought it would be possible for the workers around DIM to move to Horse site, and chop the forest in time for the Settler to arrive. As this is not the case, I'll have one worker finish the road on the Wheat tile, and have the other finish a piece of road towards our future Marble site. This will avoid losing a worker move.

England have sent us a message:

A quick question: we found French borders this turn, and were rather surprised to see what appears to be third-ring culture just a few tiles away from the copper site. Were you aware that France's capital was this far west? They are uncomfortably close.

Any fresh word from Krill or others on the tech plans?

I replied we didn't know France's capital was this close. I suggested we keep an eye on them in case they get uppity, and proposed we get together to prepare in case we need to take them out.

Rome told us we could get to Exploit north of their lands the quickest, but I suggest we take the southern route to scout the lands between us. They asked if we had any interesting stories to tell...

[Ilios]

Message from Portugal:

Dear DIM,

Our warrior has finally returned to duty long enough to find you. Funnily enough he had been camped on the same spot just 2 tiles NE of your territory for the last 1000 years suppressing barbs near your territory. No thanks needed, the promotions are reward enough. We are excited about the potential of The Cartel and look forward to the coming tech craziness over the next couple of turns. We are currently teching sailing and it should complete next turn, I think we were told you were teching HBR with an expected completion date of t72 or so?

On that note, do you have horses connected? The reason we ask is that we are both very close to Rome (their capital is 13N7E of yours and 8N13W of ours), I haven't checked in game but I don't think you have met them yet is that correct? The Cath Bruig Empire working together with the DJs have been trying for many turns to get Rome onboard with The Cartel but we are now pretty sure after their last messages that they are definitely not joining with us. I can imagine that one of us could very well end up being their first target once they get Praetorians online and I would much prefer it didn't come to that. The territory to your NE between yourselves and Rome is also very fertile with two rivers, lots of grassland, forests, some floodplains with pig and corn as well, so I imagine your two civs will be settling towards each other very soon. If you have any ideas for how to resolve this situation we would be happy to hear them, would you be available to chat sometime soon?

We have met the French and Ottomans just recently and would like to head south with our warrior to find Carthage and England. Could you give us some precise directions to their territory or nearest scout? Our current understanding of the map is that it's a 64x64 Top vs Bottom Team Battleground style map with toroidal wrapping with civs aligned as below:


1 France Egypt 4

5 6 7 8

----------------------------------

Exploit
Incan? Rome India Aztecs

HRE CBE Korea Ottomans

Did this match with what you were thinking? It would also be appreciated if you knew the identity and placings of any of our blanks.

Looking forward to hearing from you,

Mukha & Dantski

[Ilios]

T62 has arrived.

Maya have declared on India, and I expect Rego and his crew to lose their copper city. Oh well, maybe they shouldn't have built Henge and spammed settlers. At least we are staying under the radar...

I have move Henry VIII around the peak tile and met a barb warrior. I'm glad I moved him there, as I really would like to found our third city in three turns. Henry has more than 90% chance at winning, but at this point, we shouldn't take victory for granted. In the event that we again lose out to the barb, at least he will be damaged enough for Tricky to beat him.

I haven't ended the turn yet, so you guys can check the game.

Midas' borders have popped, both workers there have started the copper mine, which should finish next turn. I really hope those rivers within out border connect the resources. With all this warring and barb alerts, I'm getting pretty nervous, so I would really like to start an Axeman in DIM. In any case, we should get Sailing next turn if this is not the case. Pottery will allow our workers to build a cottage 1N of Midas for one turn, then move towards the Corn and build a road, and finally start farming T66. Midas should build a Worker in 6 turns, to finish in time for the Corn tile to come online. Midas is temporarily working the Corn tile, so it will grow in 1 turn in stead of 2.

[meatbalz]

wow our cartel is getting hacked apart before it's even started. luckily the techs start flooding in this turn. i'm catching up on everything and will post thoughts soon.

[Ilios]

I need to reply Portugal pretty soon. MB, do you want us to share that nice world map with them as well? I don't recall you've sent it to anyone yet?

[Ilios]

Chat with Ottomans yesterday:

Subject: Alliance Within

11:02 PM me: evening
Ottoman: hi
me: i know, mornig for you guys
Ottoman: me anyway
11:03 PM me: I've been trying to formulate a reply to your last message, and I can't seem to get it right
this is what I think
11:04 PM teams like India and Egypt are very experienced
they don't really need us to win the game
they can use our help for the moment
11:05 PM the main reason India wanted us in is that they are worried about Krill and don't want us to end up in his camp
Ottoman: dd they actually say that?
11:06 PM me: no, but they told me they are worried about Krill
and Krill doesn't want us to join with India for the same reasons
11:07 PM Ottoman: well, they are the main 2 camps in the game
me: look I'm not saying we should give up on the Alliace withing
Ottoman: np
11:08 PM me: we just think that long-term, it would be in our interest to join up with our southern neighbours, so the big guys don't have any leverage on us
we'd be dictating the terms of any cooperation
11:09 PM does that make sense?
Ottoman: it does make sense, although it's a bit early to discuss what we actually do
11:10 PM me: well, the only thing we can do is keep engaging with Carthage and England
get to know them
Ottoman: we haven't met England yet :

me: hehe but you will soon
Krill meets them next turn
Ottoman: do you know how soon?
that's good
11:11 PM me: I suggest you ask him to send England's warrior north asap
Ottoman: ok
11:12 PM me: are your chariots nearing Aztec lands?
Ottoman: yep
Dantski thought TTD was t63 though
so maybe they can't help for aother turn
11:13 PM me: yeah I've been thinking we should try and keep the Cartel a secret for a little bit longer
only trade around Pottery and Sailing in the short term
Ottoman: i don't think that works
11:14 PM me: sure it does
Ottoman: as soon asalpha is spread roud, everyone will know who is in it
me: that's why Alpha needs to be traded only to Ottoman, for Pottery and Portugal for Sailing
11:15 PM Ottoman: well, we'll be giving our position away
Inca's have already guessed that we are on Aztec's side
11:16 PM me: but they don't know about us, Carthage and England, France
Ottoman: Ruff confirms that TTD is T63, which we thought was T62
me: Krill hasn't even met the other teams
Ottoman: have you talked to Krill about this?
11:17 PM me: yes
he thinks it's a good idea
anyway I'll send a message to all members
we can talk it over and evaluate pros and cons
11:18 PM Ottoman: if we trade pottery to everyone, won't it show on civstats
and everyone can guess from there?
me: will be harder to see
11:19 PM if we spread Alpha to everyone, they'll definitely know what's up
and I'm thinking we could spread Pottery gradually
Ottoman: my question is does increasing points mid turn while you are not logged in any more notiable?
me: fair point
11:20 PM Ottoman: well, yu will need everyone else's opinion onthat
me: i hadn't thought of that...
but still, it will be harder to figure out
11:21 PM especially since so many teams haven't met yet
Ottoman: I usually guess what' happening from civstats and go in-game for confmation
11:22 PM start a discussion on it or everyone's thought's since they are the one's wich son't get all the techs
11:23 PM me: well they will get the important ones right
Archery and Masonry aren't exactly life savers atm
11:24 PM Ottoman: true, although archery is saving Ruff ATM

me: hehe
but he's being choked
Ottoman: but I see your point
me: you'll need to coordinate well with Ruff
11:25 PM Ottoman: well, he sent a screenshot with tesituation this turn
me: good
Ottoman: if an axe within range of our chariot is gone, Ruff stands a good chance of hold his 2nd city
me: gone, you mean dies?
11:26 PM Ottoman: problem is that we have to declare on bth of them, which we might not want to do
yep
although we might have to
me: no you don't have to right?
you'll get Writing T63
Open borders
Ottoman: it's T61
me: ah and you want to attack now?
Ottoman: well, Ruff's asking us to anyway
11:27 PM me: i see
how's that for giving your position away
Ottoman: i know
11:28 PM Inca's hve already guessed our loyalty anyway
me: look at it this way
you're probably the only Cartel member who's completely surrouned by friends
11:29 PM it's not like they'll have an army at your doorsteps any time soon
Ottoman: I guess they are WHEOOHRN
me: but if you can save Ruff's city this turn...
well up to you
11:30 PM Ottoman: haven't discussed with team yet
me: it's that or clean them up when they've razed the city
11:31 PM are the Inca's concentrating on this city, or do they have forces around Aztec's capital as well?
Ottoman: it looks lik they are hading to Ruff's2nd city
11:32 PM me: propping up Aztec does give you a good buffer against Inca...
I met Rome recently btw
Ottoman: ah
we might benearing France
11:33 PM me: you heading to France from the east?
Ottoman: no, they have a warrior near Dantski, who we just met
11:34 PM well yes
me: hehe
France seems to have moved quite a bit west at the start of the game, because England tells me they're really close to DIM
11:35 PM Ottoman: didn't they move for 2 turns?
me: yup
and that's probably the reason why they wanted to keep all the lands to our SE
11:36 PM our memories are long...
Ottoman: hmmmm
11:37 PM me: anyway exciting times
11:38 PM Ottoman: yep
me: did India tell you about Maya?
Ottoman: nope
11:39 PM me: apparently Maya have a chariot around India's copper city
Ottoman: hmmmm
kinda like what we have against Ruff :

me: they will probably lose the city if the chariot attacks
11:40 PM Ottoman: that's a problem
me: Maya is part of the southern alliance
Ottoman: so we are the Northern alliance?
me: no Inca/Rome/Exploit are
we can be the central alliance
Ottoman: tere ae 2mini alliances?
11:41 PM me: yup
Ottoman: tey are doomed
me: yup
if we play smart
11:43 PM anyway, off to bed for me
11:44 PM Ottoman: ok c ya
me: let's keep in touch
Ottoman: yep

To sum up:

- again indicated our preference for long term cooperation with England and Carthage, to keep leverage on India and Egypt.
- Ruff has asked Ottomans to commit this turn and declare on Inca, instead of waiting till TTD
- I was thinking of sending a message to all Cartel members proposing we limit the tech trades to Pottery and Sailing, and only trade Alpha to Ottomans and Portugal respectively to get those techs. I thought that would keep the full Cartel a secret for a little while longer. But I hadn't thought about the mid-game point increases, which will surely be picked up by the Northern and Southern Alliances. What do you think guys?

[Ilios]

Ottomans:


Subject: Border agreement

Hi DIM

As part of the border agreement, we have agreed to trade a chariot for
a worker around T70-75. Seeing as we are approaching that time frame,
let's start discussing the issues involved with the actual exchange.

How should we arrange the exchange? Do you plan to settle the marble
city by then? Otherwise, maybe our chariot could cover the worker
while he moves? What are your thoughts about this?

Do you have an ETA for the worker? Our chariot will be ready by T70.

Also we plan to settle the gold city by around T77. Hopefully you can
have some culture in the marble site by then.


Enough Talking!
WarriorKnight of A4

Oh yeah, we promised them a worker...
I'm thinking we could give them a worker around Horse city, just after we chop another worker at size 2. We could probably finish it around T75. That will still leave us with 5 workers for 3 cities. Midas will have 1-2 cottages in addition to it's three main dynamite tiles, so should be good for a while, allowing our worker to concentrate on getting out a settler and preparing for Marble city.

After we finish a unit in DIM, followed by a Granary, we should build a Settler out of DIM to found Marble. I'm thinking we could probably finish it around T75-80 - depending on chops/whips.

[dazedroyalty]

I'm all for another settler asap since we already lost one!

[dazedroyalty]

Ilios and I just had a little chat in gmail. But I'll sumarize for MB and all the lurkers who actually read this thread:

1. Frustration over loss of settler continues to be frustrating but will only further prove our glory when victory happens.

2. Ilios admits that horse city might have been better for city #2. My efforts not to type "I told ya so" win out, but barely.

3. Diplomacy is a bitch in a game with this many teams. We both would have preferred PB3 and PB4 to happen with half the teams each. (Added benefit, another game to lurk) That said, massive kudos to Ilios for handling the bulk of our diplomacy!

4. Ilios pointed out that we may be able to gain back some ground if we can stay out of any serious military conflict while expanding with a thin (tho not too thin) army. Personally, I will feel pretty good once we can actually get an army if we need it. I.e. connecting copper and then horses.