So I liked kalin's suggestion to just say hey, and segue into general talk of NAPs without getting into specifics immediately. Just something to get us back into contact with CFC. What do you guys think of a simple message like this?
Draft to CFC Wrote:Caledorn/CFC,
Hey guys, just checking in to see how things are going. Haven't heard from you all in awhile, so I thought I'd drop you a line to say hi. Anything new in the neighborhood? It's nice for our scout to have made it to your lands safely - pass on my thanks to YossarianLives for helping to make that happen . Have you met anyone else new lately? We haven't made any new contacts for some time - I think the barbarian masses is slowing down everybody's scouting at the moment. How's relations with the Spanish team? Last I heard, they were a little harder to communicate with, so hopefully things have gotten easier on that front. The German team and WPC seem to be at a bit of a stalemate to our north.
Our current NAP runs up through T100 - any interest in extending it further? Now that we've got a better handle on our neighbors and our local geography, I have no doubt that we would really like prolonged peace with your team. I think we've built a lot of mutual trust, and I'd like to see that continue. I'd be happy to talk specifics soon, but I wanted to get a feel for how interested you guys are in extending the NAP and working together going forward. Any thoughts from you guys?
Thanks,
scooter - Team RB
That'll hopefully let us get an idea of what they're thinking in terms of NAP length, and it also will turn into map discussion. We do have an EP agreement with them btw - for those who were asking.
One minor thing that is barely worth mentioning: I think you want "the barbarian masses are slowing down everyone's scouting at the moment."
I'm not trying to nitpick, it just jumped out at me.
Merovech's Mapmaking Guidelines:
0. Player Requests: The player's requests take precedence, even if they contradict the following guidelines.
1. Balance: The map must be balanced, both in regards to land quality and availability and in regards to special civilization features. A map may be wonderfully unique and surprising, but, if it is unbalanced, the game will suffer and the player's enjoyment will not be as high as it could be.
2. Identity and Enjoyment: The map should be interesting to play at all levels, from city placement and management to the border-created interactions between civilizations, and should include varied terrain. Flavor should enhance the inherent pleasure resulting from the underlying tile arrangements. The map should not be exceedingly lush, but it is better to err on the lush side than on the poor side when placing terrain.
3. Feel (Avoiding Gimmicks): The map should not be overwhelmed or dominated by the mapmaker's flavor. Embellishment of the map through the use of special improvements, barbarian units, and abnormal terrain can enhance the identity and enjoyment of the map, but should take a backseat to the more normal aspects of the map. The game should usually not revolve around the flavor, but merely be accented by it.
4. Realism: Where possible, the terrain of the map should be realistic. Jungles on desert tiles, or even next to desert tiles, should therefore have a very specific reason for existing. Rivers should run downhill or across level ground into bodies of water. Irrigated terrain should have a higher grassland to plains ratio than dry terrain. Mountain chains should cast rain shadows. Islands, mountains, and peninsulas should follow logical plate tectonics.
In what is kind of amazing timing, Caledorn decided to reply to us just a few minutes ago:
CFC/Caledorn Wrote:Hi Scooter / RB,
Welcome to India! We hope you enjoy your visit with us. If you need any immediate directions, please feel free to message me or Yossarian. He doesn't check the team email account as frequently, so GTalk (vhinderl) or a pm at his RB account is best. You can still reach me on GTalk anytime, too.
We haven't gotten back to you yet about an official agreement on Espionage spending, but we do hope you noticed that we removed all espionage from your team as soon as we met another team to put them on, and we haven't spent any additional EP's on you since. We would be more than happy to agree that neither of us shall exceed your current EP spending (that means that we are allowed to catch up to your current spending if we choose to). This will be in place for the duration of our NAP.
Speaking of which, we are beginning to near the end of our current NAP. We propose a 30-turn extension to the current NAP that expires on T100. This extension would of course come with an automatic extension to our EP agreement.
The Germans are trying to find a way around our borders to the south, and this will probably require Open Borders. We notice that you have OB with both WPC and the Germans. Has this caused any tensions at all? We don't want to jeapodize our current neutral position. It looks like the Germans have been able to slow down the WPC attack. Is that your take on the war, too?
We look forward to continued cooperation in the new year.
All the best,
Caledorn on behalf of Team CFC
I wrote back a super quick "message recieved" reply (I literally got it to them 5 minutes after they sent that message to us).
scooter/RB Wrote:Quick note: Message received. This message is kind of hilarious timing, our team was in the midst of reviewing a draft I wrote up which said a lot of similar things. We even had that exact NAP turn extension in mind . I'll get an official response back to you guys shortly.
So we agree to the NAP and EP spending. I think we might like to tell them that we had OB with both civs before the war (IIRC). Beyond that we can add some of the niceties that Scooter already drafted. I like all of what he already had planned.
“The wind went mute and the trees in the forest stood still. It was time for the last tale.”
(January 3rd, 2013, 23:39)Lewwyn Wrote: So we agree to the NAP and EP spending. I think we might like to tell them that we had OB with both civs before the war (IIRC). Beyond that we can add some of the niceties that Scooter already drafted. I like all of what he already had planned.
I agree.
mh
"You have been struck down!" - Tales of Dwarf Fortress
---
"moby_harmless seeks thee not. It is thou, thou, that madly seekest him!"
@scooter You might also want to add that our impression is that the Germans has stopped WPC's attack cold.
Unsure if we want to mention anything more about the war, but we can mention that we think we will either see a strong German counter-attack soon, or a peace treaty. And we can probably say that both WPC and the Germans has been nervous about us assisting the other team during the war, but that we have remained strictly neutral.
(I also think your first draft to CFC was a little too rambling, but you're the chief diplomat and I'm wholly unsuited to doing diplomacy!)
Furthermore, I consider that forum views should be fluid in width
I was worried about the subtext of the first draft, the implication was we wanted to devour our northern neighbours. CFC on the other hand are holding their cards close.
Thanks for the message. As I said in my confirmation email, it seems we're thinking along the same lines. We're happy to accept the NAP extension & EP spending provisions. Also, pass on my personal thanks to YossarianLives for ensuring that our scout arrived at your borders safely .
Our take on the war is that WPC's invasion has been ground down to a halt by the German team. We suspect that we'll either see some sort of counter-attack or peace treaty soon, but the reality is we're just guessing and attempting to read the graphs. We've been able to avoid tensions despite having OB with both of them by just being up-front and telling them both we intend to remain neutral. I think both teams are nervous that we might help one side, but we're doing our best to stay out of the conflict right now. I do think you should be OK to sign OB with the Germans if you're careful.
(Of course, you could always tell them that they can have Open Borders with you when they speed up their turn pace a little bit . )
Joking of course on that, but what do you guys think of another push for a shorter timer pretty soon? The last push was probably bad timing with the holidays and many players being busy, but most people should be getting back into their normal routines soon if they aren't already. My main concern is I don't want teams to get bored. One turn every couple days is slow, but it's sustainable. Once you start hitting 3-4 days for a turn, I fear teams will get bored and the game might really struggle to continue into the late-game. Our team and probably your team is big enough to handle a few dropouts due to boredom, but I fear some of the smaller teams may not be so fortunate. What's your team's thought on this? I know you might have differing opinions on your team, I just wanted to try to gauge how you guys feel privately rather than publicly first.
To quote Sullla: The German team logged into the game exactly once last turn. They evidently played their turns, logged out... and never logged in again, as we all sat and waited another 36 hours to no purpose whatsoever.
This needs to be addressed. I don't mind doing it over at CFC.
Completed: SG2-Wonders or Else!; SG3-Monarch Can't Hold Me; WW3-Surviving Wolf; PBEM3-Replacement for Timmy of Khmer; PBEM11-Screwed Up Huayna Capac of Zulu; PBEM19-GES, Roland & Friends (Mansa of Egypt); SG4-Immortality Scares Me
. Have you met anyone else new lately? We haven't made any new contacts for some time - I think the barbarian masses is slowing down everybody's scouting at the moment. How's relations with the Spanish team? Last I heard, they were a little harder to communicate with, so hopefully things have gotten easier on that front. The German team and WPC seem to be at a bit of a stalemate to our north.
. )