[SPOILERS] Team Orgynized: Parkin/Arki/Magno embark on a kinky adventure

[Arkipeller]

Should I press for information and in that case, what do we want to know?

[Lord Parkin]

Reply received from Eagles & Condors:

Dear Orgynized,

Again, apologies for keeping things brief, but our diplomat is away and we thought it best to respond ASAP.

(1) Renegotiation clause
We agree to a mutual NAP effective this turn. The NAP expires t60 unless renegotiated on or before t50.

(2) Settling agreement
We agree that so long as the NAP is in effect, neither nation will settle more than 5 tiles from its capital in the direction of the other nation without first coming to a mutual agreement.

(3) Team Master & Margarita
We also have had difficulty communicating with M&M by e-mail, though Kurumi has had some success via chat. Maga sent her scout due east and hasn't explored much else. Do you think we have neighbours across the world-wrap to the south?

Regards,
Eagles and Condors

Sounds good, our first NAP confirmed along with both of the changes we were hoping for.

As for their question, I presumed we'd have neighbours both north and south due to the toroidal layout and apparent lakes map. From the way they've asked their question though, it seems they've encountered some sort of barrier to the north - I assume a large sea. If that's the case, we'd surely have a connection to the south at minimum otherwise there'd be two separate continents. It already seems pretty clear that we have something close to a 5x2 layout, given that we know from Maga that 3 civs are pretty much in a row east to west. This also matches up with our expected map dimensions - an average of 14 tiles between civs makes for a map 70 tiles wide, and at the standard ratio of 1.6 (horizontal to vertical distance) that'd be 44 tiles vertically, or about 20-22 tiles between north-south capitals.

So a bit of interesting info gleaned from that. We can mention to Eagles & Condors that we believe that there are almost certainly neighbours to the south and probably roughly at a distance of 20 tiles (given our reasoning above).

[Lord Parkin]

Its a match made in NAP heaven (or hell).

Indeed.

Ah, nice! Maybe that also means Team Birdies will have a more appealing target to attack to their other side, rather than us.

Possibly, though in the long term it's better for us if they don't grow to twice their size by absorbing a weak neighbour. The map maintenance should prevent that at least in the first 100-150 turns though.

Should I press for information and in that case, what do we want to know?

I don't think there's a need to press for information, and I think it sets up the wrong vibe if we come across that way. It'd be interesting to know how many tiles are between our capitals - provided she's willing to share. That can easily be asked in our next email though. We're expecting around 28-30 tiles between our capitals based on the distance between us and Eagles & Condors.

[WilliamLP]

We agree to a mutual NAP effective this turn. The NAP expires t60 unless renegotiated on or before t50.

Maybe I'm dense but I'm still having a heck of a time trying to parse what that means.

[Lord Parkin]

We agree to a mutual NAP effective this turn. The NAP expires t60 unless renegotiated on or before t50.

Maybe I'm dense but I'm still having a heck of a time trying to parse what that means.

Slightly weird I agree, but it seems to basically say that if we haven't heard back about a NAP extension on or before turn 50, we can assume we're going to war on turn 60. Not sure why the artificial limit though - if for some reason we both forgot to negotiate prior to turn 50, presumably we wouldn't force ourselves to go to war on turn 60 if neither of us want that.

Anyway, I'm not too worried as an early war will hurt them at least as much as it'll hurt us. Nobody wants to bring about a lose-lose situation. I reckon just leave them to their quirks... this odd self-restriction of theirs really shouldn't make a difference anyway.

[Lord Parkin]

Suggested reply to Maga:

Greetings Maga,

It's great to hear from you, welcome to the Orgy! We're sorry to hear about your team troubles - perhaps you'll be able to find a lurker willing to become your new teammate. Alternatively you could down another margarita and rejoice in remaining single for now. In any event I'm sure you will retain followers as long as they have updates to read.

Regarding renaming your units - I'm not sure if there's another way, but I do it by first selecting the unit, then clicking on its title in the lower left box (e.g. "Scout" or "Worker", just above movement stats). After clicking on the unit title, a box pops up which allows you to rename the unit. You can repeat and change or remove the name as many times as you wish. Hope that helps!

Thanks very much for the information about the Native Americans. It's funny that you met us before they did! We encountered their civ while waiting for your reply, and discovered that there are 14 tiles between our capital and theirs. We presume this is a fairly standard length, which would place your capital approximately 30 tiles to our west. Is this correct? Given that there are three civs in an east-west line, we believe the world to have an approximate 5x2 layout of civs, which would indicate map dimensions in the realm of 70x44 and a vertical distance between civs of approximately 20 tiles.

We're glad that you are keen to work together in the long term... we feel the same way! Given the high maintenance on this map and the fact that we are not neighbours, we can see no reason why either of us would want to attack the other until at least T200 - and probably far beyond that. Therefore, we think settling in for the long term and sharing the love between us is a wonderful idea. As such, we're happy to accept a NAP until T183 - in fact, we'd be fine to extend this as far as T222 if you wish. (No particular reason for T222, except that it's surely a lucky number for a partnership with all those 2's!)

We hope to hear back from you soon, and look forward to a long and mutually beneficial relationship!

Yours Amorously,
Team Orgy

Again, any suggestions for improvements welcome.

[Lord Parkin]

Possible reply to Eagles and Condors:

Greetings Eagles and Condors,

No worries about keeping things brief, it's nice to be efficient. We're glad to have a NAP and settlement agreement in place already - certainly a good foundation for a partnership.

We finally heard back from M&M - apparently their team has had a bit of an implosion recently, probably related to this. It sounds like Maga is playing without slaze for now.

We're pretty confident we have neighbours to the south who are connected by land, though we haven't met them yet. Based on a 14 tile average east-west distance between civs, assuming a 5x2 layout of civs and a horizontal:vertical tile ratio of 1.6, we expect the map to have approximate dimensions of 70x44. So we expect the vertical distance between northern and southern neighbours to be about 20-22 tiles, 1.5 times the east-west distance.

Regards,
Team Orgynized

As always, suggestions welcome.

[Arkipeller]

Before we actually sign those NAPs I would like to ask a more interresting question:

Which of the teams know you by reputation, Parkin? This is an important question due the stability of NAPs will be important. I am pretty sure that Maga alone won't be a problem in this game, so unless we attack her, I am sure we could profit of having an everlasting match for trades and similar.

BTW: I added the Isle-name. I actually doubt Magno has been online in the game at all

[Lord Parkin]

I expect at least one member on most teams knows me from a previous game, though most will also know there are plenty of other good players in this game. For the record, I've never broken a NAP to date and don't intend to in the future, and I'd be rather surprised if another team decides to stoop to that level to try to win. We may have some difficulty signing long NAP's, but once they're signed I see no reason that they won't be respected. (Unless you know someone who has a track record of being unreliable with NAP's?)

Folks from Blame Caledorn and EggHeads are probably most familiar with me. Some players from Eagles & Condors, Cannibal Pony, Bowsling, and Care Bears will be somewhat familiar with me. As far as I know Maga has only heard of me indirectly. No idea whatsoever about the Dinosaurs or Gladiator's Glory, though none of them seem to have posted much at the site.

[Arkipeller]

I expect at least one member on most teams knows me from a previous game, though most will also know there are plenty of other good players in this game. For the record, I've never broken a NAP to date and don't intend to in the future, and I'd be rather surprised if another team decides to stoop to that level to try to win. We may have some difficulty signing long NAP's, but once they're signed I see no reason that they won't be respected. (Unless you know someone who has a track record of being unreliable with NAP's?)

Folks from Blame Caledorn and EggHeads are probably most familiar with me. Some players from Eagles & Condors, Cannibal Pony, Bowsling, and Care Bears will be somewhat familiar with me. As far as I know Maga has only heard of me indirectly. No idea whatsoever about the Dinosaurs or Gladiator's Glory, though none of them seem to have posted much at the site.

And that would me my point: Maga, that don't know your reputation directly, may be our ally and feel secure about it. I know Cal knows much about you and others, and are more careful with deals during earlier experiences... Maga won't judge that way... or so I guess