RP Pitboss #2 [SPOILERS] - Darius I of the Holy Roman Empire

[Nakor]

Got some time to update all messages being sent.

[SIZE="4"]KOREA[/SIZE]

Dear Nakor,

Whosit declared war and Pyongyang is in danger next turn. There are 3 axes+3 archers against 7 praetorians+1 Axe and obvivously only good RNG luck will save it. If you've any units or other help available that would be most welcomed.

Sincerely,
plako

[COLOR="Orange"]Dear Plako,

We noticed the declaration of war. Unfortunately we don't have any units near Pyongyang.
We will see what we can do to aid you, but are a bit afraid that Mali might attack us, so we don't want to send to much.
Hang in there and we might be able to help.

Best of luck,
Nakor of HRE[/COLOR]

We're not going to send any aid, of course. To bad we don't have an axe or two to help Whosit, we might get something out of that war...
For now I'm playing nice and will keep offering aid.

[SIZE="4"]THE EMPIRE[/SIZE]

Dear Nakor,

It looks like it has been a little while since I have written to you. I hope that the New Year is going well for you so far. Things are getting a bit hectic what with the Coalition gearing up and other matters to attend to, yes? I was wondering how things are looking from your end? Have you already started to build your army? I hope that you can keep them away from Sullla's scout. Also, this is a long-shot, but I don't suppose that you have an army near Korea, do you? I kid.

Are you still on track for Code of Laws and Confucianism? If you found it, I was hoping that you would send the free Missionary my way. Seeing as how Confucianism is founded out of Code of Laws, it would be an appropriate faith for the Galactic Empire to adopt. And it would surely benefit you to have your religion spread further, especially if you are going for the Shrine. Let me know if that would be alright. I really just wanted to stay in contact with you, but let me know if there is anything else that you would like to discuss.

Best regards,

Whosit, Galactic Emperor

[COLOR="Orange"]Dear Whosit,

I had a good New Year, although with two kids, everything is a bit busy.
We're building our army as we speak, and we're aware of India's scouting warrior.
I hope your war with Korea will be a swift one and that you will be able to send troops to India soon.
Korea did ask for our help. I told them we'll try to see what we can do. But of course we don't plan on sending forces to Korea's aid.
We don't have units nearby, so we won't be able to help you in that war.
Are you planning on taking all 3 landbased cities from Korea?

We're working on CoL, though it's an expensive effort. We just hope India won't get there sooner. Thankfully, research should go faster soon.
I'll talk to DMOC about the missionary. It sounds like a good plan to send him to a trusted ally.
Talking about that, would you be willing to sign a long term NAP with our civ?

Hope your 7 preats win the day at Pyongyang!

Regards,
Nakor of HRE[/COLOR]

Trying to get a long term friendship going. I think we can send the missionary to Whosit, if you agree, DMOC. He looks like to horse to bet on in this race, especially for the near future.

[SIZE="4"]INDIA[/SIZE]

Dear Nakor and DMOC of Holy Rome,


First off, apologies for not responding sooner! We're just getting back from the holidays and catching up with our email. Thanks very much for the new year's wishes, and of course the same are extended to the two of you.

Dantski was fairly aggressive at going after resources on our borders as well. Kumbi Saleh has gold, rice, and silks in its second ring... but everything except the gold sits under jungle, and the city is a long way from his capital. An interesting decision, to be sure. We're hoping to pass by Gao with our warrior Jubal Early as he returns back to our territory, so that we can see the situation for ourselves.

Our relations with Greece have been generally positive thus far, aside from a misunderstanding that we had recently about a few things. Jowy settled on our borders recently, so we had to settle near his borders to respond, and things have gotten a little tight there in terms of space. This map is nowhere near as big as the one I designed for RBPB1, so I expect that things will indeed be filling up shortly, just as you said.

Obviously you guys haven't founded that extra city yet, but I believe it happens this turn if I've counted correctly, so congratulations! I don't think you have any reason to be worried about aggression from our team - we'd be open to signing a Non-Aggression Pact with you if desired. Let us know if that's something that would interest you.


Cheers,
Sullla
The Killer Angels

[COLOR="Orange"]Dear Sulla and Speaker of India,

Thanks! We've been very busy ourselves.
Dantski has some interesting city's in place, indeed. We're not to worried, though.

We just founded La Mut and are very proud to be the second civilization getting to 5 cities. We hope to have the infrastructure in place shortly to speed up our progress and maybe even be in league with your awesome civilization.
We're not to worried about agression from you, so we don't see the need for an NAP (especially since relations have been good since we met and we're not bordered), but if you want to we'd be willing to sign one.

I hope that the tension between you and Greece will lessen in the upcoming years. I'm sure a war would hamper your progression a bit. We do expect another war soon, though, but won't be involved in that either.

Regards,
Nakor of HRE[/COLOR]

Dear Nakor and DMOC of Holy Rome,


Thanks for your last message. We were going to ask what you meant by that line about expecting another war soon, but I guess Whosit's declaration on Broker/plako answers that!

We are in the process of scouting out a coastal trade route to your team, so that we'll both be able to take advantage of Open Borders trade income. We thought we'd let you know, since Dantski had some questions about why we were moving a warrior through his territory towards you.


Cheers,
Sullla
The Killer Angels

[COLOR="orange"]Dear Sullla and Speaker,

I still have trouble with that third l in your name...

Indeed, that war started sooner than we anticipated. Korea is facing Preats, so we fear for them.

We'll be sending a scout north along the outer coast as well to get more trade routes (and to scout Mali), so expect to see him soon.

Are you planning in founding a religion soon? We're still looking for an extra happines source...

Kind regards,
Nakor of HRE[/COLOR]

Staying friendly, of course. Don't let them think they're in trouble, dropping hints of trouble with Mali...
They didn't mention a NAP in the last message, so I guess I nicely parried that one.

[Nakor]

[SIZE="4"]COALITION OF WILLING[/SIZE]

Just a review of the mails:

Hello members of CoW.

This is a general reply to most of your comments and the whole situation It's good to have so much discussion going on. Anyway, straight to business.


Cities:
I agree that we will raze these cities. Obviously it's not in my best interests to raze cities that would fit well in my nation. But I understand it'd be unfair that we who are close get cities while those far-away wouldn't. As long as everyone participates in the war evenly, then I have no problem razing the cities. Though if we end up in a long dragging war and providing most units, then we'll discuss again


India's 5th city:
4N of Chancelorsville, so 23N 1E from whatever was the point Dantski was using. It was settled a couple of turns ago. I saw the settler and negotiated with India that I'll let them settle that if I get a site east of Thebes (my front city, 21N 4E of Dantski's point). Had it been a settler race I would have lost, since I already saw the settler ready to get there, though I don't think they knew I saw it.


Attack plan, fronts, logistics:
See the image attached for my suggestion of our attacking plan. Myself and Ottomans would attack from the north, first going for a flatland city in their core (Chancellorsville). From that point we can go either for the capital, for the northern city (which should be pretty harmless) or for the east city. Mali and HRE would attack from the south, either the capital (Gettysburg) or eastern city. Rome would land at Gettysburg either to help Dantski or to land a surprise attack. This is the trickiest part, I'm not sure which is a better idea. I think if you can get those 8 praets pretty quickly, we could postpone the attack a few turns to give you some extra time. If you guys think the surprise attack would work, then we let Mali attack the east city on flatland.. That way both me and Mali would draw troops AWAY from the capital, which then would be assaulted by Rome. Tell me what you think.

Color code btw for that map.. Red is current India cities, Green is future India cities (speculation, though they've told me that they'll settle south next and those locations would make the most sense), Blue is my front city and the brown line is Dantski's lands (not quite scouted yet). Black line is the coast.

General strategy for the fight would be to use our numbers and the surprise factor against them. A quick lethal blow. I think if it comes down to a long dragged war, we'll be at a disadvantage because the distances are long and they're no pushovers skill-wise. Comments?


Construction:
Sure I'll go for it. 5 turns to Maths, then I'll go for Masonry and Construction. Should take 20-30 turns depending on how heavy I'm on military or whips.

India's techs:
They're currently researching monotheism. I'm not sure why, I had the impression that they would go for calendar. 2 turns until mono, then we'll see I guess. If you're wondering how I know, I can see their research due to my EP. We decided to stop spending EP on eachother, exactly at the turn I got their research visible Anyone got an idea why they would want mono?


Comments, questions?
~ Jowy

There was a rough map attached.

Hi guys,

I believe Whosit will be sailing on the inner sea rather than the outer sea which means his units will pop-out around Fredericksburg (Spullan east city close to the coast). If we're going to delay I suggest the following...

Jowy/Kathlete attack Chancellorsvile, HRE/Whosit attack Fredericksburg, while I threaten Gettysburg + Antietam simultaneously to keep some trrops stationed there.

Also Spulla will be sending a warrior through my land starting from the NW with Spulla telling me they'll be sending it HRE's way. Try not to let them see your units moving through my land!

Lastly my NAP with Spulla expires on T90, I assume you guys want me to extend it to T100?

-Dantski

[COLOR="Orange"]Hi Dantski,

Don't beleive them! They currenrtly have a warrior in my land, so they must be scouting your land.

Indeed, Whosit will be sailing on the inner sea. We can coordinate an attack on Fred-burg.
Dantski, you'd rather we work with Whosit then with you? We can also send our stack with your to their capital.

Regards,
Nakor of HRE[/COLOR]

Dear Friends and Allies of the Coalition,

I'm glad to see that we are getting more solid plans down. I am indeed going to sail on the inner sea (it should be much faster) so I will probably land near Fredericksburg. I'm still trying to figure out what my likely timetable will be, but it's probably certain that I won't be able to meet the T100 deadline due to logistical issues. Again, I'm still working on what I'll have by when, but if nothing else, if the rest of you focus on Sullla/Speaker's western cities, perhaps I'll be able to get the drop on his eastern cities and raze one or two on my own. So, basically, I probably won't be able to link up with anyone early in the war, but hopefully I can cause some damage on my own.

Also, it's very good to know that we have eyes on their techs. Judaism hasn't been founded yet, correct? I expect they're going for the religion both for the Civic and because spreading religion increases their Happy Cap, meaning more (riverside, Financial boosted) cottages can be worked. It sounds like they are teching very fast still.

So, again, I apologize for my slow preparations. It's probably best that the four of you work as pairs in the early going, and I'll do my best to send a respectable strike-force quickly. Keeping in mind that I have to build the boats in addition to the units, it may take a little bit. But it will surely be faster than marching across land, I think. I will double check, but seeing as how there is not a consistent road network from my territory all the way to the Killer Angels, it's probably faster to build those boats and travel by sea.

I expect to have more detailed updates in a few turns.

To victory,

Whosit, Galactic Emperor

P.S.: Nakor is probably right that they are scouting your territory. Actually, I currently have Open Borders with Killer Angels, but I have long since left their territory. I am going to tech Sailing on my next turn. Should I close borders with Sullla/Speaker, or would that be too suspicious?

Hi Fellow Allies,

Just a quick message because I'm very short on time today: we should
strive to act as normal as possible towards India. In particular,
Whosit please keep the OB with them and Dantski if your previous NAP
was 10 turns then by all means renew it until T100. Otherwise, I
suggest either not renewing or renewing for the same duration... In my
opinion it would be suspicious to have a NAP of 20 turns, then say: ok
now let's have another NAP for only 10 turns.

In summary, keep all the deals with India, and even start some
resource trades or something. It's important that they don't sense
something is going on. I noticed that their power increases around the
time we started talking about the CoW and I was even suspicious a
lurker may have hinted something to them. Sullla/Speakers are smart
players and they would pick even the slightest hint I think. We cannot
do much about this, but let's not give them any other reason for
suspicion.

Kalin

Another quick email, just couldn't resist it Jowy, your map is just
great, made me smile. These kind of things make this game very
exciting for me Thanks for your long thoughtful email, we'll
respond with technical details a bit later.

Kalin

A very quick message, since a lurker brought it up in my thread: Does hand-drawing a map violate either the words or spirits of Rule 13, which prohibits screenshot and map trades before Paper? Although Jowy's drawing is not technically a screenshot or game map, I'm not sure.

Don't get me wrong, the picture was very helpful. I just don't want us to get called on this at a later date if a mistake was made.

-Whosit, Galactic Emperor

I am pretty sure that the rule referred to screenshots only. We can
ask for a clarification I guess, but I personally think it's fine.
Kalin

Dear Friends and Allies,

I assumed the picture was alright; I just wanted to be clear. Since we all agree that there's no problem, I'll just forget about it.

In other news, you are all probably aware that the Empire is now at war with Korea. This is part of the reason I expect to be delayed a bit. Please note that this has been in the works since before the Coalition was formed, so I was caught up in the planning while "I had enough on my hands." I just want to assure everyone that I will do all I can to contribute to the operation against the Killer Angels. Korea has recently acquired Copper, which killed my hopes for a very quick win, but I think that I still have the situation under control. I believe that if I can inflict enough damage on them, I can simply contain them while I prepare for an amphibious attack against Sullla and Speaker.

The bad news is that my port town is still relatively small, but it should grow soon enough. Galleys are still expensive, so I may only be able to transport 4 Praetorians at a time, but if that's what I can send, I'll send it, and have more behind them. Hopefully that's alright with everyone.

To victory,

Whosit, Galactic Emperor

[COLOR="orange"]Dear Friends and Allies,

I had a good chat with Dantski and we decided to focus our initial attack on Antietam. We'll destroy their copper mine while in the area.

Here's how my strategy would look like:

After we've attacked Antietam and Greece and the Ottomans have taken care of Chancellorsville both our stacks should move towards their capital.
Whosit can take care of Fred-burg after landfall then. It's completely cut-off from the rest of the empire, so 4 preats can do a lot of damage. So I suggest you send them when available.
They can aid after that in the attack on Gettysburg.
If we manage to raze that, India only has only one, maybe two cities left.

All talking from a positive point of view of course... things will be bit more difficult, I pressume...

To victory indeed!
Nakor of HRE[/COLOR]

[DMOC]

Very interesting, Korea vs. Rome. We'll just sit on the sidelines since the logistics of helping Korea is just .... difficult.

Reading the other emails now....


EDIT1: Yes, good reply to Whosit. We'll keep on his side for now. Gifting the missionary (or spreading the religion to him) is fine. I assume we'll do it over land? We'll have to go through Korea...not that it's dangerous there.

[DMOC]

I've read through all the emails. I don't think the war will be easy. India will be able to tell that we're attacking them if we move a stack of 8 units inside Dantski's northern city of Kumbi Saleh (?).

What do you think we should do? Keep our axes in the northern city, the spears in a different city, and the chariots further back since they can move twice as fast?

Also, if India is going for Monotheism, then we have a good chance to be the first to research Code of Laws!

[DMOC]

Whosit of Rome sent a big email.

Dear Nakor and DMOC,

Well, it's interesting to hear that Korea asked you for help. I wonder if they've asked anyone else. Let me know if you see any mean stacks marching through your territory. I hope to take all three of Korea's core cities, preferably swiftly. I have good odds to take P'yongyang at the start of next turn, though if for some reason my troops underperform, I may have to take it the turn after. I anticipate needing about 3 turns to heal my troops, whereupon I'll head for Seoul. I'm not sure how I'll crack Wonsan, but I may try to train a new division and attack out of Imperial Center. Because they have Copper, I know that I won't be able to finish them before the war with the Killer Angels starts. Right now, I will have Kuat start building the fleet. Once I have enough boats, I'll probably redeploy what troops I have and hunker down until I can attack Korea again. So, basically, I will disengage from Korea in order to attack the Coalition's target, but I still can't do that until I have enough boats. Unlike the Ottomans, I don't have Horses connected yet, so my ground troops can't move very fast. Hopefully that plan sounds acceptable.

I hope that you make in to Code of Laws first. Maybe you should keep in contact with Jowy since he has tabs on Sullla's research? Best of luck speeding up the research.

Now, then, a NAP you say? Well, I will say upfront that I dislike NAPs in concept because I don't see them as good tools for really forging a bond. For example, Korea and I had a NAP for awhile (signed by LiPing, my predecessor), but it didn't really make us friendlier. I favor more proactive tools, like trade agreements, mutual defense plans, and even economic assistence plans when appropriate. That said, I'm not turning down a NAP proposal; I'm just letting you know where I stand on it. And despite all I just said, I think a NAP might be a good idea anyway, though I'd like to include additional proactive clauses to our agreement.

One thought I had hinges on whether or not you found Confucianism. I would still like the Missionary of course, but suppose I helped you spread the faith (both to myself and those with which I have Open Borders), and supposing you get a Shrine, I wonder if I could get a small cut for being such a good hypothetical helper. Other ideas include more mundane resource trades, although I think most civs have very similar resources, and unit sales/trades. If you have any exotic ideas of your own, please let me know. I would also like a mutual defense (or mutual assistance, if you prefer) clause, though we could discuss that at a later date. Since we will probably be direct neighbors in the near future, we will be close enough to render assistance to the other in case either are attacked by a third party. Also let me know how many turns a "long-term" NAP would mean.

On a closing note, there is one other thing I'd like to work out, though I imagine that we are still many turns away from this. I plan to do some exploring of the central island. In fact, I might even drop off an Axeman or something with my first boat to start exploring. I was hoping that you would help me settle the island. As much as I'd like to, I imagine that it is far too large for me to gobble up myself, and it would be nice to have some friends there, too.

I imagine that I have given you enough to chew on for now. Until your next message.


Best regards,

Whosit, Galactic Emperor

[Nakor]

I read Whosit's mail. I strongly suggest we try to get a sort of alliance going that he proposes. Can you agree to that?

[SIZE="4"]Turn 84:[/SIZE]

Worker finished in Krondor, Axe started (5 turns). Worker starts roading the rice to build the road network to Kumbi Saleh. Other worker near Krondor started on the second cottage.

Whipped Rolan for the worker, Axe after that. Worker wil start roading to Crydee and connect the furs and wheat.

Goldmine near Sethanon finished. That worker will move to farms the rice and then the deer south of La Mut.

ETA of CoL down to 6 turns (but we still can't finish it). It seems likely we'll get it in 8-9 turns.

[m4gill4]

Are all of your city names themed on Betrayal at Krondor? I recognize Krondor and Sethanon, but it's been a long time so I don't recognize the others.

[Nakor]

m4gill4: not on Krondor, more on Midkemia... you must know Nakor as well... want an orange?

[SIZE="4"]Turn 85:[/SIZE]

Rolan finished a worker, started roading towards fur and Crydee, started an Axe (4 turns).
Worker near Sethanon moved to rice to farm there.
Axes scouting Mali a bit while moving towards Kumbi Saleh. Warrior near Greece is moving towards the west coast and will move south then.

ETA of CoL is 5 turns, but we can only manage 2 more at 100%, so we need a bit more cash.

Judaism founded this turn, I presume by India.

When will be a good time to whip Krondor and Rolan for military?
If we build 2 more axes, then 2 spears and then 2 chariots, we have our strike force ready. I think we'll make turn 95 in Kumbi with one good placed whip in both Rolan and Krondor.

Sethanon will finish the library in 10. Should we whip after growth to 4 (4 turns)?
If we keep Seth at size 4/5 it can build an axe and settler after the Library for the coastal city north of it.

Will we send a second strike force towards India or won't we?

I did take a look at out research rate. Sailing is 3 turns, IW 6 turns, so speed is pretty good, I think.

[m4gill4]

Ahh, I was only familiar with the old "Betrayal at Krondor" game. I never realized that they were based on books. I did a search and managed to see that they look pretty cool without spoiling the plots too badly, maybe I'll check them out.

And yes, I would love an orange! :ele:

[DMOC]

Looks like we'll have to go to 0% research for 1 turn. Hopefully that will be the only no-research turn we'll have to suffer.

Not sure if we'll send a second strike force. It might have to be limited to chariots since we're relatively far away.

Good, so we have 4 workers out now? Or 5? (1 per city?)

I wouldn't whip Sethanon - I want to keep the gold. However, if we're short on units, then we might have eto. But whipping Sethanon forces us to work our food tiles first to grow back.

I'll compose an email for Whosit.