SPOILER - Dazedroyalty's Thread

[dazedroyalty]

Meatbalz, it's always welcome. Worst case scenario, I can say, "At least I didn't follow Meatbalz advice!"

I got a reply from Scooter:

azed,

Sorry it took so long to respond - normally I'm much quicker than that! Internet & cable got KO'd the other day by a storm, and wonderful AT&T has yet to fix it. Actually played the turn yesterday from a McDonald's parking lot.

Actually I don't like NAPs either. I haven't signed one in PBEM3 yet despite that game hitting the AD years. I'm not saying I'll never sign one, but I just think they do more harm than good sometimes. I'm going to take a stab at your current situation - you don't want me moving my warrior in so that you have to change from a worker to a warrior. Did I get it?? Teasing aside, I'd be happy to sign that deal. I don't see much use in making a move like than and creating a game-long enemy, so I'll agree to that instead.

Couple thoughts on the map... It seems like some sort of ring map maybe? It's heavily modified though, and I think that's evidence by our surrounding lands. The land directly to your south is like 95% identical to the land directly to the south of my capital. Did you also explore to your north or what have you seen so far? I've just come along the coast, so I don't know how big the landmass is that we're on. I'm guessing you have an island right off your coast as well like I do?

First, I think that he is telling the truth about the internet delays. Two reasons: I think that he is a honest and trustworthy player and because he agreed to accept my proposal.

Second thing, I'm not surprised that he saw through my proposal. That was somewhat clear. The truth is, I could have a warrior before he gets there. Theoretically, he could have refused but not ever declared war just to delay my worker. I'm glad the he agreed and wil give him a +1 diplomatic credit for that.

I see that Scooter is also thinking about a modified ring. If he has an island identical to mine, it's gonna be really good to get a workboat out there to scout asap.

[dazedroyalty]

My reply to Scooter:

Scooter,

You're reading-between-the-lines skills are keen! Yes, I would prefer not to switch off a worker but if you did not agree, I would have had time to get the warrior before you could arrive making it simply a stalemate. I appreciate your help and will consider that for the future.

Funny that you said ring becuase that is exactly what I had been considering in my thread. I don't think it could be a straight ring though with five players. I don't see how it would work evenly.

I've found the west coast. Looks to be about 8 tiles wide give or take at different points. I wonder if he did some type of mirror map?

That's it for now. I hope you're internet gets working again soon. If it does, let me know if you want to play some MP!

Dazed

I hope to play the diplo game casual and with a friendly tone. I don't see the downside to telling scooter I found the west coast. He'll find out soon enough. It's not exactly the type of info I see him using against me in any particular way.

[dazedroyalty]

I played the turn on the Mac and uploaded to PBEM Tracker and emailed it on. If it works, we're in business! If not, I'll have Sareln keep playing till Sunday. I moved the warrior SE to continue to explore and also to move back towards the cap.

I will be changing my naming scheme too. I still haven't settled on my theme...

[dazedroyalty]

Scooter responded:

Dazed,

I admit my "reading between the lines" was helped somewhat because I'm in a similar situation to my south. SleepingMoogle popped up on the exact same tile to my south as I did to you, if that makes sense. So I was literally in the same exact spot as you were, so it was easy for me to understand the motive behind your message . I was able to work out a similar deal with him thankfully, so I'm not threatened currently. He has expressed desire in meeting you, so I told him to loop around my capital (keeping a 1 tile buffer) and head north. You could send your scout south to meet him if you'd like, or I could just direct him to your capital.

My theory about the map now that you've said there's a west coast like that, is perhaps we've got this strip of land in the dead middle of the map, and we've got fairly good sized islands on both sides of the starting strip. I don't know if that means toroidal world wrap then? Actually now that you say it, a mirror is possible too... Meaning we've got this strip on the left, islands in the middle, and a "terra" strip on the other side or something? I don't know... Lots of possibilities.

Yeah hopefully internet will be back to normal shortly... I've got access at work, but once I go home for the night it's trickier.

BTW - I moved my warrior west, honoring our deal. Thought I'd let you know so you aren't sweating it out until the save gets back to you .

It's good to know that he is in the same situation that I am in. I guess he didn't expect the map to be quite as small as it is either.

I think the idea of having on strip of land running North-South in the middle of the map and islands off the sides intriguing. Perhaps that is what this one is like. I'm not sure what he meant by Terra strip. I hope there is not a terra style land mass out there.

There is not a lot more to say at this point but I will formulate a response to keep diplomacy open between us.

[Sareln]

I can open up the save and take a look at the warrior locations etc. However other lurkers are not so fortunate - post a screenshot with your move + scooter's warrior please?

[dazedroyalty]

I would love to.... I think I figured out how to take a screenshot on a mac (Command + Shift +3) but I don't have a program to paste that screenshot into! As soon as i figure that out, I'll let you know. (Just one more reason to dislike playing from a mac)

Scooter's Quchua is 3S and 1 SW of my cap (on forest hill west of grassland). My warrior is 3W and 1 NW of his (on the other side of the river)

[dazedroyalty]

Well I'm silly. Apparently Mac's save the screenshot onto the desktop so as I was getting ready to close down, I found a bunch of pictures on the desktop...

Without further ado, the screenshot:

[meatbalz]

not much land to go around. i'd assume if scooter has neighbours close by N and S you do too...

[dazedroyalty]

No kidding. That's why island exploration will be critical! And early expansion. It may pay off to neglect development a bit to rush expansion. We'll see as things unfold...

[dazedroyalty]

Well, a whole day with no turn... I'm not upset at all for RL slow downs, but I have been antsy to play. I'd really like to see where Scooter moved. It's interesting to go from playing MP at Blazing speed to PBEM. The slow down is insane. I probably should be doing some more meta game planning but I don't know what else to think about. I'm flat out not interested in doing C&D type analysis.

I will say that I was just playing a SP Monarch game and there was definitely some significant barbarian activity that cropped up compared to a Noble level game. This map doesn't have loads of land (that is visible) so I don't think that should be too problematic. I do need to remember to build a galley just to protect fishing boats. I hate when those get pillaged!