[Spoiler] RB Pitboss #2 - Shaka of Rome

[Jabah]

If you have peace, it will also be time to visite the barbarain city for more money (keep or not will probably need to see how the economy is dealing with your new aquisitions

[Whosit]

If you have peace, it will also be time to visite the barbarain city for more money (keep or not will probably need to see how the economy is dealing with your new aquisitions

Yup, that's the plan. I won't keep it, though, since my guestimations suggest that these two new cities will really hurt. Besides, the Barb city isn't really on my dotmap (of sorts).

Got a message from plako saying that they are thinking about the proposal and that they'll "try to give [me] an answer before turn ends." Hmm. I do hope that they're not just yanking my chain, since I've actually gotten my hopes up for this deal to go through.

Nakor got back to me. I think that he took the news fairly well. I'm going to talk to the Triple Alliance to see when we plan to make the big reveal--but my guess is that it will be after the war with Killer Angels.

Dear Whosit,

We'll send the missionary to Wonsit, he'll be moving east past La Mut and an escort would be appreciated. We're in no position to send one ourselves since we're focussing on the war with India.

Thanks for the acceptance of the NAP. We wonder if the source of Iron you mentioned isn't inside La Mut's BFC. We haven't discovered IW yet, so we don't know. We are planning on a city on the same coast as Kuat before building another city in land, but we'd be happy to expand near former Korea, especially since the land near Mali is already claimed for the most part. That city on the coast can and will help you in claiming the cental island, if that's still your plan.

We are sad to hear that you're not in a position to make a more formal alliance with us at this moment. The formation of a "bloc" has us worried, especially when that bloc must contain people currently in CoW. We do understand that you can't offer us more information at this point but hope to hear more in the future. We had hoped... but maybe in the future.

Kind regards,
Nakor of HRE

I'm really tempted to think of way to say or hint that he shouldn't get too close to the Romali, since dantski seems to be left out in the cold, but . . . . If I'm going to partition the Inca with the Ottomans later, then I'll probably want to help Holy Rome take a bite out of Romali. Could be risky to help a neighbor get larger, but I'm hoping that when the Triple Alliance splits that Nakor will be on my side. Larger picture here, larger picture. . . .

And Jowy says that Sullla is working on Monarchy. Yeesh. They'll open up their happy cap big time.

OK, not much else, I guess. All I can do is wait for plako's response. Perhaps the one piece of evidence to show that they're not just messing with me is that they haven't logged into the game (based on Civstats). Man. What's there to think about? Is the EP spending really such a big deal to them?

[Whosit]

Still no word from Korea. Sent this to Nakor/DMOC. Gotta run, so no time to discuss more, but it should be self-evident.

Dear Nakor and DMOC,

I don't have very detailed maps of your region. What land marks are around La Mut? I wouldn't want to send the escort in the wrong direction. Regarding expansion, I'd like to coordinate that with you, though I'm sure that will have to wait until after the war with the Killer Angels, and possibly until I tech Currency and Code of Laws. At least, on my end. Code of Laws plus your Unique Building will help you expand quite a bit, I imagine.

I, too, am sorry that I cannot offer you more information regarding the "bloc." Considering that it has not gone public, even discussing its existence may have been too much, but I didn't want to keep you in the dark, either. Hopefully you can keep this information quiet until things are made official. Again, I still wish to work closely with your civilization. Which reminds me: Once I am at peace with Korea, I should already have enough soldiers to send against Sullla/Speaker. I was thinking of working on Stonehenge for lack of better projects. You're not working on this, are you? In the event that I complete it, and supposing that it generates a Great Priest, and supposing that you still lack a Shrine, I would be willing to make arrangements to exchange said Great Priest. This is all completely hypothetical, of course, considering the stage of the game, but I just wanted to put it on the table.

I do have one more request; I hope that I am not being overbearing. I am still waiting to hear from Korea with confirmation of the peace treaty. Right now, I'm not sure if the delay is simply due to a legitimate need to discuss the terms proposed, or if it is a delaying tactic. Would you be willing to help me put diplomatic pressure on Korea if it looks like they will not accept peace? I think that it would be in both our best interests, especially since it would completely free me up for the war against Sullla, and it should bury the regional powder keg for awhile. I wouldn't need you to put the screws on just yet, but if the turn rolls around and they haven't responded, it may suggest that they are stalling. Considering your proximity, and the fact that your power has been rising (for other reasons), it seems reasonable to suppose that they might listen to you. Let me know if you would be willing to do this. Certainly, I'm not asking you to declare war on them, but feel free to hint at whatever you want.

I sincerely hope that we become great partners in the future. Especially considering the shape of the land, empires will need friends to watch their backs.

Best regards,

Whosit, Galactic Emperor

[Whosit]

Mail time, and good news!

Dear Whosit,

There is rice south of Sethanon (gold/marble city). Our newest city is 2 tiles south of that rice, 2 tiles above the deer near the coast.
The missionary will go there. We do hope the rathauses will give us the economic posibility to expand, therefore an expansion to the center island is very likely. Again, we'd like to join you in that effort, probably after the war with India.

We're very curious about this "bloc" but hope things will become clear in the near future.
We're not after Stonehenge, so sure, you can try that. And a trade with a Great Prophet could be very interesting indeed. We'll keep that in mind.
Can we conclude from your mail that you want to sign peace with Korea? If that's so, we really don't understand that. You're in a position to get at least 2 more cities and maybe even all his cities.

Regarding the war with India, I do think that sending 4 preats to Fred-burg would be enough initialy. And the sooner they arrive, the fewer armies India can build.

We have told Korea that we're not going to aid them in their war with you due to fear of 'repercussions'. If they don't sign peace, we're willing to talk to them, of course, but, again, we don't see the need for peace at this particulare time.

Regards,
Nakor of HRE

He's almost as bad as you guys! Heh heh.

But the best news:

Dear Whosit,

Alright offer accepted. I even managed to resist the temptation to whip the city to size 1 so you'll get a head start for it.

Regards,
plako

Sweet. I'm going to go confirm the peace treaty in-game before I reply. I'll be back.

[Whosit]

OK, that took a lot longer than I expected. Ugh. I kind of wish I could put this down for a few days (not really!). Though tomorrow may be dsplaisted's last day subbing for Team Inca. The original team is nowhere to be seen. If any of you know unspoiled lurkers, or have friends who would like to take a shot at this, let 'em know!

Anyway, I will tell the story with e-mail and pictures . . . .

Well, I already posted plako's surrender message. I responded and accepted. Behold:



Wonsan has become Ryloth. And it did indeed get control of its initial ring! Nice!! It kept the monument, too, and I am going to put a turn of production into a Granary before whipping it.

More pictures of my territory for those who want to see it:





I whipped Imperial Center for about as close to max overflow as possible. That'll go into a Worker, then another Worker. So I'll be back to n+1 Workers (7 Workers for 6 cities). Carida will begin Stonehenge next turn. Whether I get it or not, I don't really care. I just don't need to pay for more units now, and a Library would be useless there. Not sure what the capital will do after that. I think my maintenance will be too high to plant my filler city, but whip anger won't have worn off quite yet. I'll figure something out.

Cottages will go down for Ryloth and Nar Shaddaa. Hopefully that'll help out. I'm at 20% research, earning a mere +1 gpt. Math in 23 turns. Oy. I have a solid second place, though, and still #1 in production, so if I can repair my economy, I'm pretty sure that I'll be a significant player in this game! Who'd have thunk?

Spoke with Nakor in game. This should summarize:

Dear Nakor and DMOC,

Nakor and I had a discussion in-game, but I'm writing to summarize and confirm what we said as best as I can.

I have indeed taken two Korean cities: Nar Shaddaa (formerly P'yongyang) which is north of Seoul, and Ryloth (former Wonsan) which is east of Seoul. I felt that getting two cities for the price of one was a pretty good deal, all things considered. While Seoul would have been a magnificent cherry to top things off, I'm pretty sure that the effort of conquering it would have outweighed the benefits at this point in time. As I mentioned to Nakor, I cannot discuss the "bloc" at this time, but I can tell you that plako is not my vassal in any way. I think that the Koreans still have too much pride for that!

That being the case, they are not under any particular protection from me, although I would rather not have any third parties conquer Seoul. I let Nakor know about the Iron nearest to Korea. It is 3SE and 1E of Sethanon, on a hill. There is irrigated Wheat 2N and 1E of that. I'm not sure if Nakor put a sign up or not, so that's why I gave the directions again. I have no problem at all with you settling aggressively against Korea, since it will make it harder for them to grow into a threat. I imagine that they will make it a priority to get a Settler out. In fact, they probably just whipped one out (3-pop whip). They don't have Iron Working as far as I know, so they may not go for that Iron site immediately. I also have a Preatorian heading in the general direction of La Mut to help guide the Missionary to safety.

With peace in hand, I there are very few demands on my military now, so most of my troops should be free for the assault. While this may best be discussed among the entire Coalition, I do plan to delay my attack until Turn 112. I am very certain that I will have four Galleys by then, so I can attack with eight Preatorians, which should be more than enough to raze Fredericksburg, and provide assistance to the other divisions. I believe that one strong attack has a much better chance of success than a couple small waves. Despite the terrible power of Preatorians, they are not invulernable, so even four could be defeat if Sullla had adequate defenses. While I cannot claim to have much experience in multiplayer warfare, I have read many accounts that suggest that concentration of force is usually the best policy. Large forces with the element of surprise are even better.

I plan to eventually settle north of Nar Shaddaa, on the coast by clams and sugar. Nakor says that none of your settlement plans will interfere with that. I do not think that we talked about anything else, though I may have forgotten as I did not keep a transcript of the chat. If I overlooked anything, please let me know.

Best regards,

Whosit, Galactic Emperor

I also got a brief message congratulating me on my victory. It seems that my peace plan made more sense once he found out that I was getting a city out of it! He also asked more about the "bloc," but of course I couldn't say anything. During our chat, I mentioned that he should take it as a gesture of friendship that I even mentioned it, and he seemed to agree, so hopefully there's no hard feelings on that note. Oh, what tangled webs.

So. I have more cities than anyone (six), the worst economy, and the strongest army. Yay. Hmm. Maybe I should tech meditation instead of Math so I can build monasteries. I should be getting a Confucian Missionary from Nakor in about 10 turns (rough estimate), so if I spread it and convert, that's +1 happy. I'll think about it, though if the turn rolls over, I'll stick with Math.

Current happy cap in non capital cities: 6.

Nar Shadda can stagnate with: 4 cottages, 2 hill mines (1 hill currently in range) or with specialists. So about 8 commerce from cottages, +1-2 as they mature.

Ryloth can stagnate with specialists. OK, so I'll want Libraries in both cities pretty quickly. I'll do Granary > Library in Ryloth. Barracks > Library in Nar Shaddaa (hoping for free monument from Stonehenge).

OK. Enough typing. I'm out.

[Krill]

You got a granary in Kuat?

Nice empire mate :b: just need to get the cottages down now...

[Whosit]

You got a granary in Kuat?

Nice empire mate :b: just need to get the cottages down now...

I have a Granary in Kuat.

Thanks. That would be the plan! Hopefully it'll be enough.

[timmy827]

If you don't care about Stonehenge, wouldn't a worker be better? 7 for 6 cities isn't awful but quicker cottaging always helps...

[spacemanmf]

So you're building a galleys on the inside and outside, eh. Are they both to head for India?

Also, does the happy cap include the furs?

[Whosit]

@timmy827: Losing Stonehenge wouldn't break the game for me, but it would still be useful for me to pick up since I could "copy" the Creative trait. It's still early enough in the game that I'll get some use out of it. Also, most of my core cities are developed, so I should be able to devote a pair of Workers to each new city. That will be enough to improve the terrain faster than they can grow.

@spacemanmf: Only the Galleys on the inner sea will head for India, especially since I lack Open Borders with Korea. I'll use the one on the outer sea to do some exploration.

And, yes, the happy caps I stated include the fur and gold. Base cap of 4 + 2 luxuries = 6 (Capital = 7 w/ Palace).