[spoilers]Commodore is Darius II of the HRE, now with less excuse.

[spacetyrantxenu]

Congrats Commodore, glad to hear Commo-mom and little Commo-Dora (PHI/IND? ) are doing well!

Diplomatic Intrigue!

Dave sent us a Sevenfold Secret Code:

Oops, so I was a bit late checking back in here. I just deciphered one of these diplo mini-games in a different thread here the other day, you guys nailed this one already. The city names spell out Gaspar as nearly as possible and indicate he's going to be involved in some kind of attack, apparently involving axes, HAs, or some more nefarious combo. I guess Dave can't suggest knights via horses and iron if he doesn't have iron, but maybe that's what he means. Does Gaspar have Guilds yet?

The other possibility is that Dave wants to attack Gaspar for some reason but I don't know what purpose that would serve him at this point in the game. I don't think they share a border here?

#1 pop + low production + middle of the pack power rating + CS due in 1 + too-high-for-Xenu Approvals = spree. Time for an army of maces (you do have machinery, right?).

Thanks for reading the F9 tea leaves for me. That's pretty much what I saw when I read it. I'll cut Commodore some slack since he's had RL priorities lately, but you're 11% over the Xenu-approved approval rate. Crackalack!

[Commodore]

Thanks Xenu, she's more like Chm/Exp right now. Although once the hospital bill, comes, Fin will be required. Never, ever, expecting Org.

Interesting putting two and two together, Xenu. Hum. Dave has his ABCs, and he sent that once Guilds was in our "can research" bucket. Gaspar is about to have maces online, not knights (can see his research). I'm in HR...so oddly, whipping soldiers makes them love us more. Also, considering Ichabod's GA, we rock.



Otherwise, turn report!



Yeah, go ahead, bulb it jerks.

[Commodore]

So do tell, how should we maximize the utility of this development?

[spacetyrantxenu]

What's the ETA on the ToA? You could demand tribute from Dave, it should be a clear enough indicator that you want something in exchange for not throwing out the GM. (wait...since GMs ignore open borders would it even be kicked if you declared war or closed borders?) I guess Dave doesn't know you're building the ToA anyway, and we don't know if the GM is destined to complete the trade mission in your lands. Gaspar is further away from Dave but as the map is a toroid I wonder if your empire is actually "further" across the wrap? Surely not....

Anyway, I'm not advocating killing it. It hurts my heart to argue against something so low but it seems a bit outside protocol even for me.

[Mardoc]

So do tell, how should we maximize the utility of this development?

Well, that depends on the set of persons you're maximizing over. Do you include lurkers who enjoy the sight of blood? And do you believe utilities are ordinal or cardinal? And does the philosophy exist if Mill is murdered in a foreign land before fulfilling his destiny?

[Ceiliazul]

So do tell, how should we maximize the utility of this development?

Like Xenu, I wonder if Dave hasn't calculated a greater return from Gasparian lands...

Well the thing I DONT advocate is using crypto-diplo to tell him you're three-ish turns from ToA... I think that'd be taking diplo too far. I think the common thing is just to demand xx gold for safe passage, in an amount low enough it still makes sense to trade with you. (and low enough so he doesn't just decline and fire the mission in Riffington whether you like it or not)

The only way to stop his merchant is to declare war and kill it. this would certainly cost you both much gold in "sustained peace" trade routes, so would be a lose-lose decision.

Hmm, you really don't have much leverage here. How about demanding 30g. I think that's low enough to not seem arrogant...

[spacetyrantxenu]

On the other hand, is it worth possibly annoying Dave over 30g?

[Commodore]

Heh. Probably not utility maximizing? Spiking Gaspar's paranoia with a ton of posts here. Ah well. Mardoc put his finger on what was bugging me, why is philosopher Mill a Great Merchant?

I could DoW and eat him, true, and Dave will kick himself when he sees the ToA complete in a half dozen turns (building it for the GPP, I'm going for the wonder-fed GP roulette thing in Oasis). But I'll neither tick him off nor try any lame spelling shenanigans here. I will ask for 50 gold, Dave ought to see that as a cash-bomb cut, and that gold is actually worth something; it's five turns to Nationalism at 100%, I need money. But I'll actually try and capitalize on this by pushing a GM out of Sasha. Would renaming him Jeremy Bentham be over the line? Anyway, this probably means safe passage for our own GM if Dave is still running the tit-for-tat thing.

Sigh, it's criminal Dave's getting away with his power rating, but having a secure border is worth so very much.

[Commodore]

...(building it for the GPP, I'm going for the wonder-fed GP roulette thing in Oasis)...

Why wait, I guess. If I must have an Academy, Kiki has a pretty pure pool now.



Mistabod is doing the runaway impression. If I can swing an extra golden age here via Taj, I think I can catch up, but it's going to be tense. Thank goodness Astronomy is nerfed on this map, I'll need to leverage the Colossus as best I can. The peace is nerve-wracking, who are they going to hit next? Gaspar, meanwhile, is using Spiritual well, and heading for Paper. The UoS will be huge for his monk-supplemented economy.



Speaking of leveraging Colossus coast:



Now it's just a case of grow, grow, and grow some more. 2/0/5 tiles are great, and during a golden age that's what all these coasts are for me.

[Merovech]

Is that a worked, not netted clam I see (1SW of Schlock)?

Edit: I see now you're working the crab with Schlock, but you'll be growing it next turn, no?