[Public Diplo] The Planetary Council

[Sareln]

Sareln, what do you need all those siege tanks for? Now I need to waste hammers to regain military parity. :rolleyes:

Garrisons. Turns out you need more of them when you have more bases or people complain about a lack of military protection.

[Maniac]

In order to function as a garrison, they need to be spread out over your bases, not all holed up in Alpha Prime.

For the record I'd like to remind you I can hurry units with gold, meaning my military production capacity is bigger than yours, and I can produce a unit per base per turn as long as I have credits in reserve. War between us would be mutual destruction, and remove the nice 3 credits per trade route we're getting from each other.

[Mardoc]

Speaking of war - congratulations, Sian, on your new holy city!

[Sareln]

Speaking of war - congratulations, Sian, on your new holy city!

Which one did he grab, if you don't mind my asking?

Maniac, I'll answer you after I calm down a bit. Frankly I'm feeling a bit (well, not a bit, rather a lot) insulted, but no hard feelings, we can still make this work.

[Mardoc]

Which one did he grab, if you don't mind my asking?

The real question is whether Sian minds. But it's going to be public information soon enough, religious folk aren't known for hiding. So I hope he won't mind my sharing very much.

You know how your vote for Concordat is for sale? Sian may now be in the market. The interesting question, of course, is whether he intends to be a planet-hugger, or just wanted the territory.

I haven't quite figured out who owns Homo Superior. Which means the safe bet is Senora Santiago, or Gospodin Zakharov.

Maniac, I'll answer you after I calm down a bit. Frankly I'm feeling a bit (well, not a bit, rather a lot) insulted, but no hard feelings, we can still make this work.

On the other hand, I'm not worried by any land units you choose to build. Makes target selection an easier choice, that's all, if you've got an army. We can make this neighbors thing work.

[Maniac]

So, gentlemen of the Concordat, how will we react to Deirdre's inevitable resolution to declare war on Sian?

[Mardoc]

So, gentlemen of the Concordat, how will we react to Deirdre's inevitable resolution to declare war on Sian?

How often are resolutions, anyway? She might not get a chance.

[Sareln]

vis-a-vis Concordant. Is it possible to war-dec someone you don't have contact with? Would the game give me contact with Sian to wardec him?

@ Mardoc, please don't try to play the "Let's you and him fight" game. It's not very conducive to peaceful resolution. Though if you get superconductors I will happily sign OB since Maniac doesn't have enough bases to fill my TR slots.

@ Maniac, Base razing is off for this game so I'm playing a zone defense, especially since I'm sandwiched in between you and Mardoc. Hence the main army stays in the center while the periphery is only defended enough to prevent opportunistic stupidity and temptation. I thought you would understand this.

Instead you sit there complaining about me building units and keeping them in my core, while at the same time pushing probe teams into my borders, spending so much EP on me that I can barely keep graph visibility, driving tanks up to my city which we agreed upon in settling agreement, and enough cash for 4 - 5 tanks (and still running max cash) if I've done my math right. I'm sorry, but those are not the actions of a friend.

The weirdest thing too, is that I think you're getting more from the open border than I am, to the tune of 5 (3 energy) routes to me 3 (3 energy) routes, and you've been able to eschew fast expansion and build vertically with our borders agreement. Being neighborly has turned out well for us so far, and especially for you. Why are you being so antagonistic?

I've moved in two tanks to help cover my city. Please don't do anything stupid. I still want to be friends, but it's not clear at all to me that the feeling is mutual.

[Sian]

as for my intendtions ... yes its because i'm either going planet hugging or i need the territory, she lived on the land bottleneck from me

[Maniac]

@ Maniac, Base razing is off for this game so I'm playing a zone defense, especially since I'm sandwiched in between you and Mardoc. Hence the main army stays in the center while the periphery is only defended enough to prevent opportunistic stupidity and temptation. I thought you would understand this.

Some points:

• I had no idea you were sandwiched between Mardoc on one side. I assumed he was somewhere in the deep ocean. That would be a good reason to station siege tanks centrally. However...
  
• Only recently, before I mentioned them all being in Alpha Prime, you claimed another reason for the siege tanks, that they were being used for garrison duty. This discrepancy is of course reason for continued suspicion.
  
• Mardoc has one of the lowest military power values, and no doubt a lot of that power value consists of ships. It is unlikely he forms a threat to you with your current military power. You can make do for now with the forces built already.

spending so much EP on me that I can barely keep graph visibility

For the record, in Planetfall there is no relation between the two. In order to make espionage more of a secretive affair, the cost of gaining passive info is determined by how much espionage the players have accumulated globally, not how much espionage they've invested towards each other. A hypothetical player towards whom I wouldn't have spent a single espionage point would still face the same costs to gain passive info on me.

The weirdest thing too, is that I think you're getting more from the open border than I am, to the tune of 5 (3 energy) routes to me 3 (3 energy) routes

How would that work? I've only got one trade route per base.

I've moved in two tanks to help cover my city. Please don't do anything stupid. I still want to be friends

As do I. While always nice, a relationship doesn't need to be based on trust to work. It can work just as well, or perhaps even better, on institutionalized distrust and a common awareness of Mutual Assured Destruction. Know therefore that, regardless of how well we get along, in order to avoid temptation, I will always aim to maintain a military at most 20% or so smaller than yours, and I will always maintain a large and, as my # of bases and the cost of units increase, growing credits reserve as a deterrence to any potential attackers. At the moment I consider my reserves more than high enough of course, provided you cease military production.

Now, to the immediate matter.

1) Your current military is bigger than mine and Mardoc's. Do you agree with my assessment that your current forces are sufficient deterrence for now? If not, why not? If yes, may I ask to cease military production, if you haven't already in your latest turn?

2) Having a large military of another faction close to one's capital is not conductive for peace. I would therefore like to suggest a DMZ Demilitarized Zone: we're only allowed to keep two mobile (ie, non-bunker) units inside the base radius of the base closest to the other's HQ. And after a Perimeter Defense is built, only one mobile unit. That's Consensus for you. That's the northern base spot we agreed upon for me. This means presently a withdrawal of one of the two siege tanks you said you sent my direction.

3) That siege tank of mine near Consensus is meant as a scout. I can move it away if you prefer, but I'm also willing to agree to let us each have a unit scout around the other's territory. I can already see a lot of what you're doing, so that seems more in your advantage than mine. That way you can see too if I'm not amassing forces somewhere.