Reply from EggHeads:
Team Orgynized,
It's good to hear back from you. We'd like to address a couple of points brought about by your latest message, roughly in order.
1. Thanks for correcting us on the north-south issue. We also haven't ruled out a pangea map, but we've seen no land routes to get to the other "area" anytime soon. We just settled a coastal city, so hopefully we'll get a workboat out there to see if there are any ways to contact the other civilizations by sea.
2. We've also noticed the score. In fact, the score averages for the top 5 teams is 136.6, whereas for the other five it's 106.8, and the difference will probably increase if we snowball ahead. For instance, we're just about to finish Writing next turn (turn 61).
3. We're glad to hear that you are also worried about Team Care Bears. Their economy must be terrible right now, but they have gold and the financial trait to help them climb back (more on them later).
4. We officially have a NAP up to turn 90. Thank you for offering to extend the NAP, but right now we will decline your offer to extend it.
5. As we mentioned earlier, we will be finishing Writing soon and are happy to open borders with you immediately. A road network will take a while to construct due to the land left between us, but I think we can easily get some coastal trades set up soon. We are also happy to negotiate a no-scouting agreement for the near future.
6. We agree not to settle more than five tiles west from our capital. This is actually a simple agreement for us, since our projected city 5 location is east, and will border Care Bears' city. We are also thinking about settling our sixth city east as well.
7. We agree to limit espionage spending once we see your demographics. Once we run out of targets, of course, we can always discuss raising points against each other, but we won't do so without first consulting you.
I wanted to bring up Care Bears one more time. In my eyes, there are a couple of ways we (or us only) can control them.
1. Team up with Asterix for early warfare -- this option is the riskiest in my opinion, since we'd risk our early economic standing for the price of getting perhaps 1-2 cities (at most) and an angry neighbor for the rest of the game. We are among the top nations in power, yet we still only have one chariot, which is ferrying around our road network for barbarian protection. Going to war against India would require several chariots at least, and India has had copper hooked up for a long time.
2. No trading with Care Bears -- this is another option, and one we're more amenable to. Care Bears have expanded very quickly, but supporting those cities is another matter, and we don't have any problems declining open borders if it makes it harder for them to recover. Care Bears have already discussed trade routes with us, so we'll have to be careful with how we negotiate with them.
3. No NAPs -- the third option, and one we're definitely going to do. We already have an agreement with Team MM/Asterix that neither of us will be extending NAPs with Care Bears. Right now, we have one signed to turn 75, and Asterix has one signed to turn 80.
4. Settling towards them -- we are planning on founding a fifth city in about five or six turns that will be headed east towards Care Bears and will border their sixth city. Fortunately, we're creative so we should win the initial culture battle. Furthermore, we just realized that our fifth city will get stone, and it might be in both of our interests to deny them that resource. Say, being Industrious, if you ever want to negotiate an agreement for that stone, feel free to do so, and we'll see what we can come up with. Out of curiosity, have you found (or connected?) any stone or marble yet?
Let me know how things go, and if you have any comments, suggestions, or questions.
Sincerely,
DMOC of Team EggHeads
It's good to hear back from you. We'd like to address a couple of points brought about by your latest message, roughly in order.
1. Thanks for correcting us on the north-south issue. We also haven't ruled out a pangea map, but we've seen no land routes to get to the other "area" anytime soon. We just settled a coastal city, so hopefully we'll get a workboat out there to see if there are any ways to contact the other civilizations by sea.
2. We've also noticed the score. In fact, the score averages for the top 5 teams is 136.6, whereas for the other five it's 106.8, and the difference will probably increase if we snowball ahead. For instance, we're just about to finish Writing next turn (turn 61).
3. We're glad to hear that you are also worried about Team Care Bears. Their economy must be terrible right now, but they have gold and the financial trait to help them climb back (more on them later).
4. We officially have a NAP up to turn 90. Thank you for offering to extend the NAP, but right now we will decline your offer to extend it.
5. As we mentioned earlier, we will be finishing Writing soon and are happy to open borders with you immediately. A road network will take a while to construct due to the land left between us, but I think we can easily get some coastal trades set up soon. We are also happy to negotiate a no-scouting agreement for the near future.
6. We agree not to settle more than five tiles west from our capital. This is actually a simple agreement for us, since our projected city 5 location is east, and will border Care Bears' city. We are also thinking about settling our sixth city east as well.
7. We agree to limit espionage spending once we see your demographics. Once we run out of targets, of course, we can always discuss raising points against each other, but we won't do so without first consulting you.
I wanted to bring up Care Bears one more time. In my eyes, there are a couple of ways we (or us only) can control them.
1. Team up with Asterix for early warfare -- this option is the riskiest in my opinion, since we'd risk our early economic standing for the price of getting perhaps 1-2 cities (at most) and an angry neighbor for the rest of the game. We are among the top nations in power, yet we still only have one chariot, which is ferrying around our road network for barbarian protection. Going to war against India would require several chariots at least, and India has had copper hooked up for a long time.
2. No trading with Care Bears -- this is another option, and one we're more amenable to. Care Bears have expanded very quickly, but supporting those cities is another matter, and we don't have any problems declining open borders if it makes it harder for them to recover. Care Bears have already discussed trade routes with us, so we'll have to be careful with how we negotiate with them.
3. No NAPs -- the third option, and one we're definitely going to do. We already have an agreement with Team MM/Asterix that neither of us will be extending NAPs with Care Bears. Right now, we have one signed to turn 75, and Asterix has one signed to turn 80.
4. Settling towards them -- we are planning on founding a fifth city in about five or six turns that will be headed east towards Care Bears and will border their sixth city. Fortunately, we're creative so we should win the initial culture battle. Furthermore, we just realized that our fifth city will get stone, and it might be in both of our interests to deny them that resource. Say, being Industrious, if you ever want to negotiate an agreement for that stone, feel free to do so, and we'll see what we can come up with. Out of curiosity, have you found (or connected?) any stone or marble yet?
Let me know how things go, and if you have any comments, suggestions, or questions.
Sincerely,
DMOC of Team EggHeads