RB Pitboss #2 [SPOILERS] - Speaker and Sullla

[Speaker]

Finished our turn, moving the warrior SE. New demographics in the folder.

[Sullla]

I appreciate you taking those Demographics screenshots, Speaker. However, I still like logging into the game myself every turn, just to look over things and see what's happening. On this turn, it's a good thing that I did:



We have contact! Meet the Jowy/Yaz team. Here is our dossier on their team:

- Pacal (Fin/Exp) of Greece
- Start with Fishing and Hunting techs (thus scout, not warrior)
- Researched Mining tech on T7
- Capital grew to size 2 on T8 (this turn)

OK, so what does this all mean? We can tell that this team opened by working a 3-food tile, because otherwise they couldn't have grown to size 2 so quickly. Their first build was either a warrior or more likely a work boat, which has been slow-building a 1 shield/turn so far. Their current research appears to be Bronze Working, because that's the only way that their previous Mining research makes sense, and because one team is getting a 20 rating in their GNP rating, which could only come from a city at size 2 getting an extra commerce and the 20% research bonus from pre-reqs.

Now, this all means that Jowy/Yaz have played a rather strange opening. They started with Fishing tech, and have a coastal capital (presumably with a seafood bonus), yet they opted to slow-build a work boat (?) Everyone knows that if you start with Fishing and a seafood resource, you go max shields to get it done ASAP. Secondly, they have Pacal as their leader, yet as an Expansive civ they chose not to open with a worker. That's rather suboptimal as well. In their shoes, we probably would have opened with a worker, then very quickly chopped out a work boat. They may still be following this general goal (thus the Bronze Working research), however their growth to size 2 means that they'll be delayed at least 8 turns in getting that worker started, and that's a lot!

Overall, I think we're pretty lucky in landing this neighbor. No starting warrior to pressure our vulnerable capital, Jowy/Yaz probably not some of the power players. Let's try to establish peaceful relations for the early game, then we'll see if we can turn on them later... I drew the blue arrow to indicate where their capital must be located. We know they're on the coast, so unless their scout already moved past another civ (highly unlikely in only 8 turns!) they have to be clockwise up around the coast.

Email for their team is [EMAIL="pacalgreece@gmail.com"]pacalgreece@gmail.com[/EMAIL] Speaker, let's draft up a contact message today and send it off this afternoon. It'll give you something to do at work, right?

[Speaker]

Heh, I guess that's the problem with logging in and finishing our turn first. That scout was totally not there when I logged out!

Good analysis of their start. I think this could be a really good neighbor for us, and the fact that they have a scout start means there definitely is not a nasty surprise lurking out there in the fog just yet! Just an FYI, but I highly doubt they could have gotten Bronze Working in time to chop when their worker finished. Remember they had to research Mining then Bronze Working, while just Bronze Working will take us 14 turns. Lacking Agriculture as well, they couldn't even hook up a grain resource, nor an Animal resource. So with their starting techs, Worker first is not really a viable play. The optimal play would probably be to research Mining-Bronze Working, work max food while putting minimal hammers into a workboat, get to size two and then swap to a worker, slave it as soon as you get Bronze Working, and then put the overflow into a workboat, and then chop into a second worker. Isn't it amazing how important starting techs are when considering your opening play and traits? There is simply horrible synergy between Greece and Pacal, and considering that Greece has a poor UU, and an average or below average UB, *and* gives a scout start, which as I have explained previously, is really bad with these settings, I think you pretty much couldn't pick a worse Civ than Greece.

I can get started on a hello message during my lunch, and then give it to you to look at? Or you can start it, and I can look it over during lunch. Whichever you prefer.

[Sullla]

Either situation works, Speaker. I'll be around the house this afternoon, having taught my only class for the day this morning.

On another note, now that we've initiated contact I was wondering if we should pick a name for our team. Two of the other teams already have them, and I'm getting bored of logging into "The Indian Empire" every turn. What do you think of calling ourselves The Killer Angels? It goes with our Gettysburg capital, it's appropriate for two people who have historical/literary interests, and it's an awesome name to boot.

[Speaker]

Sounds good! Can I be Colonel Joshua Speaker Chamberlain? You can be General Sulllawall Jackson!

[Speaker]

Email we received from Jowy:

Greetings, Speaker and Sullla of the India.

We have received a word our brave scout Cigarettes has reached an Indian warrior Chamberlain hiding in a jungle at T8. It is our utmost pleasure to meet your mighty civilization. We come in peace, and with hopes that our empires may co-exist in harmony. Technology trading might be disallowed, but I'm sure we can find ways to work together that will benefit us both. We wish you good luck with your further scouting. Keep in touch.

~ Jowy
One half of Team Greece.

PS. We have a bit of a problem with our gmail account. It was banned just when I was about to send you this message. I'm not sure did it go through or not, but here it is anyway. If you had already mailed us about anything, please re-send them here.. I'm not sure will we be able to ever open the gmail account again.

This image accompanied the email.

[Cyneheard]

You know, the pic would've been even more hilarious if you'd been playing as Persia .

[Sullla]

Alright, here's a first stab. Feel free to mark up with your thoughts, Speaker.

Greetings to our neighbors on Team Greece!

We would like to acknowledge receipt of your email, and welcome the friendly intentions expressed in your message. Our team also feels that we will both benefit from peaceful interactions - an early military buildup on both sides will only leave both of our civilizations behind the rest of the world!

While it's true that there is no technology trading in this game, there are many other ways that teams can work together to their mutual advantage. For starters, would you be interested in an informal information exchange? We could both agree to let one another know if we meet other teams with our scouting units, giving us both a better sense of what this world looks like. Over time, we would build up a shared system of mutual trust that could lead to closer economic and possibly military cooperation. But it seems best to start with something basic, like an exchange of some scouting info. Would that sound acceptable to your team?

We eagerly await your response, and look forward to a long period of cooperation. Just make sure not to kill our messenger like in that picture!

Speaker and Sullla
The Killer Angels

So the main idea of asking for an information exchange is twofold:

1) Accumulate trust. We'll be militarily weak in the early game and don't want to be attacked.
2) Information itself. Frankly, I think we can do a lot more with an exchange than they can!

This might sound horribly cynical, but I also think it's entirely possible that Jowy/Yaz won't be a strong team, and we could do some horrible backstab in the medieval/Renaissance period that no one seems coming and catapults us into a winning position. Obvious, a lot depends on how the world shapes up... It's a thought bouncing around in the back of my mind, though. No one would expect it.

[ej801]

Oh boy here we go again.

[Sullla]

Umm, just so we're clear, I didn't send the above message. I wanted to hear back from Speaker first; in general, we should always try to float a draft for comments before sending out any diplomatic messages.

I did send off a quick confirmation message from the team email to let them know we had a formal response coming.