[Spoiler] RB Pitboss #2 - Shaka of Rome

[MWIN]

You are still talking NAP.

[Cyneheard]

Edit: never mind. My comment forgot about cease fires. Enjoy the +1 to your post count.

[Whosit]

All I can say is that if this was an experiment to see how seriously others view NAPs . . . the answer is very seriously. Ah, good ol' trial and error.

@MWIN: Yes . . . I'm basically back to where I started, except probably worse. I'll still get Iron Working in 3 turns. I should switch Imperial Center back to a Settler, but I think I'll keep Carida on Military duty from now on.

At least I'm probably giving the lurkers something to talk about.

I need to be a bit more tight-lipped in my e-mails, but I'm reasonably certain that anything I say here won't get out. I will destroy the Koreans. I'll just try to do it honorably. Urgh. I can't wait until tomorrow, when this will be old news and I'll have some new thing to be paranoid about.

[Whosit]

OK, a lot of mail. Some I'll post, some I'll summarize.

Two big pieces with Korea:

Dear Whosit,

Kalin has done a good job as a mediator to solve our dispute. If I understood correctly, you're ready to sign cease fire and give the worker back to us. This deal is acceptable. As an alternative we would also accept Peace treaty (10 turns of forced peace) or NAP (you can suggest the length). Please let us know as soon as possible how you feel and gift the worker so that we can play our turn.

It seems there is a misunderstanding concerning military build up. We're currently building military only for defensive purposes.

All in all, we're ready to forget this small incident and we can continue from where we were before all this happened.

plako

Dear Broker and plako,

Yes, I am ready to make an agreement. I now realize that I acted hastily and in poor judgment and wish to right the situation. I will log in and move as soon as I am able. I will attempt to do so within the next half hour, but there is a good chance I will not be able to log in for three and-a-half to four hours, unfortunately. I am not trying to take up game time, but it would probably be best for you refrain from ending your turn before I move.

So, here is the exact deal I am suggesting: I will move my Spearman 1NE, back into my territory, allowing you to recapture your Worker. I will also offer you a Peace Treaty, which I would like you to accept before the turn ends. I would like those 10 turns of enforced peace to count as the remaining turns of the NAP we had. In fact, it would add a few turns to the expiration date. I imagine that you would find that preferable to an actual Cease Fire.

I hope that these terms are acceptable to you.


Best regards,

Whosit, Galactic Emperor

However, the treaty won't be offered until next turn because I forgot that my Spearman does not have any more movement points this turn. And it is impossible to gift units to a civilization with which I am at war. Otherwise, they agree to the terms.

So we can put this big snafu behind us . . . and I can properly declare war on them in 10 turns. Heh . . . I look forward to writing that letter. "Yeah, so, I know I just declared war on you, but now that the NAP is officially expired, I'm coming again. Ha ha, yeah, funny, right?"

The Greeks offered to share intelligence of Korean lands if they make it there. I told them that we would soon be at peace, but that I wouldn't refuse any information if they chose to give it to me.

Dear Whosit,

Greetings Whosit of the Galactic Empire!

Yes, we are aware of the war between the Glactic and Korean empire. We are very close to the Koreans, but do not have an alliance right now.

Do you plan on making an all-out strike to eliminate the Koreans, or will you just plan on harassing/pillaging them?

Just a small request (I do this to every team): when we have information shared between emails, can they be strictly confidential unless one of us tells the other that he/she wishes to inform another team?

Lastly, where are you relative to the Korean empire? We have not been able to explore past their direction just yet. I assume you are to the northeast of the Koreans, right?

Sincerely,

DMOC of the DMOC/Nakor team for the Holy Roman Empire

PS: Is LiPing still playing, or did you replace her? (Or are you LiPing, but with a different name?)

Dear DMOC,

I appreciate your assumption of confidentiality, and I will not share any part of our letters unless explicitly told to. Likewise, anything I tell you should be kept confidential unless I say otherwise.

In any case, I believe that a Peace Treaty will be worked out between the Empire and the Koreans next turn. I misinterpreted their recent actions as an intent to attack, and decided to strike the first blow. We should be able to normalize relations soon.

I am directly to the east of the Koreans. You will have to travel north around our territories to continue.

As for your last question, I am not LiPing. A ploy such as the one you mention would be rather crafty, but I'm not sure if it would serve great purpose. As far as I know, LiPing does not intend to resume command of the Empire when she returns, though I cannot say for certain until she does.

Best regards,

Whosit, Galactic Emperor

I wonder what LiPing will think of that.

So, yeah. It looks like I will be able to salvage my reputation. Kalin basically said that, while he and Athlete are friends with Korea, they'll let me do my thing so long as I'm not breaking any agreements. Neither of the other two Civs seemed to mind, though it's possible they haven't contacted Korea yet, so they don't know about the NAP.

I suppose if I really wanted to break the NAP, I should have done so before we made contacts. But, yeah. OK, lurkers, sorry for the false start, though I suppose I must have created some excitement, at least. Stay tuned in 10 more turns. I expect Korea to settle that Copper post-haste now. I'll have to secure Iron, and try to eliminate their sources of strategic resources once the enforced peace ends.

Carida will be on troop duty. I think that I can get 4 soldiers out by then. 3 Axemen, 1 Spearman, unless I can get a Praetorian out. Imperial Center will finish the Settler and Worker as planned, then do soldiers. Then the real war. Yup, that's the plan. I guess you'll all have a more interesting show, now that the Koreans have been tipped off.

I really, really doubt that they believe I misinterpreted their actions, but at least they didn't call me a liar.

[Cyneheard]

How many turns until Iron Working comes in?

[Whosit]

How many turns until Iron Working comes in?

3. Settler in 4. Time to hook up iron: Unknown.

[Whosit]

Seriously? Seriously??

The only reason . . . the ONLY REASON they are not paying for this is because I actually want to stay on the good side of Athlete and Kalin. I know I tend to second-guess myself, but if I got rid of Korea and had all this space . . . could I just have become big enough to take care of myself? Well, probably not. I suppose in MP, anyone who seems to have a shot at winning gets targeted, and making enemies in the early going wouldn't help.

But, seriously? I could have burned down their second city, and squashed their third before it ever even was settled.

At least they're not settling the Copper right now. Which I cannot understand. Well, this city will be a small nuisance, but I would just bypass it, cut off the horses, and march to Seoul.

More later.

[Whosit]

Made official contact with the Inca. Or the IKZ Interrigum, whatever the proper name is. I should write it down.

Waffling a bit on what to do with Carida. I guess I'll go max-hammers, min-growth for awhile. Depending on where the Iron falls, I may resume the Settler and either snag the Iron, the "Original" site, or the "Denial" site. Considering that I have a chance at the latter now . . . .

I may just finish off the current Axeman and resume the Settler. I should have 10 turns of peace, anyway, and getting more towns down now is probably better. I really, really could have used those "free" workers, though. I mean, man.

At this point, I no longer have any idea what the proper course of action should have been. But I'm playing nice. For now. We'll do this all proper soon enough. Korea's new city will cement their control of the horses, but Praetorians/Axemen paired with Spearmen should cut through that like *insert metaphor here*.

Yeah. Better to get the two Settlers out now rather than later. I can't wait to see where the Iron falls.

And I will revolt to slavery after that, because I will probably want to whip out a Worker or two or something. Blah, so much to do.

No, wait, I'm expansive. I'd want to whip into a Worker, right? I'll have to do some calculations to see if it would be worth it.

[Whosit]

Hmm. Surprisingly, not waiting on either Byzantium or the Ottomans this time . . . . Anyway.

Played in my sandbox game a bit. Of course, Iron Working will be finished on Turn 62. Depending where Iron is, I'll probably revolt to slavery on T63 (to let my Settler finish first). Then start a 4-turn Worker in Imperial Center. On turn 67, I think, with 1 turn and 10 hammers left to go, I 1-pop whip it. It looks like I can get a second Worker in 2 turns after that. So two Workers in 6 turns (7 if you include the period of Anarchy). Not bad. Then I'll have enough hands to bring my cities up to speed.

For Carida, which still needs a lot of work, I'm going to farm the Rice, then mine two hills. Once the Rice is farmed, I work that until size 5, where I stagnate the city and work the Cows and 4 hills.

Also, Imperial Center is city #1 right now. I wonder how that happened.

[McClure]

And I will revolt to slavery after that, because I will probably want to whip out a Worker or two or something. Blah, so much to do.

No, wait, I'm expansive. I'd want to whip into a Worker, right? I'll have to do some calculations to see if it would be worth it.

It's a benefit either way. If you are whipping a worker (or overflowing into the worker) you get the full 25% bonus to hammers, but you can also get a bonus for overflow from the worker.

Example: 20/60 in the box for the worker, you not being expansive --> 2 pop whip (60 hammers) uses 40 hammers to complete worker + 20 hammers overflow to next build.

20/60 in the box for the worker, you are expansive --> 2 pop whip (60 hammers) uses 32 hammers to complete worker + 28 hammers overflow to next build.

The expansive leader gets 68 hammers from the same whip which is either a bonus of 13% to raw hammers or a bonus of 40% on the overflow.

I suspect the optimal answer to whether to whip into the worker or overflow into the worker is highly dependent on the specific situation (what are you whipping/how many hammers already in the box). Generally, maximizing overflow in either direction is going to be the key to deriving maximum benefit.