[Spoilers] Commodore bakes a double entenada.

[Mardoc]

I spoke to your intrepid lurking reporter, Scooter:

Thanks!

[Mardoc]

Also, a reminder:

I offered iron for iron with him giving 4g.

Game Rules and Settings:
...
* No using trade window to communicate (e.g. using letters or numbers in a way that could be interpreted something else than a real trade offer)

[Krill]

Suggested punishment.

Commodore must declare war either next turn, or in 6 turns

[Commodore]

Whoops, that's a bugger. I could have sworn I'd seen a fish-fish on the diplo screen. Do we think it'll change things? I kind of want to hide the irons too but the gold is a gimme.

Plako just whipped almost every one of his cities, so we're going to see peace in a turn or none at all.

[Krill]

My understanding is the iron trade is fine, th number from the gold wasn't.

[Commodore]

Deeper commentary later. Meanwhile:

[Mardoc]

Whoops, that's a bugger. I could have sworn I'd seen a fish-fish on the diplo screen. Do we think it'll change things? I kind of want to hide the irons too but the gold is a gimme.

Plako just whipped almost every one of his cities, so we're going to see peace in a turn or none at all.

My understanding is the iron trade is fine, the number from the gold wasn't.

Yeah, we've definitely been letting fish-fish type trades be allowed. Of course it's standard at RB that no one ever defined the line carefully, but I've been interpreting it as 'numbers and letters banned'.

Do we think it'll change things?

I don't think it's likely to affect this war more than a straight iron-iron trade would have (which would have been legal), plus of course we only knew about it because you reported, so no punishment is necessary. Just wanted to remind you about the rule going forward.

[Commodore]

Glad to get the input. I'm going in two more assuming Plako lets me road to Tikwanu. He's whipped himself horse archers, but a praetorian in a forest ain't cheap to dislodge. I'm sure Plako is aware of the potential threat, but he may choose to take a conscious gamble and push toward Gavagai. War chariots are a nightmare to play against, and having the legions in the north makes it awkward, but horse archers are the best you could hope for.
 
Here's the deal. Plako will either get peace with Gavagai, or he will die. I don't have skin in the game, not really. My borders with Plako are phenomenally secure this side of cats, and I want to pile on, but I don't have a large core of conquest units. Remember, to conquer real territory, you need mobility. My galleys are still routing south, and I will have a grand total of THREE chariots once this thing kicks off.  I can conquer most things with praetorians, and with trebuchets I can efficiently conquer anything (this side of MACHINE GUNS). But not with speed.

All this means that the momentum in this situation belongs to Gavagai. He's got a large military made of two-movers, experienced and equiped with a great general. On the downside, at least some of this military is wounded and out of position, having killed B4ndit the turn he declared on Plako. I don't know Gavagai's priorities here, but he's got an array of choices:
-He can kill stuff that threatens Kish.
-He can make a line drive towards Plako's Great Lighthouse (difficulty unknown).
-He can make peace with a grateful Plako.
-He can push to murder Plako completely.
Gavagai is an interesting guy. He's a hard read. I truly, honestly, have no good idea about his preferences here. He wants to win the game. He has an ugly border with Plako and needs Plako to die to be able to win. But I dunno if he thinks time is on his side. I feel like he's biased to push hard now while his war chariots are hell on wheels still.

Opportunity, please keep knocking. I'm in the shower but I'm hurrying here, I'll get to the door ASAP.

[Krill]

F5?

[Zalson]

F5?

Yes pls.