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vondrack

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Praha, Czech Republic
Jan 2002 time: 06:26
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Hmmm... this is perhaps RPers' idea of "close cooperation"... 
quote: Session Start: Wed Mar 12 08:17:51 2003
Session Ident: Togas
vondrack: Togas, any news on if RPers are likely to go for the deal we were speaking of?
vondrack: we'd appreciate knowing ASAP, to adjust our deals with other teams
Togas: We're hopeful that you'll decide to help us pay for contact, but the other tech deal is far off in the future, as we don't have any of those techs yet.
vondrack: the payment has already be approved
vondrack: you will get 20 gold this turn
Togas: good to hear 
vondrack: no pre-arranged deals then?
vondrack: I mean - not a problem for us
Togas: The tech proposal was posted but we haven't discussed it at all since it seems to be 30+ turns or so in the future.
Togas: In the past, we've tended to tie up deals @5 turns before tech was available
vondrack: ok, just to make it clear... if we do not agree on it now, we may not be able to negotiate it later
Togas: we might make an exception in this case, we just need to keep each other in formed.
vondrack: because we may not go for the Republic
Togas: ... to be frank with you, we'd hoped that you didn't go republic
vondrack: several scenarios possible
vondrack: and they mostly depend on whether we make a deal with you or not
vondrack: just thought I would tell you, to keep the spirit we agreed upon last time
Togas: sounds like we should discuss it a bit more
vondrack: yes, do so, please
Togas: I'll be free tomorrow and have more time to talk then.
vondrack: k, bye for now
Togas: I'll also try to catch a few of my advisors in chat to see what our options are.
vondrack: k, thanks
Togas: Talk to you later today ... (tomorrow my time)
vondrack: k, g'night!
Togas: 
Session Close: Wed Mar 12 08:23:37 2003 |
Unless they let us know before this turn of ours, I suggest we take a solution not relying upon any deals with RPers... if they later come back, fine. If not, never mind.
Just a side note... Togas really gets on my nerves. I just hate such dishonest and slippery people... he first says how happy he would be to make a deal with us and later states the proposal was not even discussed as it seemed to be too far in the future... and that RPers would hope for us not going after Republic... go figure... 
I will continue my thoughts in the GS discussion thread.
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vondrack

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Praha, Czech Republic
Jan 2002 time: 06:26
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quote: Originally posted by Sharpe
Radek, I am starting to wonder whether your opinion may be affecting our situation with RP.
We have to maintain at least decent relations with RP due to their strength, proximity, and their ability to colonize our southern area.
I am becoming worried that our relations with RP are becoming damaged beyond repair - I mean mentioning "there can be only one to win" was a bit overboard and Togas seemed angry last time and may be considering other options than us now. |
Uhhh... Steve, you read the log. What the hell I was supposed to do? That guy jumped at me, being outright furious before I said my first word, throwing all kinds of bullshit at me (like Lego trading MM to GoW secretly, not telling RPers etc.). IMO, I was very mild to him.
I made it clear to him that we are going to help RPers and cooperate with them only as far as it's profitable to us, too. I mean, c'mon... Togas behaves as if our only goal was to help RPers! As if we were supposed to tell them anything and everything they wish to know. F**k them! Why the hell would we help them win this game, burying our own chances? If they want us to treat them fair, THEY have to start treating us fair. If they want us to be polite and open with them, THEY have to be polite and open with us.
quote: Originally posted by Sharpe
As I have said many times, we can't afford the possibility of a ND-RP alliance. We would be not only very vulnerable to that but also very likely a target of such an alliance. |
We CAN afford it if we are able to secure allies enough. Allying with Estonians against Bobians, e.g., would be an option. The possibility of ND allying with RPers against us is quite low at the moment... and even if they did ally, the costs of transporting units enough to our mainland would be so horrible that they would sooner or later drain themselves to death (keep in mind that GS & Voxes are VERY close to them and feeling a bit restrained on their continent...).
quote: Originally posted by Sharpe
It is reasonable to not negotiate a deal 20 to 30 turns down the road - a lot can happen between now and then and with the myriad of trade possibilities it may only become clear what is best when civs are approaching getting these techs. |
A deal 20 turns into the future (that is how long it would take to get The Republic) is (or shall be) completely ok. I mean... how the hell we are supposed to "coordinate" our research when they are not responding to our offer, providing us with virtually zero input we need to set our research goal? We would be able to guarantee The Republic. They would be able to guarantee Polytheism and probably Currency (that would be the only thing they would have to make sure they can get, from ND - and btw, they would be able to research it on their own, if necessary). So, where are those "myriads" of trade possibilities? I thought that making deals was about picking certain ones out of those myriads.
Sure, they may be able to get it cheaper or a bit earlier from someone else... but IMO that's not the cooperation they are talking about all the time. If they give us no guarantees, we give them none either. If they want to trade with us only if we give them the best offers, then we have no need to consider their needs and trade with them on exactly the same basis. All that would be relevant then would be OUR OWN PROFIT. If they wish to go this way, fair enough. But God forbid Togas then to try his "we are frustrated by your approach" crap on me ever again.
quote: Originally posted by Sharpe
When it comes to what we should research, our main priority should be what we need most, then what can we trade for/with. Right now we are starting to have major corruption problems and we need to get out of despotism while also finishing off the ancient age techs. |
That's 100% correct.
All I was trying to do was to arrange a deal that would make it guaranteed for both teams that they get all the mandatory ancient techs + The Republic and get out of the ancient times ASAP. If they are not willing to take this deal, then they are considering the possibility of letting us lag behind them, possibly trading for the techs on their own, trying to be medieval faster than us.
That would be perfectly okay with me, if they were not declaring how special and unique we are to them.
And last but not least... I will be more than happy letting someone else deal with Togas. The problem is that he seems to be sort of uneasy or belittled dealing with just an ambassador that has authorization limits regarding what he can negotiate and what he cannot.
Sorry to sound a bit harsh maybe, but I really believe that the problem is not with me.
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vondrack

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Praha, Czech Republic
Jan 2002 time: 06:26
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Hmmm... another message from our roleplaying brothers...
quote: Session Start: Fri Mar 14 07:45:34 2003
Session Ident: Togas
Session Ident: Togas (~tom_ogas@adsl-63-202-55-189.dsl.frsn01.pacbell.net)
Togas: I can't chat, but I'd like to tomorrow (my time) if we both get a chance.
Togas: I'm about to go to sleep
Togas: Just wanted to ask to see you guys decided to help subsidize our contact. We just received contact with your team this turn, so we can now officially chat 
Togas: Also, we discussed the trade offer you made and several of my teammates brought me back to reality
Togas: the Roleplay implications of Republic are scary. I'd have to give up power and allow a Senate to run Spain.
Togas: I'd much rather go Monarchy and keep my current position and my head. Those Revolutions are scary when you're a Roleplay team.
Togas: I think Republic for Currency + Poly is a FAIR trade, but I don't think we'll want to do it due to the RP considerations ... I don't want my country to be run in such a fasion.
Togas: I hope that your nation will consider a different research path, but I understand if you still want Republic.
Togas: talk to you soon  |
Go figure... 
Ya know, I love it when someone claiming to consider us "special" says that something is a FAIR deal, but has no interest in pursuing it.
IOW, RPers say: yes, Republic for Curr+Poly would be fair as far as the price is concerned, but we would get something we do not need or plan to use soon, so we would rather not have you get what you need.
Sweet. I suggest we no longer consider RPers' needs and go strictly for our own needs. If we can make a trade with them along the way, good. If not, I do not care. They don't care for us either.
Let's give them 20 gold and treat them as any other team.
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Tiberius

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Europe
Jan 2000 time: 06:26
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I agree with all what you've said, Sharpe.
The first things we should try perhaps is to establish with the GS a tech supremacy, trying to be a few turns ahead of other civs, grabbing the best techs for ourselves. Thus we could make good deals within our "tech sphere of influence", the GoW and RP, while already working on our next projects .
GS would the best partner on the long run, because their goal for the near future is the same ours: keeping the Bob civs in balance. We will have to pick an ally from Bob, too, and that should be a reliable, trustworthy, but not the most powerful civ. Certainly the GoW seems the best candidate for now, but things can change in the future, so let us keep good relation with everybody, trading as much as possible while observing the others and watching our borders. We will know more in 10 or 20 turns, but the alliance with the GS should be set up until then (I'm not mentioning the Voxes, because I think we should leave them in GSs sphere of influence; unless GS themselves become too powerful, that is).
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Tiberius

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Europe
Jan 2000 time: 06:26
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It'd be about time to make a proposal to the RPs for Currency. It is not in our best interest to further deteriorate our relations with them. Maybe we don't want them as allies anymore, but neither do we need an enemy.
We are selling Currency+Construction for 250 to the GoW. We have agreed to sell for less to the RPs, so how about 220? It is unlikely that they will have that much money, so why not? We don't need Monarchy and they declined our previous trade proposal, so we are in advantage now, meaning we don't have to accept a treaty with Monarchy included. We want the money. They have it, fine, we'll be rich. They don't have it, fine again, we made a proposal again and they will be the one to break a treaty, not us.
It's a win-win situation.
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vondrack

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Praha, Czech Republic
Jan 2002 time: 06:26
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Well, discussing our latest research success with redstar1, we came to these conclusions:
1) Boasting about getting yet another tech from a goody hut would most probably lead do other teams feeling less friendly about us (those super-bloody-lucky bastards!).
2) Trading it around would piss RPers off mightily.
3) We still want to make something out of the luck we have (we will run out of it one day, so we better save something for worse times).
4) RPers started researching Monarchy on Turn 70 (+/- 1 turn). Their GNP is 41 maximum. Considering the total corruption level to be roughly the same as ours (about 25%-30%), they should be able to invest about 30 beakers per turn into their research. Monarchy is 24*24=576 beakers nominal research cost. Now, that we have it, it is less - my best estimate is about 519 beakers. Considering 30 bpt, they should be like 200+ beakers into the research, leaving about 10-11 turns to finish it (worth like ~300 gold).
Now, here is an idea:
Secretly provide RPers with Monarchy in exchange for 100 gold immediately and 150 gold payable on Turn 90. Grant them exclusive rights to trade Monarchy around for 20-25 turns.
The reason behind splitting the payment to two parts is that we want to be "safe" to at least some extent (thus the upfront 100g part), while making the deal acceptable for RPers (thus the postponed 150g payment). They should still save like ~50+ gold along the way and have their trades with other teams. IMHO, the deal is generous enough to make them view us in a better light...
If they flat refuse or are difficult... then... well, we can generously gift Monarchy to GoW and ND in a couple of turns. That should immensely help our relations with these teams. 
I have already PMed Togas telling him we need to talk about something (saying nothing specific, mentioning an "unexpected" development only), so I need you thoughts on this ASAP.
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vondrack

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Praha, Czech Republic
Jan 2002 time: 06:26
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Respectfully, I disagree. RPers will learn that someone got Monarchy on THIS TURN. They are not dumb and they will most likely suspect us - as they know nobody else could possibly have it researched the hard way so far. The only civ that might still have a hut to pop is us.
So, if we try to "hide" the fact from RPers, it will only help deteriorating our relations further.
I completely agree that RPers will switch their gov ASAP, even though I would not be so sure they would do it immediately - but believe me, they will not trade Monarchy around too fast, exactly because they would be denying themselves an advantage of switching to Monarchy early (ahead of others) themselves.
As for our government changes - I believe it is very obvious we will not be changing governments until Jackson is done building The Pyramids. Plus, we will certainly not switch to Monarchy, but to Republic. So, by delaying the trade for 15+ turns, we do not help ourselves in any way, just "harm" RPers - and that is exactly what we do not want to do at this time. Not if they are able to find out.
Let's grant them few turns of economic advantage over us. We know we will outgrow them soon anyway. And such a generous offering will sure make them regain trust in our good intentions.
However, considering they will be able to switch to Monarchy immediately (which I forgot of) I would add the following provisions to the proposal:
1) raise the second part of the payment to 200 gold
2) include a 10 turn no-whoring clause
They will try to bargain, so we may ease the gold part later again, plus we will make sure it's only them to get the economic advantage of switching to Monarchy early.
And one more time - keep in mind that we will not be able to hide the fact it was us having Monarchy. If we decide to go openly hostile towards RP, then so be it, keep Monarchy away from them and whore it around in 9 turns. But if we want to be friends, we really have no other option, but sell it to them ASAP, just negotiating a fair price.
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vondrack

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Praha, Czech Republic
Jan 2002 time: 06:26
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quote: Originally posted by Tiberius
I didn't say to hide the fact that we have Monarchy, but give it to them after a number of turns. They can shut down their research completely and give us 250 gold on the delivery of Monarchy. They should understand we can't give it to them now, as this would be a huge advantage for them. |
Well, this is exactly a reason they will not be willing to accept. If we claim to be their friends, we can hardly use "we do not want you to get such a big advantage" argument, I think. Judging from my past encounters with Togas (and his brilliant effort in the ISDG game, where he completely alienated CDG for absolutely no gain), he is not really an overly reasonable person...
quote: Originally posted by Tiberius
Plus, one way or another, other teams would find out that they have it, and everybody will know that they couldn't possibly research it that fast. So, we will have a lot of suspicions from not one, but 4 teams. Is that better? |
Others are less likely to find out... they are not researching it, thus not keeping their eye on it so closely (at least we can hope for that). Though the point is valid and it would probably be fine to point it out to RPers, too. They themselves may realize it would be better to postpone the monarchy switch for a couple of turns, since they would then be able to confuse others by "getting" it earlier then anticipated, thus indicating a very good research output. Good idea, we can definitely us it in negotiations.
quote: Originally posted by Tiberius
Edit: we can agree maybe on a compromise: we give them Monarchy in 5 turns, they give us 125 gold and don't trade Monarchy for another 5 turns, when they give us another 125 gold. How about this? |
I am very open to adjusting the payment figures - what I started with was just an idea... I would probably start with 150+150 and allow Togas to bargain down to like 125+125 or 100+150... and I would definitely try to make him agree on a certain delay in switching to Monarchy, explaining it's in their own interest.
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vondrack

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Praha, Czech Republic
Jan 2002 time: 06:26
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quote: Originally posted by Tiberius
If i was up to me, the timeline would look like this.
- we tell them to shut down their research
- in 5 turns we give them Monarchy, and they pay us 125 gold, with the promise that they keep it secret another 5 turns.
- in 10 turns they gave us the other half of the payment, and they are free to trade Monarchy.
I'm afraid that trying to make Togas "agree on a certain delay in switching to Monarchy, explaining it's in their own interest" is not enough. He won't accept it as an advice. We have to present this as part of the treaty. This is our insurance. He must accept it. The alternative is that we trade Monarchy with all of the other nations and leave them out. |
I still suggest we start with 150+150. 
We need to be able to make a "compromise" late on. Starting with a figure we WANT to get is - in this case - bad bargaining. 
I agree that the delay shall be part of the treaty, but we shall it make so by means of explaining and posing as feeling "possible strongly disliked" by other teams, if it becomes publicly known or suspected we sold Monarchy to RPers with exclusive resale rights.
Your timeline inspired me to this:
IMMEDIATELY:
1) tell RPers we have Monarchy and are willing to trade it to them together with exclusive resale rights.
2) explain our concerns about other teams disliking an arrangement like this, if they ever find out about it.
3) suggest the following arrangement:
4) We give them Monarchy as soon as they are able to pay us 150 gold. They agree to not switch to it until Turn 82 (this effectively means they would probably want to buy it on Turn 82). They agree to not resell it until the other part of the payment (see below) is fulfilled.
5) They are free and granted to buy the exclusive rights for Monarchy resale for additional 150 gold within the following 10-15 turns. The exclusivity would expire 20 turns after they pay this second payment to us.
And if they bargain, we may go down to 125+125... or something similar, add a turn here or there...
EDIT: oh, and one thing to keep in mind... NEVER try presenting ideas like "the other way round is we whore Monarchy around and you will end up screwed..." to Togas. NEVER EVER. That is going to drive him mad in no time... resulting in emotional rather than rational approach.
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ZargonX
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Space
Sep 2002 time: 00:26
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Well, I would kind of view this as the final test in our relations with RP. If they accept the deal, which is a good deal, then great, maybe we can patch things up. If they don't accept it, or get upset by the fact that we got Monarchy (through no fault of our own), then I would pretty much give up on trying to helpful to them. As you said, Vondrack, Togas has a tendancy to react very emotionally in his diplomacy, so if he gives us a bad reaction, I say forget 'em.
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Kloreep

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of the pillow
Jun 2002 time: 00:26
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Looks good. 
quote: Originally posted by ZargonX
Well, I would kind of view this as the final test in our relations with RP. If they accept the deal, which is a good deal, then great, maybe we can patch things up. If they don't accept it, or get upset by the fact that we got Monarchy (through no fault of our own), then I would pretty much give up on trying to helpful to them. As you said, Vondrack, Togas has a tendancy to react very emotionally in his diplomacy, so if he gives us a bad reaction, I say forget 'em. |
Agreed. Togas shouldn't have even an RP excuse to reject this one.
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