PBEM Game: Yarnspinners 2 (Running)

[djo]

Like the others, I'm sorry to see you go. From my perspective as the small guy (in armies if no longer in provinces), Pythium is still much in the game.

I was uneasy about the "alliance of writers" from the start, and in retrospect, it did turn out awkward (an understatement) when out-of-game circumstances forced themselves into the game.

I think the alliance has zero chance of lasting much longer. My view is that the game will come down to Marignon + ??? vs death-using nations, probably after Ermor goes down. That would've been a good wedge to use against the alliance, assuming Pythium wasn't using death.

But anyway...I too was hoping more diplomacy would've ended the war earlier, but I admit I don't know exactly what combination of threat, bribe, and concession would've worked. I know you could've bought Vanheim off cheaply; from the yarns, Vethru obviously has no trouble with lying to friend and enemies; he'd cook up a plan to trade a province back and forth to look like we're fighting.

And, if you change your mind, I made no belligerent moves on turn 31. Still time to turn it around...declare immediate war on Ermor and unilateral cease-fire with others, see what happens!

[quantum_mechani]

djo said:
Like the others, I'm sorry to see you go. From my perspective as the small guy (in armies if no longer in provinces), Pythium is still much in the game.

I was uneasy about the "alliance of writers" from the start, and in retrospect, it did turn out awkward (an understatement) when out-of-game circumstances forced themselves into the game.

I think the alliance has zero chance of lasting much longer. My view is that the game will come down to Marignon + ??? vs death-using nations, probably after Ermor goes down. That would've been a good wedge to use against the alliance, assuming Pythium wasn't using death.

But anyway...I too was hoping more diplomacy would've ended the war earlier, but I admit I don't know exactly what combination of threat, bribe, and concession would've worked. I know you could've bought Vanheim off cheaply; from the yarns, Vethru obviously has no trouble with lying to friend and enemies; he'd cook up a plan to trade a province back and forth to look like we're fighting.

And, if you change your mind, I made no belligerent moves on turn 31. Still time to turn it around...declare immediate war on Ermor and unilateral cease-fire with others, see what happens!

Well, as I said the staling was the final straw. I really, really hate it when that happens. If we were to quickly rerun the turn yet again I suppose I might continue my fight to the death, to prevent the AI landgrab.

I really don't see how diplomacy could have happened to better my situation, the rules of the alliance are pretty clear:

The Yarn Spinners Pact

Let it be recorded that those nations in the Land of Inland which publish
full diaries in the chronicles of ONN will join together into an Alliance of
Yarn Enumerators (AYE). This alliance will be governed by the following
rules:

(1) Only those nations which religiously publish diaries will be allowed
into AYE. Currently, these include (in alphabetical order) the nations of
C'tis, Man, Marignon, and Vanheim.

(2) Any member of AYE which falls behind by more than 2 published diaries
will be dropped from the pact.

(3) Any other nations which manage to fully catch up with the publications
of diaries will be invited into AYE.

(4) All active members of AYE will form a solid alliance from this point
forward.

(5) An attack upon any member of AYE will be considered an attack on all.

(6) We will trade gems and artifacts and gold between AYE members as needed.

(7) We will coordinate any attacks upon rogue nations.

(8) We will pledge to eliminate all other nations before the end of the
world and crown ourselves as joint rulers of Inland if this can be achieved
in time.

(9) No one should share this secret pact with non-believers and we should
strive to keep it hidden from all others.

Amendments:

(M1) Marignon and Ermor will be free to fight on their own, and the Yarn
Spinners Pact shall not be invoked by this struggle.

(M2) Marignon reserves the right to freeze relations (as per Marignon's
first proclamation) with members of the alliance if they receive
incontrovertible proof that a member is using death magic. Such a charge
will be published to all the members of the pact, and the offender may
submit to the Trials of Marignon in order to prove their innocence.

Points of Understanding:

(U1) If two members of the pact both wish to fight a mini-war, either to
defeat suspicion that our alliance might exist, or to placate internal
troublemakers, or even simply to provide an interesting tale told by both
sides of the struggle, then such a skirmish may take place.

According to these rules, it would be quite foolish for any nation to break with the group and help (or even stop attacking) me. Whatever bribes I could offer would be far outweighed by being the next target of the alliance, and not getting easy spoils from the fact my legions could not be on every border at once.

I would like to see someone address the 'overexpanding' issue, it was thrown around a lot during negotiations, but when it comes right down to it how many of you have purposely played the game badly for this reason?

[djo]

To use terms from RPG "theory", this discussion sounds like differences between "gamist" and "narrativist" viewpoints.

(Google for the terms, you'll find more than you *ever* wanted to know.)

[quantum_mechani]

djo said:
To use terms from RPG "theory", this discussion sounds like differences between "gamist" and "narrativist" viewpoints.

(Google for the terms, you'll find more than you *ever* wanted to know.)

I suppose in a way yes, but as as far as I can see no one with the possible exception of you is playing from a real 'narrativist' viewpoint.

[The_Tauren13]

Well, I guess I will rerun the turn again, as it sounds like everyone will be happier if quantum doesnt drop out... what do you say?

[puffyn]

Fine by me, Tauren.

[PashaDawg]

Fine by me, too.

[quantum_mechani]

Ok, since it looks like we are rerunning, sent the turn. I did not look at turn 31 so I don't think anyone needs to redo orders.

Speaking of orders, it seems Ulm took advantage of the last re-run to out bid me on mercs. Too bad, they would have been extremely useful, and now I have to spend my gold inefficiently. And of course highly thematic, Empire in trouble, time to hire barbarian mercenaries.