Game 8

March 1706 update for Game 8.

Brought to you by an exporter of fine and precious things.

A turn dedicated to the arts of roasting nuts to perfection and reading the future from a good mug of earl grey!

A) London, The act of union 1706 has passed into lore, effectively unifying England and Scotland with Queen Anne as head of state, Anne quickly ordered an injection of funds to bring the shoddy Celtic roads up to scratch as well as announcing a bounty to lure unsuspecting inventors to help with improving the Scottish slums, It seems Queen Anne includes Queen Henrietta of Sweden in this regard as well. It seems that the weasels and the hens are going to have to learn to get along as they are now locked in the same coop.

B) Versailles, Big Lou gave a yearly tax break to all before hosting a swank party for the birthday of his eldest non questionable birth son. Royalty, Nobility and foreign dignitaries all attended with the only noticeable absentee being the Chinese Kwantung Ambassador who had just acquired a batch of supposedly waterproof paper and he was furiously folding up a new Chinese war fleet and so completely forgot he had been invited to dine with Big Lou, However all who attended waited with excitement to see the arrival of Big Lou, pride of place in the pecking order of foreign onlookers stood the Austrian peacock Von Guntersdorf resplendent in his native garb. Finally Big Lou strode into the room of the Galerie de Glaces, however as he made his way across the floor he slowed and then stopped a quizzical look of surprise then anger crossed his countenance he then turned to his following advisers and exploded with rage demanding to know if his courtiers had been snuffling like hogs in the trough as everyone of them seemed to have gained fifty pounds in his absence, he then asked if Paris was so poor as to have only one milliner as everyone seemed to be dressed alike, he then fixed his eyes on one individual after another shouting to them "yes I mean you sir". Everyone present was too shocked and embarrassed to point out to Big Lou that he had in fact been addressing himself reflected in the 357 polished mirrors within the room.

C) Brest, French members of the "SHITS" attended a moving ceremony to last months shipping loses.

D) Berlin,  It seems the Russian stallion was indeed gelded with the two royal nuts presented to Berlin on a silver plater.

E) Kiel, It looks like the Canal project is about to start.

F) Madrid, The Spanish royal flea King Pedro I or II ? (could be the start of something like the seven faces of Eve, lets wait and see) enjoyed the fasting of lent surviving on a diet of grilled fish, boiled fish, stewed fish, fish pie, fish soup and fish surprise all the while dreaming of a simpler time in Lisbon were fish did not grace the menu, it seems the royal flea has become so befuddled on the fish diet that he met the Rumelian Ambassador welcoming him as a new dignitary to court, the ambassador was too shocked to point out that he had been serving his master in Madrid for five years.

G) Kingston, It seems a rope awaits the captured pirates when they arrive in port.

H) Mbundu Lands, A good game of tit for tat spear throwing has broken out on the border with Luango.

I) Isfahan The shah of Persia stated to all within earshot of his wish to see Persia expand its influence to as many nations as possible, which is diplomatic speak for sharpen your spears we are a coming. It appears the Shah has the same play book as the Moghul mug.

J) Sarkhej, It seems the "Mug" is finally making some progress against those wily Afghans having breeched their defences.

K) Cambay, The "Mug" had two of his trade caravans seized by brigands who shouted "down with the Mug" while dragging the spoils away. (oh let it be so, have I successfully exported that vile and really bad bad man Mustapha Al Yabid to Moghul India?.)

L) Laswari, Russian sentries atop the walls of the Citadel were amused to observe some of the "mugs" engineers working feverishly in the cool morning mist pacing up and down while driving wooden stakes into the ground on the plain below, the guards were reluctant to fire on the "mugs" men as they believed it must be the foundations of a gift to the mighty Russian nation, all believed it must be a vodka distillery.

M) Poona, The Maharaj-prince has been waxing lyrical to the great "Mug" hoping by doing so he will prevent the building of a vodka distillery in his back yard.

No news from the Kraken.

Well that's the news as I have seen it. now to my new book "How to read the future with a pinch of plant matter and an old Mug" by the Ganges Ghat.

One Grain.

Nice write up! It certainly had me

Of interest to myself in particular was...

one grain of grain wrote:
H) Mbundu Lands, A good game of tit for tat spear throwing has broken out on the border with Luango.

Tactics at their best!

one grain of grain wrote:March 1706 update for Game 8.


F) Madrid,  it seems the royal flea has become so befuddled on the fish diet that he met the Rumelian Ambassador welcoming him as a new dignitary to court, the ambassador was too shocked to point out that he had been serving his master in Madrid for five years.

Careful there, that was Richard. I welcomed the new (anatolian) ambassador. Richard added the wrong name. Given the amount he does, it actually surprises me how few errors happen...

It is, however, a useful reminder for folks to carefully check their turns. Large and expensive errors do happen, and if not remedied at once...

I once had Richard make a translation error that if I hadn't caught it would have lost me millions of pounds... To this day I'm still not sure if it wasN'T my corrupt accountants trying to engage in 18th century white collar crime!

Er, in my humble defence Deacon the order was to welcome the new 'Ottoman' ambassador... didn't say if he was Anatolian and Rumelian, so errors like this can creep in when things aren't forensically clear enough. Oh all right yes it was my mistake... You could argue I should have remembered which was the new ambassador from the month before. BUT! But honestly in this case there was only a 50% chance of getting it right (i.e. sheer luck)! Just mentioning this to help players realise Agema's limitations (well, okay I admit it - my limitations) to help avoid mistakes like this as much as possible when writing orders. In this instance it'd help if Ottoman (Anatolian) or Ottoman (Rumelian) was stated. Not that the player would necessarily have realised that; this is just special pleading to help you to help me (I think that makes sense).

Personally I don't think the Emperor was having a bad day due to food poisoning or sherry, far more likely to be a mistaken about the ambassdor's identify on account of being short-sighted (or all men wearing turbans and beards looking the same to an 18th century Western king). Honest.

Richard D. Watts wrote:Er, in my humble defence Deacon the order was to welcome the new 'Ottoman' ambassador... didn't say if he was Anatolian and Rumelian, so errors like this can creep in when things aren't forensically clear enough. Oh all right yes it was my mistake... You could argue I should have remembered which was the new ambassador from the month before. BUT! But honestly in this case there was only a 50% chance of getting it right (i.e. sheer luck)! Just mentioning this to help players realise Agema's limitations (well, okay I admit it - my limitations) to help avoid mistakes like this as much as possible when writing orders. In this instance it'd help if Ottoman (Anatolian) or Ottoman (Rumelian) was stated. Not that the player would necessarily have realised that; this is just special pleading to help you to help me (I think that makes sense).

Personally I don't think the Emperor was having a bad day due to food poisoning or sherry, far more likely to be a mistaken about the ambassdor's identify on account of being short-sighted (or all men wearing turbans and beards looking the same to an 18th century Western king). Honest.

Of course Richard, please don't think I was complaining. I'm sure Pedro is wont to mix up the funny brown colored people even if he is trying to be courteous. "Everybody please welcome the new gentleman with a dinner towel on his head, handy that custom, can just wipe your hands on your head, though no idea how you blow your nose."

Hardly a big deal, but a reminder on the challenges of Richard interpreting our orders. As a point, I used to write much longer orders and have gotten better at keeping them short and precise. And as a consequence, Richard getting what I was getting at have gone up rather remarkably. (I have a gift for obtuseness.)

damn these quotes



One grain

[quote="Deacon"][Of course Richard, please don't think I was complaining. I'm sure Pedro is wont to mix up the funny brown colored people Very Happy even if he is trying to be courteous. "Everybody please welcome the new gentleman with a dinner towel on his head, handy that custom, can just wipe your hands on your head, though no idea how you blow your nose."
/quote]

I can see how you Infidels are so easily confused by a simple disguise and as much as it pains me to say it, I may have something in common with those oriental devils in this regard.
As for those "Tenderchiefs" you all carry to wipe your tears or give to "our future concubines" when they are in need. In fact most Muslims let the bodies fluids run as it pleases Allah, however as I have to maintain a good appearance I use one of the three Heron plumes atop my turban to wipe my nose, this is why we must wage war upon you Infidels on a regular basis, just for purely hygiene reasons you understand. When we go to war I present the most soiled plume to my Army Vizier to wear on his Turban signifying he leads the army in my name. And of course I get a new clean one. Also handy in a siege as a terror plague weapon.

So beware I can feel the need of a clean plume.

One Grain.

Ok damn turban getting in the way of working out how to use these quotes. ( Next turn ask for a Newspaper Mission to come to Sofia to teach me how to use quotes)

In the above case what's happened is the bracketing [ is missing before the "/quote]". That's why it didn't work.

What you want to quote needs to be book-ended by a pair of these. Though without the spaces, which I had to use for demonstration purposes in this case.

[ quote="(quote author)" ]

(quoted text here)

[ /quote ]

(quote author) wrote:In the above case what's happened is the bracketing [ is missing before the "/quote]". That's why it didn't work.

What you want to quote needs to be book-ended by a pair of these. Though without the spaces, which I had to use for demonstration purposes in this case.

[ quote="(quote author)" ]

(quoted text here)

[ /quote ]

Oh, and my loin-cloth-wearing African Tribal Chief takes exception to the thought that he blows his nose on anything other than Wife Number One! She has to benefit from the perks of the job, you know (he doesn't dare wipe his nose on the mother-in-law though )

Thanks Rozwi,
But do I start my reply post and then use the quote post icon on the header above this writing to get my quote or do I get the quote before clicking on reply message ? This is where I am confused the exact order of how to do things.

Oh, and my loin-cloth-wearing African Tribal Chief takes exception to the thought that he blows his nose on anything other than Wife Number One! She has to benefit from the perks of the job, you know king (he doesn't dare wipe his nose on the mother-in-law though

Rozwi I can see the "quick wipe wife" has its merits However if I used your method I can't see how my favourite concubine "Sugar cube" would taste like forbidden candy.

One Grain

PS : Ok half worked ?

one grain of grain wrote:


I) Isfahan The shah of Persia stated to all within earshot of his wish to see Persia expand its influence to as many nations as possible, which is diplomatic speak for sharpen your spears we are a coming. It appears the Shah has the same play book as the Moghul mug.

I don't know, the Shah, a nice friendly peaceful man, talks about wanting to be a friend to all...and he's accused of being about to attack everyone! Vile insults and slander!!!!

One of the local TV stations screened a BBC program called "The rise and fall of Versailles" which I taped and watched last night, Some great gems from Big Lou's court for those French players and others to exploit in-game
The Actors showed off some great period costumes as well as great details about the interior of the Palace. I highly recommend watching the series.
However I do take issue with some of the portrayal of Big Lou!, for instance when the room Galerie de Glaces was finished in the Palace the Director chose to show Big Lou calmly strolling through the room, when it would have been better to stick to true history and have Big Lou gazing upon his reflection in the mirrors and then explode calling his courtiers "fat hogs". If only the programs research department had deemed to get in touch with the "Sofia Scribbler" I could have given them a better insight into the insular happenings of Versailles courtly life. I did admire Big Lou's application of fairness with regard to a widow of a worker killed while building the Palace, upon doing a tour she called him a tyrant! He paid her a sum in compensation for her loss and then promptly had her flogged for calling him mean names. (a true leader).

One Grain.

one grain of grain wrote:One of the local TV stations screened a BBC program called "The rise and fall of Versailles"

I've seen this show, too. For anyone interested, its occasionally repeated on BBC4, here in the UK. Just checked the BBC iPlayer and unfortunately its not available online. Quite an interesting program, full of period flavour and food for thoughts.

Another film that may interest (in-game) European players is Vatel. Excellent for ideas on courtly celebrations!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vatel_(film)

April 1706 update for Game 8.

A turn dedicated to Royal gluttony and that old military conundrum, Is it better to be a good commander or a lucky one.

But first after a little discourse about last months write up I found out from my source in Madrid that Deacon worked in the Royal Hispanic household and is known as the "Spammer" and I assume was proclaiming the Royal Fleas frustration at a mistake in that luminary "The London Gazette" and my fault in reprinting it. I find it interesting that I was not accused of plagiarism which I would concede. However I will state for one and all as the London Gazette strives for accuracy and high standards. I don't my ramblings can be considered a bottom feeder rag and I will stretch one grain of truth with falsehoods, innuendo, gossip and pure fantasy at my own whim. However my Viziers did think a good pseudonym like "The Spammer" would be good so my drivel will be penned by the "Sofia Scribbler" from now on.
So onto this months tripe

A) Versailles, Big Lou appears to be making up for those lost years existing in a dazed funk with banquet's and parties one after the other He has also taken to having his breakfast in the Galerie des Glaces, which is causing much mirth within the serving staff as they watch Big Lou still unaware that he is conversing with his own image reflected in the five hundred odd mirrors within the room, The daily ritual has been dubbed the breakfast of five hundred ghosts by the kitchen staff.
Big Lou has enacted a law to the effect that vagrancy is now a crime, it seems to have slipt Big Lou's mind that but a few months hence that he himself was Frances most Royal number one vagrant.

B) Paris, It seems a destitute Paris mob has gone on a rampage after learning about the extravagant celebrations at Versailles last month, the cities town watch proved unable to contain the mob and pleaded for help from the army which seems to have been ignored due to officer ineptitude and buck sliding which resulted in nightsoil men in training decamping into the night with the mob. which gives rise to the saying "If you train in shit, one day you will be in shit". On the bright side after proving quite useless the Police where issued with shiny new red and blue uniforms, pistols and dogs. It seems these items had been in storage but with Big Lou having been in a funk nobody had bothered to issue these items to the Police. I would suggest whistles and a coded chirp for "run for your lives" might be useful as well.

C) Kassel, The cost of four million Talers was to high to warrant changing from one worthless currency to another worthless currency according to the chancellor. I guess he earned his dough this month.

D) Hanover, The Elector of Hanover held a banquet for his ministers and their wives however after rumours of the problems in Paris it was a far less extravagant affair. (Grub fest number two)

E) Upper Uppsala Mines, Queen Henrietta of Sweden arrived at the mines which were in revolt, the Queen backed by her troops confronted the rebels who duly accepted the terms offered to them, however many of the mob stated that it was in fact the headache's caused by the blinding glare of the sunlight reflected from her many jewels which caused them to agree to the terms so as to quickly seek shade indoors.

F) Moscow, With a new title and estate chancellor prince Golitsyn has been told to ride into the sun and fade away.

G) Lisbon, The crown prince flea Joao was served gruel for a week after his latest indiscretion, however the young flea noted that the gruel tasted far better than fish surprise. (no matter how I tried to spin this I just can't include this in the list of Royal face stuffing extravaganza's)

H) Madrid, His Hispanic Royal Flea Pedro the Itchy held a garden party which proved a gastronomic delight for one and all as the Royal household took advantage of the warm weather. Later the family gathered to sit for a portrait by the French painter Charles de la Fosse however the Royal Flea insisted on including some Parrots to please his Queen, So with a Pandemonium of Parrots the sitting duly degenerated into pandemonium with the Frenchman declaring he would never paint for the Royal court again and as a final insult he named his finished work "The Fleabirds". ( yum-yum gathering number three)

I) Sofia, The Bey held a banquet for the promising of his eldest son. (Yes, Yes I know ! I did not want to be left out in the food stakes, feast number four)

J) Paroikia, It seems some of the locals have taken a liking to the English flag nabbing it during the night, the main suspect is a local woman known as Dawn "the swimmer" Frazer.

K) Kingston, The local militia has been stood down due to a change in orders re-routing the pirates to Plymouth. maybe a better cut of rope was needed.

L) Mbundu Lands, A Lozi warband was ambushed while raiding in Mbundu territory the Lozi were routed suffering heavy losses, according to the Mbundu it was a brilliantly executed military plan while the surviving Lozi insist that they had come across some fermented fruit and were mostly befuddled and asleep when set upon.

M) Khami, The explorer Joachim Straub was abandoned by his band of hired help. Pay disputes can really suck.

N) Sarkhej, Torrential rains have made things tough for the Moghul Mugs troops besieging Sarkhej with the Mugs army at a low ebb through sickness and desertions and his General Al-Jebar sick and being carried on a litter the remnants of the 2nd Army broke camp. Luckily for the Moghul Mug General Jahangir ordered five battalions to form a forlorn hope and ordered them forward in the monsoon rains in a last ditch effort and to their surprise and luck the wily Afghan defenders luck ran out with their Matchlock muskets being ineffective in the wet conditions resulting in the Mugs troops taking the walls and driving the Afghans into the towns streets.

O) Kowloon, In another rather odd surf & turf extravaganza the Chinese held a feast for the French Ambassador before he had arrived, A banquet when your not having a banquet as you will, I am sure when he arrives that the Ambassador will impress upon the Chinese to grasp the Principal of ensuring that the main guest has arrived before dishing up. Maybe they just could not wait for the fawning to begin. ( I counted this as grub up number five but it could easily have been five and six)

A word from the Kraken, Five delightful servings of Peking Junk.

Well that was my take on last month

now for my latest reading " Discerning the true meaning of animal entrails and other lucky charms for the true military commander vol I" by Scipio. and "How to perform the ideal rain dance" by Honkadagni of the Quapaw.
Brought to you by the Sofia Scribbler.

One Grain.

Hi all guys!
I have joined Game 8, hope to have fun together
Can you please tell me the world situation in few words? I read that Spain and Portugal are ruled by the same king as well as England and Scotland; some ufficial alliances, wars (in the past too), and so on?

I will need your help to understand some game mechanics, it's the first time for me in a playbymail and the rules book doesn't cover everything, I hope it's not a problem for you
For example, I know that the country I rule historically produced some goods that are not yet in the game, as silk, how should I procede to improve (or to "create") my silk manifacturies and add it to my commerce? What about the agricoltural production different from grain, as corn potatoes wine and so on?

Have a nice day!

Hi there

Welcome to the game and I hope you will enjoy it.

I am also in Game 8, from the start.

France was very quiet for a long time, but is now very out-going and talkative. The Great Moghul of India has been fighting a few wars, defeating his neighbours Gujerat and the Jats. I rule a Chinese province, feel free to send a letter if you are in the area.

You should be able to just invest in silk production if your nation had this trade in 1699-1700.

An order such as:

Invest in (insert region) silk production in (insert country) using (a number) recruits (and finally the amount you wish to invest).

The first investment in a particular trade in a country needs some recruits. You can also specify that the investment will be in factories (otherwise cottage industry is assumed) and if textile machinery will be used (if your nation has access to such things).


Everyone is assumed to live on some sort of grain at the start of the game. It is possible to convert to potatoes which will produce a much higher surplus than grain if everything goes well. Potato harvest can also fail catastrophically which can cause a very bad famine. This happened to Hanover in Game 9, half the population starved to death.

Thank's a lot!
Not in the area sorry, but maybe in ten years we would be in touch

Welcome!

Read the forum and ask lots of questions, most of your fellow players are happy to give general advice.

Here's a link to the game guide I wrote which is posted here. Hope it helps: https://agema.darkbb.com/t687-my-game-guide-take-2

Hi feel free to ask as much as you want we want you to enjoy the game , it can look daunting but help is at hand here   

As the others have said, welcome on board

Ardagor has given a good summary of the world at the moment, it is mostly at peace

If you're in the area, do drop Persia a line, we're a friendly little nation

Welcome Historia,

I hope you will enjoy your venture into Game 8 as much as I have, and I look forward to describing your magnificent leadership ability as only I can! ( all tongue in cheek you understand)
As for the monthly updates I admit I need to get my A into G. But me excuse is that the footy season has started down hear and my many fantasy teams deserved my attention.
That said my captain broke his foot in his first marking contest ! season over with a score of 0 doubled as captain = 0, So I put the kiss of death on him just like the economy of my little kingdom.

So I promise monthly updates out this weekend.

One Grain.

I do strongly urge you, despite Ardagor's advice, to avoid using recruits for investing.

They are sometimes necessary when starting entirely new crops/businesses, but generally recruits are a more valuable currency for other uses than investing.

Places that appear in the paper are likely in play, and it rarely hurts to write to any that might be of interest to you. Don't be too quick to make promises though.

When (or if) you are comfortable revealing who you are playing, you can probably get some more focused advice.

Her Majesty's Government certain invites diplomatic mail...

Please ask away with any questions that you may have. It helps sharpen everyones game play when we have questions and answers on the forum. If you have more specific questions about nations and such asking those in game through the diplomatic mail will likely yield a detailed response.

Thanks again everybody, really really friendly Till a war explodes at least!
I have some more questions for you (I haven't read the guide yet sorry, using the mobile to post here now): how can I improve my recruits pool? I read about the orphanages, but it looks to me not so good in a cost/benefits prospective.
Then I have an enormous doubt: I have to role play only as my ruler, or can I use all my government staff?
For example: I wish to create a State Trade Company (not sure about the benefits, but I like the idea). I have to ask my Parliament for it, to talk with the landlords and the merchants, or can I assume that they will agree (logically, because they can export easily their products) and simply write down that we arranged an agreement?

Stay turned for more questions

Oh Grain, your posts helped my a lot to know our world, so I am glad to hear that new one will come!

It's OK to reveal the position according to the rules?

Hi,

you will find I am neutral in all games (only playing a swashbuckler position in G7)

You can role play any character you have, there have been some great examples in all games believe me from leaders to diplomats to officer
as to a state trade company that will put you at odds with the other merchants in your country unless you can convince that 1) its in their interests to do so and 2) that they will make more money that way!

You will soon find that Richard likes to throw spanners in the works so every thing will not go smoothly, just as in real life.

Not knowing you country I cannot say much about recruit pools except that they increase every 10 years (others will correct me if i am wrong). Some people scrap ships, military etc for more recruits BUT as i say not knowing your country and its position in the world can be dangerous specifically if there is a larger nation next door or a historical chance of a war looming in the not too distant future.

As I say you can write to me in a PM for advice as I am neutral in all games, but above all think out of the box but remember this is the 1700's not present day some ideas might not go down to well!

Best thing to do to get recruits. Is pick a large nation in the first place.France,Russia and the Moghul of India will all start with around 50,000. Recruits, along with money are the games lifeblood.