No no, it’s not extortion. It’s a trade deal. Goodness, with that kind of attitude, how did your people ever get to space?
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Do I get some perks from all this economy in action?
To some extent that is up to you: you are adjacent to everyone currently.
Anybody who has 3 or more Trade Goods can be forced to give you one. No discussion, no nothin’. You just say “I take a Trade Good from everyone with more than 3” or pick and choose whichever players you like to give you one.
I am currently immune because at no point during this do I have 3 Trade goods. But I think the Winnu and a few others might be at risk.
EDIT: And that’s 1 Trade Good per transaction. So, let’s say the Winnu have 3 Trade Goods right now: please keep in mind this is purely hypothetical for illustrative purposes, I haven’t actually counted the number of Trade Goods they or anyone else has.
Okay, so. They make a deal with the Ghosts to give them 3 Commodities and the Ghosts give the Winnu 2. The Winnu now have 5 Trade goods, and the Ghosts have 3. You gain 1 Trade Good from each of them. The Ghosts then use my Trade Note to gain my two Commodities as Trade Goods, putting them up to 4: you can take another Trade Good from them, dropping them back to 3. And so on. And these are immediate: the Ghosts can’t be like “I gain 3 Trade Goods and immediately spend them on bribing the Yssaril!”… you always have to be asked if you want one of those.
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For everyone else: the existence of the Mentak make low-value trades very dangerous, like what the Yssaril initially proposed here on their Trade action. As soon as you hit 3 Trade Goods the Mentak can siphon off 1 from any future deal…
So, technically, if GeeBizzle wants, he can take that 1 Trade Good given to the Yssaril by the Winnu and the Ghosts (since they are giving 1 Commodity to the Yssaril, and the Yssaril already have 3 Trade Goods, that’s allowed). Meaning that the Yssaril would go from 3 Trade goods to 4 Trade Goods at the end of all their wheeling and dealing and after they trade with the Xxcha, and the Mentak would gain at least 3, possibly 4 or 5 from all the Commodities flying around.
Just something to be aware of constantly. Small trades benefit only the Mentak: big trades benefit the Mentak as well, but at least you’ll gain something out of it.
This was the driver behind passing. Why spend a token and trade when these pirates can do some pirating.
I am of course happy to wave such pirating rights should suitable compensation and bounty be offered.
Open to parle.
Sadly, somebody is going to have to sit down and crunch through all these numbers to see who is and isn’t affected.
In the time honoured tradition of schoolyards everywhere: “Not It!”
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Ah, I misread the Mentak ability. I thought the transaction had to consist of 3 or more goods, not the final total.
I will keep this in mind in the future.
@Marx So I am getting a free recharge of my Commodities, which @GabrielH will then take immediately by playing my Trade Promissory Note .
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@GabrielH you are not replenishing, correct?
and if no other changes… you are also next…
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Everyone, let me know if I missed anything.
next up is @GabrielH
(that tilted card, means I forgot to delete it)
Yeah, sorry, you need to calculate the trade deals to determine which of them @GeeBizzle can steal, and then GeeBizzle needs to decide which (if any) they wish to steal.
The Yssaril and each of the deals they run are immediately targetable by the Mentak each time, but everyone else is only at risk once they have 3 or more Trade Goods. And each trade deal is targetable for each side if they’re over 3 Trade Goods (so, for example, if the Ghosts are at 3 Trade Goods and they trade with the Yssaril, the Mentak can take 1 Trade Good from each player).
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For my turn I will activate Creuss, exhaust Vega Major, Vega Minor, and Jeol Ir, plus 2 trade goods, to build a carrier, a mech, and four fighters.
@Delwayne Sorry, didn’t tag you. Please see my above post to determine how many Trade Goods the Mentak can/do steal from everyone.
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Okay… to back up… When Trade kicked off…
Mentak is able to steal one from (in order)
Winnu
Yssaril
Is that correct?
Pillage
After 1 of your neighbors gains trade goods or resolves a tranaction, if that neighbor has 3 or more trade goods, you may take 1 of their trade goods or commodities.
The are neighbors with everyone:
Blue, Green, Black, White (wormhole), Red (Archon Vail)
Ghosts has had their 3 prior to being a neighbor, and has not done any transactions?
Okay, so looking at the game state as far as I can tell from when the Yssaril use Trade, the number of Trade Goods at that moment is:
Yssaril: 3
Winnu: 3
Ghosts: 3
Mentak: 1
Xxcha: 0
Titans: 0
So, then:
Xxcha Refill for free (no stealing)
Winnu get a Refill for free, and then send 1 Commodity to the Yssaril. Mentak can steal 1 from both Winnu and Yssaril here (dropping both to 2 if so)
Titans get their Commodities, and then Ghosts take them (going to 5 Trade Goods). This is a “Gains Trade Goods”, and therefore the Mentak can take 1 (dropping the Ghosts to 4). I’m immune: I have no Trade Goods to steal at this point.
So the Mentak can gain 3 total Trade Goods if they want (taking from Yssaril, Winnu, and Ghosts).
I think that’s everything. Now it’s up to @GeeBizzle and the Mentak to decide which transactions to rob or not rob.
EDIT: Also, I’m assuming the WInnu and Yssaril aren’t also trading their Commodities 2-for-2 at that moment (which would bring them both up to 4), which would allow the Mentak to rob them each again (taking them both back to 3 Trade Goods each, and the Mentak to 5).
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Correct about the Ghosts.
Thank you for the better explanation than mine 
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So I’ll be taking all the plunder that I can unless someone wants to make me an offer.
Also need to look up what I can do with trade goods.
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I don’t like that at all.
I use my agent to duplicate the Mentak’s agent. When I get Pillaged, I and the target (me again) get an action card.
If I can’t get two cards this way, then when the Winnu get Pillaged, I let them and myself get an action card.
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For clarity, Gabriel, I think you still have the 2 Trade Goods necessary to do your turn like this if you want: the only difference from all the Mentak pillaging will be that you’ll have 0 Trade Goods remaining, rather than 1. Is that okay?
If so I’ll take my turn after work today.
