Has anyone tried playing a Tiny/Rare Maso game with as much Diplomacy as you can cram into the starting abilities? I've not tried, but frankly this setup intrigues me... 
Does anyone think it would be easier? Does anyone think it's cheesey? Does anyone think I look fat in these pants?
Am I going crazy here at work? Am I asking questions that are too stupid?
What is the air-speed velocity of an unladen swallow?
What do you mean? An African or European swallow?
Has anyone asked the question "What is the air-speed velocity of an unladen swallow?" at ask.com and seen the response?
Is anyone tired of me asking questions?
          
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Theoden searches for the Holy Grail. OK, don't want to turn your thread into a Monty Python skit. .
I played rare maso with max diplomacy picks (+60) and populist (+20 diplo and +20 morale) for about 6 games of tiny and 1 game of small recently. This is my favorite setting of all time. On large maps, I add speed +1 and on tiny I add 5% PQ, +10 morale, and +10 influence. Vincible uses the sames picks - so like I said, I must be doing something right. 
Cheesey tactics are in the eye of the beholder. I think it is perfectly legal and at maso, it is necessary for me to have good diplomacy. Recently I was unable to get diplomatic translators while the AI researched through all those diplo techs (unambiguous comm, majesty I,II,III). As the AI started getting nasty with me (and my non-existent military I couldn't afford), my diplo picks kept me alive (by causing wars and gifting) long enough to culture bomb and barely win on tiny.
Try it Theoden . . . you might like it. IMO, Diplo is the hottest pick available if the goal it to win at the highest levels. I like your questions, threads, and metaverse review. Keep up the good work.
Rick
    
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Tech trading (not selling) and War bribery are key diplo-dependant strats in Maso. I wouldn't be surprised if a large proportion of the Maso games won so far have heavy diplomacy picks.
  
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I wouldn't be surprised if Brad tweaked the diplomacy pick costs in the next update. The power of diplomacy was increased in 1.10 but the costs have remained the same. Populists have also become the hands-down best political party IMO.
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Okay, it looks like my next try will be Tiny/Rare Maso with Populist and max Diplo picks. Now that I think of it, I never picked much Diplo on my previous (and alarmingly failing) attempts at Maso.
Thanks for the input, guys! 
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Theoden
I just finished 6 or 7 tiny/small rare maso games. My advice is to read through the maso thread and also the maso walkthrough thread on the main forum. If there is any way I can help you, please let me know. You can post here or in the maso thread and many of us will support you. Good luck. 
Rick
[Message Edited]
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All the best with the Maso game, Theoden. Yeah, you can't go wrong with max diplo picks.
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Okay, just submitted my first Maso win. The first game I tried Tiny/Rare didn't go so well, and the Drengin killed me.  So I started again. This time I got an incredible start. Two yellow stars in the same sector and one yellow to the immediate west!! Then I found a blue star with a class 14 planet, so I had four stars colonized at the start!
After exploring the whole map, I found that the other AIs only had one system each. So I began a military buildup, using the minors as my cash cow. The funny thing is, I never had any money problems in this game.
After I got strong enough, I took my revenge on the Drengin, the nearest AI. I had bribed all the other AIs to fight each other, so the Drengin weren't expecting my little visit from three transports. :SINISTERGRIN:
After the Drengin fell, I went after the Yor. But before I could actually go to war with them, I had the event that sent me to war with the Torians. Not wanting to fight a two-front war in Maso, I quickly turned my ships toward the Torians, who happened to be in the far Northeast corner. The war wasn't going so well, so I got a diplomatic peace treaty (along with 21 BCs whoopee). I gathered a little more strength, then broke the treaty and ended the Torian's suffering. After that, the Yor fell easily. I was fearing I would get a Cultural victory after that so I quickly sent my ships to dispatch the now puny Altarians for the victory!
All in all, not a bad game. I might play Maso again sometime, but I'll have to see. I still like the challenge of the larger maps, and so far I can't get anywhere on Maso on a Large map or above.
Thanks for everybody's help!
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Congrats on the win, Theoden.
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Theoden, congrats on your maso win.
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Different strokes for different folks . . . I like tiny, rare, maso.
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I actually prefer small/ABUNDANT - it gives you the chance to get some needed resources, too. Congrats Theoden  ...and I posted a detailed plan of attack I use in the other thread on winning at maso with no military - hope that's of interest to players.
 
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