"Message Received" (lateral thinking puzzle)

[taurusmoon]

soxfan said

A relevant? I thought it was Hanibal who rode across Persia on a relevant?

Wow. You learn something new every day. So do I, apparently.

Well, technically it was Italy not Persia, but then it would definitely have been irrelevant.

[vonboob]

taurusmoon said

Well, technically it was Italy not Persia, but then it would definitely have been irrelevant.

Just for argument sake this was relevent no matter where he rode it...

[murasaki]

Doesn't Alexander's method seem a little time-consuming? I mean, a message of "send troops now!" would sit around for a few weeks before the envoy even departed.

[soxfan[$]]

True. I can't imagine he'd be able to send any detailed messages either ... whoever got "Send troops now!" would probably have sent back another envoy saying, "Where?"

[vonboob]

soxfan said

True. I can't imagine he'd be able to send any detailed messages either ... whoever got "Send troops now!" would probably have sent back another envoy saying, "Where?"

Nah, those people didn't work on matters of minutes or days even. Things used to take months or years. Send troops now?! Are the supplies ready? Do they know how long they will travel? Are there any roads to bring any heavy equipment? Is it raining and the roads are now a bog? Do they need to build bridges along the way?

Nah, had to do a bit of strategic thinking forward instead of reacting "on the fly". The diplomats would have a number of scenarios and envoy just carry order which one to follow. Furthermore they needed to be smart and able to make decisions on their own. God, I wished we had similar way of doing things now...