Title: What's the one move you still regret?

[akshyeet]

Hey all!
I’m new here, and started playing 2 games just today. I am preparing for Civil services so this got me interested. Just started with France in a 1v1 vs Austria. Would like some tips for France. Also, what’s your one move in Diplomacy that still gives you trust issues. Give a newbie some battle-scarred wisdom and maybe a laugh :)

— Akshyeet

[Octavious]

There was a tournament game quite a few years ago where the deadline for a crucial set of moves just happened to fall the morning after St Patrick's day and I was ever so slightly drunk and then ever so slightly hungover throughout the diplomacy bit. The solo was lost, but it'd be wrong to say I regretted it. At the end of the day real life comes first and it was a very fun night . I would not have done anything different... except perhaps swap the Guinness for a decent milk stout or a porter. Guinness is by far the most overrated drink ever to be invented by the British.

Regrets are for wimps and the French. Sometimes you play badly but fortune smiles upon you and you end up winning anyway. Sometimes you play amazingly well and just about cling on to a draw. In the words of Kipling, meet triumph and disaster and treat those imposters just the same. And the way you treat them is to keep up the banter, keep having fun, and keep looking for ways to maximise your position. It doesn't matter whether that is a desperate defence of an Italian enclave or a sweeping charge across Europe to a solo, there is glory to be found in all scenarios.

Enjoy!

[JECE]

A Gal-Vie, Fall 1964

Sure, I fought on gloriously for 40 long years, but eventual failure begets regret, and Mother Russia neither forgets nor forgives.

[DiplomacyandWarfare]

F Sev>Arm, Spring 1901
don't ask

[Ernst_Brenner]

Black Swan.

I don't know, I just couldn't get into it.

[French_boi]

1...d5 as a response to d4 by white. Those positions are just so boring to me. Luckily now I respond 1...c5!

[damo666]

There was a tournament game quite a few years ago where the deadline for a crucial set of moves just happened to fall the morning after St Patrick's day and I was ever so slightly drunk and then ever so slightly hungover throughout the diplomacy bit. The solo was lost, but it'd be wrong to say I regretted it. At the end of the day real life comes first and it was a very fun night . I would not have done anything different... except perhaps swap the Guinness for a decent milk stout or a porter. Guinness is by far the most overrated drink ever to be invented by the British.

Regrets are for wimps and the French. Sometimes you play badly but fortune smiles upon you and you end up winning anyway. Sometimes you play amazingly well and just about cling on to a draw. In the words of Kipling, meet triumph and disaster and treat those imposters just the same. And the way you treat them is to keep up the banter, keep having fun, and keep looking for ways to maximise your position. It doesn't matter whether that is a desperate defence of an Italian enclave or a sweeping charge across Europe to a solo, there is glory to be found in all scenarios.

Enjoy!

Really?

[Octavious]

Oh yeah. There are far better stouts available. Guinness is a victory for marketing over common sense and taste. It's not bad, and if you're in one of those depressing pubs that mostly sell mass produced identical tasting lagers it's probably your best option, but it's never a great option

[damo666]

Oh yeah. There are far better stouts available. Guinness is a victory for marketing over common sense and taste. It's not bad, and if you're in one of those depressing pubs that mostly sell mass produced identical tasting lagers it's probably your best option, but it's never a great option

I was querying "invented by the British"

[Octavious]

Arthur Guiness was British, yes. Ireland was one of the British Home Nations at the time, and whilst it would be wrong to describe an Irishman of the time who was anti-British as British, Arthur Guinness and his descendants for a number of generations were very much Unionists and saw themselves as British and Irish. His Grandson, who took over the business, was a Conservative MP

Obviously it's not wrong to call him Irish, but it's also not wrong to call him British

[damo666]

Arthur Guiness was British, yes. Ireland was one of the British Home Nations at the time, and whilst it would be wrong to describe an Irishman of the time who was anti-British as British, Arthur Guinness and his descendants for a number of generations were very much Unionists and saw themselves as British and Irish. His Grandson, who took over the business, was a Conservative MP

Obviously it's not wrong to call him Irish, but it's also not wrong to call him British

AG was born in the 1720s when Ireland and Great Britain were separate Kingdoms, the Act of Union not until 1801. Whilst it is true AG was CoI and probably can be described as of Anglo-Irish Protestant Ascendancy he almost certainly would have described himself as Irish. Whether he would also have described himself as British I would say is far from certain. His descendants are irrelevant wrt the 'invention' of the drink. Please note I do not wish to get into a lengthy debate here, I'm just stating what I think. Cheers!

[Octavious]

Awww, but lengthy debates are so much fun

Yeah, no worries. I'm quite content for opinions to differ on the subject. And in the modern age where it's no longer a family business it's not particularly relevant. Guinness is very much a British owned company these days so any Irish / British debate about its origins is a moot point