Ghost Rating Challenge - 2025?

[DougJoe]

In 15h Game 3 will be cancelled, caused by one missing player.

We will probably not find new players, and since game 4 is only half full, this is my proposal:

We wait until the game cancels. If it doesn't, everything is great, but realistically speaking it will cancel.
Then we make one table out of tables 3 and 4. Link and password will be send to the 7 highest ranking players, and it will be posted in this thread that it has been done so. Then we wait 3 days: If the game is full and starts, everything is great, but if not, and there are still n open positions, n additional players from the list will be given link and password, and it will be posted in this thread that this has been done (and so on).
Important: We should not use the complete list, but only the list of those players, that have currently joined tables 3 and 4.

Does this sound like a good idea?

Yes, I think this makes sense.

I've created a "new" game 3:
https://webdiplomacy.net/board.php?gameID=1315991
(GR Challenge 2025 - Melnitz)

I will PM out the password to the 6 players who joined the original game 3 (helloworld82, Ernst_Brenner, stefanodangello, ilovepoland, DarthPorg36) and the highest rated who joined G4 (Red Neurax).

[Klaus klauts]

I think that you have forgotten someone, someone named Klaus ...

[DougJoe]

I think that you have forgotten someone, someone named Klaus ...

Nope, hadn't forgotten about you at all. Here was the original list:

Game 3:
1. helloworld82 - 4,861
2. Ernst_Brenner - 6,173
3. ElSaenzGalvis - 6,356
4. stefanodangello - 7,673
5. Hughganought - 12,242
6. ilovepoland - 27,524
7. DarthPorg36 - 27,595

Game 4:
1. Red Neurax - 31,981
2. Klaus klauts - 32,400
3. Alidio - 32,543
4. linmo - 32,922
5. BrianBaru – 33,196
6. Argent - Joined 14 Oct. 2024
7. ilikephilshead - Joined 4 Jan 2025

ElSaenzGalvis was the one who didn't join game 3. That leaves Red Neurax as the next highest rated player. I didn't do any re-checking of the ratings before sending out the new PMs. You're next in if someone else doesn't show - stefano and DarthPorg have not joined yet. If I don't see either by Friday I'll send you the game/password.

[Klaus klauts]

I had joined table 3, so I belong to the 6 of table 3, and in your post you are only naming 6 people (you cannot be one of the players, since you belong to table 2) meaning that, now the game has started, a mysterious seventh person is playing.

[Klaus klauts]

I just realized that the game is not anon, so the seventh player Hughganought is not so mysterious after all ... Now everything makes a little more sense.

Have fun!

[DougJoe]

I just realized that the game is not anon, so the seventh player Hughganought is not so mysterious after all ... Now everything makes a little more sense.

Have fun!

Oh, gosh, you're right, I built the new game from the wrong list! It should have been this:

Game 3:
1. helloworld82 - 4,870
2. Ernst_Brenner - 6,180
3. ElSaenzGalvis - 6,364
4. stefanodangello - 7,678
5. Hughganought - 12,243
6. DarthPorg36 - 27,604
7. Klaus klauts - 30,706

Game 4:
1. ilovepoland - 30,884
2. Red Neurax - 31,996
3. Alidio - 32,561
4. linmo - 32,940
5. BrianBaru – 33,072
6. Argent - Joined 14 Oct. 2024
7. ilikephilshead - Joined 4 Jan 2025

So, yes, you should have been invited! I'm so sorry. My fault for doing this all while I've been sick the past few days. I'll send out some PMs shortly and see if we can straighten this out.

[DougJoe]

Well, it looks like the replacement game already started. Poop.

Again, Klaus, many, many apologies, you should have been included.

[stefanodangello]

Well, it looks like the replacement game already started. Poop.

Again, Klaus, many, many apologies, you should have been included.

Not sure this helps, but could play another game as well if that would help accommodate those who would like to play but were for any reason not lucky so far.

[Pinecone333]

Some unusual moves on Table 1 for 1901!

[Hughganought]

Thanks for organising DougJoe, I'm not sure if I've ended up on a table I didn't quite earn the right to join! Regardless, if another game is called for, I'm more that happy to being my middle weight tactics and feather weight diplomacy to that table!

[Klaus klauts]

I would be in for a game, but even if this potential game is not happening:

You made yourself work by organizing this, and sometimes things go wrong. And to be honest: Using one or the other list does not really make a difference in terms of fairness, using either of the lists would have led to some people not being able to play, the only reason I complained not being invited, was me thinking that you are using the most recent list, and the fact that you only named 6 players on your post, so it seemed obvious to me, that i should be invited (I did not check whether the named 6 fitted to the first or second list, because at that point I did not even think about the possibility of using the old list).

So if anything: Thank you for organizing this, maybe I have better luck next time ...

[likephilshead]

I am happy to join a game if we have enough other people who didn't quite make it - I think we had four of us who did join at table four, so we would only need us plus three more to make it happen.

[DougJoe]

I am happy to join a game if we have enough other people who didn't quite make it - I think we had four of us who did join at table four, so we would only need us plus three more to make it happen.

FYI, BrianBaru originally joined G4 but sent me a PM saying not to worry about him for the "remake".

[JECE]

I actually think that it would be sort of neat to have six of the seven players in a Game 3 and set it to Anon, with both games running concurrently. Would folks be able to figure out who is who on the 'official' board based off press style on the 'unofficial' board?

Of course, helloworld82, Ernst_Brenner, DarthPorg36 and ilovepoland would also have to agree to play another game.

[Yigg]

Peanut Gallery - T2: Spengler

I don't see anything too deviant from vanilla starts besides:
-England opens the army to Edi instead of York.
-Turkey opens to Arm.

Thoughts?
-If I were Russia, I'd be looking for a clean pair of pants. If things go south, it's really possible for R to have a zero build winter. The possibility exists where Germany could block Swe, and Turkey could block Ukr. The only hope would be calling on Austria for help. I'd be ringing that phone off the hook. Let's hope the Galcian bounce was planned, then...
-A Western Triple could be in play. An England usually won't go hard after Norway with the army, and onto St.P, unless they were 100% sure either a) France and Germany were gonna fight or b) a WT is scheduled. I hate WT's.
-Italy looks to be bet-hedging, and that's normal. I prefer an adventurous Italy, but that's just me.
-Germany's open is solid and standard. Could make for 6 builds in the open, but that'd be insane and make them an instant target.
-I like the hold in Mar for France. If their intel was solid, and was confident Pie and Bur were open, they get to walk into Spain with no trouble. And a far shorter walk back to the mainland than going all the way to Portugal for the fall.
-Austria is in a good spot to court either Russia or Turkey. If I were Austria, this opening could hardly have gone better.

[helloworld82]

Would adding power rankings be too much peanut gallery?

[DougJoe]

Would adding power rankings be too much peanut gallery?

I don't think so as long as it's not for your own game.

[helloworld82]

Ok. This was written before Spring 1902 went through. I'm a relatively new player, but I still want to do this anyways.

1902 Preview: Venkman

France is in a really bad spot. If the German bounce in BEL wasn't an obvious enough stab, the useless support by the fleet in DEN makes it clear that there is an EG going. They also chose to build an army, which is anti-German in response to the BEL bounce. With a fleet BRE build, France would make it clear to England that any alliance with Germany will not benefit him, and he would have a much better chance to flip England. Now England has a much clearer growth path and a reason to stick with Germany. I think this mistake makes this game nearly unrecoverable for France.

Austria is in a golden spot out of 01. Russia has been working with Austria and just built a second fleet, which is extremely pro-Austrian. Turkey is on 3 still and can only attack Russia. GRE is virtually guaranteed, and they could grow even more if they can take BUL and get into the Turkish home centers. And to top it all off, Italy is in TUS, not VEN, so they can't walk into TRI if they want. I think Austria will have a really good game.

Power Rankings:

Austria
Germany
England
Russia
Italy
France!
Turkey

[helloworld82]

1903 Preview: Venkman

My prediction regarding France and England was correct. France has tried to flip England, but to no avail. Fleet LVP confirms that France is likely going to collapse. However, I do not think England played this year correctly. While it is admittedly difficult to remove France from ENG (due to retreat options), it didn't get any easier to do it now as opposed to S02. I think that YOR-WAL and LON-ENG with support from NTH would have been better than taking BEL. YOR-WAL eliminates any retreat onto the British homeland, covering any potential stealing of SCs and gaining a tactical advantage. This is also better because England could still get a dot if in F02 they take STP, ordering NWY-STP and NTH-NWY. It's not guaranteed, but Russia is quite preoccupied in the East and wouldn't be able to do much about it.I will also predict I would not be surprised to see Germany take BEL but continue the alliance. He kind of has little reason not to do so.

Austria capitalizes on their excellent 01 with a beautiful 02. Very rare that Austria has the privilege of building a fleet at all, let alone after only two years! The stab onto Italy only gains them 1 SC for now, but Austria has more fleets than Italy, so I expect more Italian centers to be lost. In addition, with Germany so heavily invested in France and Russia having 2 fleets around BLA, Austria faces virtually ZERO threats to their growth path. An Italy-Turkey alliance doesn't even work because they can't even take GRE together! It's quite early, but I really think it's time to pop the question: Can Austria solo this game? I think it's almost certain that they will board top barring an extreme resistance, but can they get the 18? We will just have to wait and see!

Power Rankings:

Austria (by a country mile)
Germany
Russia
England
France
Turkey
Italy

[Aristocrat]

1903 Preview: Venkman

My prediction regarding France and England was correct. France has tried to flip England, but to no avail. Fleet LVP confirms that France is likely going to collapse. However, I do not think England played this year correctly. While it is admittedly difficult to remove France from ENG (due to retreat options), it didn't get any easier to do it now as opposed to S02. I think that YOR-WAL and LON-ENG with support from NTH would have been better than taking BEL. YOR-WAL eliminates any retreat onto the British homeland, covering any potential stealing of SCs and gaining a tactical advantage. This is also better because England could still get a dot if in F02 they take STP, ordering NWY-STP and NTH-NWY. It's not guaranteed, but Russia is quite preoccupied in the East and wouldn't be able to do much about it.I will also predict I would not be surprised to see Germany take BEL but continue the alliance. He kind of has little reason not to do so.

Austria capitalizes on their excellent 01 with a beautiful 02. Very rare that Austria has the privilege of building a fleet at all, let alone after only two years! The stab onto Italy only gains them 1 SC for now, but Austria has more fleets than Italy, so I expect more Italian centers to be lost. In addition, with Germany so heavily invested in France and Russia having 2 fleets around BLA, Austria faces virtually ZERO threats to their growth path. An Italy-Turkey alliance doesn't even work because they can't even take GRE together! It's quite early, but I really think it's time to pop the question: Can Austria solo this game? I think it's almost certain that they will board top barring an extreme resistance, but can they get the 18? We will just have to wait and see!

Power Rankings:

Austria (by a country mile)
Germany
Russia
England
France
Turkey
Italy

I was/am spectating as well but haven’t wanted to comment on turns until they’re a few years past to avoid any influence on the game. That said, will be curious to see what England was thinking. That German stab was telegraphed very clearly by F 1901. I would be upset at England’s decisions if I were France although I suspect this ends up as a FGA 3-way regardless.