I ran a gunboat SOW a few months ago. It went OK (Not great...), but if you want I could provide commentary. I'm not going to be playing games but leaving a few comments isn't a huge time sink.

alright, anyone up for a school of war? :)

We have one going right now. Maybe wait until that one's finished up.

yeah, sure. the current is a full press one though, isn't it? we could still start gathering students, tds and professors. but i guess it'd be a bit cocky for me to start that.

Current SOW is full press. I don't remember offhand when the last gunboat SOW was but you're welcome to solicit interest, which usually isn't a problem. The problem is usually finding enough TAs that are reliable enough to be around for a whole game.

Lets try and start one up. If you're interested in being a student, TA, or professor, please post here. If you want to be a TA, it would be preferable if you've got a few gunboat wins under your belt or be at least top 100 in gunboat GR.

I'm down to TA again

I would recommend waiting until the press one is winding down. It was hard to find players or TA or professors when one was already running.

I can be a professor if wanted. I have a lot of gunboat games under my belt.

Y2 was a great TA

the SoW was great, but i HIGHLY recommend not taking complete newbs and taking people who have some working knowledge of the game and want to learn more....just my opinion

There are many gunboaters who don't cross over to full press. This also may need to be an intermediate?

I've never done a SOW on here but I play lots of gunboat and would be willing to be a TA or professor if someone could tell me what that entails exactly.

I'd be interested in being a student for a gunboat S0W

I'd prof, just because I think I'd be better at that than TA'ing since I tend to look at the whole map anyway even while I play. If there's others that would be better, I'll just watch.

So a TA doesn't have to look at the whole map? :)

Not nearly as much. The last time I TA'd, my student was in a pretty deep hole early on and it really made me largely irrelevant, because all he had to do was defend. He was a relatively intermediate player so he knew how to do that.

Sounds like you didn't TA too well if you became irrelevant when the chips were down.

Yeah, I'm a shitty TA. I already knew that.

students:
kallen
kasimax

tas:
y2

profs:
chaqa

feel free to add yourselves. this is just a list to get a first impression how big the interest is.

I'd be willing to be a student. I've done a couple of gunboat games which generally haven't gone well.

students:
kallen
kasimax
rs2excelsior

tas:
y2

profs:
chaqa
bo_sox

ALways glad to pay it forward, if it helps to get this off the ground.

students:
kallen
kasimax
rs2excelsior

tas:
y2
Ogion

profs:
chaqa
bo_sox

If you're setting it up like the school of war, make sure student know what they're signing up for. Last time I TA'd the school of war (this current one), my student (Russia) completely ignored my advise from the get-go and just treated it as a normal game. Hence, he got destroyed fairly quickly.

Ok, just so I know, for SoWs, are students supposed to treat TA advise basically as what they should do next, and they learn by understanding the reasoning behind their TA's advise? Or are the TA's advise more like guidelines? Or something entirely else? o.0

you usually have more than one option in diplomacy, so you don't "treat ta advice as what you should do next" (that is what they discourage, actually, since you don't learn much from entering someone elses moves). the ta simply helps you to figure out what would be reasonable and what wouldn't be, and how to read the overall situation on the board.. that's how i understand it.

students:
kallen
kasimax
rs2excelsior

tas:
y2
Ogion
Yaleunc

profs:
chaqa
bo_sox

If you get enough other TAs I would be happy to be a Prof instead of TA.

When I TA, the game decisions are entirely the students. The best use of a TA is as a sounding board for options and ideas.
I am a TA in the current SOW game and we often disagreed regarding the best course of action but the discussion of the pro's and con's of different strategies was very interesting for both of us I think.

Out of curiosity, how does the Professor commentary work in a Gunboat SOW? Is it all held until the end as more of an EOG or is it posted after each turn? The latter seems more useful but also potentially prejudicial in a gunboat.

I tend to take a more active approach when I TA. I give my advice to the player and then use that as a starting point for a discussion. I ask him(/her) to dissect what I've suggested, to find the reasoning behind each of the moves. Then I ask the student to find any weaknesses in the plan, and then we go about putting ourselves in the shoes of the other powers, imagine their reactions and what they may be planning themselves. And since press depends as much on how you say something as what you say, I make sure to give them a talk on how to approach subjects.

Its a lot, but I put a lot of time into it and when the student doesn't respond and ignores your advice (by, oh idk attacking 3 neighbors at once and building in the wrong spot) it puts a very sour note in my mouth and makes me not want to do the next