I didn't open north. I opened as passively in the north to both you and England as I could. For some reason you decided it was in your interests to bounce me even though I was attacked by Turkey and Austria, which made no sense because, as the map now shows, you'd never get to Warsaw or Moscow that way. England decided to join in the circus and I decided that Turkey was the least unfriendly to me so I gave it to him to as great of a degree as I could.

i thought i said, or at least i meant to say that you were supposed to open north but didn't after saying you would. that annoyed me no end and i wanted sweden for myself. as i said we seemingly never get on in games anyhow.

Eh, water under the bridge.

You figured out that he was Russia that early?

No, I didn't (to be honest I forgot who was in the game), but as soon as I saw he was I just felt like "I knew it!". no eog's from anyone else?

Peter, people figure me out quickly. I have a unique style you might say...

I'll post mine today when I get a chance. I wanted to last night, but I fell asleep.

Hai guys.

I had mixed feelings about drawing France. It is, in my opinion, one of the easiest nations to play (if not THE easiest). However I was hoping to pull one of the nations with which I have had less success in the past in order to have a bigger challenge in the game. All said and done, I can’t complain about who I got or about how the game went.

Germany said that his western neighbors were “too cautious.” I don’t know about England but I know that I fit that description. I refrained from making any long-term agreements with any of my neighbors until after 1901, when I could see how they would work with smaller things. With England I agreed to DMZ the channel. With Germany, to DMZ BUR, and with Italy, to DMZ PIE-NAf (after an initial bounce in PIE).

England’s violation of our DMZ in Spring ’01 was really the defining point of my game. I convinced him in the Fall to back down, arguing that we’d be better off pursuing a WT (a possibility I began talking with Germany about during the later parts of 1901). He agreed and my 1901 was salvaged.

My build of the southern fleet was an issue for Italy, even though I told him that I planned to use it against England (couldn’t build it in BRE since that center was occupied). In all actuality, I hadn’t decided who to use it against. I positioned myself in the Spring of ’02 to move either against Italy (by surrounding TUN) or into English waters. When Germany offered to support me into English-held BEL, I couldn’t resist and decided to go anti-English in retaliation for his move to ENG in S-01.

My progress in England was slow through ’03 and ’04. Rather than using my superior numbers to methodically dismantle England I decided I would try to cut corners by guessing his moves. My guessing was clearly terrible and so it takes a good while before I gain any centers from him. I was busy, however, sending press to the East. I was warning Turkey that if he continued his rapid expansion he would become a solo threat and I would do my best to unite the board against him. I was already in the process of doing this, having spoken a good deal with Germany about it. I was also urging Italy and Austria to stop their fighting so that they could turn and deal with the Turkish threat.

At the beginning of 1904 I thought I had done just that. Austria and Italy were working together and Turkey was losing ground. Then Austria stabbed Italy and things in the East, from my perspective, went to hell. Italy gave up ION to Turkey, which threatened my stalemate position in the Western Mediterranean. Without Italy and Austria slowing his progress, Turkey could reach me before I had a chance to defeat England. Something had to be done.

In 1905 I had what is probably my best diplomatic victory in the game. England had lost two centers and had to disband two units. He had 2 armies on his island and 2 fleets. I told him that if he disbanded the fleets (making him zero threat to anyone else) that I would turn my fleets away from his water. Confused, England asked the excellent question “Do you want to kill me or don’t you.” I told him that I certainly did, but necessity was calling my units to the stalemate line and that his patient defense of his nation had won him a place in the draw to come. The fleets were disbanded.

That was really the beginning of the end, in my opinion. I was able to build a fleet in the Med in 1905. The next year, England popped one of my armies on his island (at my request) so that I could build another Med fleet in 1906. In 1907 he was convinced to give me LVP so that I could build yet another fleet to bolster the defensive line (a French fleet in the Med, I argued, is worth more than an English army sitting at home).

England, weakened though he was, was spared death for so longer because of my impression of the Austrian-Turkish alliance. The way I read the board we were heading for a 4-way draw, myself and Germany on one side of the line, Austria and Turkey on the other. According to Austria’s press, that was the best we could hope for. I disagreed. I messaged Turkey and said that his choices were to stab Austria (in which case, I’d eliminate England for the 3-way draw) or keep Austria intact and settle for a 5-way draw (including England). As soon as it was clear that Austria would be eliminated, England was as well.

There were a few times in the game when I entertained the idea of soloing myself. My slow progress through England made the possibility remote. When Austria and Italy united to hold up Turkey, it gave me a real chance to expand the way I needed to. But when their alliance ended, so did my solo hopes. Any attempted solo on my part would have handed the game to Turkey.

This was my first game back on Webdiplomacy since I started grad school two years ago and I must say, it was a lot of fun. I’d be happy to play with any or all of you again. Thanks for a great contest.

bump

Anyone else?

As Turkey, I tend to like allying with Austria more than with Russia or Italy, and I pushed hard for it right away. I'm surprised by all this talk about a CPA, because it always seemed to me like the most consistent alliance in the east was me and Austria until I stabbed him. In 1901, I convinced Russia that we were going to keep bla empty, took it, and then got Austria to support me into rum while Italy stabbed Austria. I don't remember how much of a role I had in Italy stabbing Austria, but I don't think I was completely innocent. Part of the reason I like allying with Austria is because it tends to make Italy more willing to do something other than a Lepanto, especially if I open against Russia. In the fall, Austria and I had a lot of conversation about the best way to dismantle Russia, and I knew that he would be a pretty strong player. At the end of the year, I had two builds, but not bul. Not sure if I've ever seen Turkey pull that off before!

In 1902-1904, I helped Austria against Italy while taking all the Russian centers. You guys mentioned that in 1903, it looked like Austria and Italy might ally against me. The moves looked like that, but the press mostly consisted of me and Italy telling lies and half-truths to each other while Austria was very open about how he was leading Italy on so as to better crush him. (For example, him taking rum had been planned between us for several years). Perhaps he was playing his cards close and really considering working with Italy -- unless he chooses to reply here, I can't be sure. This is also where I took war from Germany. In retrospect, I actually wasn't planning to do that until I saw that Germany NMRd, and the game might have turned out differently if I hadn't take war, as FG would have trusted me more.

I think my biggest mistake in this game was not talking more to England in 1904 and convincing him to hole up in Scandinavia instead of his home centers. With one or maybe even two English fleets in nor/swe instead of armies waiting to be destroyed on his island, I would have been able to keep Germany tied up in the north and probably would have had a real shot at a solo. Meanwhile, in the south, Austria and I continued to take Italian centers. I told Italy that I was willing to help make sure Austria didn't eliminate him if he was willing to send fleets against France, but he either didn't care or didn't believe me. Once again, if Italy had sent fleets aggressively west, I might have had a real shot to win.

After 1907, it was clear that FG weren't going to let me split them up so I could win, so there was nothing left to do but eliminate Austria. It was a bit of an unfortunate ending, as ckroberts pointed out to me, especially after Austria and I had worked together so all game. Hopefully, he doesn't avenge that on me in the GR Challenge (I've heard that I'm easy to pick out in anonymous games?).

Sorry it took me so long to type this. I kept thinking I would do it when I got home, but I kept falling asleep.

Thanks for posting. I also found discussion of the CPA here to be interesting, since I never really saw it on the board (besides maybe a move here or there). Knowing that you we spending your time late-game trying to convince people to push West makes me glad I spent that same time pointing out your solo threat. Perhaps in a PPSC game things would have turned out differently.

I also agree that if you had gotten to England and convinced him to keep fleets rather than armies, things would have gone very differently.

Middle of the first paragraph should read "Knowing that you WERE spending..."

I thought I had a pretty good shot at getting Italy to turn west, as if he didn't, there was zero chance that he was going to survive. If he'd taken mar/spa, he could have turned around and tried to end up as part of the draw, as he would have had centers on the stalemate line.