I was slightly confused towards the end as well. Once Germany started to pull back and Turkey gained a few centers, my only conclusion was that Germany wanted to cut the draw. That being my conclusion, I helped Turkey into Marseilles and crossed my fingers that I wouldn't be eliminated in the process.

That being said, I think France could have been eliminated and preserved the balance, but I think Germany may have gotten a bit nervous once Turkey got large and voted to draw.

Eden, building that fleet in Marseilles in 1902 really delayed our progress, as much as I should have known it was heading north, I couldn't take the chance, so we ended up playing grabass in the Med for a few turns, which cost us both. Fortunately, we stayed in the draw, so I guess it really didn't matter in the long run.

2wl, was fun fighting with you, also I was a bit afraid we will do it too long and germany takes over france. But we managed, though I think it was close call :)

I think I was a bit too agressive at the end. It was useless to move to ionian and trieste I guess. Maybe the little devil was inside me somewhere, that I can grab a solo surprisingly. Sorry for ruining the 3 way, I guess it was my fault ...

DICK MOVES BRAHS.

Thank you basedBarn3tt for not handing me yet another defeat in a high-stakes game.

Actually, Tom, I was gonna move at you, because Germany was positioning himself incredibly anti-French, so I figured my shot at alliance was with England, which basically necessitated fleets going to the Med. I went to MAO/Spa because I couldn't block WMS and knew I needed to cover Spa and MAO. Then England inexplicably suicided on me, which pretty much ruined my entire game.

The 3 way wasn't ruined by any means. I assumed you were working to set up the stalemate, which was true, but the attempts to hit Marseilles threw me for a bit of a loop. If I wasn't occupied with the cat-and-mouse game with France, I could have put up a better fight, but we would have had to cut it short regardless to deal with Germany. Thanks for not killing me, though!

I also thought it was ridiculously reckless of Tom to support Turkey to Marseilles. rokakoma was so close to just support holding everything in spring and taking all 3 Italian HSCs in fall and forcing the 2-way, it was ridiculous. You were completely dispensable...

PE, I agree, giving me marseilles was a bad idea. I attacked marseilles to take away any possible support hold from spain, so brest can take spain with gascony and WMS support, the letter, which was ordered twice in a row.

So was budapest supporting venice into trieste twice in a row. I wanted a 3 way, and for that reason to prop up italy a little bit. I couldn;t :)

Either way, no harm no foul. The Marseilles support was a mistake on my part, but based on what Germany was doing at the time, I assumed that he wanted France gone to cut the draw and Turkey was obliging.

Hey, I'm just a sitter for Barn3tt, and not much of a gunboater, so I didn't know the etiquette of eliminating players for a smaller draw in gunboat, so I merely tried to get Barn3tt the best finish I could. That said, I don't personally distinguish between a 3 way and a 4 way. I wanted a two-way with Turkey. It seemed obvious to me, again, a non-gunboater, that Turkey could eliminate Italy and not threaten the Iberian while I was then allowed to kill off France. Or, worst case, for sure Italy would die and if France saw a three-way, depending on if Turkey did not back off from the Iberian, so be it. When Turkey pushed into Mar, no way I was giving up a solo, and it looked like Turkey could kill off Italy at any time, so I hit the draw button.

Also, it did seem a bit heavy-handed to just back off the line to allow others to be killed, so the helped sway me to hit the draw button, as my best guess is the proper etiquette would have been to just four-way draw a few years back.

From my perspective, I assumed you were trying to let Turkey grow big enough to entice him to kill off myself and France for the two way. I guess letting him into Marseilles was actually successful after all, since it appeared as though Turkey may have been getting too big for your comfort. I can see why you wouldn't draw right away, regardless of "etiquette," but backing off did seem a bit insidious.

"just a sitter" - lol ;)

anyways, I had the feeling you want a two way draw, but I was afraid hitting italy would risk germany entering mediterranean so fast, I cannot hold, since I hadn't enough ships around. I built an army at the very end, to show, I have no intention taking over italy.

Also Barn3tt wrote me in PM he was playing from phone, so he didn't see my supports into spain which describes why he didn't take it.

In my view killing italy couldn't be done safely while germany was expecting that one.

Rokakoma, I think going for the solo would have been a cheap victory after Germany pulled back. That being said, if I was you, I would have definitely gone for the solo after you got the Tyrrhenian and Ionian. You could have crushed me in two turns while propping up France at the same time.

' "just a sitter" - lol ;) '

What's the joke?

2wl, yes it would have been cheap, but I should have kept marseilles for that one, so I would have had to dislodge you from gulf of lyons at first, without letting you retreat anywhere and take 1 Sc at the same time so you can't rebuild it. So I can defend marseilles, after I could have taken tunis, and just after your home SCs.

It didn't seem that easy.

Sarg: I was just imagining barn3tt wouldn't let "jsut a sitter" into his 7k+ pot games and into gunboat snobs which was top 50 gr. So obviously he is not "just a sitter".

Oh ok, ha. Well, no one could match The Barn3tt.

Well, backing off I was always hoping people would turn on each other and I could still grab a solo, but I figured that was not very likely and I was most hopeful of a two-way. No way I was going to kill off France while Turkey surrounded Italy and was in Mar. Regardless, it was an interesting game and I had fun, thanks for the challenge.

PS - I found none of you to be snobs, what a stupid name for a game! ;)

@Barn3tt: the game title comes from MadMarx, blame him! look at threadID=855778
He just made this game happen, but wasn't brave enough to participate ... I'm guessing he's the snob ;)

+1s all round :)

obviously it's MadMarx

+1!!!!!!!! LOL

Hey, I'm no snob!! Well... I like to think of myself as a purist and/or old-school, so maybe I am, but it's all in good fun.

Lol. I'm surprised Barn3tt hasn't come online to show MadMarx with praise :P

@MadMarx, are you willing to play with us a wta gunboat? I'm thinking about 36 hours phase, 3-400 buy-in

@Sarg: I'm seeing barn3tt online as well

rok, no thanks, I don't have time for any more games at the moment, I'm a bit over my limit...

No problem, I just wanted to give you the chance to prove, you are not a snob :D :D

Maybe next time.

Well, I may just be a snob... when it comes to gunboat...

Anyway, I might play if Barn3tt agreed to play, but that's unlikely since he's out, I doubt his sitter would start up a new game for him...

Okay, but whenever Barn3tt will be back, you will be the first one to called-in for.

Do you even know how to play gunboat, MM?
I doubt it.
Smirk.

*This is a very lame way of provoking you by the way.* :p

Man, it would be a trip, playing with MM and not hearing a word...

zully, I do not know how to play gunboat, and I'm a bit of a slow learner, so I'm not overly interested in figuring it out. Plus, what I enjoy about diplomacy (and what I think I'm best at) is the talking part, so I fail to see the appeal of gunboat.