I myself make the messages as long as possible. Short messages, generally, annoy me to death because then i get paranoid and think they are not giving me long messages because they are plotting against me. Like, i am more likely to stab a person who simply replies "ok" to all of the plotting i do, rather than one who gives a dicussion to it and adds it to

I do a mix. If the plan is convoluted or requires trust on my ally's part, I will go lengthy. But I consider these messages to be like a conversation in F2F so will blast several short messages as things pop into my head and open up a dialog. After all, thi is based on a boardgame where you chatted with people. You didn't write them letters. Then when it went postal, people tried to keep it within the confines of a 3x5 notecard, so still kind of short.

also, forgot to mention this, long messages can make it seem you know what you are doing, generally :P

I want to respond, but find the OP too long and think I'll have to answer with a short message.

There's a liability associated with looking like you know what you're doing. Some players think that means you'll be a good *temporary* ally, and that you'll be in a great position to stab them later. I've found that when players perceive me as a competent opponent, I frequently find myself up against a coalition alliance as a result.

I find people sometimes take it as a bad sign if I shorten up my messages at some point of the game. Truthfully, though, the length is often dictated by how much time I have.

In my experience, all of my strong opponents have had a certain lengthiness to their posts. Not everyone writes essays but there certainly is an advantage to writing engaging messages.

@cteno4
true, but again some poeple will remain completely allied with a good player, as long as does not stab

@Yonni
time is also a major factor. In a live game, you often don't have time to type out long ones

My tendency is to start with novels when I'm playing Germany or Austria. If I'm planning a Slingshot Juggernaut or some such thing as Russia, then a novel is usually required as I assume my Turkish partner doesn't know how those things work.

That said, I always try to make individual contact with EVERY player on the board before Spring 1901 moves are revealed. For instance, if I'm Turkey I will definitely want to know what's up in Galicia, Tyrolia, and Sweden. There's not much of a point in forming a Juggernaut alliance if I know Russia can be without a build. Oftentimes asking about the Western Powers' plans with Belgium can be informative, too: if France or England say they think Germany will make a grab for that dot, then I might doubt his willingness to bounce Russia out of Sweden. And so forth.

The take-home message on this footlong comment is that EVERY country's alliance status can tell you quite a lot about what's going on closer to home, and that's absolutely critical.

^ true that

Another useful question to ask: Will Belgium be occupied by a fleet or by an army? That tells you a TON.

Nice answers so far, thanks for those who took time to answer.

@Cteno4: I'm not sure what you're trying to say about the fleet vs Army in Bel?

@Draug: I tend to do the same, but usually, if I see someone is not that interested in communicating with me (ie: is sending me short, concise messages), I tend to give them the same medicine, unless I really have to make them understand my point.

And to those who write *a lot* even to those who doesnt write you much, what kind of results do you have with that approach?

for the most part, from what i can remeber, i ended up stabbing :P

In my experience, the longer your message, the more seriously they take you.

Your likelihood of getting them to do what you want is directly related to the length of your message, up to a point I guess.

I think I tend to be more verbose at the start of the game, establishing relationships etc.

Once we're past 1901, I tend to 2/3 lines max, although I'll up that if the conversation is tending that way.

What a lot of players seem to do is go quiet when they are about to stab - I don't know if that is to avoid lying, but it's quite obvious

Let's organize a game where everyone is only allowed to speak in haikus.

I think that's still too long. I think the messages should be shorter.
In fact, I think they should only be "cancel," "draw," or "pause."
Anything longer than that is just unnecessary.

Ah yes... The silent stabber. I'd love to play poker with some of them. They don't get the concept of a tell.

An English army in Belgium doesn't tell you much of anything.
English fleet in Belgium usually means you have a Western Triple Alliance on your hands.

French army in Belgium means he's in a good position to take on Germany.
French fleet in Belgium either means France is a total boob or else means that he's trying to get a place to support a move into the North Sea.

German army in Belgium doesn't say much except that he's probably getting three builds, making some enemies, and especially angering France. If he played his cards right, he's in cahoots with England.
German fleet in Belgium = LOLOLOLOL

That is my new goal, getting a German fleet in Belgium by the first build at all cost.

Germany tried the 1901 Belgian fleet against me once. I was England, and that got an EF rolling real quick.