Not nice to put names in the forum BEFORE you even talk to the ones you accuse!
Anyway I can tell you that I don't do any cheating on any gunboat game I am in. Any Mod is free to login as my account and check it at any time!

By the way: in 12681 I am Italy and he is Austria. We both covered our borders but did not attack each other to have more power to strike elsewhere. If we would cheat, we would even empty our borders completely. A NAP of Italy and Austria is not a rare thing.
In 12924 we are in spring 1902! Quite an early stage, don't you think?

I truly hope that this forum threat here will not introduce any sort of metagaming now as actually posting opinions on running gunboat games seriously brakes the gunboat...

But: also I fear that cheating on gunboats happens some time. I am in one and would bet 100 that some have talked to each other ;-)

The optimal format for Gunboat games, would be to make the participant anonymous & disabling the ability to send press to the players.

..and I do of course denounce these silly accusations.

Cheers & happy gaming

Bonotow, the reason I didn't come to either of you first was because I didn't want to get accused of cheating. I'm sorry for the accusation, it just seems too coincidental. It's not about the points to me or anything like that. If anything this was my rant for hating Gunboat games.

anonymity is the only way to protect gunboat games.
and locking out the post button.
anyone is all too free to send a private message or direct email to another user.

if the identity is known

Gunboat is a terrible and pointless variant. I've never seen the point of it. Diplomacy is all about talking. Gunboat cuts out the very heart of the game.

For me it is about tactics as well. Learning to forcast the others' moves independently of what they tell you they would do. And this can be learned in Gunboats.
And gunboats are less time consuming ;-)

Yes but it is nonetheless the case that Diplomacy was not envisaged as a tactical wargame, but a game of negotiation, deal-making and calculated dishonesty.

To take a line from the front page of this very site:

"The most skillful negotiator will climb to victory over the backs of both enemies and friends"

In gunboat there is no negotiating. It's pointless.

@Jamiet99uk
As long as 7 people can get together , and invest dozens of manhours in a game of Gunboat, I suppose that the variant is not totally without merit :D

The negotiation and diplomacy takes place in your moves. But offering support to a unit in the spring, you are indicating you will support it in the fall, should it want to take advantage of it, for example. That is a form of diplomacy. Then, should you not provide the support that fall, you have in essence stabbed the person. another form of diplomacy. You just need to think outside of the box.

In that case, how is it any different to the normal version? What do you gain by not talking?

Now, if anyone would note the space of time between the original two posts from the accused denying the accusation...

Erm, two people in the same time zone checking their games within about half an hour of each other? They must be cheating!!!!!

The gain is the challenge of learning to read and even predict what your potential ally may or may not offer so you can accept the support before he even offers it the first time. Gunboat is a variant that isn't for everyone and, unless you pay CLOSE attention to the moves AND are of the mindset to use deductive reasoning to make an educated assessment of the situation to predict the future, you won't do well. It's a different challenge altogether.

No one is saying it is the same as traditional Diplomacy, any more than public press is the same. But Public Press and Gunboat have been around a lot longer than this website. They date back to the early postal play days, before email was even common place.

Maybe it isn't for you, and that is fine. don't play it. But some of us thoroughly enjoy the added challenge, even if we get accused of cheating when we pull off a brilliant prediction and support two other nations moves perfectly in Fall '01.

"Maybe it isn't for you, and that is fine. don't play it."

Thanks. I won't.

"Erm, two people in the same time zone checking their games within about half an hour of each other? They must be cheating!!!!!"

No just saying, don't rule out that possibility...
I'm a noob to multi hunting, though. :p

I did rule out that possibility Le_Roi. Both accounts are active in the forums and in plenty of games without the other. If a person is going to multi with that amount of effort, we might as well let them.

Well there would be an easier way to rule that out: ask a mod to check it! And talk to some other player's BEFORE you post those things in the forum. Read also the comment on it in the FAQ of this page (http://webdiplomacy.net/faq.php)
At least do it anonymously as long as you have no evidence.