Hey all, very sad about the draw, and I cannot say I am impressed with the sneakiness, but it was ultimately my fault for allowing it to happen.
Up until that point it was a fun game, lots of interesting scheming and outguessing, particularly with Germany and Italy.
It was my intention to continue playing France and Germany off of each-other, losing territory when necessary, and soliciting Turkish/Austrian help to garner me a solo attempt. I was fully prepared to draw with whomever necessary, as I was not about to reward Germany/Austria/Turkey with elimination unless they full out betrayed me.
I have no idea when I put in a draw vote, it must have been when we were pausing. Very very sad.
Oskar: Was sad we couldn't coordinate more, but the elimination of England was in our mutual benefit, though I admit tried to get both Germany and England to attack you multiple times. I was initially planning to just divide Germany with you, but when everyone started moaning about me being large and in charge, I decided I may as well try to exploit the opportunity the best I could. You successfully outguessed me about 75% of the time, so applause for that. ^^
Fortress: Sorry mate, honestly I had no idea what I was going to do, other than preferably maintain a peaceful north, but when it seemed like you were going to get creamed, I saw an opportunity to assert myself more forcefully in the north with little risk. Ideally I was going to keep you around, but France's strategic advantages made that impossible.
Maniac: I spent a looooong portion of the early game desperately trying to figure out a deal with you, and then spent much of the midgame being unwilling to trust you after being burned multiple times early on. By the end we finally figured out a rhythm that worked, and I am very sad we didn't get a chance to explore things fully.
achillies: So I will admit, initially I looked more favourably upon an Austrian alliance, but pretty quickly when the key Lepanto became clear I did my best to make sure we were friends. Fortunately you agreed, and we survived the onslaught quite successfully. Unfortunately things fell apart a bit after that, when Italy was getting unexpectedly and unfortunately successful at your expense. In 1904 in particular, a bit of bad communication and less than ideal strategic choices made you a bit of a liability. Nonetheless I was hoping that I would be able to, in the long run, to solicit one of your fleets in a long crusade against Italy.
akilies: Oh, the definite proof that the enemy of thine enemy can be both thine enemy and thine friend in the exact same breath. I really wanted to have a good relationship with you, but the key Lepanto and your campaigns in the Balkans made that difficult. I wasn't entirely upset with your success and facilitated a few times, but you were more useful as a big baddie that I could attack without alienating Austria/Turkey. Hope we can get along better next game. :)
abgemacht: Well! I feel most bad about attacking you, but I was quite honest with you in-game about my reasons. Making sure you are France fought was a huuuuge concern for me, and it looked like it wasn't going to happen. In general with the exception of two partial-sort-of-maybe stabs, we worked well together, if tensely. I am especially glad of the rearguard action around Edinburgh. It was pretty fantastic. You were quite honestly the key as to whether the game would be a 4-way, 5-way, six-way draw or a solo for me. It would have been cool to see how things turned out.
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Replacement player needed
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