Crap. Forgot to keep commentating on this but seems like there isn't much more for me to do.
Looking forward to the EOGs. I'll try comment on those at least.

Good game guys, that was a lot of fun. I'll try write an EOG sometime in during the next couple days

My EOG:

I sucked. I know.

Too much hesitation, too little clarity in the press and in my moves, and overall, probably the worst game I've jumped in from CD in such a position in a long time.

When I came into the game, I genuinely didn't want to solo. I didn't think that I should intercede on a game that was meant for nothing more than experience and solo out of a position I didn't gain. Once I decided I might as well take a shot at it, the shot was pretty much gone. Being indecisive like that is a good thing to never do under any circumstance...

Otherwise a good job by Turkey and Russia. It was a solid juggernaut all the way and I had told Skittles that he should have nothing less than a three way draw in the end. I wish he'd stuck around because he'd have played that endgame a thousand times better than I did.

Nonetheless, that was a much better stalemate line than the gunboat game. That goes for something, right?... o_O

I'll write an EOG very soon. I took notes for the first 6-7 years and then after the pause the game was a bit stale so I just played it out. I don't think there was any chance for a solo without suicide/throws by germany or italy. Which is why I was adament about not thinning the draw unless France had backed up.

Of course it's always easier to stalemate in Full press than gunboat! :)

For writing the EOG, one thing that I know people do is open up the message screen (found by clicking the message button under the game board) and scrolling through the press while paging through the game. I haven't tried it and it seems like a lot of work but thought it might help. Especially because of the pause.

Russian EOG: (I apologize ahead of time because the EOG was written as I went and is a terrible stream of conciousness, but I think it will be interesting for those that played to see what my intentions were and how certain events effected the decision I would end up making)

Spring 1901:

I wasn't too excited to see that I had drawn Russia. It falls in there near the bottom of my list, but hey, I guess this will be good practice. I have a quick chat with my TA Pete U about general strategy and we both agree that focusing south would be best.

I'm pretty excited about the game and get started on messaging people. Looking back now, my opening press needs a lot of work. I was too forward about pounding someone and too general. I had not played many non-live press games and the few I had played in I had previous success by telling everyone what they would want to hear and then choosing my ally based on which opportunity appeared the most lucrative - and this was definitely the approach I took this game. To clarify I almost unknowingly took this approach and just defaulted to what had worked in the past. This game was very long and I have since finished several other press games with success trying not to lie unless absolutely necessary. More on this later.

So pre-game talks:
I was pretty concerned because I was not "clicking" well with Turkey or Austria. Austria did not talk much and Turkey was confusing because he kept bringing up that I should send 2 units north, which in my experience means Turkey is opening to Armenia (my worst case scenario). I couldn't tell if it was malice or inexperience that could explain the request. In the north England seemed very receptive to fleet only at Norway. Germany was receptive to allowing me Sweden, if I just focused in the south. This was excellent news. France was selling me hard on 2 units north and apparently intended to blast England. Italy actually invited me to join in on jumping Turkey, he said that Austria and him would be opening lepanto. To me a lepanto is as much a threat to Russia as it is Turkey and I nervously started flooding Turkey's inbox pleading my case about the danger we both would face if we didn't band together.

Both Austria and Turkey agreed to bounce galicia/black sea and see where things went.

Ranking of how much I trusted the other powers at the time (I kept notes throughout the game for EOG purposes):
1. England (most comfortable with)
2. Turkey (based on amount we have talked and threat of lepanto)
3. Germany
4. France
5. Italy
6. Austria (least communication with)

Fall 1901:

Everything looks standard from Spring moves but a bounce in the west which I’m sure was planned.

At this point I kick up the diploming. I pitch a plan to Turkey:
I will convince Austria to support Ukr-Rum so that I can bounce the black sea or actually... so that You can bounce Greece.

I pitch the fake plan to Austria and he is immediately receptive and says “lets do it”…thinking that he’s probably not actually going to do it b/c of the short response...I pitch it to Italy hoping he may do some convincing on Austria, but Italy does not like it and I know why – he doesn’t want to split any Turkish property with me.

This is where things turn, Austria sends me a message many hours later that he can’t do it anymore. That Italy has been passing information and the risk of him not getting Greece is too high now. Italy foiled my plan, I act betrayed at the news of this...

Later, Austria mentions he might build a fleet at Trieste I take the opportunity to pitch a R/A alliance. We had previously had little press and all of sudden we are chatting in large paragraphs planning the assualt. I can tell I’m compatible with him and he seems tactically sound. Plus I don’t have to change my moves yet so I can continue with my juggernaut ally and see which plays out to see whether Austria puts his money where his mouth is with a fleet build.

Ranking:
1. Austria (we hit it off)
2. Turkey (we have grown while planning for disaster)
3. England
4. Germany
5. France
6. Italy

Builds/Spring 1902:

I get up in the morning and come to find that…LIVONIA, WTF! My brother asks me how are your diplomacy games about an hour later and thinks its hilarious he has sabotaged me. I left my ipad out and he swapped my moves, Sev should have support Ukr-Rum (phfew lucky me it got through anyways), ugh but Sweden was empty as Germany promised it and my fleet is in Livonia, what a dick. I write up an explanation and send it to my closest allies (T, A, E, G) telling each that I probably won’t tell anyone else so please just keep it to yourself and let them wonder. Later I told France as well hah, I wonder who actually listened. Well, it’s okay I am hopeful that I can make my way back into Sweden next fall and I am counting on England not going to st. pete. Heck, a 2 build Russia scares people anyways.

Talks for Spring moves include extensive planning with Austria on solidifying our RA alliance and surprise attacking Turkey and Italy.

Fall 1902:

Things did not go as planned. Austria was supposed to support me into Bulgaria and clearly said that he understood the plan to be as much in the last message we had together about 7 hrs before update when he finally entered his moves, but there was no support. I expected to hear some excuse about a miscommunication in the press, and that’s exactly what I heard. Well, it does me no good to argue about it, he wrote a very persuasive wall of text to convince me he and I are together, I’ll let him believe I’m still down for now. I wrote Turkey a massive wall of text apology and laid out exactly everything that happened in hopes that he will trust me to move out of Armenia and just hold steady from I/A. The north is a disaster now too, instead of bouncing Sweden like I had hoped Germany would do he let him in and expects me to dislodge England. But now that my growth potential in the south is little to nothing it would be foolish for me to speed up the growth of france/germany in the west plus England is now the person I trust the most on the board. And Germany might be the reason Austria turned against me as he has been spilling poison in people’s ears about the fact that so many players had trusted me. Looks like I picked the wrong allies, should have stuck with juggernaut and I’d be sitting pretty.
Oh, how the tables turn in this game:
1. England
2. Turkey (nowhere to go, no real way to hurt me without suicide)
3. France
4. Italy (don’t trust)
5. Germany (don’t trust more)
6. Austria (don’t trust most)

Builds/Spring 1903 –

Well, England and I were successful in talking Germany into disbanding his fleet and building an army to attack France with. I’m still slightly worried that he will go for Warsaw in order to seek revenge, but it’s not in his best interest. In the south I plan to move to boh for better positioning and move to black sea for 2 purposes. First, to support Turkey back into Bulgaria if he loses it; It would be my fault because I did not use Rumania to cut like he requested. Second, because that position is a strategic goldmine and will be incredibly important in my eventual stab of him. Now in the north I was trying to think of a way to have an agreed upon bounce with Germany to ensure he didn’t move east, but come 20 minutes to update he begins to vehemently insist that I move out of Baltic. At the worry of creating a F/G vs E/R which was not in our favor I decide in the last minute to move out and choose Sweden. England was on at the same time and a part of the back and forth or whether I should move or not, I ensured with him that I would be moving out come Fall.
1. England
2. Turkey
3. Germany
4. France
5. Italy
6. Austria

Fall 1903 –

Turns out that Austria hit me at Rumania and my change of hold Rumania to move to Black sea was ill advised. I end up in Sweden as I suspected since England and I are completely connecting right now and building a nice friendship. Now I have a tough choice, take back Rumania and allow him to retreat to Ukraine while trying to take Vienna or just ensure Rumania and forget about Vienna. Once I chat with my TA he advises that he would stay in Sweden…I do really need the build and England is in a tough spot where ska is not useful to him, it would be better for us together to have another unit. With about 6 hours left I start to explore this option and attempt to heal relations with a pissed off France. We start to click and an attempt on munich is discussed at length. I am apprehensive to support France to Munich because that is a direct stab on England that should be combined with a support of Germany to Denmark in my mind. When he is receptive to the idea of supporting me there I take him up on it at the off chance that the moves Germany has told him he intends to make (ruhr to Holland) will give me 2 builds. Plus when I look over Austrias options I see no options besides hold Vienna with Budapest and cover Serbia, it would be foolish to do anything else. Turkey let me know that Austria had requested a hold of Rumania but he was mushy about answering. If he had done a hard sell on that lie I would probably take a shot at Vienna. I also attempt to sell Austria on burying the hatchet with every intention of following through. It would benefit me to not have him in Ukraine and have Turkey not grow to 5 or 6 centers.
1. England
2. Turkey
3. France
4. Germany
5. Italy
6. Austria

Builds/Spring 1904 –

I am kicking myself for not going for Vienna. I guess Turkey sold him harder than I expected because he got right through to Serbia amazingly. Germany had tipped me off to Italy/Austrias reconciliation and that move to Aegean was expected for both Turkey and I. After update I sign off not wanting to face the betrayal of England, but several hours later I write him an explanation/apology and begin to work on ensuring he doesn’t throw his game for revenge. I also attempt to have a final reasoning with Austria over the retreat to Ukraine and subsequent disband working off my last proposal which I followed through with (not hitting Vienna and only taking back Rumania). Now I have to worry about cleaning up this problem. Once the retreats/builds are done it is clear I was unsuccessful. I quickly plan moves with Turkey in the south to get Budapest and get him Greece. I also make an attempt to patch things up with Germany a little bit, he is no immediate worry so I’m not too concerned I have some time to build back some trust. Not much press in this phase since it was during the Thanksgiving holiday.
1. Turkey
2. England
3. Germany
4. France
5. Italy/Austra (tie for not at all)

Fall 1904 –

Well, I get into Budapest but tip of the hat to Austria he takes Galicia and really muddies up my situation even more. Turkey’s unit will all be busy to take Greece so he won’t be able to assist me.
I’m really puzzled that Italy has not taken back Venice, soon after the phase I send ask him why he isn’t taking back his home center to his own detriment. Maybe a day later he responds in his usual sarcastic fashion but then lets his true colors show and lets me know that he is abhorrent to working with me even though its in our best interest because of my manipulative press, I’m paraphrasing but that is the basics. I’m pretty pissed off at this point because despite my last message not being cloaked in any diplomatic costume I think his assessment of the previous 3 years press is unfounded. I consider just delivering a big FU and keep helping Turkey roll over him, but I wait and look over it for a couple more hours and decide to approach this more diplomatically. I really need Austria to get at least one disband this turn and my best chance at that is Venice being captured. Rather than send him fluff and act like we are all good I decide to deliver a harsh truth message. I explain how Turkeys growth is not in my best interest but that I’m not in any immediate danger while him dropping to 3 units is a 100% death sentence. We seem to come to terms that we might not like each other but the logical thing to do is work together at this point. Meanwhile I feel like I’m making headway at gaining back Germany’s favor.

Builds/Spring 1905 –

Excellent, Italy came to his senses and stabbed Austria and to make matters even better he has prevented Turkey from taking Greece. What is even better is I played the Austria situation perfectly, I had decided to give up Warsaw or Budapest, he could not take both but he guessed wrong and ended up with nothing! And then Austria disbands Ukraine and Galicia to my surprise, he had acted like he intended to suicide into me and make life hard on me.
Just before last update Germany and I discussed me moving to Norway and letting him through to Denmark. I nearly went for it but at the last minutes of the negotiations I decided not to stab England and we decided we would pretend to still be tight with England next year, bounce at Denmark where we had all pre-discussed that England would disband and then in the fall I would let him through and take Norway netting us both a build and taking England down to where he couldn’t hurt us. Instead he moves to Silesia and munich. I don’t like it but he has reason to not trust me from the past and tells me his reason is just a safety move.
At this point I’m seriously considering a R/G/I 3 way draw and have pitched my detailed plan for this to both Germany and Italy. With Turkey having so many fleets he would be pretty easy to stab at this point, of course first I needed to get Austria down to 1 unit. But Italy has promised me a cut on Trieste in turn for support there in the fall and for me to attack Turkey at Bul or Serb in the fall as well. Germany has pledged that he intends to carry out our bounce Denmark plan and after many messages trying to convince him to move out of Silesia and make moves on the RGI 3 way he has said that he will move out when Boh moves out. I’m debating whether to send Sev to Black Sea and Moscow to Sev or Moscow to St. Pete, but I decide the bounce plan with Germany will be sufficient and not make me an enemy out of England. I also decide against stabbing Turkey in the Spring, instead I want to get Vienna before I make another enemy. Then about 6 hours before update Turkey sends a message urging me to move north, I’ve been explaining away why I can’t do that yet in anticipation of needing those units to stab him but this time he says that Germany has said I am coming after him and he wants assurance that I have a new target. At that point I decide not to vacate Boh and to cover warsaw with Moscow and move Romania forward to compromise with emptying my borders with Turkey. However England has asked me to bounce Denmark and Germany has seemed legit so I go through with that part.
1. England
2. Turkey (just b/c I know he won’t stab me)
3. Germany
4. France
5. Italy (I may not trust him but we have come to an understanding)
6. Austria

Fall 1905 –

Well, well, well…Germany has done exactly what I asked him not to do, go to Baltic and move Silesia to warsaw. Italy has done exactly what he said he wouldn’t, hold Trieste. Austria has prevented me from getting Vienna, ugh this phase didn’t go well. The good thing is I didn’t create another enemy in Turkey.
Germany seems quite proud of himself. He explains his actions are because he heard 3 different plans for my moves and that “you can’t have an alliance with everyone on the board”. This pisses me off pretty bad because that has not been the case at all this turn, I was really going to cement an RGI and was being very sincere about my intention for that to go down. I decide that diplomacy is done in this situation, he stabbed me without taking a single center, although they did prevent me from getting Norway and possibly Vienna now, but in terms of stabs pretty pathetic. I respond good luck let’s have a fun battle. I consider later using some chainsaw diplomacy and telling him exactly what shit storm he has stirred up which is a. throw all my units at him b. cemented a juggernaut as I will assist Turkey to roll over I/A and c. I will be messaging France every time I log on to pledge my support in helping him steamroll Germany’s flank. I chicken out on the chainsaw press b/c the only hope would be to scare him into reconsidering and I think it’s a lost cause.
Meanwhile England is really pissed about Germany’s stab on him as well. To make his blood boil even more France lets him know that Germany was telegraphing all of his moves to him for a couple years now. England pledges that all of his units are now mine to command and he wants to destroy Germany and help put me in better position. I’m really glad that I decided not to move Moscow north. I ask for a hold on Denmark and that he not confront Germany about this treachery so he isn’t wise to it and try for Sweden, although he still might.
I really need a build in case Germany takes Sweden to fight him in scandanavia. I decide to double support Galicia to Vienna which gives Germany a 50:50 shot at cutting me but he might cover munich. I’m sticking with the hold at Denmark b/c it would be devastating if it worked.
1. England
2. Turkey
3. France
4. Germany/Austria/Italy (tie for not at all)

Spring 1907:
France cut my hold at north sea and I lose Denmark. But later on we get to discussing how this isn't a solo game and if we don't eliminate Germany now he might get stuck in the draw. France is in the power position as I don't have the fleets to combat him in the north and I recognize that he can take it all if he wants. He lays out what the moves will be and how he will allow germany to take sweden and swope into denmark and belgium and that's exactly what happens.

Rest of the game:
I begin to count centers and realize that France has this almost in the bag especially if he gets berlin/munich and especially if italy is too pissed off to even defend himself. I decide to hold germany in place and let france know i will be seeking a 5 way draw until he backs off and then we could possibly thin it.

Over the next 3-4 years I move into position to have the 100% stalemate, like I said my solo shot is gone and I recognize the north is a lost cause. When France is finally receptive to thinning the draw we go for it. Pre-pause I had not intended to eliminate Germany b/c he was a lot of fun to play with, always talkative, always pitching ideas and getting into all diplomatic aspects even though some of those things went against me. I had always intended to eliminate italy if possible, he didn't like me and the feelings were mutual, and overall I did not think he played a good game or made a good attempt at playing the game. It may not have worked out for germany but he was busting his ass trying. But post-pause Germany was naturally absent (not any reason to talk over 2-3 holds) and the only thing I recalled was him declining my offers to be a puppet with a promised draw piece and basically costing me my shot at the solo, so I took him out.

I had a lot of fun playing this game, it's by far the most press I've ever sent out and I learned alot from Pete U and the experience in general. I doubt anyone read all the way to here through this crap, lol. Good game everyone.

Oops i missed 1906...I'll get back to more later.

Wow, that was a good EOG. Great way to procrastinate. I will probably talk more about it in my EOG but I think the part I find interesting is how much of a reluctant ally you were to me. I don't think I realized that for the most part but it seems now like for most of the game I was your second or third choice. Oh well, it worked out in the end. The other thing that you mentioned in S01 about me making requests that didn't make a lot of tactical sense, I think that is interesting considering how we worked at the end game. By the end, I was relying on you to figure out how to stop the solo. Even when I came up with a plan I found myself running it by you. I tend to rely on my diplomacy opposed to strategy (though hopefully the strategy will come more with time).

I didn't edit my notes, so it was as things were happening that these thoughts were wrote down. Like I said I played a very dishonest game in the beginning. I felt that a. i had a tactical experience advantage over you and b. that you trusted ne enough that i could stab and take you out. and i played the game thinking of getting a solo the whole time, which meant getting enough centers in the north until i could stab and get 18 with most of turkey. aoround 1906/7 it was apparent that would nor happen and pyshing further would only increase feances chances of a solo. we worked together very well! This was a very long game and I saw you "grow up" as we went along.

Sorry iPad typos.

I feel like I was very trusting of you (maybe overly so) but I don't remember the earlier game as well. Tomorrow I will go through press and reflect more.

Actually you saying that you were going for the solo is making me realize how little I do that. Even at the beginning of the game I am mostly looking at a couple people I could potentially get a three way draw with. I am still in the mindset that I'll go for the draw and if the solo opportunity comes up, I'll take it. Maybe someone with more strategic experience than me could elaborate on how they try "go for the solo" throughout the game.

Bumping this up.

Interesting read. Any other players or Prof wanting to comment on anything?

I was impressed with the amount of detail in Gen. Lee's write-up. It's compelled me to keep notes of my games. I liked getting an inside look at how those strategic shifts happen. Well done to everyone that contributed notes on this game.

Here's my general thoughts on the progression of the game - though not near as detailed as Gen Lee. First off great thanks to Octavious, who was great at answering questions and telling me what questions I should be asking myself without ever suggesting certain courses of action (as much as I begged). The game itself included far more press than any other game I had played before and was a lot of fun, an a bit maddening.

Game start - I'm immediately biased a bit towards an alliance with France. I think it is a bit safer as Germany just because of the midgame fleet issue. Opening press bears this out - France is responsive, wants to talk about possible scenarios, etc, and England mainly writes 2 or 3 sentences at a time. I don't have a problem with brevity in general (though it isn't one of my virtues) but it is hard to get a sense of when to trust people and when something might be "off" when they are only writing very short press.

First years, standard opening with a planned bounce in Burg. Planned bounce wasn't very tricky, most people saw right through it. I have good communication with France and Russia, I get both Holland and Belgium, things are looking good.

In Autumn of 1903 I get stabbed very hard by Russia. Instead of helping me into Sweden as promised, he moves to the Baltic, and England takes both Sweden /AND/ Denmark. It was a great example on trying to prevent the worse case scenario even while moving forward and not taking anything for granted. It was a move that was somewhat befuddling and really ticked off both France and I, because it seemed to be a high risk move with very little gain.

Nevertheless I suddenly has enemies in Skag and Denmark and Sweden and North - they pretty much had me by the proverbial short and curlies and demanded that I switch alliances and also disband my fleet. Fleet disband got a lot of talk by professors but felt I had no other options.

At this point some different things were happening diplomatically. Turkey was confusing everyone, no one really understood what was going through his mind, including me. Russia was sweet talking everyone, and everyone seemed to be telling me what Russia was telling them. I pointed out that Russia couldn't be telling us all the truth and that he was lying for no reason and somehow word ot back to Russia and he went a bit crazy on me.

It was one of those moments in diplomacy where real life emotions bleed into the game and I felt Russia was legitimately pissed off at me for telling other people that he was lying to them. My general press style is to continually plant seeds of doubt about everyone else on the board, even my allies, so i was confused as to why he was so angry I was telling other countries he was probably lying to them and telling them what they wanted to hear. In any case, it was later resolved, but it was an odd discordant note in the game. It reminds me a lot of poker in that respect because thnings can go from game-like to personal and actually upset back to game like within the course of a game, no matter with friends or strangers.

Okay, aside over, so basically I get screwed another turn in a row when France picks the one possible course of action that will perfectly counter England and I's actions and he takes back Belgium. And Russia for no apparent reason at all decides to tap Munich, keeping me from getting into Burgundy, ostensibly hurting the alliance I had /just joined/. At this point I am a bit stuck. I feel that logistically I can't stop being allies with England, but we aren't getting along too well presswise, he refuses to leave Denmark leaving it open that he will for sure sttab me as soon as France is taken care of, etc. Russia is seemingly hellbent on switching alliances to whomever is against me at the moment and is sitting in Bohemia and Sweden, etc. So I want to switch back to being allied with France, but I can't figure out how.

The next round is my biggest mistake. I forget what was happening with Russia. But England greatly screws up with his moves and loses Liverpool when he doesn't have to. It provides an opening for me to switch back to being allied with France, getting into Belgium (with my stabbed ally England's help), and turning my focus onto Russia while he focuses on cleaning up england and Italy. In retrospect, I believe I could have pushed through even the terrible loss of Belgium and the loss of Liverpool and been able to take France with England's help (and maybe Russia's depending on how he was feeling that day)

Russia again goes super aggro crazy with me telling me how he will log on every morning and remind France of my open borders, how he will stop at nothing amking sure I am destroyed even if it hurts him, etc. again the push into emotions where it was hard to tell okay, is this an aggressive posture to screw with me or did I legitiamtely tick him off somehow?

Meanwhile I am not in the strongest position to turn on Russia, and I'm aware at this point that I am stuck in between the two superowers and to focus on one will leave me wide open to the stab from the other one.

For awhile the campaign goes well, I get Denmark back, I get a raider behind Russian lines in Livonia. France and I are doing wary planned bounces. Then France stabs me about 1 year before I thought he would (perfect timing by France on this stab) and of course Russia joins the party.

It quickly becomes clear that France is edging closer to a solo run, and I encourage and am encouraged to get a draw together. For some reason Russia and Turkey decide to gamble on a smaller draw, even though doing so allows a French solo attempt which France then, confusingly, doesn't take. I remember one turn where he helped Russia into Berlin instead of taking Munich jhimself I believe, and he never had a chance at Munich after that.

In any case that is about what I can remember with a hasty look over the maps and with the long break. It was a great learning experience. If I has to offer advice to people it would be:

England: Talk more and more openly, I know you think you were giving the pertinent information but it is hard to build an alliance with someone who isn't talking esp in a super long phase game that had hundreds of press messages.

Russia: Don't take stuff so personally! I tried to have a bit of fun with you, and definitely tried to cause all your neighbors to distrust you, but we had a wary relationship and you stabbed me twice (first in Sweden, then in Munich) for little gain, did you expect I would be singing your praises? Maybe I pushed your buttons a bit much, but I really felt you were angry with me as a person and not just in the game a few times, which is never fun.

France: You were the best player in the game for sure. Great work battling back from a really dire position early in the game solely through diplomatic means. I never felt I could trust you /or/ distrust you, so thoroughly did you lay out your positions, and you were a perfect modle of realpolitick, making sure I felt welcome to rejoin with you ater I had just stabbed you. Which I did, helping you into a better position, at which point you prompty stabbed me.

Italy: You were fun to have as a neutral observer, I think it would have been maddening to have you as a good friend or enemy though, especially at the end when you made it clear you hated Russia and wouldn't help with the draw.

Turkey: I'd love to read your press since every single player on the baord told me many times they didn't know what you were thinking and you didn't trust them, nor they you.

Austria: Great fun in the press, sorry things didn't work out, always hard for Germany as well when you go out so early. Nevertheless, you had a strong position early and squandered it a bit I think.

I wanted to add a few things:

First - I can't remember which professor said it I think it was Yonni, but after I moved on my R/A alliance plan and Austria did not come through with the support he promised it made me change course and ally back with Turkey - this quote is exactly what happened to what would have been a very promising R/A alliance.

"The lesson here is trust. Russia was willing to go balls deep into an invasion of Turkey in the spring. You had absolutely nothing to lose at that point, because Italy's units were still getting into position. Serbia did not need to support hold Greece. A support of Russia to bulgaria could have changed the game for you. Instead, you realized too late that Russia was serious"

Now, for 1906 I accidently skipped and it was a fairly pivotal point in my decision making.

If you pick up just after the Fall 1905 paragraph Germany has just stabbed me by allowing my swedish unit to go through to denmark when we were supposed to bounce and both stab England in the fall of 1906. England then was furious. He wanted to go give erist a piece of his mind, but I talked him down from that so that he would not confront him and proposed that a surprise hold of denmark would really be the thing to get under Germanys nerves. Since he has pledged his units to me he enters the hold and Germany goes from delighted in himself to pissed off.

Later on in the fall that year (very long phases) I made a long and detailed to pitch to Germany about how he could end up as a piece of the final draw. He seemed to be at the same understanding that his back was against the wall and this might be his best shot and agreed to make the moves I had proposed, it basically boiled down to me explaining that his best shot was to help me grow quickly, that he could hold off France with my help almost indefinitely and I would leave him alone while i crushed the balkans and turkey. (Again, turkey - I was constantly looking for a way to get a legitimate solo attempt and with France having 4 fleets in the north to my 2, the most likely path was south) But come fall moves he has moved against me and unfortunately in the fall I had thought I had gotten France to agree not to cut north sea but he did it anyways. Of course right after he was done he began discussing how we would eliminate germany and followed through the very next move. So in the very end, the decision to remove him from the draw came down to that stab and the snarky comment afterward.

Now I mentioned in my first few paragraphs that there would be more about the style I played. Like I said I played a very dishonest game. From the beginning I was looking to get on everyones good side and have enough quality information coming in to be able to manipulate the situations to give me the maximum advantage. It was working very well...I was getting along with everyone, well except Italy, and as Germany reported to me a few seasons later that T, F, and E all felt I was the one they could trust most on the board - I'm going from memory and paraphrasing but that gives you an idea the ass kissing i was doing. I found this method to be extrememly effective early, however it fell hollow in the late game. Italy was so pissed off at me he couldn't see straight - I would have bet anything that he threw the game to France, but i think the pause may have saved the solo as he forgot about the game and when we returned we just quickly set up the stalemate. I could not manage to get Germany to bite on any of my proposals for the lack of trust he had in me from the early season stabs, instead he choose to risk it with France and give France the solo shot, so overall I will be attempting to play a much more honest style of diplomacy in the future and I think that will help out my end game.

RE: Erist EOG

I don't remember being angry with you personally. You were definitely maddening at times because you are a very skilled diplomat and seemed you could pull the strings of italy and austria as you wished. Right after you stabbed me again after pretending to take my proposal was when I sent the message about France taking your centers. Basically I was out of normal options and gave chainsaw a try, I reference not trying it in my notes but i think I wrote that pre sending the message you describe. Overall you were a lot of fun to play with and the most chatty of all the other opponents, and I think we could have been a dangerous alliance in another game together.

Ok yeah sorry guys just saw this thread and I don't remember much about the game. Just a few quick points, Germany and France seemed to never want to work with me. And I know that may have something to do with the diffent styles
But even when I was bending over backwards to help Germany I got the feeling that he didn't want to work with me and therefore he only put in halfhearted effort to actually make gains agianst France.
And France never wanted to do anything but lead me on, I sincerely believe that I did not get a single truthful message from him all game.
Russia was my only option to really work with since he was at least receptive to diplomatic relations, we were good allies considering the positions we were in as England and Russia.
I don't really remember my other relations very well but I know that Italy wouldn't even consider helping with France.
Sorry that I sound a little bitter but it wasn't my best game and I tend to focus on the things I did wrong or wasn't successful in to keep myself from making the same mistakes later.

Ok just reread my last post and it looks like I am blaming all my problems on the other people and that's not how I wanted that to come out. Just making it clear i think I played a sub par game and many of my issues were caused by myself.

Didn't take notes; I'm not very good at taking things seriously. But, from sheer memory:

Didn't go in trying to solo, honestly. As many of you have your own playing style, I've my own. This is a game, after all, and one with no particularly rules concerning player/national relations. You don't /have/ to stab, after all, and I choose not to--more often that not.

It's not simply that it's not my style; it's also that, as some of you claim realpolitik, a country wouldn't really attack the ally it fought with for the last several years. Dumb and lame, I know, but *shrug*.

Point being, I spent the first year or two testing out the other players, to see who I'd buddy up with. England seemed like a reasonable fellow, much like myself; France seemed a bit too serious for my tastes--all business, good man in his own way; Germany was silent, the stoic guardian who knows what he's doing (:P); Russia didn't seem particularly cooperative at the start; Turkey, a bit lost. Then there was Austria... beloved, beloved Austria. A good, principled man, he seemed.

So I jumped aboard with him, pretty much sharing everything with him, and deciding our moves together. Things were going reasonably well for us, it seemed... and that convoy we tried to pull would've really been a bonus--and been flashy AF, if it had worked, aha.

Unfortunately, at the beckoning of his TA, and probably some doubt--I'm not too sure anymore--Austria moved against me, and that doomed us both for the rest of that game. After that, I felt a bit resigned, and my moves were really just a delay effort.

I stabbed Austria at the advice of my own TA--stabbing me removes most of the guilt I'd feel from stabbing you--which only really served to screw us both further. Fending off Turkey from Greece that one turn was more luck than anything, and that aimless war was... aimless. Don't at all recall why I pursued it; maybe because I knew well that even if I pulled back, they'd just keep on trucking?

Then France struck, and I was cool with it; something made me turn round, though, and I gave a lackluster effort to shove him back. Maybe it was because Turkey turned out to be pretty cool?

Regardless, things went forward. After I stabbed Austria, I tried to keep him alive--he was pretty cool himself, and there weren't any hard feelings between us (not from my PoV, anyway). Germany and I tried to cooperate somewhat, as we recognized our positions, but it didn't really work out. England gave himself away, much to a lot of people's dismay.

Things kept marching, I switched sides, conflicted with myself as much as everyone else. Russia seemed to lie a lot, and didn't give off a very trustworthy vibe, so I didn't try to cooperate much with him. Turkey seemed nice, but it's difficult to say how much was genuine, and how much was just because he needed me to not have France solo.

I played along, and had almost chosen to give France the game when they wiped out Germany--after all, it was easy to see I'd be next (and I was), plus I liked Germany. Unfortunately, France didn't bite--even after I offered him support into places he needed to go; that was lame too. After France backed out, I didn't want to help him either out of spite (he painted himself a hero, which lead to my later joke).

Kind of a hard place to be, ya know? Stuck between things you don't at all like. I'm not saying I don't like the players, as they're just that--players in a game. Difficult to really gauge.

In the end, France took a joke--it /was/ a joke, I mean, I climbed into a bed of frakking roses, nude, just giving myself to you, bro ;P--the wrong way and gave Russia and Turkey the opportunity to finish me. Even at the end, Russia couldn't seem to quite stand by his words. :P

Neither could Mr. "I have ABSOLUTELY ZERO INTENTION OF ATTACKING YOU." *shrug*

No hard feelings from me, mates. ;P

Apologies for the weak and random post, yo. o/

Great, now a lot fo things just got clearer from my outside perspective. I still would have liked to hear Brian's thoughts about this game, especially what were his motives with the triple stab that killed him finally.

Hey!!! I'm in a game with him ATM! That's an easy question to ask, ain't it?!?

Yes, slyster, it is :)

Easy to ask, more difficult to answer. I'm on a quick break between classes at the moment and have exams and papers to deal with, which is why I haven't posted yet. I promise I will do so, though I don't really have much to add, with my quick exit.

Wow, I did not realize that I was so confusing to everyone else. I guess I should post an EOG so people can see what my intentions were throughout the game.

Spring 01
I send typical friendly press to everyone. I guess I will break down my opening press by country.

With Russia, we opened with talks of a Juggernaut. I proposed that he moves north which probably would have made much sense but as a bit of a noob when it comes to strategy that seemed like how a Juggernaut would work. He didn’t want to bounce in the Black Sea, though after consulting with my TA I said that I needed the bounce, which was a bad sign about his intentions in actually going through with a juggernaut. We talked a lot this phase and a lot of it revolved around how we could get Italy and Austria to fight in order to avoid a Lepanto.

England and I just agreed to keep in touch and share information. Not too much else we could do at this point.

Austria and I discussed working against Italy together. He seemed decently open to the idea and he warned me that Russia was coming for me. We were pretty friendly though personally I was more tempted to go for a Juggernaut so lots of this was me trying to get him to just not Lepanto.

Italy seems friendly in a funny silly sort of way and he straight up tells me he is considering a Lepanto, though he says he is also considering “something that I’ll really like”. I warn him that if he goes for a Lepanto I will be forced to work with Russia hoping that would deter him. He also warned me about Russia though I assumed like Austria he was just trying to drive us apart.

Germany and I really don’t talk that much. He warns me about Russia going south and we say we will keep in touch.

France warns me about a Lepanto but that is all.

As for the actual moves most are pretty standard. The only thing really of note is that it looks pretty clear that a Lepanto is happening.

Autumn 01
I continue to try break up the Lepanto. I think this is when my first problems with Italy started to happen. I found it a bit difficult to communicate with him but whatever, that happens, I just started to feel even more that an alliance couldn’t work between us. And as for Russia we agreed that I should move my fleet to the black sea. The lepanto continued but the main event was Russia’s odd moves. He told me his brother screwed with his moves and that he wasn’t telling anyone else, I believed him.

Spring 02
Austria told me that he was probably going to stab Italy in a couple turns but he couldn’t do anything before that. I figured he was just trying to make me feel safe so a Lepanto could happen easier. I tried to use the French build in Marsailles to scare Italy into stopping the Lepanto. Here the moves started going completely to hell. Russia moved to Armenia, the Lepanto continued, and France moved to Spain showing that he wouldn’t attack Italy.

Autumn 02
So the first thing that happens is Russia comes to me with a very long message. He claims to tell me everything that happened over the past 24 hours and says that Austria betrayed him. He tells me that he will start working with me and that he does not expect me to believe him. I don’t really believe him and I continue to try sucking up to Italy and Austria trying to get one of them to turn. One thing of note is that both Austria and Russia seem to have the same sentiment that I do against Italy being tough to deal with. Russia followed through with what he said and Austria stabbed Italy. This turn was the opposite of the previous turn. I had just gone from sure death to being in a good position to follow through with a juggernaut. What I find interesting, and is probably the biggest flaw with the school of war full press in general is the professor’s reactions. All of them except for Goldfinger I believe were praising me for my diplomatic ability whereas I really had little to do with it. Austria managed to piss off Russia enough for him to come to me and then went and stabbed Italy by himself. I may have influenced a bit, or may have been open enough to alliances that it was possible but I really don’t think I did that much. It was mostly just luck. Austria now realized that he has screwed up and starts talking to me about an alliance. Russia and I plan on using Italy against Austria. Things are looking up.

Ok, I have run out of time so I will continue from here later. I realize this may be very badly edited and at times just be a string of random thoughts but I hope it helps show what my intentions were. I think so far the conclusion may be that I might have been a bit too set on working with Russia at the very beginning.