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Austria Bot Game Review
Posted: Mon Oct 17, 2022 8:47 pm
by DarthPorg36
Hey, I was wondering if anyone would like to give me some tips on my game I just completed for my attempt to win against bots as every nation. I won nicely, although I did have to cancel games and restart a few times. What can I improve on? What did I do well? If anyone has tips, tricks, constructive criticism, that'd be great
https://webdiplomacy.net/board.php?gameID=450778
Re: Austria Bot Game Review
Posted: Tue Oct 18, 2022 4:48 am
by DougJoe
It's kind of hard (at least in my opinion) to critique because you got the best result possible. It might be easier to discuss if things hadn't gone so well. I can only make observations about what I might have done differently, but I can't say what you did was better or worse, because, well, you won. Was there a particular aspect of the game that you think didn't go well?
Re: Austria Bot Game Review
Posted: Tue Oct 18, 2022 11:04 pm
by DarthPorg36
that's fair. I think my main concern is timing. When is a good time to strike when? I thought Germany was going to get aggressive with me and moved armies up, but then backed down when it turned out they hadn't. Should've I pressed sooner? Should I have stabbed Italy earlier/later. Mainly timing issues, sometimes I worry I miss opportunities I don't see. Maybe I did it right this game, but another set of eyes is always useful.
Re: Austria Bot Game Review
Posted: Wed Oct 19, 2022 2:47 am
by DougJoe
Ok, I'll give it a try...
1901 - You have a pretty optimal setup for Austria here, where Italy looks like he's going to do a Lepanto and Turkey's moving on Russia. I assume that's what the cancels were about, getting at least the "Italy didn't attack" part of this setup. It looks pretty standard for that. The E/F/G situation is interesting.
1902 - I think that the support of Nap-ION was probably unnecessary, but it doesn't hurt. I would probably have taken a shot at Bul in the spring. Had you done so, though, the turkish army would have been destroyed and not been able to go to Rum in the fall, and I'm not sure if that's a good or a bad thing. You might have had enough force on Rum to get in then, I dunno.
1903 - I probably would not have been too worried about the move to Silesia, only because it wasn't coupled with a move to Tyrolia, and Germany attacking Austria that early (while he's dealing with F and E) was probably unlikely. Also, since Turkey moved defensively against Italy, you were going to get a build that you could always use for defense. Maybe better safe than sorry, but both you and Germany lost time by having to turn around (you in F03, him in S04).
1904 - You moved into Con, nothing wrong with that.
1905 - Ok, I get what you were trying to do with the convoy here, but I think you might have been overthinking it. I would probably have played more conservatively here, maybe support holding Con. You also setup for the stab of Italy. Is it the right time to stab Italy? I can't say for sure it wasn't. Not sure what would have happened if you had waited, given the French fleet situation... but that lone Turkish fleet might end up being annoying, maybe it would have been better to wait until that unit was gone? I don't know.
1906 - In the Spring, given the Turkish fleet, I would have been hard pressed to not play Rum S Ukr-Sev. But again, that's just me. You get Mos/Sev/Smy but lose Bul... in general I try to keep enemy units from getting behind me if possible. There's all sorts of little places you might be vulnerable...
1907 - You get the rest of Italy, and get rid of the Turk, with guesswork in War/Sev. The Italian units in Turkey might be a nuisance, but at least he can't build.
1908 - The spring moves... I would have probably played something different. Again, as I said before, it all turns out okay in the end, but, wasn't Germany getting into Gal annoying? Or did you have that all planned out? Same with France and the Ionian. Hindsight is 20/20 of course, but I might have just support held ION with Gre, tried for Con from Bul instead of Ank (not that it would have mattered). Against Germany I might have played Vie S Boh (although maybe I would have realized that Mun would probably be used against France, maybe I wouldn't have thought that), Bud S Gal, Gal & Ukr S Liv - War, Sev-Mos. It's hard for me to envision the board and whether or not that would have been better for the fall. In the fall you do finish off Italy and get both War and Mos, so, again, how can I criticize? I think it would be nicer if those German units weren't sitting there in the middle of your position ready to cause trouble, but, here we are.
1909 - You get the German units out of the position and take centers so you don't lose units due to Naples. Germany playing Sev S Gal-Rum (instead of his Gal S Sev-Rum) in the spring might have been more annoying for you, maybe not.
1910 - The wrap up. Germany doesn't even try to stop you in StP/Fin/Nwy and you have enough units to push France around in Italy (and Tunis). In the end, neither Germany nor France could commit enough units against you to stop you because they were so committed against each other and you were able to take advantage... in my 10 Austrian wins I've never gotten past St.P, it's either Mar/Iberia or German centers.
Re: Austria Bot Game Review
Posted: Wed Oct 19, 2022 10:30 pm
by Trigfea63
I largely agree with Doug's comments. The main thing I would have done differently is in 1903. I would not have been worried about Germany moving to Silesia. That was an anti-Russian move, not anti-Austrian. And it slowed you down a little to move to Bohemia, then back. In 1906, I kind of like what you did. (I'm a little more willing than Doug to get into unusual board positions, I think.) I agree, you generally don't want enemy units knocking around behind your line, but in this case it was a fleet in the Black Sea. As long as you kept it out of CON, it didn't really have anywhere to go that could hurt you too much.
Re: Austria Bot Game Review
Posted: Thu Oct 20, 2022 3:18 am
by DougJoe
Trigfea63 wrote: ↑Wed Oct 19, 2022 10:30 pm
I largely agree with Doug's comments. The main thing I would have done differently is in 1903. I would not have been worried about Germany moving to Silesia. That was an anti-Russian move, not anti-Austrian. And it slowed you down a little to move to Bohemia, then back. In 1906, I kind of like what you did. (I'm a little more willing than Doug to get into unusual board positions, I think.) I agree, you generally don't want enemy units knocking around behind your line, but in this case it was a fleet in the Black Sea. As long as you kept it out of CON, it didn't really have anywhere to go that could hurt you too much.
That's a good point about the Turkish fleet, the scope of damage it could do was limited. I didn't consider that during my analysis.
I think that, yes, I do try to avoid crazy board positions, although they sometimes happen whether I like it or not... and every now and then I do get the urge to do something a little different.
There are occasions where I feel like I have such a good read on the bots that I can be much more aggressive, but in general I like to avoid getting into prolonged guessing games. I think?
Re: Austria Bot Game Review
Posted: Fri Jul 12, 2024 5:44 am
by Bladerunners
Playing Austria tricky as the bots developers did fantastic job of creating the programming but weren't actually that knowledgeable about Diplomacy itself - or understanding of real life in person or online press or gunboat games. .... as they programmed Italy to strangely attack austria in 80-90% of games (which is incredibly rare in ANY Form of diplomacy)