England and Germany were intent on eliminating Russia? That's news to me - it's extremely risky and a German fleet in St. Pete wasn't going to help take Russia's SCs. England & Germany were only going to take those SCs from Russia (at worst case, maybe Warsaw as well, but that's worst case) and eliminate France - than England would of backstabbed Germany to get a huge 3 way draw out of the game. And yes, England did in fact have these plans.jmo1121109 wrote: ↑Wed May 08, 2019 6:01 pmSee I don't really agree with this entirely. You're right that the press changes many things but it does not change base tactics. And the moves by E and G tactically were unmistakable for people considering eliminating Russia from the match. That is universally responded too with throwing the game. Autumn, 1907 was the big mistake in my mind. Tactically alone, Russia *NEEDED* 4 armies including an army in Galicia to stop the Italian solo. Germany's move on Warsaw was going to prevent that setup from being possible timing wise even if Balki hadn't thrown. They compromised the solo stop with that attack. So it went from being a sound plan to a terrible one with that purely tactical mess up.Octavious wrote: ↑Wed May 08, 2019 5:07 pmCommenting on games you weren't involved in is never easy as so much happens that you aren't privy to. If I was Balki I'd have no regrets at all about sticking it to England and Germany. Where I would be critical of myself is in the failure to establish believability prior to informing EG of the consequences of their aggression. Sometimes you can walk away confident that you did everything you could and it's just one of those things, and other times you are left with little irritations over opportunities missed and conversations that were mishandled.
I'm curious if Balki would have done anything differently given the chance?
This tournament in particular seems to have a lot of people not believing that someone will be willing to throw when screwed over so to see people continuing to make that mistake is baffling.
Balki, you probably could of made yourself a little more believable if you had told Germany & England that you didn't need this game to advance. This certainly would of increased your odds of keeping your SCs and drawing. But, hindsight is 20/20, and I probably wouldn't of even thought of mentioning that.