what can I say - I SUCK at gunboat... so that's why I'm practicing ;)

this is actually the 2nd livegame in a row that I got England =( and tried going after Russia while obviously hoping for the best from France... unfortunately did not work out too well, so from the get-go I was on the back foot.

I was hoping for a little bit of help from Germany to take StP for the 5th unit, but when that did not seem to be coming, I shifted back and hoped I could defend the island.

I was down to ONE unit for two years in the game I think, but glad I could hold on and take back my whole Island for a spot in the draw.

really - i was more of a side-show while the rest of you played for Europe.

You had a nice recovery though!

Watching you slowly claw back your home centres was a fun distraction from Italy tirelessly throwing himself against me each year in the corner. (To no avail, I might add)

i thought i had a good start, but every time i tried to sneak into germany i had to retreat back out. i guess the only good to come of that was keeping youradhere from sweeping into russia quicker.

i may have gotten a foothold, babak, but you did well keeping me from getting that last center, and then taking it all back.

italy, we were doing so well until spain.

I really would like to know why President Eden thought it a good move to attack me though.

Most frustrating game for me in a long time. All I wanted to do was help T and R teach Italy a lesson. Unfortunately they would rather fight themselves. Good game all.

"Rather fight themselves"

I take a slight umbridge there. I did not attack Russia - he moved in on me, despite having 3 other fronts. I did take up your help but Italy had more units than me at that point and I had to deal with a Russian army in Ankara.

@ sarg: i kept waiting, and waiting, and waiting for you and italy to stop fighting. thanks for forcing ger to draw

Good game everyone,
I decided from the beginning to try and rush England with France, which is why I wasn't going to help you out with St. Petersburg, Babak XD. I built the two fleets in 1902 to try and show my commitment to taking on England. I'm relatively new to gunboat, so I figured that was the best way to communicate it, but it also opened me up to a stab from France.

I've got to ask you though, Trip. Why did you attack me the second time? The last time I could potentially have solod and was going for you anyways, so it made sense, but the second time you didn't exactly get anything out of it, and you could have used the energy to eliminate England.

I probably would have drawn it out longer, but for some reason I decided it'd be a good idea to bounce in Ukraine, opening up Turkey's move. Very cheeky, Sarg.

All in all, good game on everyone's part!

@Sarg: I thought I had an ally in Italy who was going to attack you. I figured I would grab the Black Sea AND Armenia, in which case things would have been much different, but not only did it not work, Italy basically went solo the whole time. Was expecting him to pick up on my signals.

And at the time I had a secure northern front. That didn't last.

@trip: tell me about it! I support held for so many years then I just thought fuck this and started fighting back and actually managed to force him back a bit. Thus, he finally realised. Germany bouncing himself in Ukraine was golden.

@Eden: I can understand that point of view but trying to communicate to Italy that you wanted to work together sounds a harder task than sticking with a friend you had made in 1901-1902. I really was expecting a juggernaut in that game.

@ yah: just a dumb move on my part.

That was the stupidest move. At least now I've had my reminder not to make unnecessary moves.

*That was directed at the selfbounce, not Trip.

Although, I got lucky Trip never picked up on caesar's support into Munich.

If I'd known I wasn't going to get Black Sea I wouldn't have done it. I was 100% certain that you would move out and I'd get a good spot. Obviously in retrospect I wouldn't have done it.

lol, Spring 1911 I flipped a shit that I wasn't in Belgium until I figured out what had happened.

i saw that when i was in burg. did he try to support me to munich from ruhr. if so i did miss that. from burg i figured you'd just bounce me right out...not that my move did any better.

That games totally expresses why I love Turkey. You can just bottle up and sit patiently for your moment.

heh. yeah. it pushed you into gas and really fouled me all up, but i had to get rid of that unit.

Germany can you tell me when I attackde Spain why you didn't move into France?

only if you tell me why you attacked spain in the first place ;)

I want to get spme SCs from you ,you should know if Germany move to you Russia will have chance to live that will be helpful to me.

Two reasons. First, I considered Russia the bigger threat at the time, since he'd had Berlin just the year before and still had an army in Silesia. Second, I didn't think an attack on France would have been succesful. I didn't think that you'd be able to contribute much in the attack on Marseilles since you were tied up in the East, and I didn't think my armies would get very far.

Maybe I was wrong and should have gone for it, but that's the thought process I had going at the time.

that makes sense, caesar (why you moved to spain). i think russia moving back into sil may have saved me from that fate.

yes I think it's beacuse Russia move into Sil. If Germany move into France,My fleet in Try sea will go to there too.

hee hee, causing chaos left and right!

for what it's worth, once I saw draw votes, I immediately stopped attacking anyone voting draw; any further hostile moves were in response, actually, to people voting draw with me and still attacking me ;>_>

so two questions for you more experienced RT gunboaters...

1) in 1901, is it better to attack a neighbor straight away or hold back? your thoughts?
2) in 1901, is it better to use one of your moves to give a support (hold or move) to a neighbor or to wait till 1902 to give such a 'signal'.

also -

3) if you see someone attack a mutual neighbor (or their other neighbor not near you) do you prefer to attack the attacker figuring he's off balance or attack the attacked, figuring you could team up to take them out?

good questions, Babak

Here's my take on them though I'm sure others would disagree.

While there are obvious differences between gunboat and full press games, it is not clear, unless you've played enough games, how these differences will change the underlying dynamics. My experience has been that in gunboat games it is much more difficult to change course once set. Obviously, it is very possible for an individual player to change course- to stab, or shift forces, but the lack of press means that groups of powers have difficulty changing course in a coordinated manner. Practically speaking, this means that a wider view of the game is necessary in regards to how different power relations will play out. This needs to be examined and taken into account of early on as a last minute coordinated course changes are difficult to arrange. Also, since diplomatic relations are more difficult to solidify without press, players are often more reticent about betraying a firm ally.

1) I generally hold back as I know that once I've damaged my relations with a neighbor it is difficult to repair and I like to have an idea what my other neighbors are up to first. In a game where it is difficult to change course, waiting until others have set theirs can be advantageous. Others seem to prefer to open up aggressively against a neighbor (a sort of burn your boats approach) which sends a strong signal to other neighbors to join in. A gamble to be sure, but sometimes it pays off.

2) Better to do this in 01- the earlier you make an overture, the more likely you'll be able to positively influence you neighbor

3) Really depends on the board at this time.

thank you Barn3tt... very useful advice - I think my misconception was that once you go for a kill from the early going, there is a higher liklyhood of a 'bandwagon' effect, but what I found out is that in fact, that's not the case - seems more likely to draw attention to you as a potential target since your rear is exposed.