Aaah. That's a bit too fast for me to be able to keep up with SoW correspondence as well. I'm a teacher during the school year and a stay-at-home dad over the summer...I just don't have time for too many games at that speed. Maybe another time.

sorry, but i understand....another time perhaps

@jmo, I'm ok with that, yes.

I sent you a message about the country assignments. Whoever gets to it first should also pause the game to allow everyone time to talk.

@abge- My advice about professoring is to not worry too much about your impact on the game. 90% of the time, even if you give great advice, the players are going to think "well they aren't reading the press" and do what they want anyway, so our goal is just to give insight into how a more experienced player sees the game. If you find yourself censoring yourself too much to not unduly impact the game, don't.

Once everyone votes to unpause, the game can officially begin. As is customary, I will begin with some open commentary.

This is the School of War. It's a series of games unlike any other, and yet still like every other. It's like other games in that people still get angry, people still make mistakes, NMRs occur and the occasional CD. As a player, you have to remember that your TA is your best asset, not my commentary. Your TA has insights that we simply do not have. We will comment based on what we assume to be true diplomatically, and what is true based on the moves. Focus more on what your TA is discussing with you because you should be sharing your press.

With that said, even the best TA cannot guarantee victory, even with them being masters of their respective countries. There's a different feel when you're receiving press second-hand as opposed to receiving it outright. In addition, when we send messages, we send them intentionally. Words are carefully chosen, and the difference in press styles has an impact on how you are perceived by others. Therefore, while your TA is a great asset, it is still YOUR country to control as the player. You are the final arbiter of moves, messages and all else. The goal is to come away from this with new insights on how to play the game.

Even though this is Diplomacy, and the goal is to come away with a solo, and barring that, a draw, chances are, half of you will not. Eliminations occur in nearly every game. It may be that you think you have the best TA and then get eliminated. Please keep fighting until the bitter end and do not give up.

Last, share a lot between you and your TA, but also keep in mind that there will come a time when you only have a short time left on the clock and you've sent out a message to your TA and may not get a response prior to the end of the season. It happens quite a bit in normal games. There have been times I've been working closely with an ally and there's about 30 minutes left in the season with a build phase coming up and I see or hear something that makes me feel the need to change my orders at the last minute, but such changes will impact my ally. I quickly scramble to send out a message, but with 30-minutes left, there's no guarantee they will get it before the season ends. Do I change my orders? Do I keep them the same? These questions are not easy to answer and it may be that you spend some time and talk to your TA about what to do in these types of situations. Maybe it means you both agree to check within the last hour of the deadline for the Spring and Fall seasons or come up with something else. Having that fall-back can reduce panic.
Next, don't be afraid to take risks. You can't solo without taking a risk. This may come in the form of a stab, choosing to move a unit instead of dedicating it to supporting a hold or vacating a nearby center that could leave you vulnerable for a 1- or 2-center stab by an ally for a season or two. The greater the risk, the greater the reward.

Last, play to the last man. If you give up when you have 2 centers left and 3 guys attacking you, then you've thrown your own game away. The chance to change things costs you nothing. The site is free, games are free, and moving your pieces takes only a click of the mouse. The moment you give up is the moment you have truly lost (that, and when you really are at 0 sc's).

I wish you all the best of luck and would love to hear some stellar EoG's at the end from both TAs and players.

Bump for the star and to have another thread about diplomacy higher up

One quick thing: There are a bunch of great resources out there to read that will make you much better at diplomacy, and they are *not* the zines from the 1980s. I don't know where they are- Tru probably does- but here is one great resource here:

https://sites.google.com/site/diplomacyarchive/home/sample-games

One is a "full disclosure" game between all of the players where at the end of the game all of the press was made available and nicely collected, and the second is a past SoW game. Hopefully someone has time to go find the rest of the SoW games- it's hard to think of a faster way to learn how to play well than reading critically through these games.

This probably isn't all of them, but here are many of the past SoW games:

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That's strange. That's the site I've been working on in my spare time. I thought it was set to private...

Bump for the start and to say... wow! The Full Disclosure Game 1 is 376 pages long! I'll be reading that one for a while...

Ironically, when looking at my games to find a few examples to discuss with my player, I found one in which we played together and I roundly screwed him out of a draw and took the solo through bad play by the 3rd party.

Talk about awkward!

backtracking a bit I'm up for a ta game, whatever phase lengths

There seems to be a greater sense of urgency in this game (as a player) with everyone watching so intently, than in my other games. Still it's fun.

Oh cool I love SoW, I'll follow this.

About Gascony - I find that there are lots of merits to a move there. I prefer to do Brest->MAO, Paris->Gascony, Marseilles->Burgundy, however. It gives you an opportunity to take 3 SCs, defend against Italy, and against England, and keeps Germany out of Burgundy. It's kind of like the French Hedgehog.

Good luck, everyone!

I'll have more to say after we see the first moves, but here are something things to keep in mind as you play:

England:

Don't get too cocky off on that island of yours; you are not nearly as safe as you'd like to think. Also, don't become too obsessed with being a naval power. Remember, the goal is not to survive, it is to win. You can't do that by sailing around the coast; you need to get armies deep into mainland Europe.

France:

France is a powerful country, with both a strong defensive position and an ability to quickly expand. Early game, you'll often be the strongest player on the map, but don't let it get to your head. If you startle the board and enrage all of your neighbors at once, you'll quickly be cut down. Pace yourself.

Germany:

Be wary of your alliances. Your neighbors would love nothing more than to use you to fight proxy wars with each other. Do not become a pawn in their plans. Make alliances that benefit you, remembering that most of your allies are in much better defensive positions than you are.

Russia:

The biggest mistake Russian players make is to overextend in too many directions. That extra build you get barely makes up for the extra fronts you need to defend. Pick a front to be your main campaign and do your best to keep your other neighbors happy. Don't leave yourself too open, no matter how friendly your neighbors may seem.

Austria:

Diplomacy is your best tool. Communicate early and often. With everyone. Remember, you can't please everyone. At some point, you'll need to commit against one of your neighbors. If you don't, people will lose interest in dealing with your flip-flopping and they'll simply converge on you.

Italy:

Italy is a tricky country. Often, you'll find yourself without enemies, but also with no means of expansion. Make sure you plan well beyond your TUN build. The worst thing you can do as Italy is waver back and forth, not committing yourself. You'll quickly find your neighbors getting much larger than you. You may feel safe without a direct enemy, but if you don't get past your TUN build, you'll be easy pickings when your bigger neighbors finally get around to dealing with you.

Turkey:

Turkey is a very safe country to play. Even if all your neighbors gang up on you, you can often stay alive until they start fighting amongst themselves. No matter how bad it looks, never give up and always keep talking (this advice actually applies to everyone). With that being said, although it's hard for you to be eliminated, it can be very hard to expand as well. Turkey makes for a very boring game if you're stuck at 3-4 centers. Don't let your defensive position make you too passive; you need to expand.

Technically, you aren't eliminated until you have 0 units and 0 SCs. Losing your last SC as someone's 18th counts as a survive, not a defeat. :)

I think my record for a solo is from getting knocked down from 8 to three, then back to 18, and a draw from one unit. Never give up! Win if you can, draw if you must, but solo at all costs!

This game is a perfect example of why you shouldn't give up. the czech went from 1 sc to the win in a gunboat game. he had no help.
http://www.webdiplomacy.net/board.php?gameID=34872
it is also a good example of why you should make sure to finish off your enemies.

All that I really want to say as pregame commentary is the following:

Diplomacy is *not* about making and keeping you allies happy. It is about making it easier for people to do what you want and harder for them to do what you don't want. This is very different.

How would someone join a future SoW game?

Advertising starts every so often. When the threads hit the forum, just post your interest. We usually have them every few months.

Ok so there is usually a thread dedicated to promoting it?

Not just usually, always. There were 2 dedicated to this one. They usually take a few weeks to fill. Players fill a bit quicker and whoever is organizing it usually takes preference over more reliable players.

Russia and Turkey need to vote unpause.

it has now been unpaused.

There has been a pause request for 24 hours that I will honor for a late start TA.

I was a bit confused

The game has been unpaused

It's been re-paused?

Tru requested a pause, but maybe the issue has already been settled.

I'm going to leave it paused until he comes back and confirms. Apologies if I've caused a delay.