Good idea, also grabbing a star.

Bumping

Bump, next phase...

bump.

bump, game processed

I will comment on that last turn tomorrow morning.

Which time period? :)

I imagine the time he gets on to respond will be the time he actually posts his analysis. I'll be sleeping by that point most likely. Unless he does it within the next hour.

i know, i mean in which timezone he is, weird autocorrect...
because it's almost 7 o clock in the evening overhere and i expect it any moment for some reason, so next time it would be better to say asap or in X hours or just say nothing because now i can't think proper until i know what time's morning for jmo... :)


also, note the smiley at the end of both posts

Okay, sorry for the late post, had more stuff going on then expected.

Italy- While you are still in decent position your moves that turn are going to hurt you some. Mainly the move to the Gulf of Lyoh. While it wasn't a bad move, failing to bounce France out of the Western Med and letting him take North Africa puts you in a bad position to hold onto Tunis. You have a build coming, but keep in mind that France's build is almost assuredly going to be a fleet or an army in Marseilles, that along with Germany's move to Munich and Russia's poor moves mean that you are going to be in trouble within a few years as the triple starts to make more progress. Your best bet right now is to make sure you and Turkey are on the same page and to keep trying to drive a wedge into that triple.

Austria- It appears you were not able to convince your neighbors that you were essential to hold the line against the triple, which will almost certainly end with a defeat now. I do hope you stick around to read the commentary and make your EOG statements for the end of this game.

France- Everything just sort of worked out for you that turn. Somehow you managed to convince England to concede Belgium to your cause, Italy didn't bounce you in the Western Med, and both Germany and England are showing no signs of aggression towards you. You should be able to take Tunis this next year which will be a huge gain for you should you manage to build it. Before that though you have a tough choice. Do you make an army or a fleet in Mar. I expect to see the fleet build, but either is a possibility. It really should depend on Germany's willingness to use that Munich army to assist you and how any negotiations go with Turkey. The only thing I don't like about your moves is the army move from Marseilles to Spain. I'm personally not a fan of convoys into Tunis because it really limits support options on the Sea's. What I mean by this is that by taking Tunis with a fleet you have a unit that can affect the Tyrr and Ionian Sea's, this isn't the case with an army. Additionally, had that army moved to Piedmont you would have the best position on the board right now. That said, I still expect to some intermittent gains in the next few years which way more then you had going for you last turn.

England- First off, nice job taking StP, though I feel it was more through a bad move by Russia then good diplomacy on your part, it's still a crucial gain either way. Moscow is an auto gain assuming you and Germany continue working together. That said, I do not think that giving up Belgium was a wise idea. You had 2 build coming that would have made you the dominate player on the board. A supported move into Denmark would have given you 3 builds and Germany and France would have both been out of position and you would have had a decent solo opportunity. Chances like that usually don't come more then once a game so just keep an eye out for them in the future. As long as the triple holds together you shouldn't have a problem making it too the end game now though.

Germany- I'm not really impressed or unimpressed with your moves or position right now. You're a bit open on your western border, but England and France seem committed to the triple. You're in a position to help France out with Italy and you and England should be able to make a lot of progress in the north this next year so everything seems to be moving smoothly along. You're future in the game is going to become apparent in the next year. The only problem you have right now is the glaring lack of a build this turn, you should be able to make up for it next year though.

Turkey- Well you tried to work with Russia, which I feel was the right choice in your situation, however, Russia's poor moves are going to hurt your position a lot. You have the most choices right now, and your moves are going to determine your neighbors fate in this game. England and Germany are going to take Moscow and probably Warsaw, your main job is to make sure they won't be able to take Sevastopol as well. France is going to be asking for you help with Italy, so you are going to have to make a choice there. Really make sure you consider every option, this is a turn where looking ahead and picturing what everyone else is going to doing in the next year is critical. If you can't do this yet ask your TA for help with it! Despite your options and decent position Russia's failure to defend StP means that eventually you are going to have to find a way to make a stalemate line or to disrupt the triple if you want to survive this game.

Russia- I will address this right now. You are making bad moves, several turns in a row now. So you are either not talking to your TA about what you are planning, you are talking to your TA but you are ignoring his advice, or your TA is giving you bad advice. Those are the only 3 options possible and I believe it to be one of the first two. I cannot stress enough that signing up for one of these games and then failing to take advantage of your TA is a waste of everyone's time. That said here are my thoughts on your moves this turn. You should have 5 centers right now. Finland should have moved to StP South Coast and you would be in a much better position. The move to Sweden doesn't make any sense unless Germany convinced you that he would support into Sweden. Right now you NEED to talk to your TA and confirm your moves with him before the turn goes through. Your disband this turn is going to affect everyone else and there is only 1 unit you can disband without helping the western triple.

Some things for everyone to consider. If you are Italy, Turkey, or Russia you need to know what the stalemate lines are and how to defend them. A quick google search or asking you TA should answer this. The same goes for France, England and Germany, figure out which zones you need to get across to make sure the east cannot stalemate you.

England, Germany, and Russia. The three of you are going to be playing a guessing game this next year in Warsaw and Moscow. Russia can defend either center from being take this next turn, but not both. There are so many factors you should consider in this "50/50" situation that I won't even bother trying to list them. Winning the little guessing games like this will often be the difference between a survival and a defeat, or a draw and a win. If you remind me once the game is over I will give you some advice about winning these, but I feel doing so now would unfairly influence the game.

just to clarify before i break the rules again: once i'm completely dead, could i ask questions here, right?
also, last contact with my TA was 2 phases ago i think, i forgot to contact him because i knew what to do already and he didn't contact me either, don't know who's wrong here if anyone is but just so you know...

Not going to comment on the game, but it is the responsibility of the players to reach out to their TA's. We are advisers - if we contact players directly making suggestions, we might as well play the game ourselves.

Steephie, if you ask questions here, you risk influencing the game, and make the job of the professors more challenging. Keep a file with your EOG notes, and add your questions - they will all be answered once the game is complete

Quick notes:

England: Perhaps now you see why you should have convoyed from Edinburgh and stayed in Belgium last spring. It seems very likely that you had no diplomatic choice not to give France Belgium, and that's a bummer. Like jmo said, you had a chance to be an absolutely dominant player on the board, and now you are only good.

Russia: As jmo said, you had to had to cover St. Petersburg. I don't care what Germany said. The trick to defense in diplomacy isn't always counterattack or even making the best tactical move. It is to make attacking you seem like a pain in the butt. Had you kept England out of St. Petersburg you could have kept him out of Russia for a good length of time, likely long enough to get him to start looking toward those juicy Germany centers.

Germany: The trick here is to realize that you are probably going to be the one swallowed up if the triple collapses, and why is that? Because you have no real ability to move on either of the other two and have questionable defense. You desperately need a build so that you can solidify your "backside", and should be in both England and France's ear about moving on the other.

France: You lucked out that Italy didn't bounce you out of Western Med or else it would have been a near disaster turn. Like jmo said, I don't see why you wouldn't move your army in Marseilles somewhere useful, preferably Piedmont but at least Burgundy. All it can do in Spain is cover a potential retreat, which Gascony could do just as well. Think about how much better your position would be if you were in Piedmont right now. Italy would be collapsing. Or Burgundy. All of a sudden a stab of Germany would be viable.

Austria: You made perfectly fine moves. I think you were in trouble last turn no matter what you said.

Turkey: I think that moving out of Rumania was the right thing to do (especially if Russia had kept England out of St. Petes...), but I think it is worth keeping in mind the difference between making a strategic move and an "alliance-forming" move. I would think that you mainly let Russia keep Rumania so that he could fight better in the north, not so that he could play until the end with you. And if it was just a timing move, you should have supported yourself to Armenia. Now Sevastopol is slightly in question if you do decide to go that direction.

Italy: Not bouncing France was a huge mistake. Look at what the board would have looked like had you done that: France would have an army in Marseilles and only one fleet near Tunis. France would have to make a northern build, and all of a sudden staying north seems like it might be the right thing for France to do. I even would have moved Tyrolia to Piedmont last turn to try to get that bounce and thus that result. Now, you need to be in France's head about how scared you are of Turkey and would move on him if France backed off, and similarly be in Turkey's head about how you two need to band together to stop the triple, and in Germany and England's head about moving on France. Basically what I'm trying to say is you need to talk talk talk.

Bump, builds went through.

bump

Terribly sorry to put this here, but I couldn't find the organizational forum. I rather overestimated the amount of time I'd have once school restarted for me, and underestimated the work involved. Therefore, since I can't really devote the time this game deserves, I think it's only fair that I be replaced with someone on the waitlist. Now, this looks rather bad given my position, but I really have the utmost optimism that whoever replaces me, with the help of my wonderful TA, should be able to hold a good position. I'd be happy to brief whomever is chosen with my thoughts. Thank you for your patience, and hopefully for your help.

just entering moves would be less time-devoting then finding a replacement i guess...
you don't have many choices now...

Bump

Chickenhawk; finding a replacement will be extremely challenging, and will require mod intervetion to bump you out of the game. I suggest you search for a sitter. I will post a *sitter* request for you in the main thread, but I'm not going to ask someone to take your slot

bump - down to the last thread one page 1. This shall not stand!

Sorry guys I can't get something written up till tomorrow.

Sorry that I am a little slow this turn too... A little overwhelmed in RL right now.

you guys should plan your RL interventions better :) (obviously it's just bump...)

I used to have a social life like you...

And then I started playing Diplomacy.

I know during my game, I didn't have the opportunity to comment on questions from the field, so here's one for you guys. I've been following the game loosely for a little bit and my question to the profs is this:

Who is currently in the best position on the map, and why?
Among those in the "driver's seat", who do you feel is in the worst spot on the map, and why? (essentially barring Austria and Russia).

Bump

Bump

And by the way, it looks the Russia might NMR.

It's unfortunate. As Russia's TA I have offered to sit for him, but so far like much of the rest of my offers of advice and training, that offer has been neglected.