If the only people who joined Gunboat-629 were people who wanted to play gunboat, would it not in fact be a gunboat? Surely it's only if people choose to speak that it becomes a press game?

Ah... but then a mountain bike is still a mountain bike even if it goes nowhere near a mountain...

Damn it, Ranscott, why must ensnare us with such complex philosophical puzzles?! ghug has enough trouble concentrating as it is!

With the loss of Berlin France hasp no winning chance. It only remains to see if Italy is allowed to live.

"I bet ghug is the third strongest power in a premature 4 way draw" -uclabb, April 28

Got it in one.

Fun game, chaps. When are you doing the next one? :p

You have to promise to play or comment from the start next time, I think.

I would love to play again if Ghug is playing; that was one of the best alliances I have ever had.

That's a shame, would have enjoyed to see this game pushed all the way to its full extent to see what would have happened.

Oh well, good game all.

The game was over, VI.

It wasn't "over" over. Stp was obviously still procurable for France which could changed dynamics considerably depending on how well Russia reacted to that newfound vulnerability. Tunis as well and possibly Berlin.

I admit for good players this likely would head to a stalemate but there was maybe 10-15% chance of doing something better with this and that's what makes end games so interesting and what really separates the good from the great players. Would have been interesting to testing some mettle rather then just accepting an easy outcome.

Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure... than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much, because they live in a gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat.

Berlin wasn't breakable. Munich was ours. Tunis and St.P were both France's, and Kiel if he wanted it. The only thing that could have given France the solo was another unforced error, he elected to keep the Italian alive, and none of the rest of us were removable. It was over. France going for it at all was an attempt to test our mettle, but we passed even in spite of my little mistake.

I quite enjoy the twilight.

VI needs to brush up on stalemate theory before commenting. That is not a 15% win. That is a zero percent barring NMRs.

How do you figure it's 0%? They would definitely take Tunisia and Stp and be able to clear out Baltic and GoB allowing for some more cracks to pick at. Creativity and human bad judgement could even open up Pied for knocking once France got into Tyr Sea and could then tap Tyr and Tus and support himself in after sending a fleet around, and so on. That's not even really factoring in the human and diplomacy element of this game.

I've seen MUCH steeper odds then this still end up in definitive solos. Anybody who allows game theory to dictate their wins and loss chances probably doesn't solo all that often. Probably headed to a stalemate is not a stalemate.

I'm starting to understand why you so often persist in pushing when you're completely stalemated.

A month ago I would have carried on, but at this point, meh. gg.

If there is another peanut gallery game I want in

Love me for who I am Ghug. ;)

I still love you VI

There's no reason not to love someone who doesn't understand stalemate lines. They can be very useful allies.

You should most definitely ally with me, I'm the best friend you'll ever have.

Maybe you just play against shitters who can't defend stalemates for shit.

Looking at your loss record I think you may be taking about yours' ...

Heyyyy, you almost got me sucked into that one! You rascally devil!

your record is outrageous VI, but you have refused to play me to be fair.

Can confirm, vi is a great friend. He's also a very mean enemy and drives hard bargains though.

He's not that good.

*GASP*

Buuuuuuuuuuuurn