Hi Yonni,

Great playing with you. I really enjoyed messaging with you. It was very tempting to go along with your plans to eliminate one more power but given that you were already at 12 or whatever with room to grow it was too risky. I do think Russia could have been the one to go and there was that one turn where I was surprised at your decision to save him. But I did like Russia very much too so I was pleased for him that he survived.

I had never played with uclabb before that I can remember outside of a World game and he had the most unique mix of assertiveness, paranoia, sincerity, and friendliness I think I've encountered. I did not think we would get along as he was very demanding and paranoid at first, and that usually leads to a poor ally. But he mixed it with the other traits and I ended up being impressed with his play. One thing I learned from playing with him was that he asks over and over what his neighbors are doing, which makes it really hard to lie to him and stab. And every time I turned on him, he reacted calmly, talked me away, and never sought retribution.

The fact that I can be wishy washy as Italy, paired with the tremendous influence I was under from both Austria and Germany, made for a very interesting game. I'm glad I was of enough value that neither of them ever tried to eliminate me.

Good game to all and it was great fun.

Great game all, and I think my first game with everyone except Mapu (who must, by now, have more games with me than anyone else on this site). I'll post some more thoughts later - the game was fun and it went really well for quite a while, but as soon as 1904 hit, I got a bad feeling. Sure enough, both Germany (Yonni) and Austria (uclabb) has anticipated I was going to stab them, and moved appropriately. I wonder what I could have done to keep one of them with me for longer.

I'll perhaps post more detailed thoughts later, but to start:

First of all, I really appreciate that you all were willing to restart after my sitter NMRed the first move of the game. That was really classy and told me that this was going to be a good game. I enjoyed playing with all of you, especially the three powers who survived since I talked to them more. You all were just so easy to talk to.

One thing that was weird about this game is that I always, the whole game, had the vibe that Italy (Mapu) was eventually going to attack me. I'm not sure why, and there is always a certain self-fulfilling prophecy to these kinds of feelings, but that was definitely the case. Luckily, Russia (Stack) proved to be a great ally at the start of the game, which really helped me get some momentum. I ended up stabbing him due not to me sensing an impending stab from him (although Stack's bried EOG suggests that maybe it was coming), but because I didn't want him to be in position to help Italy if and when Italy attacked me. Italy did in fact attack me that turn, but it was no big deal since I had everything covered (although I didn't end up covering everything because I NMR'ed... whoops!) and he pulled back. He then attacked me again and maybe again after that, I don't remember for sure, but anyway, he and I threw away 2 or 3 years with that seesaw motion. At this point, Germany (Yonni) was getting far ahead and close to being ready to make a solo try, so I figured my only hope for a solo was to convince him to let me catch up and set up a race between us two. I don't think I did a good job conveying what this would mean, as Germany ended up saying that I was demanding more and more when I thought it was pretty clear from the beginning that I didn't want to race if it wasn't a fair fight. Anyway, I failed on that front, and Germany went for the solo, which was pretty easy to stop and then we were done. There was a little talk to take out Russia but I don't think anyone really wanted to because he was a fun guy to play with.

FTR, my hope in 1904 was that I could successfully stab Yonni (Germany) and keep working with uclabb (Austria) for a while longer, not stabbing, at least, not until after I had 12 centers and had maybe lucked into a strong position that could lead to a solo. That's a possible stab that may have never happened, because I may have never gotten in a position where it would have been worth it. I could have gone the other way and pursued and the same strategy with Germany, in which case I wouldn't have made the obviously false promise of a DMZ in Swe-Nwy in F03, and proposed something more feasible instead. But I thought I had an easier chance of growing faster with Austria on my side, and I was (mistakenly) less worried about Austria stabbing me.

I think I did a bad job of trying to repair my alliance with uclabb after his initial stab, which, to be sure, only got him Rumania and I had already agreed to swap that over anyway. I really wasn't sure how to do it, since all game I'd had a great relationship with both Germany and Austria, and then unexpectedly lost both of them in the same turn (Italy became less helpful right around the same time after S04, too, but maybe that's in my imagination). But I'm glad they all liked me enough not to go out of their way to push me out of the draw!

Haha. What an agreeable bunch of diplomacy players. Now, if only the Gunboaters learnt to get along as well.

bump for Yonni

I find the contrast between this and Game 6 to be incredibly amusing. Good game, guys!

Well, you could say that some of the people in the other game are, hmm, a little abrasive?

I started writing an EOG but got bored. Here's the first handful of years:

Alright, I’m not great at EOG’s but I’m going to give it a shot here.
1901:
Things went well before the restart and France was only a little more active so I was hoping we could get off to a similar start to last time. Things start off great with Austria. We talk openly and frankly and, when I ask him that we don’t encourage Russia to move North, he agrees to suggest a bounce in Galicia. As Germany, I’m always happy to see such a friendly and active Austria. Russia also has some friendly opening press and confirms that he’s OK not opening North. England and I exchange only a bit of press but I’m comfortable that we’re going to go after the fairly mute France player again. France says he wants a bounce in Burgundy which I’m fine with just in case things go sour with England or Russia.
The moves are pretty much on key. Nothing all that surprising and we’re off to dismantle France…
Now, I’d love to see the press between uclabb and Mapu because Italy is already sending me press about his concerns with Austria. He says that Austria seems too paranoid and that “I don't like playing next to, or allying with, overly paranoid players.” This starts early and seems to be an ongoing theme for them all game. Anyhow, moving against France is pretty straightforward except that England asks for support to convoy to Belgium and forgo Norway. I’m not sure how sound the tactics are behind that but, hey, I stink at gunboat so I see no reason to argue.
1902:
I tell France that I thought we were still bouncing in Burgundy and he seems to believe it. Doesn’t really matter much anyways as he’s soon going to be eliminated. Would prefer to come out in better shape than England though. Italy moves his fleet to Tunis and I’m suddenly excited that we might be able to get him to join the West. Austria says he was surprised by the move but I don’t think he could be too upset about it. We begin to talk more about long term plans. We’ve both gotten along well with Russia and we’re discussing how to mitigate the risk of Russia growing too big in the future and becoming a hazard in the long term. I don’t want to risk losing Russia for the battle against England so I say that I don’t want to make any moves too soon and that we should both keep on path with him.
Russia and I discuss England a bit and we seem to be on the same page. No need to provoke and all out attack but once he’s conceded Norway, no reason to let him have it.
So, the Spring goes pretty much as planned. France still seems surprisingly friendly and we discuss how to stab England. No idea why he’s giving me such an easy go of it but I can’t complain. Italy continue West which is awesome and Russia bounces in Norway. Things are starting to get set up so nicely for a stab of England that I float the idea to Russia who seems on board. Norway is guaranteed to be his next year and Belgium can be mine now. At the same time, we discuss the possibility of stabbing Austria. I know I’m going to need Austria and Russia fighting somehow. Perhaps there’s a way to leverage Italy’s disdain of Austria to get the three of them entangled so I can keep growing unchecked.
1903:
Well, France is still friendly enough that I’m able to talk to him about giving him support to Brest and using him as a pawn which he seems more than happy to do. Meanwhile, Russia and I are completely in line with talks about attacking England – and then the kicker – England doesn’t seem to be upset by move to Belgium and suggests that I build a fleet in Kiel to stab Russia with. We play it off as miscommunication but I’m not sure how. That just makes things way, way too easy to go after England so I’m now completely comfortable and happy as a pig in shit.
~~~I now realize that writing EOGs is less fun than reading them. Kudos to Tasnica, THM, and the like for writing such great ones~~~
1903 ends with me in Wales but no builds. I’m probably at my most precarious now. If Austria and Russia are in kahoots then I could be completely fucked. Even after Russia agrees to not build in Warsaw, I’m still nervous.
1904:
Press picks up a little as its obvious that the alliances are about to shift. Italy really wants the three of us to attack Russia and I just really want Russia to have a target other than me. As Italy and Russia seem to be friendly I try to get Italy to turn up the heat on getting Russia to move on Austria but it didn’t seem like much came of it.
Russia starts talking about demilitarizing our borders in the most dangerous ways possible. Considering that I’m probably the path of least resistance, I’m willing to bet that he’s going to stab me. Austria, meanwhile, is all for attacking Russia so I commit to with him. My moves are pretty safe anyways so, if Austria doesn’t attack Russia, I can always back out.
With Austria making a decent first move on Russia, I won’t really need him long term so I’m completely comfortable with Italy moving on him and stunting his partnership with me. Italy seems on board too so we’ve got Austria stabbing Russia and Italy stabbing Austria. I’m giddy but evidently don’t know too much of what to do with it.
After the mutual stab between Russia and I in the Spring, he comes away quite apologetic. Superficially, it looks more like I defended a stab than tried one myself so we keep things friendly… And now Italy’s flip flopping starts. He’s convinced by Austria to back off so he says he’s going to try head against Turkey with him. I’m fine with it because it gets his fleets further East but kind of disappointed that Austria wasn’t weakened. The Fall is pretty straightforward and Russia agrees to destroy the Baltic.

Yeesh. A few extra line spaces would've helped things there...

Alright, 1905:

So, apparently because of Austria’s NMR, Italy wants to hit him hard again. Aargh. Why couldn’t he have just followed through the first time? Well I build a fleet and continue my attack on Russia – now with England’s help.

Russia and I, however, had been doing a great job communicating through our battle and I’m getting comfortable with the idea of him trusting me again. He talks about being angrier with Austria than me and wanting revenge. Stackelberg’s diplomacy was really strong but his press this year was really exemplary and I credit him a lot for not making my solo big more competitive. During 1905, he has me pretty much convinced to that he’s willing to push the solo to the limit and give me a chance. His situation is petty fragile so I can rationalize it in my head but, truthfully, his situation was nearly dire enough that I should have bought the ‘kamikaze’ speech.

So, I approach Italy with the idea of attacking Austria with Russia but he balks at the idea. Instead of going in with just Russia and risk having Italy attack me, I decide to keep with my original plan and support Austria to Warsaw. Austria is now bringing up the idea of letting him catch up in centres and then race for the solo. It’s not a terrible idea so I definitely do entertain it for bit.

At any rate, I nab Edi and let England die so he can’t retaliate. Austria gets Warsaw. Italy does whatever the fuck it is that Italy does and I’m not too upset.

1906:

Austria starts pressuring me to load up on fleets. It seems clear to me that he’s trying to build a narrative for Italy and I to fight which I have no interest in. Furthermore, if we are going to be in a position to race- armies are going to make all the difference. I shrug it off and build two armies instead.

Italy and I had been discussing who to eliminate for a 3WD. I was suggesting Austria because how the hell is Italy going to attack Russia but he seems to not want to risk it until he sends me a message that says “WTF. You were right and I was wrong about who to eliminate. I admit it…” and then goes on to rant a bit about Austria.

That seals it for me. I figured I had two ways to try solo:

1) Go with Austria’s plan and hope I can somehow come out on top. It’s not the craziest idea to gun for a 2-player ending and fighting it out for the solo but I don’t have enough confidence in my tactics to really do it successfully.
2) Try blitz for the solo and hope relationships between the 3 remaining powers are so mangled that they don’t get their act together quickly enough to stop me.

Considering Russia’s apparent willingness to help me and kill Austria and Italy’s (fickle) hatred of his neighbour, I guessed the latter was my better chance.

I stab Austria and move south.

Fall 1906 onwards –

It becomes quickly apparent that I underestimated the play of Italy and Russia. I try to no avail to get Italy to push further into Turkey and/or Austria and, instead, he shores up our stalemate line. Russia quickly makes nice Austria and turns to stop me too.

I spend a season or so crying to Russia and Italy about how much of a dick Austria had been to me and how badly I want revenge. I swear to pull everything back just so we can get a 3WD. Russia seems somewhat receptive to it but Italy doesn’t go for it at all. Eventually, he calls me out on it by relaying some of the friendly press I sent to uclabb blabbering about how much I enjoyed playing with him. At any rate, we end with a rather quick 4WD.

I’m a little mixed about how I feel about the results of the game. I’m really happy with the process to get me to the end game but I completely misplayed my hand and gave up any shot of a solo. Perhaps I should have grown slower or perhaps I should have tried crossing the lines earlier. Or maybe even just never stabbed uclabb. Oh well, always learning.

Stackelberg, I’ve already gushed over your diplomacy skills and I can tell you that the other powers talked about it too during the game. I’m really looking forward to playing another one with you.

Mapu, we got along great. Your fickleness was a little frustrating and I never could get a good feel for you.

uclabb, always a pleasure. It was pretty obvious, right off the bat, that we were going to be working together quite closely all game. If I remember correctly from our last game, we spent a lot of time arguing but ended up working quite well together then too. I’m was nervous of giving you any room for a solo and, seeing who it was, I was justified in my fears.

Rishard, good start to the game for us but circumstance didn’t let it keep working. No hard feelings about the stab I hope. GG.

L1star, shame you weren’t more active. Good luck next one.

Podium, we didn’t get to chat much but when we did it was pretty pleasant. Hopefully we get to work more closely in the next one.

Woo, I'm glad everyone liked me this game. If only that had gotten me more!

Also, Yonni: lol @ this: "Russia starts talking about demilitarizing our borders in the most dangerous ways possible. Considering that I’m probably the path of least resistance, I’m willing to bet that he’s going to stab me. "

I'm sure it was my idea, and I'm sure I suggested it for precisely this reason, and I would identify this as (probably) my second biggest mistake all game, since it was obviously a transparent ploy to stab you (my biggest mistake being not sending uclabb any press at all for like 36 hours after he took rumania from me in S04 - that was from indecision, though, not bad but "decisive" diplomacy like this).

I do wonder how the game would have folded if I had decided to stab Austria instead of you, and proposed a more sensible DMZ. Or even if I had just gone along with my plan as it occurred but proposed a more sensible DMZ.

I'm not sure. Austria and I had been discussing a stab of you for a while. It probably would've come eventually anyways. Your stab, if anything, just nicely offset it. But who knows. EOGs are largely revisionist.

It's games like these that I always wish in played non-anon. It gets rid of te silly pretense and lets me get to know everyone better.

So I was reading back through my press around 1904 (when I stabbed Russia) and this is what happened: Italy was weirdly insistent that turn on building a fleet in Naples instead of Rome and all of a sudden wanted to get a Lepanto action going when Turkey was already taken care of. That made me think that he either was at the very least wary of me and possibly going to attack me. Further, it seemed clear that Russia was going to stab Germany that turn, so Germany would be at least a little occupied. The problem was that Germany and I had been talking for a while about moving on Russia, and Germany was ready to go. Further, Russia wanted me to wait until fall to pick up Rumania. That was kind of a big deal in my mind (probably more than it should be) because once I actually moved on Italy, I would lose all of my negotiating power with Russia and so he could have easily decided he didn't want me to have it any more and I would have been very vulnerable. So I ended up making the safe move and taking Rumania and Galicia. I had thought that I could talk my way out of it since I was supposed to have Rumania anyway, but Russia went quiet on me for a long time and then disbanded his fleet in Baltic Sea which really removed that possibility.