I don't have any disagreement with the opinions stated, so no need for rebuttal. I do have some thoughts, if I can remember them.
First, hat tip to my former teammate Mujus, who was the original Italy and played the first seventy-odd years of the game. That already exceeded the previous record for longest game. Mujus committed 3+ years of real life to the game, and simply reached the point of exhaustion (indeed, he no longer is active here). He brought Italy back from one SC to a viable position for me to take over. At that point, California already had used two subs and the TD was AWOL. As noted on the podcast, the remaining players were agreeable to Mujus (semi-anon, but by then everyone knew he was Italy) being replaced by an unspecified teammate rather than picking up a stranger off the street and throwing him into this historic game.
I agree the chief contributors to the extraordinary length of the game were (1) the fact that it was the last WC game and tournament-determinative; (2) the remarkable resolve of the players to commit to their individual win situation as the only acceptable outcome; (3) the variety and inconsistency of the players' individual win situations; and (4) the public press nature.
My team California had the tournament lead with only the PP game to go. As long as JECE/Russia/Iberia did not solo, we were going to win the tournament (JECE said on the podcast that he also needed Italy eliminated, which I had not figured out). While I was playing, I thought a solo by goldfinger0303/Russia/Mid-Atlantic also might win the tournament for his team. I thought a solo by Leif Syverson/Germany/Texas was a "safe" result that would still result in a California tournament win, but I wasn't actually sure which team was playing Germany. That was more inference from the in-game chatter by the other players. Because of all that, my main goal (and Mujus' before me) was to have the game end in a draw. If it had to be a solo, it needed to be a German solo. The interesting wrinkle was that Italy did not have to survive. Therefore, a RGA 3wd was an acceptable outcome for me. It was unusual trying to play for a result that did not have to include my survival.
When I joined in the 1970s, I identified JECE/Russia as my nemesis. He was the holdout on prior draws because he would only accept a Russian solo outcome. Therefore, my main strategy was to undermine Russia both in terms of board position and socially on the global press. If Russia were eliminated, I thought the game would end as a GAI draw. Once there were only three powers left, I thought the players were strong enough that any two should be able to stop the third from a solo.
On the board, I tried to counter JECE's strategy of maintaining control over Scandinavia and Anatolia. I tried to create conditions where I could encourage Germany to take Russia out in the north. If JECE ever lost StP, I thought his solo aspirations would be over. I also tried to create conditions where I could encourage Austria to take Russia out in Anatolia, or more likely split it with me.
I kept control of Austria by making sure he never built fleets. One time he tried to slip a fleet build in. It didn't hurt the joint AI position on the board, but it incrementally increased his potential for a solo. In a normal game, I might have been irritated but would have continued working with him. Because of the tournament format/win condition, I instead threw everything at him to make sure that it was clear he would never solo, even if I died in the process (since a 3wd excluding Italy was acceptable). Austria couldn't make progress against me without exposing himself to Russia, and eventually he had to disband his fleets. With no fleets, he was no solo threat and I controlled the entire Med.
Gibraltar was a key location. One of Germany's solo pushes came when I was playing. Because I controlled the Med, I had the ability to hold Gibraltar and shut Germany out, or conversely to let him into the Med to allow the solo. That gave me leverage against Austria and Russia, since a German solo was an acceptable outcome for me and not them.
Despite the fact that I only needed the game to end in a draw, and not even necessarily including me, I almost soloed. Germany and I were working together smoothly toward the elimination of Russia and we had a peaceful, stable arrangement around the English island. I don't remember if Leif NMR'd or we had a miscommunication, but the result was that my fleets around the island got into an advantageous position that I didn't intend. I was able to use that advantage to stab Germany and storm the Atlantic, eventually getting up to 16 centers. I thought it would be an exciting finish to the historic game if I could solo, but I wasn't able to pull it off.
I don't think the WC format came across clearly on the podcast. To me, it sounded like there was one prior game needed to get to the final round. There was one preliminary round (group stage, which goldfinger0303 did say). But the preliminary round was made up of two full press games, two gunboat games, and one public press game. The teams' composite scores from all of those preliminary games dictated who made it into the final round. The final round then repeated the same array of games. So by the time the PP game was the last of the tournament, there had been 15 games played in the preliminary round (of which each Final team played in 5) and four completed games in the Final round (of which each Final played in all).
Lastly, ghug is like Gollum, creeping around in his rainy Seattle cave of bitterness and dreaming about the Precious who got away. Someday he'll bite my finger off as he falls into the volcano.
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2012 WebDip World Cup championship podcast interview
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