Let me explain it to you:
"".

yes, i just had a 17 plus year gameboat, they're dicey, tactical and a ton of fun, definitely worth it!

Always remember to read either the text orders from the link at the bottom or the big map and see what everyone tried to do. This can give you hints as to their intent.

Personally I enjoy gunboats for the simple reason that they stress me out less than normal games. In normal games you have to talk to people, you have to try to interpret their words and intentions... It can take a lot out of you. Gunboats are more about pure tactics; Communication can still occur -- with supports -- but only to a fairly limited extent. It definitely takes some of the stress out of it for me, but maybe that's just me.

i have trouble communicating with people, or doing anything other than being in my home, so gunboat is good for me.

I love gunboat. I come from chess, so it's an easier game for me.

Tactics Tactics Tactics :)

Gunboats are great because you don't have to negotiate with idiots. =)

instead the idiots get free reign to do idiotic things while I yell at my computer "WHAT DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND ABOUT A JUGGERNAUT"

Or rather, WHAT DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND ABOUT ME LEAVING ARMENIA OPEN FOR YOU TO ... oh wait!

They'd have free rein anyway. This just means I don't have to deal with their invariably-annoying press.

The way I like to think about Gunboats: It gets you accustomed at reading the board without other people's diplomacy muddling that reading.

If you can see the RT forming in a gunboat, you see a RT coming in classic diplomacy no matter how smooth a talker R and T are.

It's a somewhat different game, but definitely enjoyable. I like that it makes "alliance play" less effective. Of course, alliances and coordination are still possible and necessary, but it takes keen anticipation to be effective.

With any diplomacy variant, it's less fun to play with idiots, but I think gunboat especially requires awareness and understanding of the dynamics of the game, that is, how localized actions affect the entire game. Idiots can often ruin any diplomacy variant (i.e. by setting up another player for an easy win), but I've found that idiots tend to more often get themselves eliminated early in the cutthroat action of a gunboat.

I also like that it takes significantly less time than a press game. You don't have to wait on press or maintain several active conversations. Instead of talking, you just have to infer what other players may want or do based on their previous actions and position. It may seem difficult or silly, but with a good group of rational players, you'd be surprised how effectively they can communicate through their actions and positioning.

I didn't think I would like gunboats so much before I tried them. Frankly, I thought it sounded like a silly concept and that it would just be a bunch of people making random moves (well, the idiots do play gunboat in this style). However, once I played a few games with good players, I realized that this variant is pretty awesome. Goes to show: don't knock it until you try it!

PS: don't overlook the votes! If there's a 12SC power and everyone else but him is voting for a draw, that probably means that they want you to join them in stopping the solo.

Most of the points above are very true, I would add that gunboat not only filters the annoyance emitted by idiots, it also lowers the danger they pose. Some types of idiots are easy to manipulate, which is a double-edged weapon. In gunboat, noone can act as their puppetmaster so they simply behave as what they really are, unpredictable idiots. Since the absence of press means one has to predict others' moves simply by logical reasoning, unpredictable idiot is everyone's worst nightmare and is collectively hated as such. Even his natural allies strive to get rid of him, as he's more of a burden than an ally. In press games, you win games by exploiting your own useful idiot. In gunboat, you win if the idiot becomes indispensable for the opposition. There is no better stalemate breaker than idiot holding it.

gramilaj is right on. Gunboat definitely improved my ability to read the board and ignore obfuscatory press.

speaking of gunboat, i am trying to promote a live one right now if you just check the live games thread. all this discussion of gunboat ideas has gotten be excited for a solid expert game with wta stakes (http://webdiplomacy.net/board.php?gameID=59326)

I would suggest that gunboat is actually *more* heavily affected by poor play than a normal game, where you can use diplomacy to more carefully work a less able player, or those around them.
Aside from the fact they might choose to ignore your hints/messages (as in a real game), in Gunboat you add the possibility that a new player might not even understand what you're doing/saying. I can remember a game where at the end a player posted in a EOG thread laughing at his neighbour who'd given him a support move.

>.< doh