Nah, not really. I wasn't going to defend against it anyway, just count on a 4-way and if you did stab, then try to screw it as best I could.

That said, still bad in principle, yeah. Ah well.

EOG:
From the onset, I knew that I was going to have a good alliance with England. The replies I got from him were consistently more understanding and empathetic to my concerns than Germany's. This communication issue was underlined by Germany telling me he would open Sealion and then proceeding to not do that. England was an easy player to get along with and bounce ideas off - Germany's replies were sparse. I had thoughts of forming longer-reaching alliances with either Russia, Italy, or Turkey, in case England decided to stab me in the mid-game (as can often happen) but both Russia and Italy quickly fell apart. Whilst they fell apart, it was obvious that an understanding between Austria and Turkey had formed. This cemented the relationship between France and England as we realised we had to rush to protect a line around Munich - which was proven in quick moves towards Tyrolia, Bohemia, and Galicia from the Austro-Turkish swines. Our efforts to reach the goalposts proved more valiant than theirs and we quickly secured a perimeter. From then, my game became a two-fold mission to manipulate the Turk into stabbing Austria whilst also keeping England on board as a partner. A mixture of carrot and stick was applied for the latter, whilst persistent messaging seemed to work in the case of Turkey.

The Turk's stabbing of the Archduke was ruthless and cruel, as is generally the way these people deal with things in the East. The Austrian leader was unsurprisingly distraught and beseeched me to come to his aid. I played the liar at his own game though and took the center offerings he gave me without any concern for his fate. The Austrian leader was hanged in Constantinople and I had grown to 11 centers. Meanwhile, the ruthless Turk had told me that England was planning an attack on my lands and had attempted to secure Turkey's involvement. I pre-emptively moved to the Irish Sea as a show of force to the petty English who immediately threw in the towel and voted draw. The Turk did not dare go on either and I magnanimously accepted their requests to draw a line on the whole affair.

Very witty Sarg, fun to read.

Although, you didn't talk to me as much as you claim and I also had no part in convincing you to move on England.

The lying continues.

LOL

I guess I just don't get what was sparse and off-putting about my communication.

Bob, you didn't reply to 75% of my messages.

And I absolutely opened Sealion: F Kie-Den, A Ber-Kie, A Mun-Ruh.

Interesting. I find Bob rather easy to communicate with. Had a hard time with President Eden though. Just depends on the people involved I guess.

Umm, what? I saw one stretch of three straight messages from you to me, in A02, looking at the chat archive. Otherwise, we either alternated or I had two consecutive, to you.

To me, that's not a Sea Lion. Whatever John Dodds says.

Germany's Operation Sea Lion was through the Low Countries, not Denmark.

A German Sea Lion should see: F Kie-Hol, A Ber-Kie, A Mun-Ruh (or hold).

Barn3tt, I always want you to talk more. Eden replied so fast which makes it easier to work with him (and hence why you felt I was more interested in working with him).

Frank asked me what my concerns were. Bob, you never did. You wanted support but never asked what I was hoping for.

When I asked if you would support me to Belgium, you replied saying no, without giving any reason or alternative strategy for us. What is there to work with in communication like that?

I agree with Lando, Eden is a very quick typist and a loquacious talker.

Wait, what? You have an idiosyncratic definition of a Sealion, then say I didn't open in good faith when I don't open the way that you and you alone classify as the only Sealion?

OK, cool, I'm glad to finally get at something that I may have actually screwed up that wasn't just completely arbitrary.

I agree. Confusion over what constitutes a Sea Lion, you didn't lie.

Lando- The last full game we played you lied to me non-stop in the beginning so I think I spent a decent amount of time trying to sift through what you said and was hoping to hear your thoughts and see if they panned out. President Eden's responses were discouraging after I movde to Trieste- moving out wasn't good enough, I'd have to disband rather than retreat and even then it was a maybe on anything down the line.

It's all situational, sure. I've had games where Eden and I had a really hard time getting along. I must admit this time, the previous game was not much of a factor for me. This game didn't work out for us even though I did have an open mind. Worked out for me in the end, I suppose, so I will not complain ;-)

All it needed was a few words from Sarg, and Eden was stabbed like a bitch.

Candy. Baby. Yes, please.

I don't think you can take credit for it at all, Sarg. You didn't really press the matter too much.

No. I'm convinced that the message I sent you in 1905 eventually hit home.

Your words were so powerful that I could not ignore them forever.

Wait a minute, what. I don't think asking for an army which, if not used against me, was really going to be totally useless in an A-I, to be disbanded, in favor of, I dunno, building a fleet that would have been useful in an A-I, was too much to ask. I mean really, you seem surprised that I was wary of having two armies which had just secured MY home center the previous fall bordering two of aforesaid HSCs.

And the only reason it was a "maybe" down the line was because (a) you stabbed me and then gave the not-really-justification-in-my-eyes-at-all "it would be imbalanced so I'm going to take your center without asking, because making unilateral moves which directly help me and directly hurt you is a balanced approach to an alliance" rationale for it, and then (b) made, as far as I can tell, literally no policy proposals from there. I'm sure a lot of (b) was because of time constraints, but still, when I'm the one being stabbed and then on top of that my stabber makes an uneasy peace that involves him camping on my border and not making concrete plans to move forward in alliance, leaving that work to me, is it any surprise that I'm going to be just a little bit wary going forward?

hmm, not sure this needs to be dragged out much more. Yes, PE, I stabbed you. I pulled out and you can take it however you want. Of course you would be wary of me, but without encouragement what was I going to do? I took a Turkish center next season and that seemed upsetting to you. I wasn't keen on disbanding my unit because I was wary of you, especially after your luke warm response. I didn't want to lose Venice right after. I wasn't sure if you and Turkey were allied. So, no, I didn't tell you a specific plan on how I'd move on the Turk. However, I told you I was going to (which you again reacted negatively to after I did it?) Also, in F02 I told you that E-F were a strong alliance and that you would not want the Turk behind you when that played out. .

Wait, what seemed upsetting? I thought it was hilarious because of how bad Lando and I were getting played. We spent the whole year trying to figure out what you were going to do and couldn't, and neither one of us guessed the convoy. Shit, Lando almost attacked *me* for it, because he thought I supported your move to Bulgaria instead of my move to Greece that turn. And yeah, you mentioned EF was a strength, but I distinctly remember directly asking how we were going to deal with them and got no answer in response, just a request to support hold Aegean Sea. So again, not sure what I needed to do differently.

lol, interesting. Again, this goes back to my original point, not attack on you, some combinations of players click and others don't. Not really a right/wrong, good/bad thing- I can just tell we talked past each other a lot, whereas I can talk to Bob easily.

Hmm... have we even done a full-press game before tonight? Maybe it's all been gunboats. idk, seems like we'd worked together before. *shrug* Probably just an off night. Russia didn't help...