gameID=78959OK! This game was by far the most challenging I've every played, and a hell of a lot of fun too. Thanks everybody for showing me that I can't get away with EVERYTHING I want in a game :P Once again I upped the ante in trying to figure out how aggressive I can get away with being by organizing and promptly breaking a WT. I thought I was toast for sure!
Russia/Sweetwatersam: haha not even a superstar can last agains what you were up against.
Italy/Splitdiplomat: I can't believe you are as highly rated as you are. You were abusive and terrible to not just me but everybody.
Austria/Pantalone: We didn't have many mutual goals all game. Way to be a pain in the ass though and have fun with it :P
France/Warlegend: You played solid throughout, and I expect you had as good relations with everybody else as you had with me (except Turkey, I guess?). I always felt that I could work with you, even when you were gunning for me, and I was really impressed when you saw the Turkish solo threat as early as I did and realized you'd be better off letting me live.
Germany/Vexlord: You were tenacious as hell, and though I didn't agree with many of your decisions, you definitely deserved to be part of the draw. Lots I want to ask you. First off (and everybody can answer this) was my stab of Germany a bad one? It didn't work out for me, but I maintain that if either F had left me alone or if T had sided with me in the Moscow scenario in '03 that I would have beaten G and had a strong solo shot - probably why they both chose otherwise.
If I can give you some advice, Vexlord, the way you handled our first peace offering in 1904 was really not good, in my opinion. I offered you a pretty reasonable deal and you shanked me immediately. In my opinion, if you genuinely wanted peace you should have played nice at that point (I definitely would have returned Holland to you), and if you genuinely wanted war you should have waited a turn and given me a vicious stab of your own once I went to defend myself against France. Either one would have played out more advantageously for you. With what you did it only confused me and made me act like a cornered badger. I felt I couldn't trust anything you said, and even after that point you wouldn't negotiate at all. Or maybe I just don't get it :P in which case please explain. I should let you know that I never honestly wanted war with you after my first peace offering. The only way I was gonna turn on you at that point was if France was unable to interfere or if France was going to help me. I wished you could have seen that, but you were really mistrustful of everything to do with me the whole rest of the game. Anyway you did warn me off the start that you would be very pissed with an English stab - guess I should have listened :P
Also, your late game snag of Norway... jeez man, just when I thought we were getting along? I was dead set on throwing to Turkey. Fortunately cooler heads prevailed.
Turkey/DipperDon: haha man I really enjoyed bantering with you all game. Your shit is pro. I love how we both kept feeding each other lines of crap all game and even though neither one of us was buying it. Very good rapport and even though we were never really allies I really wanted to be! Would play with you again anytime. Now please answer... why the hell wouldn't you take Moscow and Warsaw when I offered them to you in '03? It seemed like a REALLY beneficial arrangement for both of us. Were you afraid I'd just get too strong too fast if I crushed G and was able to turn on F quickly? Or did you just not trust me? I also wanted to know if you thought I was too loose with my information. Sometimes I felt I might be giving you too many helpful hints about my fairly sour relations with my Western "allies." Also, did my use of public chat to counter your propaganda make you less willing to deal with me? It didn't seem so, but I'd like to know. Also, why can't I find you on the GR list?
Anyways, a VERY good learning experience for me against really stiff opposition - I felt my diplomacy alone bought me into that draw!
jmo1121109 and all my other doubters if you're reading this it's time you quit being a Sally and admit your old pal YJ is the real deal. Still much to learn, but the real deal.