Your opponent read your play and you got taken to school. It's called "malicious support" and it's a pro tactic.

I do it all the time.

it is so fun to do :) makes your opponent so mad

Agreed. You can really get into his head with it.

sirKristof I'm surprised a player with your experience ran into it so late! You must operate in a time zone with a different "clench" of players than I do. In some games pulling this move is the only worthwhile thing I do.

I once solo'd a game with 35 centers and all of the other players quit the site because of this very move. "Curse Mapu!" they cried, for they had never seen the move's equal.

It was a total surprise too.

It's a very satisfying thing to do, especially when your enemy has never come across such a tactic. Of course, if your enemy is expecting it ...

I was in that game mapu. I was Russia with 12 centers, and you took 11 of them (i was the only survivor) by pulling that move on edi, when England tried to self bounce with Clyde and north sea. Even though I cursed you at the time, u must say, now that the pain has subsided, that it was a brilliant move. I think Italy was the most pissed, looking all 8 in that one turn. Good thing you waited until autumn or I think we could have gotten mist if them back and forced a stalemate.

Christ, I feel like draug on a bender with all those Autocorrects ...

I can not resist...

I thought bouncing yourself was something we might find YJ doing on a lonely night...but I'm now under the impression we are talking about something else...

Balls! wish if thought of it earlier then, it'll come in pretty handy now though I'm sure. Thanks for the replies guys :)

Does anyone have the link to the game mapu mentioned?

Also, I went through my first year on this side thinking units could not receive support hold unless they were holding. That made life very hard :P

one of the few tricks available...

Bouncing yourself is a good move. And it can be very nice when a 2nd party joins in.

@Mapu, I remember seeing that game. It was pretty sweet. But now I can't find it. Was it over on vdip perhaps?

@alderain, I assumed mapu was joking. My followup was definitely a joke. If such a game did exist (and it couldn't be a classic because the most you can get is 34, and even then only if everyone is cooperating just to see it done) then I was not in it.

Doh, 34, not 35.

I think it was this one (gameID=34739), but not by Mapu so I guess he was just making a joke.

If I remember correctly, the winner convinced his allies to pursue a three way draw in which he had taken over their home centers. Once all others were eliminated, he started disbanding the units of his allies until they were all gone and he had the board to himself. His allies still had centers but could not build.

I'd suggest you double check with YellowJacket. He's our resident expert on bouncing oneself.

@anlari, that was you that won the game alderain posted. That was pretty sweet! It was arranged, right? Just to see it done?

By the way, philcore, I've been meaning to ask you. One L or two? There is only one correct answer.

2, of course. But only when its spelled out (Phillip). Phill just looks dumb. Gotta drop the second "L" when you shorten it.

Sorry, but your mom and dad didn't know what they were doing. /head shake

So you are a Philip, I assume?

Yes, and none of this shortening to Phil stuff.

My wife hates it when ppl call me Phil. I got over it some years back. It's one of this names that ppl just assume should be shortened. If someone introduces themselves as Benjamin, Daniel, or Phil(l)ip, the response is almost always "nice to meet you Ben/Dan/Phil. It annoyed me for a while, but then it just wasn't worth the corrections. So now I'm fine with either.

Cool life story, I'd like to learn more.

@iln, thanks for your interest, I'll be glad to fill the void in your life.

Well it all started some 40+ years ago (no need to keep track after 40) in a little gun-rotting western town of phoenix, AZ. The future hardcore Phil was born. It was a happy childhood, racing bmx bikes, building homemade ramps in the street in front of our house, playing video games on the Atari 2600, and learning to play the bass guitar. With idols such as Steve Harris from Iron Maiden, Getty Lee from Rush and latter on Flea from the RHCPs, I quickly became quite good and figured I had a future in music. But alas, I was one of the smart kids who excelled in math(s) and science and my "plan B" quickly became my "plan A" and I was destined for a degree in physics from the best school in the world ... ASU ... Go Devils! While working in a physics lab on campus, one of my many duties was C++ programming for data acquisition equipment being used in low-energy surface physics experiments. Well every internship I had while in school wanted me to write software for them, rather than solve free-body diagrams, so I fell into software by virtue of having more experience in that than anything physics relayed when I graduated. Almost 20 years later, and an MBA also from ASU, I'm now managing a team of software engineers supporting a sales team for a web marketing company.

I hope this helps ;-) and your welcome in advance.

And by "gun-rotting" I mean that in the "gun-toting" sense of the word.

I had a best friend that called me Phil and that was fine because he was my best friend. But generally people call me Philip.

Phil - It wasn't arranged as far as I remember. I tricked France (who had lost his home centres and could no longer build) to use his single unit to help me hunt down the armies of all other players without going over 16 units (I left a safety margin of one unit in case I take a SC accidentally). I think he was under the impression that I would let him finish second with 16 SCs (it was not a WTA).

We then swept over the map as he could get SCs without finishing the game but I had the only units remaining on board since he could no longer build. Then I destroyed his army as well, and the board was basically left to me with no one else having units or home SCs to build on.. so I played around for a few turns with convoys and finally positioned 17 units to take 17 SCs at once.

I think other players did see it coming - France either did not or just played along for the heck of it, this was my last global message:

Spring, 1915: I am not gunning for 34 SC - I don't think it is physically possible unless someone cooperates willingly as each of my 17 units would have to take 1 SC, so I wouldn't be able to support myself into anywhere.

That said, this game is not ending with a draw - I will win if I can. I am just trying to give as much as possible to those who have been loyal to me throughout as I win, and punish those who have not.

That is hilarious! Well done!

So, just 1 last thought. I can actually crush my own armies of fleets, if the support is provided by another player, right?

no you cannot invade yourself, with your own support or with enemy support.

Damn, this is why I didn't expect to be able to defeat myself into an open territory, with malicious support. Ok thanks :)