What's wrong with live games they are the most similar games to ftf. I think live games are harder because they require quick thinking

and quick negotiating. It is harder to co-ordinate attacks.

I'm not arguing, the only reason is because a couple people were leaving and coming back...but whatever, don't really care lol

Ya but in live games you have these silly game long alliances that make the game boring. Why can't people just stab. Ugh.

Veiled reference ava? And there are plenty of stabs in live games they are just usually more devastating.

I think it made it easier since France left. But who am I to say? I still have yet to attain a single win!

yes, I have been stabbed nearly every game I have ever been in, and I have played more than a hundred on this site and also have an account at Olidip.net.

Why does your profile say you have 2 wins? And 71% defeats?! That makes me feel better about my own defeat percentage. (no offense)

Yeah, first I thought I'd have to leave because we had a blackout and I lost my internet connection for a few minutes, so early on I thought it'd just be a quick bath like most of my games as Russia.

Then Germany left once England and France came close adn that nearly stopped me cold against them.

Then England left, and came back a year later or so.

By that point I was at 12 or so and Austria 8 so I guess France just left, which was weird, he had 7, I thought I was going to have to ram my way through there before Austria or get England to do some dirty work...

But yeah, an up and down game.

I have a win from an Ancient Med. game, but this is my first win face-to-face or online or at all since I started playing in 2007.

And yep, 71% defeats, I played a LOT of really, REALLY bad games my first year or so...mostly now I eke out surives and draws and get knocked out about half the time and later...

But not tonight! :)

So yep, first win on the actual, "real" Diplomacy board since my start in 2007, so a long time coming...

if you play with mcorr, don't expect to draw, expect a stab that throws the game

"What's wrong with live games they are the most similar games to ftf"

no

The thing I love about live games is that you tend to get more negotiating. In a typical day/phase game I will send a message... get a reply 12 hours later, and with luck be able to respond back before the time of the turn. At least with a live game you know the other person is there to see what you've written. Because of that alone I would say they are the most similar to ftf games.

That is exactly why I don't like them Oct - you never get any negotiating. This is why I only play gunboats live.

I don't play non-live games that are <48 hours in phase length. That generally allows for plenty of communication.

True, but a lot of the communication in 2 day+ games tends to be along the lines of "Hurry up and finalize", and "I will finalize when I'm good and ready, not when you want me to". There is also nothing quite as soul destroying as when you've presented a first class argument about why a neighbour should work with you, filled with wit and subtle observations about the other players, only to get the reply "sounds good" and the realization sinks in that you're stuck with this boring sod as your neighbour for a month or more...

In live games at their best you get exciting real time pressured negotiation, and at their worst you at least have the compenstation that in a couple of hours it'll be over.

There's something to be said for persistence.

Nice win.

Hmmmm... Sounds like a good use for Vent (communication package). You coudl open several VoIP channels (one to each of the other players) and selectively talk to them so no typing would be required. Of course, it doesn't work if you are playing anonimously.

I might be interested in a live game where we used Vent.

And it would still work, we'd just have to register different usernames than the ones we used here.

I'm not sure 5 mins at the start would be enough to set up Vent protocols though.

And there's also the issue of people talking over each other - Italy would have no idea when it was ok to talk to Russia.

The start is easy. Every one agree to pause until everything is configured after the countries are assigned.

And as long as everyone used a vent name not al all related to their real name or site moniker, the anonimity could still be kept.

What would really be cool is a public press game done with everyone on vent.

@ *obi wan*: for you it shouldn't be all that hard to win (*waves fingers at game board* "you WILL vacate Norway")