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Joined: 08 Jun 2000, 10:26 am

Post 24 Oct 2011, 1:37 pm

Russian EOG

The game seemed to start out decently. I had good rapport with all of my neighbors. I’ve played more games with Derek than anyone, and we get along, although we have generally fought on the Diplomacy board. Our last game was an exception in which we allied after our early fighting so I felt indebted to him. I’m also fond of Russ and Owen and Vince from the message boards (and from meeting Owen), so I figured that it would be an interesting game. Initial correspondence with Germany and Italy was positive, although clearly Germany was nervous about my intentions.

Unfortunately, spring 01 did not go well. I didn’t mind that Vince went for the Channel and BUR, but I was very disappointed about PIE. Although it gave me some time vis-à-vis Germany and England, it meant that they would ally, and grow fairly quickly. It also became clear that the French would never open an embassy and collapse fairly quickly. My only hope was to temporarily neutralize England and Germany while making progress in the south. I could tell that Germany was nervous about my taking Sweden, but somehow I managed to get him past that.

Of course, Derek’s Spring 01 stab made the south very challenging. He instantly wanted to make amends; I was negotiating with a gun to my head so I told him whatever I had to. * (see below) Meanwhile, I helped organize an AIR vs. T, although it was tough herding those 2 cats since neither of them communicated frequently. In early days their bounce in AEG ensured that EG would prosper more quickly than AIR. In later days, their unwillingness to mobilize all of their troops (Italian F in SMY; Austrian A in BUL and F in AEG) ensured that we could not break through EG.

I really only have 2 other items to add. The first is that I considered disbanding F CON at the end of 05, but I was afraid that Austria would stab for 2 builds. I was on the fence on this one, but based on Austria’s EOG, I think that I chose wisely. Had Austria and Italy mobilized all their units against GE, I would have comfortably disbanded F CON.

The 2nd is that I think Germany erred in stabbing me in Fall 03. He and I’ve talked about this and he disagrees, but here’s why I think it was an error. I was always more worried about English growth than German growth. Germany could always be kept in check by Austria, Italy or Russia. But with the French suicide, and the Italian slow mobilization, England had no natural enemies. Germany says that he was worried that I would join in with Austria, but the reality is that I would have tried to stay neutral so that I could attack England with Germany’s help. However, by attacking me, Germany closed that diplomatic option. In effect, he forced the very thing that he was afraid of: a Russian-Austrian alliance.

Germany’s counter point is that Austria and Russia were already working together. But it is more likely that I would have stayed neutral in German – Austrian affairs. Or I may have tried to secretly, or not so secretly, help Germany. Under this scenario, I would have organized IGR vs. E. We would each have gotten something out of the deal; from there, IGR vs. A was also a possibility. I’m not sure what would have happened, but it may have been a better result for Germany (and me;) )

Peace,
Ray Jay

*There was only one GM error in the game. Overall I think that Patrick is a great GM, and I thank him for his efforts. In fact, he is one of the best GMs at Redscape. My type A personality loves that the moves are published about 1 minute after the deadline. The GM error: In Fall 01, Derek submitted ARM to SER, not SEV. This was sort of agreed by us as part of Derek’s effort to make amends for his Spring 01 stab. However, Patrick reported it as SEV, and Derek could not correct him because it implicated Derek as intentionally false ordering. I didn’t bring it up because I didn’t want to divulge that Derek and I were negotiating, and I was happy to have just 1 build and felt that 2 builds would endanger my diplomatic situation.
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Post 25 Oct 2011, 1:07 pm

One more thing. I'm very proud of the fact that I didn't stab anyone all game, with the possible exception of taking CON from Derek. Back in 03 I had offered Derek survival if he would disband BLA. However, I did reverse myself because I desperately needed the build because of the G/E attack. Other than that, I kept to my agreements all game, and only responded to the stabs against me all game.