Messages - vDiplomacy

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19 Feb 21 UTC	Autumn, 1869: GameMaster: Holland voted for a Draw. If everyone votes Draw the game will end and the points are split equally among all the surviving players, regardless of how many supply centers each player has.
19 Feb 21 UTC	Autumn, 1869: GameMaster: Holland voted for a Concede. If everyone (but one) votes concede the game will end and the player _not_ voting Concede will get all the points. Everybody else will get a defeat.
03 Apr 21 UTC	[Turkey]:Great game everyone! I really enjoyed this one! I know most of you are likely mad at me for dragging this on so long, but the reason I did so is because I was thoroughly unimpressed with France's play and felt that he hadn't earned the right to be part of the draw. Over the last few years he finally demonstrated enough skill, working together with Britain to put together a stalemate line, that I'm grudgingly willing to include him in the draw. Buckle up, this is a long one. I'll have individual words for most of you at the end. My initial strategy was to pursue an alliance with Britain, neutrality with Austria and France, and attack France. Britain seemed agreeable to my overtures initially and I felt confident that I'd found a partnership after we supported each other in Africa in S1862. Russia and I were fairly evenly matched for the first few years. Getting into the Black Sea, then China sneaking into Omsk put Russia on his back foot. But things were still very much up for grabs, until Austria's surprise order of GLC SH SEV in A1863 was the extra push I really needed to get over the hump. From there, the rest of the Russian campaign was just a slow and methodical dismemberment, there wasn't really much he could do. Near the end there was a bit of shuffling for position between Prussia and me in Moscow and St Pete and in 1867 I thought Russia just might find a way to survive forever in Moscow, with Prussia continuing to support him there just so I wouldn't get in. I was very pleasantly surprised to see him remove that army after 1867, giving me just the window I needed to sneak in. I'd been watching China's moves all along and assessed him to be a very strong player. I didn't think he'd be too upset about me retreating into Omsk in A1864, since he'd pretty much abandoned it, but then the next turn he threw love to Russia (TSH SH KSL) so I figured conflict with him would be inevitable. I started moving against him in A1866 and made pretty good progress for the first few years. I knew there wasn't much time to lose, since China had finally broken through against Japan and was able to use gains from his eastern front to offset losses on his western front. We got to the point where we were mostly stalemated, but if Britain would tap KSH for me I'd be able to break through. I kept waiting for him to help out for about 6 turns (from about A1867 through S1870) but he frustratingly just kept support-holding himself. My window of opportunity to keep moving against China was closing because he was making gains against Japan/Holland and using the builds to bolster his defense on the western front. I finally decided that if he wouldn't help me out, I'd just help myself. I tried to do so without ruining our partnership by "offering" a trade of KRC for BAN (see the Persian S KRC-> BAN move in S1870). I was hoping when I took KRC in A1870 that Britain would retreat to BAN and we'd move on amicably from there. But his KRC-Arabian move foiled that plan, and he seemed to misinterpret my move. The next turn I opened up Oman so he could have that instead, in exchange for KRC, but he seemed very insistent on taking KRC back. Then in S1872, he took both Oman and KRC, clearly not understanding what I was trying to do. Although I was able to use KRC to make a little progress against China, ultimately the inability of Britain and I to get on the same page doomed any chances of further eastward progress, and I gave up on attacking China, pulling back to a stalemate line in S1873. Britain seemed okay with me taking Oman back in A1873, restoring out status quo. But I felt that our relationship had soured a bit and felt the need to pull my Africa armies back to a defensive position (S1873). I was already chafing a bit that Britain had walled me off from any progress into the Indian Ocean, so at this point I decided just to break out on my own. I had a partial stalemate line running from Afghanistan to Darfur, so if things didn't work out I could always retreat to there. I think given enough time, China and I could've eventually uprooted Britain out of the India and Indian Ocean, but there wasn't a reason to keep pushing. And I somewhat liked the fact that his units were overcommitted there (he ended with 13 units and 7 SCs there) because it meant there were gaps elsewhere, but he still had enough forces in Europe to stop my advance. Moving on to the European front: this front was really boring for the first few years. I kept waiting for war to break out between Britain/Prussia/France/Austria, but all 4 just kept throwing love at each other. What a boring game! But I also realized that if they all just stayed at their starting size (plus initial neutrals) while I kept growing, I'd eventually be able to move against them once I'd made enough gains elsewhere. And the fact that Europe was so peaceful to start allowed me to devote units elsewhere in the critical first few years. The great European "let's all just do nothing all game"-fest finally ended in A1865 when Prussia took Vienna. Even though I was still grateful to Austria because of his A1863 move, I didn't want to sit by idly while Austria and Prussia fought it out, and I didn't have a wide enough front to attack Prussia, so we ended up squeezing Austria between us. Austria was doing a good job holding off both of us, and we had some great exchanges in the Balkans, until France FINALLY weighed in during S1867. Austria collapsed pretty quickly after that. I think Prussia got too greedy with a half-hearted stab on France in A1867. At this point it had become clear to me that France didn't have an offensive bone in his body, and wouldn't attack anyone unless they attacked him first or there was a feeding frenzy on an already-doomed player. By drawing France into war, but not actually devoting enough units to hold Paris, he spread himself too thin and that was his ultimate downfall. At this point, Prussia and I had a bit of trouble brewing. While we never directly attacked each other, we made moves to keep the other from making progress as we jockeyed for position: LIV SH MOS in S1867, SEV SH MOS in A1867, BOS SH CRT in A1868, both attacking CRT in S1869 and S1870. So once Austria was finally gone in A1870, I decided to keep pushing west. Thankfully Britain joined in during A1871, otherwise my progress would've been painfully slow. Prussia didn't stand much of a chance from here. Like I've mentioned before a few times, I was unimpressed with France in general. He took "his" neutrals during the first 2 years of the game, then proceeded to just sit on his hands. It was like he felt that by lucking into drawing one of the bigger starting powers, he could just support himself, not make any enemies, and survive to the draw. When Britain and I started fighting Holland, he did nothing. When I was fighting China, he did nothing. When Mexico booted him from the Caribbean, he did nothing. When he got booted from the Pacific islands, he did nothing. He could only be roused to action in Europe when Austria was already doomed and left himself wide open, and then when Prussia attacked him. In Africa, not only did he do nothing, but he even defended OKN on Holland's behalf from A1866 to A1867, before finally taking it himself when Brazil had two units in position to attack (he was probably just trying to bounce Brazil there). I felt helpless to punish him for it though, since he could just survive in SE Asia forever. But when China decided to attack him in S1873, I thought maybe that China felt the same way I did, and maybe others would get on board too. I had enough units in position to attack by A1874, and made pretty good progress for a few years. I lucked into STU in S1876, but France made a smart move in A1876 to support Kiel. My big blunder was forcing the disband of his fleet LYO in S1876, allowing him to rebuild an Army in Paris and complete the stalemate line. I tried to figure out a way to take Corsica without forcing that fleet to disband, but couldn't make it happen. At this point, I'd actually seen him make a few intelligent moves and finally "earn" his way into the draw. Some parting shots for everyone (that I interacted with): -Britain: It was great working with you at first! I couldn't have made it to the mid-game without your cooperation. I already outlined what I think led to our falling out. I had been watching your moves all around the board, and I'd spotted a few times in North America where you made some tactical blunders, so I hoped you'd do the same against me. But once I stabbed you, you did a good job bottling up my North Atlantic fleets and keeping me out of Scandinavia. You coming to France's aid is probably the only thing that kept him alive. Bravo. -China: It was a fun challenge against you while we were at war. Then we worked together amicably once I settled back to the stalemate line. Given enough time, I think we could've taken all of India together. I can tell you're a strong tactical player! - Holland: You did a great job with your mastery of the Indian Ocean! But ultimately, once China turned on you, you were simply outnumbered against Britain, myself, Brazil, and China. Good job lasting as long as you did! - Brazil: Taking Rhodesia in S1871? Not cool! I thought after I'd helped you boot Holland out of southern Africa, you'd at least let me keep the dot! Other than that, we mostly stayed out of each others' way. I was really hoping that you'd turn on France, at the very end, but I can understand your loyalty there. - Russia: You were a strong opponent the first few years! But especially in gunboat, it's real tough to find a way for Russia and Turkey to figure out a way to amicably figure out the Black Sea situation. - Austria: Like I said, I'm indebted to you for your help against Russia in A1863. I felt really bad about attacking you... but I did anyway. Greedy, I guess. - Prussia: I feel like the whole time up until I actually attack you, we were already in somewhat of a cold war. You did a good job lasting as long as you did! - Mexico: I realize that by attacking Britain, I probably kept you in the game. Britain was slowly enveloping you and probably would've finished you off unless Brazil and you managed some heroics, but he called off his attack once I stabbed him. But I felt you'd played a good game, and taking the chance of wiping out France was worth keeping you around. France: I think I said enough about you already. USA/CSA/Japan: Yeah sorry, never really got to work either with or against you...
03 Apr 21 UTC	[France]:Lol good thing I don’t play to impress you, eh Jacob?
03 Apr 21 UTC	[Turkey]:Good thing! You survived to the draw, so I guess your strategy worked...
03 Apr 21 UTC	[Brazil]:Turkey, I was really sorry to attack you, but I felt a great weakness in my army, which you would not have taken advantage of, as it seemed to me at the time. I fully supported your position on the lack of initiative in France, but when it came to the point where I could stab France in the back myself, things began to look like it could have a very strong impact on the balance of power in Europe and it was completely out of my sphere of interest since Britain stopped its offensive on Mexico. I'm afraid to imagine what would have happened to Mexico if Britain had made more precise moves and not allowed us to slow down the process of conquering America. It was a pleasure doing business with you, Mexico:) It was good game, thank you all. I would do it again, but unfortunately I won't be able to play for a while.
03 Apr 21 UTC	[Holland]:GG, it's really hard to defense against 4 countries. I have played Holland for 3 times and defeated for 3 times :(
04 Apr 21 UTC	[Turkey]:Yeah, playing Holland is tough. It’s pretty easy to get really strong in the early game, but usually that just paints a target on your back. Developing a strong ally is key, and things were going great for your until your strong ally (China) turned on you
04 Apr 21 UTC	[China]:Good Game Guys. I was wondering when Turkey would push Draw, maybe after France demise or even France, Mexico and Brazil. This is my AAR, quite long, feel free to read it or skip it. In the beginning, Russia were under attack in all fronts and I used that chance to empower myself against Japan. Fortunately, France kept quite peaceful Southeast Asia, so I can spare some units in battle against Russia and Japan as well skirmish with Britain. When Russia was weaken enough, Turkey went East and battle me for supremacy. We clashed for quite some time until he realized that he couldn't gain anything else and decided to focus his attention elsewhere. Japan is my focus of expansion in this game since I have watched and participated in some Imperial Diplomacy II map where China was crushed by Japan due to inability defend its coastal area. Therefore whenever I got spare units, I built Fleet to attack Japan. My strategy worked well. I balanced my land defense ( I don't really want to go West) and my Eastern offense. After I decimated Japan, I looked toward south. I never feel Holland as ally and he never helped me. But he was busy doing battle with Britain in Australia area, so I attacked his Phillipine and started to take over. The Indonesian campaign was done well, but now I got France area in middle my area, so I decided to remove it and made my area whole. I expanded more with the influx of SCs and I wondered when this game would end, so I just attacked Australia area and attacked Britain fleets and India just for the sake of relieving boredom. If succeed, I will continue, if not I will begin my defense. That's all. But I have suggestion to Holland. No matter what happened, you need to have one or two units in your borders as deterrent so no one could sneak attack you. Like I put two armies on my border in France. While they couldn't prevent him if he tried to attack me, they could hamper and maneuver until I can spare other armies to defend. If you put one or two fleets in Phillipine area before I attacked, I might cancel my south invasion plan and focus elsewhere.
04 Apr 21 UTC	[Brazil]:Hey, China, don't be so cruel, I still had a defense plan that was based on helping France and escorting armies back to South America. I don't think I could have been knocked out further than the islands in the Pacific if the game had continued.
04 Apr 21 UTC	[China]:Brazil, like I said in my comment : the attack toward you and Britain is more about doing something until Turkey push Draw button. I don't have real intention to eliminate you and might establish stalemate line somewhere with you.
04 Apr 21 UTC	[Holland]:China, your suggestion is great, but I can't take any fleet from other battle line when all the countries around me are attacking me.
05 Apr 21 UTC	[Mexico]:thanks for you help Brazil!
09 Apr 21 UTC	[Britain]:Thanks guys for the good game. I really struggled to find time on a daily basis to manage 30-40 units in full offensive. So, I missed some nice opportunities to make breakthrough on few occasions against Mexico and in Indian Ocean and even consider solo-ing, before Turkey stabbed. Before in the game there was an option at the time to focus on China by land, but then having Holland on my back in Indian ocean would leave me on two fronts in India which I tried to avoid. I needed to focus somewhere for my expansion, so I selected North America as it was divided by many nations fighting at the time, so I just used opportunity USA offered me by totally exposing his SCs to stab. Sorry for that US, I guess. I was considering to go after France at that time, but it became clear for me that my North American campaign would suffer from lack of resources in that case and that the major part from France would be take from Prussia in that case, as my land forces in Europe not existed at that time. Long story short, after Turkey stabbed I switched on defense mode, consolidating lines and waiting for the draw...