Autumn, 2004: @Austria: disband Aeg now as you requested. If Gre-Bul in spring, then I will vacate Eas whenever you're ready. That could be in the fall if you prefer, or later if you want support/cut in Smy. Once I vacate, we would have Adr, Aeg, Eas as DMZs. You would only need to keep a unit to cover Gre. Depending on how things look in a year, I might be willing to DMZ Ion as well.



If you want more than that in return for a Bud build now, let me know and we can discuss it.

Autumn, 2004: A-H: Italy is offering what it would be forced to give you anyway if you built F Tri and pressed ahead: to fall back from the eastern half of the Mediterranean within a couple seasons.

Autumn, 2004: I wasn't so much concerned with your fleets as the three armies on the peninsula, Italy, though I do appreciate the measures you have stated you are willing to take.

Autumn, 2004: @Austria, I'm willing to destroy Rom to reduce my army count on the peninsula. It shouldn't take more than 2-2 to hold our border there, with your armies in Tri and either Tyl or Vie. Does that take care of the issue?

Autumn, 2004: Yup, that does.

Autumn, 2004: A-H: Sorry, I thought that I sent a message, but it looks like I lost it. I'll try to paraphrase what I remember, although it will sound worse because I am tired, ha ha.



I wanted to let you know that, though I may sound like I'm annoyed, I'm fully committed to the allied plan. I would still love to see F Tri. My messages were mainly meant to let you know that I'm aware that your moves are hostile, which of course they needed to be if you wanted Italy to believe you.



Italy has given you an ultimatum with regards to what you build or not build in Tri. Don't lock yourself into another army and let's fight the good fight!

Autumn, 2004: I did forget something: the game is not going to end in a 3-way draw if you attempt to eliminate me. One of you will withdraw your draw vote before then and go for the win. If you all really do wait long enough (you won't), I'll be left with nothing and finally hit the draw button myself. A-H is as always in the middle and – especially without fleets – is most likely to get eliminated next.

Autumn, 2004: Russia, I am taking Sev this year. However, with Italy destroying Aegean, it may well be possible for you to take back Con, if that gives you a glimmer of hope.

Autumn, 2004: I wish you and Germany the best of luck in taking another SC from Italy this year and forcing yet another destroy.

Autumn, 2004: Neither of those possibilities are particularly plausible without your cooperation.

Autumn, 2004: Well, as much as I would like to help you, this is the best course of action for me. Complete control over your home SC's has been a goal of mine for a long, long while (I don't mind that Germany controls some)

Autumn, 2004: Well then leave the dangling fruit vulnerable as it is and will be for some time to come and concentrate on cracking Italy, the toughest nut to crack. If you abandon all Mediterranean ambition what use is Sev to you?

Autumn, 2004: Besides, Russia, if we were truly to cooperate, your fleet would have to be somewhere useful.

Autumn, 2004: http://i.imgur.com/NxeEin6.jpg

Autumn, 2004: Shh, stop insinuating that Russia is hiding in the closet

A-H: Con was exactly where the fleet needed to be and you know it.

A-H: Also, I would be more inclined to believe you if you hadn't assaulted con too.

Con

I told you, I had hoped you would vacate Smyrna, though I do admit I didn't give enough hints as I should have. That mistake won't be repeated, should I desire your cooperation again.

@Austria: How about I order Eas S Con-Smy, and you decide silently whether you wish to avail yourself of it? Alternately, I can send Eas-Ion if you prefer. Pie/Ven will mutual support hold, unless you'd like me to self-bounce in Tyl while Tyl-Tri.



@Germany: How about Den-Nth and you take Den? If that happens, I will retreat to Edi.



@Russia: How about Den-Nth?

I would like you to keep that support in place, Italy. And the mutual support holds are fine. Hopefully you are as happy with my decisions as I am with yours.

So far, so good.

Germany, how are things with you? Anything you have to say to me?

Austria,



I'm not in Russia's position, but I have none of the freedom you and Italy have right now. All I ask you at this point is please do not allow an Italian return to solo threat.



I must admit the sheer number of units pointed at a single Russian SC has me wondering whether there aren't other SC's you are interested in that direction, and how much I should move to counter anything.

Germany: How feasible do you think that countering A-H is?

Countering AH and keeping Italy at bay from a solo is not possible.

I suppose I have to keep Italy back?

Italy, I'm in a hard spot here. You know I can't simply turn and do what you would like against Russia till I have a bit more space. Your request in Denmark leaves Sweden vulnerable and then Norway. If you are willing to back down some, maybe we can talk.

goldfinger0303: Sorry to break your bubble, but your team never stood a chance of winning the tournament (notice the parenthetical remark):



"

The points are scored as follows.



420 for a win

420/n for a draw

0 for defeat.



Plus the SC count (any win has an SC count of 18)

"

Sure Germany, I'd be happy to back down if it means you'll knock Russia out for a 3wd. ;)

Russia. I was asking for a swap of Con for Sev. How did you not understand that?

Gentlemen, it has been most excellent playing with all of you. You are exceptional opponents and I have learned much from you! Best of wishes to you! I look forward to the ensuing analysis, but for the moment, real life beckons (the story of this game for me)...

Right, my EOG may have to wait a bit.

I don't need and EOG to hear whether or not you understood my intentions

Your intentions? I'm still waiting to hear Russia's big picture . . .

A-H: Did it matter? I had very few options. Italy, now the largest power in the game, had been consistently hostile for a century. You and Germany were hiding behind your draw votes. While I had long used diplomatic tactics to hold out or recoup, I felt that there was little I could do at the present juncture. If I lost any more ground, one of you could decide to withdraw your draw vote. Besides, you had overwhelming units to press into both Anatolia and my home SC's should you so choose and you displayed little interest in challenging Italy, particularly after Con and the A Bud build. Germany was too weak in my view – and in Germany's view assuming I interpreted "I suppose I have to keep Italy back?" correctly – to offer any help.



I did warn you that I was getting fed up with the half-hearted draw votes.

Italy: You never cared anyway, did you? I did intend to provide that 'big picture' for a long while there anyway, but I doubt that it would have made much of a difference.

A-H: And besides, how was I supposed to judge your reaction if you finally realized that you couldn't win the tournament even if you won the game with all 34 SC's in your pocket?

Russia, did you realize that I had intended to swap Sev for Con? I wanted you alive in the south, but a bit firmer under my control. First I had hoped the fleet would be allowed to retreat to Smyrna. This turn I was *strongly* hinting that I would allow you into Con- I even got Italy to disband Aegean.



From there. I would have rebuilt the displaced army in Trieste as a fleet and carried on with the invasion of Italy. Only this time help for Italy would be years away. I intended to have you take as many of his SC'd as possible so you could follow up with pressure from fleet builds in the north.



I literally couldn't say any of that though, until after the next builds phase.

Austria, I was guessing you were either going for the CON/SEV swap and leading Italy on for maximum effect (which would have been both brilliant and quite entertaining), or you were taking Italy's suggestion and going for the elimination of Russia. I couldn't be sure which. I was in no position to either move openly on Russia or continue moving against Italy and leave myself open to you sweeping Anatolia to StP with no opposition. I was simply going to issue orders this last round attempting to bide my time. I didn't see another option coming for an attempted German solo any time soon.



My basic approach for the majority of the game was to keep the game in enough balance to prevent the 4 way draw, but try to upset the balance just enough that the solo opportunities were in my favor, and the risk of being the eliminated party for the 3wd was minimal, leaving the pursuit of the 3 way draw as a last resort. Unfortunately my efforts were all too often hampered by lack of sufficient time to sustain uninterrupted growth (untimely NMR's), and on top of that, I lack the prowess and foresight some of you have for arranging the necessary favorable game dynamics to have made that happen for me often enough in this game. I must say I learned much from you all, and this has been a thoroughly enjoyable experience for me.

A-H: I felt that the risk that you would attempt to crush both Germany and myself was too high. Hence my final question for Germany. So no, I was focused on a different question.



But as I said, I was sick of all the Italy-pandering draw votes. It was only a matter of time before I was fed up enough to hit the button. You can't play real Diplomacy without opponents with objectives of their own.



Did you realize that your entire strategy for many decades was bogus and that in reality your team had already lost the tournament?

Germany: Yes, we had a very similar grand strategy most of the game. It was unfortunate when we finally lost our clout over the last decade. My efforts were seriously hampered by the lack of diplomatic options, since one of the four surviving powers had no intention all game of ever working with me (because of out-of-game tournament purposes).

Congratulations on sticking it out, players.

I don't know what you're going on about, Russia. Did you add that in parenthesis for your own emphasis? My team certainly had the chance to win. The original TD is gone, so I suppose we can't ask him. But, if you had thought my strategy was bogus, why not call me out years ago on it?



I also don't understand what your problem with the draw votes was. Italy would attack anyone who didn't want to draw. Germany and I were direct neighbors of Italy, and both of us could have been knocked out had Italy really pushed for it.

Russia - no, I never really cared about the big picture. I just used your continued omission as an opportunity to post Harry Potter memes. I found that entertaining, and perhaps there was some psychological value in undermining you and in promoting myself.

No, I didn't add the parenthesis:

http://webdiplomacy.net/profile.php?userID=14305

http://tournaments.webdiplomacy.net/diplomacy-world-cup



The tournament rules reflected WTA tabulation first, then PPSC tabulation second. PPSC had been modified years ago to stop winning players from delaying their win to gain extra SC's and more points. The tournament rules reflected that reality.



I never let you know because I feared that without your driving force (I assumed your tournament ambitions were your driving force), you would drive aggressively towards a draw to end the game.

Italy: They were funny. I'll give you that.

"I never let you know because I feared that without your driving force (I assumed your tournament ambitions were your driving force), you would drive aggressively towards a draw to end the game."



Well, you're right on both accounts there. Or I would've just tried to solo and not worried about the silly thing of taking over everyone's home SC's.

Which would likely have resulted on my immediate elimination if you had Anatolia surrounded from all directions.



I guess I meant 'scoring', not 'tabulation', by the way.