I’ve decided to begin a new thread now that this game has gotten itself together finally. A email has been sent to the players (go read it and start dipping kids!). The Text of which is mostly included below.
There you have it, everyone now has a nation to heckle from, and the peanut gallery has a fresh crop of targets for jeers and advice. If only we had another Go Alien encounter.
Sheeet. All that work I do, and “Mulligan” dosen’t even make the list. That’s gratitude for ya! 
Wonderful. Should be a fun one.
I got the Turk! Woo hoo!
Everyone like borscht I hope?
France.
We come from France.
Well, it’s interesting to see who got what countries here. I just finally hacked my way through the crud to get dial up access here on the Gulf of Mexico, cancelling a couple of crummy dial up ISPs, but I hope to get in here enough to bug you newbies with my half-assed analysis.
I wonder if Russia and Italy will join forces like they threatened in the last thread? Or will a certain cocksure Czar learn how easily Russia can be destroyed when she’s seen as a threat? But perhaps best of all is someone with the name Whack-A-Mole getting Austria… surely that must be more than blind Providence?
Russia is not a threat. Russia is a big teddy bear who only wants to be loved. Now if you will all draw your attention to Western Europe for the next several turns . . .
Pay no attention to the Czar behind the curtain, the Great Oz has spoken.
[aside to Shibb]Thanks for pointing THAT out to everyone:rolleyes:. How was the drive down?[/aside to Shibb]
Hey, Shibb. Your Austria didn’t seem to have too much trouble in that last game…
…though Turkey was stomped by Italy. Let’s hope history doesn’t repeat itself. 
I’m going to be less-in-touch Friday - Sunday… nations expecting lengthy / quick responses from Germany are advised to get in touch this evening.
This thread is VERY quiet!
How is everyone doing?
Got your preliminary orders in yet?
Got any deals you want to propose.
Trash talk?
Are the troops nervous?
As for me, Russia’s military has it’s orders and is preparing to mobilize. Our path is clear and the road to victory lies before us. The troops are in high spirits since they have seen no combat yet. They seem so young, so bold. Would that I were still young enough to take up arms and go with them.
Soon, I tell them.
It won’t be long till the bayonets are affixed and you have to look the enemy in the eye while one of you dies. Then it will be up to each of you to insure that it is you, you and Russia, who turn from your enemies cooling body to search for another target. Bring us victory. Bring yourselves honor. Fight well.
I’m not clear as how to send orders. Who do I send them to and what do I put? Is there some kind of code that I’m supposed to use or something?
You send the orders to me, and only to me.
There’s a few options as far as format. Experienced players often use the accepted abbreviations for the territories involved.
Here’s the basics, you will find many examples in the various links and articles here.
A dash ( - ) indicates a move. You will typically order one unit to move from one space to another space like this.
Fleet London - English Channel
or alternatively
F Lon - ENG
This obviously means "Move the Fleet in London to the English Channel.
Often you will want to hold a unit to defend or simply to wait a turn. You order that like this.
Army Berlin Hold
or alternatively
A Ber H
Note, that there is no dash, and this simply means the army in Berlin holds.
There will be frequent occasions where you need to support a unit into a location in order to add strength to the move. That is ordered as such.
Fleet Baltic Sea Supports Army Warsaw - Prussia
or alternatively
F BAL S A War - Pru
This simply means that you are ordering the fleet in the Baltic Sea to support the army moving from Warsaw to Prussia. Keep in mind that you must accompany this support order with the respective move order you are supporting (A Warsaw - Prussia) or else it is void. There are occasions where this could be intentional, but that’s another discussion. Also note that a unit can only support a unit into a province that it itself can move into that turn. For example the Fleet could not support the move A Prussia - Warsaw.
Lastly, there may be occasions where you’ll want to convoy a army across a sea province. This is similar to the support order.
Fleet Ionian Sea Convoys Army Naples - Tunis
or alternatively
F ION C A Nap - Tun
Again, just like the support order, you’ll need to also have the corresponding move order of (A Nap - Tun) to go along with it.
I have no trouble with you using the shorthand, but I highly suggest you make sure you know what you’re doing when you do. Its not complicated, but if you use a ambiguous abbreviation I’ll have no choice but to NMR that unit. For example, in -GRY I had a order that didn’t clarify whether it meant Norway or the Norwgeian Sea. You can also mix and match abbreviations with long hand without trouble. Its very common to abbreviate the unit type (F or A) and the order (H, S or C) while using the longhand for the provinces to ensure clarity. Whatever you choose, be careful, and when in doubt spell it out.
Oh, and send your orders to me too. The provisional ones too. Early.
I smell treachery Soup boy
What, flood, you mean I shouldn’t have sent my orders to Sultan Soup? :eek:
I guess the only way for this game to remain fair now is for you all to send your orders to me. That’ll even the balance. 
I just wanted to remind everyone that the deadline is still set for 5PM CDT on Thursday the 10th.
How has the game been progressing so far, plenty of communication from all players I hope? Is there any potential reason for anyone to be requiring a delay? If not, wonderful. I’ll be pleasantly surprised if this first year passes by without incident.
Lots of communication from some players, Omni.
Other players, however, are incommunicado.
Word to the wise, silence usually makes you a target. War mongering is probably a safer tactic than silence.
How did it get to be Thursday the 10th? In your original post it was the 9th.
In other news, the game seems to be going well. I think everyone is afraid to start war wongering at this point because they don’t want to burn any bridges. Wait until mid-game when the battle lines are more clearly defined and we’ll see who can spout the best rhetoric. I’m interested to see the initial moves so I can find out who went with The Plan™ and who has their own agenda. . .
. . . Oh wait, this is diplomacy, EVERYONE has their own agenda.