It’s called a joke, son. I could send you some literature.
I thought maybe RT screwed up and posted as someone else.
No, Wikkit, you were right. You’ll have to pardon JC. Keep posting. I, for one, think we should have as many people spectating as possible.
Speaking of which, hey Omni, are you making any progress on getting 1046 posted somewhere? If not, I have half a mind to do it myself, if only to have the honor of being heckled by Go alien again, now that I’m out of 1040 his remarks have kind of lost their sting for me.
Anybody checked out 1053 lately? That’s the one where Germany was in Marseilles in W01. He continued to use France like a urinal through 1902, while Italy participated in making a fool out both France and Turkey, to be tied with Germany and Russia for board leader with 6 centers each as of W02.
That game confuses me. For instance, in the Southeast Triangle, none of Turkey, Austria, or Russia appear to be cooperating with either of the other two. Turkey attacked Rumania with one support against Russia’s single defensive support, and Austria ordered one unit to attack Rum and the other to support a move to Gal. Another perplexing event occurred in Sweden – in S02 England moved into Sweden from Norway unopposed while German and Russian fleets bounced in GoB, but in the Fall the German fleet in Denmark moved again to GoB instead of supporting the English fleet in Swe, which amazingly moved of its own volition back to Nwy. I suppose both of these strange events can be ascribed to incredibly skillful diplomacy on Russia’s part, but it’s strange that anyone would choose to take his part in the first place after he was held to one build in 1901 and appeared to be under pressure from England, Germany, Austria, and Turkey (who successfully got a fleet into the Black in F01).
The mess in the Balkans gets even stranger. Austria ordered F Gre-Bul, and while my first thought was that this explained the Rumanian mixup (with a botched stab order – he meant to have A Ser support the Turkish attack on Rum, and F Gre to move into Bul behind the advancing Turk), he can’t possibly have believed that Turkey wouldn’t have ordered A Con-Bul anyway, bouncing the unsupported attack on Bul. But Austria can’t be pro-Russia, since he took the trouble to support a move into Galicia. Turkey, of course, allowed the fairly obvious Italian convoy into Smyrna to go on, and should give France a run for his money in the race for first out.
The same individualism appears to rule the Northern Triangle as well. Germany, England, and France have as of yet not cooperated with any of their companions, and Germany and France are clearly at odds. I would have guessed at the presence of an EG except for the strange behavior in Sweden. Germany appears to have designs on taking it himself, which I can’t imagine England would like to see, but all the same he’s being quite obliging about it. Germany does have Italy on his side, but will the one army Italy’s devoted to the western campaign so far be enough to make the difference?
As for Italy, I’d personally like to see a belated crunch in 1903. Italy stands to gain significantly less in the feeding frenzy in Turkey than either of his cohorts, although Austria can pretty effectively block Russia out of that equation unless Turkey disbands his Black Sea fleet (where’s the winter adjudication, JC?) With two builds coming, Italy can build A Ven and I guess F Nap and stab Austria, who was nice enough to leave Trieste empty. That same build would be most advantageous if Italy were intending to pursue the French campaign, so the threat of A Ven is easily explained to a trusting Archduke. If Turkey disbands A Con and Italy convoys Smy to Alb, Turkey can forcibly remove Austria’s F Gre from the board. Turkey stands to gain in that he won’t be eliminated immediately, and Italy of course gets Turkey’s help against Austria and can finish the Sultan at his leisure. Italy should gain at least Tri and Ser while keeping Smy at least through 1903, and subsequently will be the only one in position to take Vie and probably Bud as well (unless Germany gets his Munich army in on the action), and could squeeze an Iberian center out of his German friend, although England suddenly figures in that drama as well with his assertive move to the Mid-Atlantic.
Russia had better make some friends, and fast. Germany, England, and Italy shouldn’t take too long to finish slicing up France, and EG already outnumber Russia in the north 3 to 2.
France is doomed. As Germany I’d get Italy to support A Mun-Bur and order A Bel-Pic, Holland maybe to Ruhr, or better, Kiel if Italy is completely trustworthy, for a possible convoy to Lvn to drive the last nail into Russia for 1904. GI can force Spain and Paris in 1903 if they play it right, with England taking Portugal and Germany taking Brest in 1904, unless France disbands F Bre, which would confuse things and could drive a wedge between England and Germany as they bicker over spoils.
Turkey is screwed too, with an Italian army in Smyrna and a disband yet to come. If he’s a defensive-minded player, he could disband his Aegean fleet and hunker down. Unless RAI stay coordinated he has a decent shot at regaining Smyrna and keeping his other home centers, and beginning the all-too-typical Turkish defensive nightmare. One thing he’s got working for him is that with Russia on one side and Italy on the other, Austria could be left wondering where HIS Turkish gains will be coming, and could easily choose instead to accept Turkish support against Russia. Disbanding F BLA and ordering F AEG-Con, A Bul S AUSTRIAN A Ser-Rum, A Con-Ank would have good results if Italy does anything but move to Ank. Austria would be well served to make fast friends with Turkey, as he can offer Sevastopol and a vague promise of help against the Italians and expect to gain Rumania and later Warsaw and Moscow in the deal – and he doesn’t want Italy overrunning the Turks in any case because then he’d be caught in an Italian pinch that would be impossible to escape.
Austria could come out of this mess looking good, if Italy stays true. He’s quite well-poised to make gains from the collapse of both Turkey and Russia, and is the only Power likely to take any Russian home centers in the foreseeable future. He shouldn’t underestimate the likelihood of an Italian stab, as I see that as Italy’s only reasonable course of action, even if it doesn’t come in 1903 I’d be surprised if they stayed friendly into 1905 at the latest.
I have no advice for England. While I will admit that I haven’t followed that many games, it comes as a surprise to me given what I have seen that England ever wins a game.
Holy cow, is that ever long. I didn’t realize I was writing that much. Oh well, a boring Friday afternoon and no turns due for days, that’s the kind of thing I’m liable to do. Plus it’s so easy to be really critical when you have no idea who any of the players are.
Hey JC, I signed up for a game on the USDP Judge (I’m Austria! Looking forward to that). Any advice? How’s the quality of play in that context? So far there’s been a lot of press exchanged, which I take as a good sign.
On another note, I can’t believe you guys are still playing 1040. It won’t be much longer, though, once Munich gets sorted. I don’t think Russia can defend his northern centers and keep the pressure on Munich. Once Abe gains Prussia (I would estimate that to be the most important province on the board right now, interestingly enough), he’ll wield the tools he needs to break the defense of Stp and Ber, and once he does that and Russia has to start disbanding units, the house of cards will fall. The tactical guessing games there are fascinating, though, and layered in complexity. But I still say he takes it away.
You should check out 1019 Modern, that’s been a clusterfuck of a game.
Anyway, are we gonna do this tornament thing? By my count we’ve got:
Me ( I am the Lord thy God and Master )
Abe Babe ( Already planning a lawsuit against his opponents )
RTFirefly ( willing to take on involvement in an unprecidented two games at once )
Omniscient ( Just realized, the game won’t be much of a challenge if he’s really Omnicient. BTW, I have some questions about the commoties market when you have a sec… )
White Lightning ( who was suitably subservient about volunteering, y’all could learn from him. )
ppg_shg( How the hell do you pronounce THAT? )
We need at least one more, can take more than one, and at the very least one or two alternates would be real nice to have. Real Life and all that immaginary garbage.
I’ll alternate. Also a total newb, but if you’re at the warm body stage…
Dave, Modern is too busy for me. I can’t follow it all. But I’ll probably check it out anyway.
Well, while we’re looking for a 7th/alternate (I still think Shibb should join us), we can work out some of the other stuff. We need a team name. Didn’t you suggest ‘Dave’s’ something-or-others? Does everybody feel that’s the best we can come up with? If we’re looking for more players remember that there are SDMB players not reading this thread. I recall that Math Geek won 936, maybe somebody should get in touch with him.
Also, country assignments. For round 1 Dave has to assign us each a Power to play. This could potentially cause problems if we all have preferences. Can I call that I don’t have to play England? Also, in my limited Dipping experience I’ve only played Italy, Germany, Russia, and Austria, and I haven’t begun a game as Russia or finished one as Austria, although I probably will have done the latter by the time the tourney starts. And I imagine y’all don’t want to see me take Germany when it counts, although I do feel like I’ve learned some things since that disaster.
I just read the rules. Nate, am I right that rule/guideline D.VI.6 ‘Adjudication of Paradoxical Convoy Situations’ (about halfway down the page) is in contrast to the usual resolution of that problem? I at least remember reading in the USDP house rules that convoy paradoxes are allowed for, whereas the WMEDT rules just invalidate the whole shebang?
By the way RT, if you remember the question I asked you a while back about convoying against my own unit, they answer it in rule D.VI.7, at least for the purposes of this tourney.
I also have a question about No-DIAS games. House rules that allow No-DIAS universally say that draws must be agreed to by all remaining players but may or may not include all survivors. Why would any player with centers left ever vote for a draw that did not include himself? Does this only apply in the case of meta-strategy, eg. voting yourself out of a draw to end a game before a certain player increases his score, for purposes of team play? Or is there something that I’m missing?
I’m also shocked to see that the official rules allow grey and black press. Nate, have you played in these tourneys before, do GMs typically allow that, or do they go for the alternate rules which outlaw certain kinds of press? I’m not sure if I’m at a stage where I could handle a black-press game.
Also, if anyone’s played before, I’d like to know if GMs typically include maps with the adjudications. If not (and they certainly aren’t obligated to), I suggest that every member of our team familiarize themselves with RealPolitik or whatever other program they like, to make it easier on ourselves ahead of time.
Geez, am I talkative today or what. I think it’s time for bed.
Weirddave posting from JC’s house here
Bluesman has agreed to be the seventh player. This guy is plugged into a USAF Cray computer, and brings 20 years of Dip experience to the table. Now I need at least 2 alternates.
I’m curious as to how a Cray computer could help someone play Diplomacy, of all games. Aside from the intimidation factor 
(Don’t get me wrong: I’m as fond of decision tables as the next mathematically-obsessed sometimes-Diplomacy player, but a paper and pencil suffices for that…)
Good luck in the tournament, guys! Boy, I wish I had time for that right now. I’ll be cheering you on from the sidelines, though…
WL, I’ve got the basic template ready and could get the pages up for the moves you mailed me (I guess there’s been a year or so since then), but I’m still looking for some server access.
So whaddaya say, JC, can we use your site for 1046 updates too? It’s pretty much already the SDMB Diplomacy clearinghouse as it is.
Omni, if you can get access I can mail you the last year to go with it. Alternately, I could try to work something up on my budget Geocities site. If someone could explain to me how to take whatever format you’re working with and make it work with Geocities’ click and drag interface, I’d be happy to host it there, if nothing else works out I could do it manually myself.
Dave, JC, everybody else: I hope you guys are having a great time at Dope-a-Ween. Hoist a few for me, would ya?
About country assignments in the tourney, I like the way RT did it, by plugging in preferences into a mathamacalistic formula to maximize the chance of everyone getting something relatively high on their list.
I might also make the suggestion that noobs not get Austria or Germany, as it is easy to get pummelled in the beginning with those countries.
For a team name, how about the ‘Fighting Ignorants’?
It’s up to me. A mathmatical formula??? HA! AFAIC, 2 + 2 = 327. Good luck, y’all.
I love love love ‘Fighting Ignorants.’
We’re still waiting on one set of orders in Dip 1040. The party in question has been emailed.
Dip 1040 Spring 1906 results are up, in the usual place.
We need a retreat order from the Hapsburg potentate.
Since RT seems to be actually working during working hours, I’ll post here for common consumption that Austria is retreating from Moscow to Warsaw.
Why doesn’t any one want to ally with me? sniff.
What do you think I’ve been doing?
What? You don’t like the way I played Austria? I started out with 3 centers, and I’ve deftly whittled it down to 1. I even called Uno so I didn’t have to draw another center. What else can you ask for?
So you just want to use your family motto as the team name? Fine by me.
I’m so going to relish this turn…
I’m more of a mustard man, myself.