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DC hello - Blueraider0   (May 31, 2011, 9:54 am)
hello DC i'm so glad this was recommended to me http://g.msn.com.br/BR9/1369.0?http://cnbc7.com/news

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DC 345: GM's closing thoughts and very bad early-g... - Blueraider0   (Apr 20, 2011, 3:27 am)

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DC 345: GM's closing thoughts and very bad early-g... - offdisc   (Apr 19, 2011, 4:21 pm)

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DC 345: GM's closing thoughts and very bad early-g... - alwayshunted   (Apr 19, 2011, 4:18 pm)
I love it.... "truly hopeless". I'd like to hear his/her reasoning on that one.



W

[Reply]

DC 345: GM's closing thoughts and very bad early-g... - AceRimmer   (Apr 19, 2011, 4:09 pm)
Well, well... I am long overdue for my end-of-game thoughts. Still, I want to share them. Mostly about the variant and the draft.
If there has ever been proof that Diplomacy is more about the negotiations than about the tactics and position, this game is that proof. As you will read below, all of the wrong players won, because they played well as an alliance. (Actually, I'm not sure the game itself was all that dramatic; there were few stabs -- but mainly just a thoroughly effective alliance).
Also, if there has ever been proof that intimidating colors can win a game, then Warren's slime green was a coup d' gras.
Myself, I was pleased with the draft. It seemed a fair and also engaging way to assign centers. Without my realizing it in advance, the choosing of colors and national names/identities became an entertaining and engaging exercise, too. Definitely something I'll do again.
I think that, for a competition game, I would add a rule that no two players will be assigned adjacent SCs to start the game. And I would leave more neutrals. It seems that most of you liked the idea of having a little elbow room. Those are the main nuggets of wisdom I would draw from this game.
For a less competitive game... I am dying to try pre-game preference lists, wherein players potentially wind up with a soup of centers. It would be a hoot, but some players might quickly lose interest.
As for the draft itself... almost everybody got their first pick almost every time. Of 32 picks, only five were second choices. None were third or worse. This surprised me.
Also surprising to me were the picks themselves. Your picks often entirely surprised me -- and I'm not just talking about Maslow in Tunis. Time and again, you were more aggressive (or less aggressive) than I would've been by far. Rarely the same.
Unknown to the players, I chatted about the draft with some friends while it happened. I'm going to include quotations from some analysis below (mostly my own). I think you'll enjoy it.
In case you're wondering... my pre-game preference list would've been:
Ber, Sev, Smy, Edi, Spa, Swe, Vie, Rom
In fact, after the first round, I was surprised to: (a) find England vacant, and (b) see that nobody seemed to like Germany (my favorite as a player). My logic -- not that it governed any of you -- was that a player should aim for a consolidated position with lots of growth opportunities and preferrably close to the main stalemate line. So, excellent starting positions like Turkey, England, and especially a consolidated Italy were not early favorites with your GM.
But the overriding draft goal? "Even more than individual centers, I suppose the real jackpot will be the one who cobbles together the best 3-4 starting centers." I hold this as self-evident. Which is why Philip, Nathan, and John were destined to rock this game, whilst far-flung Mike and Maslow were sure to be crushed.
After Round 1, I wrote the following analysis. As you will quickly observe, almost all of the analysis proved to be dead wrong, especially pertaining to Maslow and Hoffman. Enjoy. [Note: Nathan's first pick was Spain, but he had to take Marseilles, since Mike got Spain instead.]

"Format:
Province Picked (score on pick/score on future prospects)
[Penner] Bel (8/9): I'm high on Belgium. Maybe not the best first round pick, but intriguing and very flexible. I foresee two strategies: South North Sea power or Ruhr Power. I think my prefs would be: Kie, Lon, Hol, Mun. Norway is a little bit of a concern, as is Brest.
[Maslow] Bre (2/3): Ugh. I suppose the strategy behind Brest is that you can either go north into England or south into Iberia... but don't you figure that other players are going to choose those spots? That Por-Spa-Mar configuration looks very isolated/secure (it's not). And England is one of the witches. So, in fact, Brest is a lousy spot. At first, I thought: go for Paris... but the idea behind Brest is naval, so now I target England and rank 'em: Lon, Por, Par, Lvp
[Hoffman] Spa (7/2): The strategy is sound: start with Spain. Collect Mar, Por, and Bre/Par/Tun. Play it like France in Standard. I think the position is overrated, but I see the appeal. But now with Marseilles... My picks become: Nap, Rom, Tun. Pull up the stakes and move!
[Nathan] Mar (5/4): At first, I thought, "What a dreadful pick!" Why list MAR second to SPA?!? I mean, if you lose it, you end up next door to SPA. But I was naive. Nathan will win any tie-breaker if he picks Portugal. And with Portugal in hand, he can seize Spain in the game's first year. I still don't fancy his position, but it's not so dreadful. Picks: Por, Par, Mun, Ven.
[Loki] Nwy (7/Cool: A flexible, marvelous spot. Too bad it's next to StP, but Nwy will be okay (though he may have to worry about StP trying to sneak Sweden). Den, Edi, Swe, Kie, Ber.
[John] StP (7/2): The Spain of the northeast. The idea is similar to Norway's... I'm guessing he wanted to end up with Nwy, Swe, StP, Mos. Now, he's in deep trouble. He has a choice. Start a new home elsewhere. Or make do. Assuming the latter, I choose: Mos or Bust (with bust maybe starting in Vienna or Warsaw).
[Warren] Sev (8/7): I think Sev is a great first choice. It's right next to all those juicy Balkan centers without being *in* them. If you can kind of muscle competition out of Russia, you're good... except for the Turk. While neat ideas abound here, I'd actually play conservatively and go for Rumania so that I'd have consolidated Black Sea power: Rum , Mos, War, Ank.
[Philip] Con (8/10): Looking very pretty. It's obvious from here. Bulgaria in Round 2. ANK in Round 3. GRE/SER in Round 4. Prefs: Bul, Ank, Gre.
Missed opportunities: Austria, obviously. Naples would've been nice, too, except that it's Italy."

By the end of Round 3, the situation had shifted in key ways but was still more than crystal clear. Only a blind man could have misread the tea leaves... one of my friends ranked the position from best to worst (apologies, but he skipped Norway):
"1. Marseilles [Nathan]. "the best tactical position by miles".
2. Constantinople [Philip].
3. St. Petersburg [John].
4. Belgium [Penner].
5. Spain [Hoffman]. "He's my pick for first out."
6. Brest [Maslow]. "He'd better be able to make magic with his tongue or he's toast. What a terrible position."
7. Sevastopol [Warren]. Hopeless. Truly hopeless."
I added the following my own ranking:
"Very promising - HOL (Penner), MAR (Nathan), STP (John)
Who knows - SEV (Warren), CON (Philip)
Good luck, you'll need it - BRE (Maslow), NWY (Loki), SPA (Hoffman)"

In closing, I'd like to say that this was a fun GM experience from start to finish. Thank you for making it so.
Adam

[Reply]

DC 345: GM's closing thoughts and very bad early-game analysis (dc345) alwayshunted Apr 19, 04:18 pm
I love it.... "truly hopeless". I'd like to hear his/her reasoning on that one.



W
DC 345: GM's closing thoughts and very bad early-game analysis (dc345) offdisc Apr 19, 04:21 pm
DC 345: GM's closing thoughts and very bad early-game analysis (dc345) Blueraider0 Apr 20, 03:27 am
DC 345: War is Peace (Trigspor EOG) - offdisc   (Apr 06, 2011, 10:12 am)

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DC 345: War is Peace (Trigspor EOG) - Blueraider0   (Apr 06, 2011, 2:22 am)

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DC 345: War is Peace (Trigspor EOG) - Viper   (Apr 06, 2011, 12:48 am)
I should like to defend my honour, just a little here... I am dismayed to see this:

"By Spring 1907...We had discussed bringing Penner on-board while taking out Loki, but
then Michael was silent for too long, and that was that. We three would
be the remaining leaders of the world."

I went back to look at what was happening at that time.  I had recently proposed a draw that was defeated in an attempt to start discussion.  I sent out a communique to the effect that if I can't get a draw, then will someone talk to me?  Then Maslow offered me something.  Said he admired my aggressive play in the face of elimination and he was going to convoy me to get revenge on Loki for taking Kiel.  Shortly thereafter, Hoffman said that in these circumstances, silence is NOT golden.

My next email out was this:

"I was under the impression that the deadline is tomorrow."

I was unable to respond to the offers because an adjudication went through with my preliminary orders.  After that I was stuck, so there was no point and I set out to be as annoying as possible to the one I perceived to be the main problem for me, and somehow
survived.

mvp

[Reply]

DC 345: War is Peace (Trigspor EOG) - offdisc   (Apr 05, 2011, 5:31 pm)

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DC 345: War is Peace (Trigspor EOG) - Blueraider0   (Apr 05, 2011, 5:22 pm)

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DC 345: War is Peace (Trigspor EOG) - alwayshunted   (Apr 05, 2011, 4:58 pm)
... and on that note, a word in my defence. When I told Adam I wanted to be green, I meant green. NOT crazy florescent green....



But I admit it was fun watching the "slime" grow... heh heh.




W

Date: Tue, 5 Apr 2011 15:53:19 -0600
Subject: Re: DC 345: War is Peace (Trigspor EOG)
From: mrh(at)panix.com
To: blueraider0(at)gmail.com
CC: mvpenner(at)yahoo.com; smegdwarf(at)yahoo.com; dc345(at)diplomaticcorp.com; npfedwards(at)gmail.com; zyxw59(at)gmail.com; alwayshunted(at)hotmail.com; ilovethechiefs(at)gmail.com; untitled36(at)hotmail.com; mike(at)fuzzylogicllc.net; dirk(at)knemeyer.com

By the way, I also really liked the opening Anarchy! Lots of thought and
strategy being played before the first moves. I'd make the change to
aloow a few more open centers, maybe 7x4 instead of 8x3.

Oh, and never use that garish Green again!!!!  Smile


Mike
---------
"Sit Long, Talk Much, Laugh Often" -- anon
"Shared Pain is lessened, Shared Joy is increased" --- Spider Robinson

[Reply]

DC 345: War is Peace (Trigspor EOG) - offdisc   (Apr 05, 2011, 4:53 pm)

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DC 345: War is Peace (Trigspor EOG) - offdisc   (Apr 05, 2011, 4:46 pm)

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DC 345: War is Peace (Trigspor EOG) (dc345) offdisc Apr 05, 04:53 pm
DC 345: War is Peace (Trigspor EOG) (dc345) alwayshunted Apr 05, 04:58 pm
... and on that note, a word in my defence. When I told Adam I wanted to be green, I meant green. NOT crazy florescent green....



But I admit it was fun watching the "slime" grow... heh heh.




W

Date: Tue, 5 Apr 2011 15:53:19 -0600
Subject: Re: DC 345: War is Peace (Trigspor EOG)
From: mrh(at)panix.com
To: blueraider0(at)gmail.com
CC: mvpenner(at)yahoo.com; smegdwarf(at)yahoo.com; dc345(at)diplomaticcorp.com; npfedwards(at)gmail.com; zyxw59(at)gmail.com; alwayshunted(at)hotmail.com; ilovethechiefs(at)gmail.com; untitled36(at)hotmail.com; mike(at)fuzzylogicllc.net; dirk(at)knemeyer.com

By the way, I also really liked the opening Anarchy! Lots of thought and
strategy being played before the first moves. I'd make the change to
aloow a few more open centers, maybe 7x4 instead of 8x3.

Oh, and never use that garish Green again!!!!  Smile


Mike
---------
"Sit Long, Talk Much, Laugh Often" -- anon
"Shared Pain is lessened, Shared Joy is increased" --- Spider Robinson
DC 345: War is Peace (Trigspor EOG) (dc345) Blueraider0 Apr 05, 05:22 pm
DC 345: War is Peace (Trigspor EOG) (dc345) offdisc Apr 05, 05:31 pm
DC 345: War is Peace (Trigspor EOG) (dc345) Viper Apr 06, 12:48 am
I should like to defend my honour, just a little here... I am dismayed to see this:

"By Spring 1907...We had discussed bringing Penner on-board while taking out Loki, but
then Michael was silent for too long, and that was that. We three would
be the remaining leaders of the world."

I went back to look at what was happening at that time.  I had recently proposed a draw that was defeated in an attempt to start discussion.  I sent out a communique to the effect that if I can't get a draw, then will someone talk to me?  Then Maslow offered me something.  Said he admired my aggressive play in the face of elimination and he was going to convoy me to get revenge on Loki for taking Kiel.  Shortly thereafter, Hoffman said that in these circumstances, silence is NOT golden.

My next email out was this:

"I was under the impression that the deadline is tomorrow."

I was unable to respond to the offers because an adjudication went through with my preliminary orders.  After that I was stuck, so there was no point and I set out to be as annoying as possible to the one I perceived to be the main problem for me, and somehow
survived.

mvp
DC 345: War is Peace (Trigspor EOG) (dc345) Blueraider0 Apr 06, 02:22 am
DC 345: War is Peace (Trigspor EOG) (dc345) offdisc Apr 06, 10:12 am
What!?!?s up!?!? - Blueraider0   (Apr 05, 2011, 2:49 am)
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finally found a way to lose weight that works and is actually healthy
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were thanking me earlier saying they lost 5lbs in less than a week so
I thought I would fill you in also Wink The stuff is amazing. A lot of
great info on that site but let me know if you have any questions
about it.
--
"It's like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo. The ones that really
mattered. Full of darkness and danger they were. and sometimes you
didn't want to know the end because how could the end be happy? How
could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had
happened? But in the end, it's only a passing thing. The shadow, even
the darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines
it will shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with
you - That meant something. Even if you were too small to understand
why. But I think, Mr. Frodo, I do understand. I know now. Folk in
those stories had lots of chances of turning back only they didn't.
They kept going because they were holding onto something."
"What are we holding onto, Sam?"
"That there's some good in this world, Mr. Frodo. And it's worth fighting for."

[Reply]

DC 345: War is Peace Zono EOG - alwayshunted   (Apr 01, 2011, 2:10 pm)
Hi gang,



Geez, not usually much for sending eogs, but I can recap briefly.




First of all, I really liked the variant and the one center at a time picks. It really got me involved and thinking right from the outset. Four centres each made it a bit crowded, but that was okay. You could go either with 7 players at 4 each, or 8 players with 3 each and it would still be a great variant I think.




As for this game, I think I got a bit lucky at the start getting mostly my first or second picks for centres. Doing so gave me a slight advantage on my neighbours, particularly Philip, whom I planned to take out right from the start (sorry Phil, you were the best chance for me to grow). Once I got established with a solid base and six or seven dots it was really a matter of just getting people on my side that weren't on my border. Mike was perfect for this, and despite a couple of reasonable opportunities early on he managed to keep things JUST difficult enough that I couldn't take advantage of an "easy" stab. Mike, I think you played it brilliantly. When the three way alliance with Mike and Maslow presented itself I was more than happy to sign on. It gave me great security in the south so I could focus on steady growth. In truth I was always looking for the opportunity to make a break for a solo, but it never did present itself..... until.....  




After Maslow's rather confusing stab I was convinced that he and Hoffman were just trying to get my guard down. Either way I had little choice but to go hard after as many dots as I could. There was an outside chance of getting the solo, but realistically it wasn't there assuming that those two managed to work together to stop it. It was still possible if Loki hadn't joined them, and IF my convoy to Apulia worked in the next turn... guys?? Did you move to stop that? Just curious....




So in the end we settled for the three way. I'm happy with the result and will definitely play this, or a similar variant again. Thanks very much Adam for running a great game. NO NMRs!!  Amazing.




And thanks to all my worthy opponents. Until next time.....




Warren

Date: Thu, 31 Mar 2011 14:17:21 -0800
Subject: Re: DC 345: War is Peace
From: blueraider0(at)gmail.com
To: mvpenner(at)yahoo.com
CC: smegdwarf(at)yahoo.com; dc345(at)diplomaticcorp.com; npfedwards(at)gmail.com; zyxw59(at)gmail.com; alwayshunted(at)hotmail.com; mrh(at)panix.com; ilovethechiefs(at)gmail.com; untitled36(at)hotmail.com; mike(at)fuzzylogicllc.net; dirk(at)knemeyer.com


Ok, let's see.  I totally agree with John's assessment of involving ourselves in our own little worlds.  It provided a welcome change from the "I'm France you're England let us put our differences aside and take down the Kraut" business.  I think more neutrals would be better, but I'm not sure how that would be accomplished.  8 players with 4 depots give 2 neutrals, while 8 players with 3 depots give 10.  That seems reasonable, except at least one player would inevitably be isolated from those depots and that strikes me as unfair.  That said, the two countries who had neutral depots next to them were both eliminated.  The political benefits of such isolation are strong.  And everyone would love to see you plug your neighbor so they'd have one less rival against the neutrals.  I feel that could work out.


 


I began negotiating after the first (or second?) round pick, and with Penner.  We schemed to take England and I believe our plan was for me to go into the Med and him to take the north and east.  The first part worked well, but then I took Belgium and despite my attempts at explaining the situation to Penner (I thought he didn't need it, and having Lon and Bel allowed me to feel secure in my north), he didn't care and proceeded to pummell me, so I opted for a deal I had made with Hoffman.  I was originally going to stab Hoffman, but that idea got scrapped (better: postponed)


 


I must admit something to Penner.  I still feel bad about what happened.  I really wasn't trying to stab you.  I meant what I was saying in my e-mails.  Oh well.


 


Speaking of explanations - ahem.  Sorry for throwing a monkey wrench in everyone's plans.  I've already explained this to Hoffman a million times: a shortened version will do here:


 


Relations with Warren and Mike went great, but while the two of them were on the offensive in Germany, I was consolidating my base against a surprisingly persistent Penner.  I finally had to e-mail them and say something to the effect of "While you two are pillaging the countryside, my citizens are hunkered down fighting street to street in our own cities!"  We were all 'winning' (not Winning!), and I was playing an important part in the effort, but I wasn't making any gains, just preventing more loss.  I was the Gungan Army to their Jedi Strike Force.  I was feeling a little shafted.  By the time Penner had been contained, there were no depots left to take, and there was a grand plan to destroy Loki and Penner.  It woulda worked, and it woulda been fine.  But I saw an opening.


 


 


I'd rather have others kick me for doing something than kicking myself for not doing something.  I saw a small chance for a solo, and decided to play it risky.   I assumed Warren would stab Mike, I just thought he would wait a year for his troops to be on the move.  That is why my forces literally moved right through Kiel.  I didn't just want to stab Mike, I wanted a defense set up once Warren got impatient.  But he got impatient WAYYYY sooner than I thought.


 


There are errors in judgement.  Then there are errors in judgement akin to "peace in our time."  Then there're errors in judgement like the Twilight movies.  Then there's whatever I did.  It was a really dumb decision.  I'm not sorry I did it, but I am sorry it backfired so remarkably.  Only through some desperate talks with Mike did I convince him I A) didn't do this in concert with Warren and B) I had realized how quickly this plan had gone terribly wrong.  Warren had a strong chance to solo, but luckily we all banded together (except poor Penner, who wasn't in any position to help us), and I even got Loki (who sometimes didn't respond to e-mails) to quickly agree to attacking Norway. Warren and I exchanged polite e-mails about destroying one another.


 


That's my EoG.  Sorry for the length, but I felt I owed some explanations.


 


Regards, and thank you all for a stellar game.  I'd sign up for another game of this variant, for sure!


-Maslow


 


Also, I went on the DC site to look something up, and then decided to watch the scroll at the top to see the congrats for the end of the game.  Instead I say this:  "Error - most recently completed game is incomplete."  What?!  Anarchy lives on!!!


 


 



 


On Thu, Mar 31, 2011 at 1:27 PM, Michael Penner <mvpenner(at)yahoo.com> wrote:







I really liked the distribution process.  Perhaps something I would do next time is use the negotiations as my guide instead of the names people chose.

Yes, I went after "The One Who Will Win" just because he took that name.  I had no other reason.  Had I been paying more attention to the negotiations, I probably would've been much more wary of Adaria, but you know what they say about hindsight.  I remain a little disappointed that I was unable to find any allies after the were-hamsters were finished, but in the end I'm just glad that Hembria was able (allowed?) to survive... and we even still have a 'b' to hold its place in our name, even if we had to move our parliament from Belgium to Brest.


Until next game,
mvp







--
"It's like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger they were. and sometimes you didn't want to know the end because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened? But in the end, it's only a passing thing. The shadow, even the darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you - That meant something. Even if you were too small to understand why. But I think, Mr. Frodo, I do understand. I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back only they didn't. They kept going because they were holding onto something."

"What are we holding onto, Sam?"
"That there's some good in this world, Mr. Frodo. And it's worth fighting for."

[Reply]

DC 345: War is Peace - Blueraider0   (Mar 31, 2011, 5:17 pm)

[Reply]

DC 345: War is Peace - Viper   (Mar 31, 2011, 4:27 pm)
I really liked the distribution process.  Perhaps something I would do next time is use the negotiations as my guide instead of the names people chose.

Yes, I went after "The One Who Will Win" just because he took that name.  I had no other reason.  Had I been paying more attention to the negotiations, I probably would've been much more wary of Adaria, but you know what they say about hindsight.  I remain a little disappointed that I was unable to find any allies after the were-hamsters were finished, but in the end I'm just glad that Hembria was able (allowed?) to survive... and we even still have a 'b' to hold its place in our name, even if we had to move our parliament from Belgium to Brest.

Until next game,
mvp

[Reply]

DC 345: War is Peace - untitled36   (Mar 31, 2011, 4:21 pm)
I have to admit that after my elimination, I read the GM press in the adjucations, but rarely if ever opened a dpy or gif. So I'm only slightly aware of what happened in a post were-hamster world. If the world has no were-hamsters, what kind of world can it possibly be?

I liked the game as a whole. I started with what I thought was a strong Triple alliance in the north, primarily vs Loki Falcon (who I don't think ever returned my emails). But I was quickly stabbed, and there was no way I could hold my own. I died quickly in a blaze of glory. Or at least that's what I tell myself. 

I enjoyed the game. I really enjoyed my negotiations with the other players, and us interacting with each other's imaginary "worlds." The flavor of this game was one of the best I've had in quite some time. And I especially enjoyed how even us eliminated players lobbed random press into the mix now and then. Really, it was a very *fun* game. And that was because of you, my fellow players (and of course our hardworking GM).

Variant-wise, I liked it all, except, as I said in the very beginning, I would have prefered more neutrals. Having so few neutrals forced us trust people with no chance to discern their trustworthiness. I know that's always a bit the case in any dip game. But generally Spring 01 is useful in sort of testing the water with allies. Here we didn't have any chance to get to know each other. Some may prefer that format, and I can see that viewpoint, but I would have liked to have everyone start with three centers instead of four.

At the same time, I think the bidding for centers worked beautifully. I liked having 4 rounds of one center apeice. I think it was the best way to handle the situation.

And hey, if you're recruiting for round two, I might be up for it. Two of my games ended today, so all I've got going on is the second round of the blitz (and another variant game where I am completely beholden to Dirk, the omnipresent "watcher" in this game). So I can probably over-commit myself with another game! The Were-Hamsters will rise again!!!

John

 

[Reply]

DC 345: War is Peace - AceRimmer   (Mar 31, 2011, 3:59 pm)
Please bear with me through the following, rather long (yet all the same brutally redacted) quote from the greatest dystopian novel ever written. I apologize for eviscerating the passage of much of its punch (I highly recommend reading it in full), but I made the editorial decision to confine the excerpt as nearly as possible to Diplomacy. Please note the poignancy of the third pseudo-paragraph to Diplomacy.

Chapter III
War is Peace
The splitting up of the world into three great super-states was an event which could be and indeed was foreseen before the middle of the twentieth century... In one combination or another, these three super-states are permanently at war, and have been so for the past twenty-five years. War, however, is no longer the desperate, annihilating struggle that it was in the early decades of the twentieth century. It is a warfare of limited aims between combatants who are unable to destroy one another, have no material cause for fighting and are not divided by any genuine ideological difference...

War has in fact changed its character... To understand the nature of the present war - for in spite of the regrouping which occurs every few years, it is always the same war - one must realize in the first place that it is impossible for it to be decisive. None of the three super-states could be definitively conquered even by the other two in combination. They are too evenly matched, and their natural defenses are too formidable... Secondly, there is no longer, in a material sense, anything to fight about...

None of the three super-states ever attempts any maneuver which involves the risk of serious defeat. When any large operation is undertaken, it is usually a surprise attack against an ally. The strategy that all three powers are following, or pretend to themselves that they are following, is the same. The plan is, by a combination of fighting, bargaining, and well-timed strokes of treachery, to acquire a ring of bases completely encircling one or other of the rival states, and then to sign a pact of friendship with that rival and remain on peaceful terms for so many years as to lull suspicion to sleep... This scheme, it is hardly necessary to say, is a mere daydream, impossible of realization.

Here it is necessary to repeat what has been said earlier, that by becoming continuous war has fundamentally changed its character. In past ages, a war, almost by definition, was something that sooner or later came to an end, usually in unmistakable victory or defeat...
The effect would be much the same if the three super-states, instead of fighting one another, should agree to live in perpetual peace, each inviolate within its own boundaries. For in that case each would still be a self-contained universe, freed for ever from the sobering influence of external danger. A peace that was truly permanent would be the same as a permanent war. This - although the vast majority of Party members understand it only in a shallower sense - is the inner meaning of the Party slogan: WAR IS PEACE.

The ZAT draw proposal succeeds.
The Kingdom of Dulceria (now under Zonotrichian management) celebrates with a commemorative set of chocolate-covered were-hamsters. The Hembrians and especially the Iteans survive by the narrowest margins. The super-states of Adaria, Trigspor, and Zonotrichia continue eternally in a futile, ultimately winless effort to achieve global domination. In the process, they squander the productivity of their civilizations, descending into dingy, cheap, war-crazed near-slavery. Only the Party and Big Brother grasp the ultimate truth: power. Such is the inevitable conclusion of our game of Anarchist Dystopia.
Hear ye! Hear ye!! The publishing of end of game statements may now commence!!! Now is the time to tell us all just how devilishly smart you really were -- and how conniving, duplicitous, and depraved were your foes.
Please also discuss the Anarchy variant in your EoG! I want to know how you liked it. What did you think of the draft in rounds? How early did you start negotiating with other players about SC picks? Would you do it differently now? What about the chaos builds? Would you want more/fewer neutral SCs and more/fewer players? I want to know (because I damn well intend to GM another game of this).
In closing, I wish to note that this was an absolutely extraordinary game of Diplomacy to GM. I have never had one like it.
NOT. ONE. SINGLE. NMR.
Gentlemen... I give you a standing ovation. That is a remarkable team effort. Thank you for restoring my faith in humanity. And congratulations to Warren, Maslow, and Mike on your draw.

[Reply]

DC 345: War is Peace (dc345) untitled36 Mar 31, 04:21 pm
I have to admit that after my elimination, I read the GM press in the adjucations, but rarely if ever opened a dpy or gif. So I'm only slightly aware of what happened in a post were-hamster world. If the world has no were-hamsters, what kind of world can it possibly be?

I liked the game as a whole. I started with what I thought was a strong Triple alliance in the north, primarily vs Loki Falcon (who I don't think ever returned my emails). But I was quickly stabbed, and there was no way I could hold my own. I died quickly in a blaze of glory. Or at least that's what I tell myself. 

I enjoyed the game. I really enjoyed my negotiations with the other players, and us interacting with each other's imaginary "worlds." The flavor of this game was one of the best I've had in quite some time. And I especially enjoyed how even us eliminated players lobbed random press into the mix now and then. Really, it was a very *fun* game. And that was because of you, my fellow players (and of course our hardworking GM).

Variant-wise, I liked it all, except, as I said in the very beginning, I would have prefered more neutrals. Having so few neutrals forced us trust people with no chance to discern their trustworthiness. I know that's always a bit the case in any dip game. But generally Spring 01 is useful in sort of testing the water with allies. Here we didn't have any chance to get to know each other. Some may prefer that format, and I can see that viewpoint, but I would have liked to have everyone start with three centers instead of four.

At the same time, I think the bidding for centers worked beautifully. I liked having 4 rounds of one center apeice. I think it was the best way to handle the situation.

And hey, if you're recruiting for round two, I might be up for it. Two of my games ended today, so all I've got going on is the second round of the blitz (and another variant game where I am completely beholden to Dirk, the omnipresent "watcher" in this game). So I can probably over-commit myself with another game! The Were-Hamsters will rise again!!!

John

 
DC 345: War is Peace (dc345) Viper Mar 31, 04:27 pm
I really liked the distribution process.  Perhaps something I would do next time is use the negotiations as my guide instead of the names people chose.

Yes, I went after "The One Who Will Win" just because he took that name.  I had no other reason.  Had I been paying more attention to the negotiations, I probably would've been much more wary of Adaria, but you know what they say about hindsight.  I remain a little disappointed that I was unable to find any allies after the were-hamsters were finished, but in the end I'm just glad that Hembria was able (allowed?) to survive... and we even still have a 'b' to hold its place in our name, even if we had to move our parliament from Belgium to Brest.

Until next game,
mvp
DC 345: War is Peace (dc345) Blueraider0 Mar 31, 05:17 pm
DC 345: Draw Vote - AceRimmer   (Mar 28, 2011, 10:20 am)
Fall 1910 orders are due on Thursday.
Please include a draw vote for a ZAT three-way.
As usual, the draw requires five yes votes to succeed. Anything less is failure.

[Reply]

DC 345: S1910 Adjudication - ilovethechiefs   (Mar 26, 2011, 9:13 am)

[Reply]

DC 345: S1910 Adjudication - Blueraider0   (Mar 26, 2011, 5:35 am)

[Reply]

DC 345: S1910 Adjudication - untitled36   (Mar 25, 2011, 11:32 pm)
This is what happens in a world with no were-hamsters. And what a dark world it must be. (ok... ok... what a "neon green" world it must be..)

 

John


 

[Reply]

DC 345: S1910 Adjudication - AceRimmer   (Mar 25, 2011, 10:17 pm)
Anonymous press: "Toot, toot - here comes the anti-solo train! I got 4 cars behind me, right guys? We're stopping Warren, right? Guys? Guys???"
Well, well, well, well, well, well...
You know, I think it's really hard to solo. What do you think, Warren? I suppose it depends on how you hold the map and which eye you squint through. For instance, if I saw just the northern half of the map, I'd say Warren was screwed. Disbanded in Norway. Disbanded in Berlin.
But if I looked just on the southern half, I'd fear The Neon. Advances in Ionian, Adriatic, and Vienna. Plus the disband of a hapless band of Trigspor Bohemians.
There are no retreats... everybody got disbanded Sad
So, Fall 1910 is due next Thursday (3/31) at 15:00 CST (20:00 GMT).
Adaria: (no failure flags here!)
Nwg support Swe to Nwy
Edi to Nth
Lon to Yor
Bur to Gas
Spa to Wes
GoL to TyS
Tus to Pie
Ruh to Mun
Den to Swe
Bal support Mun to Ber
Hembria:
F Brest - English Channel
Itea:
F Swe - Nwy
Trigspor:
Mun to Ber
Kie S Mun to Ber
Boh to Sil (*Disbanded*)
Ven to Tri (*Fails*)
Tyr S Ven to Tri
TyS to Tun
MAO to Por
Zonotrichia:
A Norway S A St. Petersburg - Finland (*Disbanded*)
A St. Petersburg - Finland
A Moscow - St. Petersburg
A Livonia hold
A Prussia S A Berlin
A Berlin S A Silesia (*Disbanded*)
A Silesia S A Galicia - Bohemia
A Galicia - Bohemia
A Budapest - Vienna
A Trieste S A Budapest - Vienna (*Cut*)
A Serbia S A Trieste
F Albania - Adriatic Sea
F Greece S F Aegean Sea - Ionian Sea
F Aegean Sea - Ionian Sea
F Smyrna - Aegean Sea

[Reply]

DC 345: S1910 Adjudication (dc345) untitled36 Mar 25, 11:32 pm
This is what happens in a world with no were-hamsters. And what a dark world it must be. (ok... ok... what a "neon green" world it must be..)

 

John


 
DC 345: S1910 Adjudication (dc345) Blueraider0 Mar 26, 05:35 am
DC 345: S1910 Adjudication (dc345) ilovethechiefs Mar 26, 09:13 am
DC 345: W1909 Adjustments - Blueraider0   (Mar 21, 2011, 9:54 pm)

[Reply]

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Diplomacy games may contain lying, stabbing, or deliberately deceiving communications that may not be suitable for and may pose a hazard to young children, gullible adults, and small farm animals.

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