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Dash Rendar posted:Holy Details Batman! Sorry for the delay everyone, pesky real life reared it's ugly head! So, I'm not going to post in as much detail as Dash, but I'll give a general overview of my view of things. First off, I've been interested in the game for 20ish years now. Unfortunately, the interest hasn't translated into too many games. I've probably played 10ish games over that time. This was the first I had played in years which translated into me being a bit rusty/cautious in the first few turns. Secondly, I really don't like playing Turkey! At the start of the game, I wanted to take advantage of my bottom corner decent defensive position to turtle a bit and see how the initial moves and alliances worked out. I reached out to Austria and Russia to try to split up the Balkans and got some positive responses. I contacted Italy and tried to point them away from Greece, which they agreed to in chat, but not on the board. From there, it quickly became pretty obvious that Italy and Austria were both 1) working as an unbreakable unit and 2) out for a delicious Thanksgiving dinner. I was able to hold them off long enough for the rest of the board to see the threat and agree to band together to crush them. Dash already covered Russia's somewhat heavy handed messages above. Those, combined with an earlier squabble over defensive orders that I needed to play instead of supporting one of Russia's attacks (Sorry Snark, you hit one of my big pet peeves!), made it an easy choice to throw in with the seemingly weaker Austria and Germany to stab Russia and England. My plan was to ride that alliance through the destruction of Russia while mostly holding in the Med. Then, when Germany and England were well into it, I was going to stab Austria (REVENGE!) and push England out of the Med. The initial stab of Russia didn't go as planed. I thought I was going to go +2 or +3 centers, but with Russia's surprise stab at Ank, and the open center that Russia was able to retreat to (incidentally, one of my favorite things the game allows. I'm really mad at myself that I missed it!) I only got 1 build. After that, Germany and England made a few lunges at each other, but nothing that would weaken England in the Med. I attacked Austria with some success, but was unable to push him out of the game before the Germgland 20+ unit juggernaut descended. It became pretty obvious that 1) those two were working as an unbreakable unit and 2) that while I could draw things out with some defensive play, there was nothing I could do to prevent being pushed back and eventually eliminated. I proposed a draw, was declined, tried and failed one final time to eliminate Austria, and decided that enough was enough and bowed out.
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May 23, 2020 02:32
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Dr. Snark posted:at the time it honestly looked like it would be me or Britain with how SCs were being divided. Yeah, Russia or England (amended). I don't think your assessment was wrong, but it would have gone better to communicate that with more tact or subtlety.
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May 23, 2020 07:49
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ProfFrink posted:I contacted Italy and tried to point them away from Greece, which they agreed to in chat, but not on the board. In my defense, I made that agreement before finding out Austria was Danaru and we pledged to ride or die together.
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May 23, 2020 14:04
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I likely wont have time to write up anything until the pandemic is over, but i went into every turn with the intention of stirring up as much poo poo as possible, which is why I kept randomly betraying people even when it didnt benefit me
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May 24, 2020 17:18
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apologies for stalling on this. i had hoped to have had the final update and reveal up by now... but a variety of irl factors have caused me to stall out. biggest one being my whole laptop was fried in a power surge. so much for that! i have recovered the data and have an old pc to work off so stay tuned. (that laptop served me well. all my LPs starting with Killzone 1 were done on it :salute:)
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Jun 6, 2020 01:51
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The LP curse strikes again! 
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Jun 6, 2020 04:51
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It's hit before but rarely have I had such big tech failures happen twice in the same LP!
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Jun 6, 2020 05:01
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This isn't how I thought Diplomacy would end. I truly didn't intend for this last update to take THIS long to post. My COVID-19 schedule was pretty solid and one thing after another caused it to fall apart: - First, I went back to work and that destroyed a lot of free time. - But then my PC up and died. The LP curse lives on. - Then I've been fighting off illness--not COVID, thankfully! Those tests loving hurt, though. - And now there's all this greater Something Awful craziness. SO! I'm going to try and tie up loose ends real quick so that everyone can see how things went down. - - -1913- - - Turkey and I talk with A-H. They are up for a final triple alliance against the UK. The are all about superpower takedowns; Be the blue shell!  I think the Turkey-A-H-Germany alliance would've been a pretty powerful combo. It might've taken a bit to wear down the UK, but I wasn't going to risk a long game dragging out. Momentum needed to continue lest we wind up with a boring thread! For all of Russia's warnings about a game dragging down with a UK win, we had a combined 21 SCs versus UK's 11. I reached out to the UK and admitted everything. I revealed that I'd been secretly working with Turkey to build them up as a legitimate third victor option. Enchanted_Hat took it all in stride: UK and Germany Chat posted:<Germany> But anyways: I have some shenanigans I have been scheming... This was a gamble so late in the game, but again, I wanted to avoid the game getting stale. I told them that I needed to keep on plotting and that now I wanted their help to turn A-H and Turkey against one another and continue with a UK-Germany victory. The plan is to fake some attacks on one another, dragging things out just long enough for Turkey and A-H to turn against one another... then we'd strike! Secretly I was still hoping to wear people down enough so I could steal the win. So I started putting all my efforts into building boats for the inevitable British invasion. (Enchanted_Hat clearly saw what I was doing). - - -1914- - -  The New Triple Alliance is already shaky. A-H's positioning is a problem for Turkey. A-H immediately wonders if Turkey is plotting revenge. I try to smooth things over and promise that, at the very least, I will offer up Germany's flesh to feed the alliance as long as the UK is destroyed.  But then the UK betrays me.  The fake attack we plan is actually a real one. Welp. I knew I had bullshitted my last. My fleets were too much of a giveaway. The UK knew what I was doing, and unlike Russia earlier on, was better positioned to something about it. I tell Turkey that the game is up. Grab everything. Build what you can!  - - -1915- - - Turkey asks for my help taking Moscow from A-H. Yup, the Triple Alliance is already over. They are convinced that the UK is allied with A-H. I have no way of proving this. At this point, I can trust nothing the UK tells me. At this point I play my last card: Don't kill me, it'll be funnier if I win!  UK and Germany Chat posted:At this point the thread is predicting the game ends in a draw; Enchanted_Hat explains that they think it'd be funniest to continue flummoxing the thread until they give up guessing the victor because "those darned goons weren't playing properly!" Obviously this reeks of desperation, but I hope that Enchanted_Hat's commitment to messing with thread bets will win him over to my ploy. He plays along, but is clearly unconvinced.  I suggest making a whole performance of the thing. I offer to quietly add more and more gang tags to their avatar over the course of several posts until it's obnoxiously crowded, making it look like I'm paying them to let me win. It's at that point that Enchanted_Hat gives me an opening. They say "gently caress it, pay me". Enchanted_Hat asks for an avatar upgrade and they'll throw the fight. Greed is meant to be exploited, in my opinion, so I accept.  Meanwhile, A-H misses their turn. There will be no coming back for them...  - - -1916- - - Turkey notices UK's, uh, inconsistent moves and ask me about it. The Super Secret Triple Alliance was on life support, so at this point I'm just pulling the plug. I tell Turkey that I convinced UK to give up some SCs to me to make the end of the game an intense 1v1v1 showdown between all of us. (A-H has crumbled by this point).  It's partially true, but Turkey doesn't yet know the depth of what the UK intends to give me. Oh, and it's at this point that I suggest doing the "Enchanted_Hat was an alt account all along" joke! I'm committed to the performance at this point. And as I said, greed is meant to be exploited! (Besides, I had one more backstab planned...) - - -1917- - - Turkey asks for help finishing off A-H. Despite my bloodlust, I don't want to see that happen. A-H has been too good of a frenemy for this game. Their legacy must endure. So ends my communications with Turkey.  - - -1918- - - A-H is pumped that I am full on anti-Turkey now. We coordinate to make sure they don't get eliminated. Meanwhile, UK and I plan when to do the avatar switch so as to maximize effect.  - - -1919- - - Turkey offers a draw. I decline. - - -1920- - - At this point, I am sure we are only a couple turns away from the end. I make the avatar switch. I had been telling crow my plan and get him to hit us with a couple of joke sixxers to sell it. It goes poorly. So poorly.  I want to bail. Enchanted_Hat wants to keep the joke going. I confess to crow that I'm worried I botched the joke and ruined the LP. crow lets slip that the gag was in fact a gag. I admit to it as well. Danaru tells me not to stress and/or to yell at people. Enchanted_Hat sees I'm not having fun and agrees to end the joke. And thus it ended. But it didn't feel like a victory anymore. I bullshat my way to a hollow victory. The REAL winner probably would've been the UK. I don't know that we could've united the Triple Alliance long enough to break through the Mediterranean, especially not with me rapidly losing my advantage in Northern Europe. I dunno. I still think Turkey had a shot considering the gains they'd made. A-H clearly won the hearts of the thread. Actually, I'd say everyone had a real good shot at winning throughout the game: Russia would've won if they didn't get knifed in the back; Italy had a powerful alliance that could've steamrolled with more time; and France managed to strike fear into the hearts in all of continental Europe only a couple of turns into the game. But really, the true winner of this game is the thread... ...because I have one last betrayal for you. Enchanted_Hat! The price of your capitulation was a new avatar, yes? Well, I hope you enjoy your monkey's paw wish, as you notice that you already HAVE a new avatar:  Haha!! Be cursed with the visage of Dash Rendar forever!! Such is the price of dealing with me! Or at least that's how I originally intended to end it. As you know, things slowed down a ton and I just kinda set this LP off to the side. So the LP is over. I need a break from Diplomacy. I need a better work schedule to run it consistently than what I have right now. Enchanted_Hat can have their new avatar... I'm sorry I didn't get the final update off soon enough so I could properly betrayal you one final time. I dunno. Hey, anyone want to make a "Diplomacy Crew" gang tag? We should close out this thread with gang tags. They SCROLL now!
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Jul 5, 2020 20:53
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Dash Rendar posted:The REAL winner probably would've been the UK. I don't know that we could've united the Triple Alliance long enough to break through the Mediterranean, especially not with me rapidly losing my advantage in Northern Europe. I dunno. I still think Turkey had a shot considering the gains they'd made. A-H clearly won the hearts of the thread. Actually, I'd say everyone had a real good shot at winning throughout the game: Russia would've won if they didn't get knifed in the back; Italy had a powerful alliance that could've steamrolled with more time; and France managed to strike fear into the hearts in all of continental Europe only a couple of turns into the game. Also, I have no artistic talent, but a Diplomacy tag would be pretty awesome. If this ever starts up again some time once the world gets back to normal, would certainly try to jump in the next round if I can figure out a workaround to do it on something that isn't an Android. MagusofStars fucked around with this message at 01:09 on Jul 7, 2020 |
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Jul 7, 2020 01:03
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Gang Tags would be cool! If Android is a hindrance, there's a good number of other places to play. From memory both http://webdiplomacy.net/ and https://www.playdiplomacy.com/ exist, although I can't speak for their interface/features. There's also the old pbem judge system, although that's harder to use and to get maps out of.
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Jul 7, 2020 15:13
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i am still waiting on a PC so I asked some posting pals about maybe making some diplomacy gang tags...
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Jul 8, 2020 20:26
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Dash Rendar posted:i am still waiting on a PC so I asked some posting pals about maybe making some diplomacy gang tags... Hit me for 6, if you'd be so good  (USER WAS PUT ON PROBATION FOR THIS POST) (USER WAS PUT ON PROBATION FOR THIS POST)
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Jul 10, 2020 03:39
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Dash giveth. Dash taketh away.
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Jul 10, 2020 05:38
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