I'm getting a bunch of non-answers about alliances in the east, so I sent this off to Amelia:
scooter Wrote:Amelia,
So did the first turn play out the way you imagined? How are things going for you so far? I admit that the turns have some of us theorizing that a Russian/Turkish alliance is in play - or the Juggernaut as it's called. It just seemed logical as Austria's moves looked like the moves of someone with no friends. Are you looking to team up with Russia? That's a scary alliance right there - though it tends to be much more favorable to Russia than Turkey.
The Rowain to Piedmont move sort of caught us all off guard over here in the west. I don't think any of us expected Italy to be threatening France! Interesting times for sure.
scooter
Hopefully I'll get some juicy info out of this, but so far I'm coming up dry. Regoarrar was evasive earlier on chat... This was Lewwyn's response last night to my Russia/Turkey fishing expedition:
Lewwyn Wrote:Hey Scoota-boy,
Duuno. Punk in the hood be gansta, yo. Who knows who be frontin'. The Streets be hearin that the turkeys be running wild, hatin' on a playa. Russian Bear be hard as ice yo.
If they both be hatin', I may have to start shackin' up with you. Yall be hospitable brits right? You take in a broke ass punk. I wash yo' car bro!
Lewwyn
Pretty humorous, but entirely unhelpful. I do wonder though if it means Austria may have some friends after all. I would think he'd at least seem somewhat alarmed over what I said if he suspected it could be true... Hmmmm. Something to keep an eye on. Perhaps Amelia's comments were just smoke and mirrors, and we have a Turkish-Austrian alliance in play? The fall turns will say a lot I guess.
Commodore Wrote:Yeah, psychoanalysis would tend to support that. Still, upon further reflection, I think it is your moral duty as an entertainer to set this up for our lurker pleasure.
Y'oh boy. So there will be riotings in the lurker thread if I don't pick one of the fun choices. Now there's some pressure. Comments in the lurker thread can be FAR more scary than anything Nakor could do.
Jkaen Wrote:Just to be clear, in your scenario the bur army bounces both mun and pie at the same time?
Yes. The way it works is that it cannot get into Piedmont because there is something there, so it stays where it's at. Because it remains in Burgundy, Munich cannot get there. I do understand the confusion though - It's just the way Diplomacy works - and it's probably better this way than the alternative where it gets stuck "between" the two tiles and has to go somewhere else.
Had a brief chat earlier this morning with Nakor. I'll spoiler it, but it's very brief so you might as well read it.
10:29 AM
Nakor: Hey Scooter! Happy with the new map?
10:30 AM
me: it's certainly interesting
10:31 AM
Nakor: did you ever intend to keep your word?
me: i was waffling on it for pretty much 3 straight days. hah
Nakor: what made you change your mind?
10:32 AM
me: eh, for one, i was told that you were thinking about just taking it yourself despite the dmz
so i'd be in a bit of a bind if you did that.
10:33 AM
Nakor: who told you that? a lot of people seem to be telling others stuff about my moves..
me: i'd rather keep that to myself at the moment
10:34 AM
Nakor: got to go
me: alright
10:35 AM
i'll probably send you a message later today
So I finally decided to do a bit of damage control and see how he reacts.
scooter Wrote:Nakor,
So I guess you're probably pretty unhappy with me. Understandable really... So where do we go from here? I really was nervous about you taking the English Channel, although I guess all the Rowain stuff probably should've set my mind at ease. Honestly, I didn't like the idea of DMZ'ing the English Channel, as I wanted to get in there and have the option of supporting myself into Belgium if need be. I was hoping for just a promise from you to avoid it, so when the DMZ thing came up, I didn't know what to say, as I didn't want a rejection interpreted as hostility. So I just took a deep breath and went with it. I suppose time will tell if I regret it or not.
So where does that leave us? Am I permanently marked as enemy or not so much?
Eh, I wasn't satisfied with what I wrote, so right after I sent that, I sent a quick follow-up message:
scooter Wrote:Oh, forgot to include something in my message. You asked this morning who told me about your English Channel thing. I wasn't sure if I should answer you this morning so I declined the question, but I've thought it over, and it'll be better if I just tell you. Germany told me that you were planning to take the Channel and stab me - and that you negotiated the DMZ so that you could take it yourself. I don't know if you really said that and changed your mind or if they were lying to me, but regardless, that's where I got that from... So I felt you taking the channel was way too unsafe for me (it hurts England more than it hurts France in my opinion), so I went for it, halfway expecting a bounce.
Figured I owed you that explanation at least - as you put me on the spot this morning so I wasn't sure if I should answer or not at the time... but since the info I got from them clearly was wrong, I don't see why I shouldn't answer. I really feared you were going behind my back, so opening to Nth/Eng protected me against that the best.
scooter
Sometimes the best way to lie is by adding a lot of truth...
Well now I'm getting somewhere in the east. My message to Amelia from earlier (spoilered because I posted it earlier I think):
scooter Wrote:Amelia,
So did the first turn play out the way you imagined? How are things going for you so far? I admit that the turns have some of us theorizing that a Russian/Turkish alliance is in play - or the Juggernaut as it's called. It just seemed logical as Austria's moves looked like the moves of someone with no friends. Are you looking to team up with Russia? That's a scary alliance right there - though it tends to be much more favorable to Russia than Turkey.
The Rowain to Piedmont move sort of caught us all off guard over here in the west. I don't think any of us expected Italy to be threatening France! Interesting times for sure.
scooter
Just got a response 2-3 minutes ago:
Amelia Wrote:Scooter,
Regoarrarr definitely wants the juggernaut, i'm trying to think of a way to get out of it! (Due to the fact that turkey will end up 2nd in a juggernaut)
Of course, with a final exam, it's hard to think about diplo when i have to think about other things =)
Amelia
Well that's certainly interesting. Perhaps that explains why I'm sensing a lot of uncertainty - because Regoarrar is striking out with Amelia a little bit? I seriously doubt Regoarrar will just let uncertainty blow in the wind though, so I wouldn't put it past him to start aggressively courting Lewwyn. Yeah good luck with that .
Chatted with Uberfish for a bit. He said he thinks an R/T alliance is in the works, and I shared with him the reasons I'm skeptical - Amelia's email and Lewwyn's indifference and such. Both agreed that it'll be much clearer after this set of turns. He's going to bounce Regoarrar, so Regoarrar will get just one center (unless A/T somehow screw him, but that'll be pretty shocking). That's good.
So we chatted somewhat about plans down the road. Generally agreed that he'll take on Russia in the north with some minor help from me, and I'll take on Italy in the south with some minor help from him... Which should set us up nicely to divide what's left of the world before inevitably turning on each other. Fun.
The wildcard here is Rowain. He seems to not really have a plan yet... I suggested that for year 1 he's just going to collect his Tunis SC and then see what's next, and until then, he has no real gameplan. Uberfish generally agreed. If he doesn't go Pie-Mar, he may very well support Rom-Ven, with the interest of moving into Tyrolia the following year. Combine that with naval support, and he could put a dent into Austria for sure.
Nakor responded to me... See if you can spot the contradiction:
Nakor Wrote:Hey Scooter,
Thanks for telling me.
I haven't had an exchange with Germany going at all, just keep getting non-responsive one-liners back.
Guess he talked to you a bit more and made his choice early on to go with an EG alliance.
Since I didn't get anything from him, working with you was the best option for me and I've been honest in everything I've told you so far.
I hope you can see that from the adjudication.
So, where does this leave us? I'm not quite sure.
I don't know how you feel about Germany feeding you falls information and such.
What I do see is that you can take 2 SC uncontested (Norway and Belgium).
I have to move Bur to Mar in order to keep Italy out, and MAO to Bre to keep you our.
I'm willing to work things out and start aiming at Germany for serious if you have a likewise plan in mind.
In order for this to work, though, I would like to see the English Channel empty again. It's to close to Brest.
If you are willing to leave ENG and move that fleet to Belgium, I can agree to not building another fleet in Brest.
So... what do you think?
Cheers,
Nakor
I mean besides the part where he says Germany gave me false information, which I am like 85% sure is a lie.
