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Ricky Gervais and Carl Pilkington present to you ... English shadow puppet theatre.
Posts: 4,421
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Joined: Sep 2011
Posts: 4,421
Threads: 53
Joined: Sep 2011
Posts: 4,421
Threads: 53
Joined: Sep 2011
2 birds in the hand are worth more than 1 in the bush?
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Cheerio, mate. I'll be an expert advisor, if you will. As I have played one complete game by board 15 years ago.
A nod's as good as a wink to a blind bat.
Made any plans yet?
Our immediate neighbours:
scooter of France.
Bigger of Germany.
Rowain of russia.
Seems like we need some friends, or at least no enemies, a franco-german dogpile with russia passively watching means quick game over. Seems Rowain and scooter played the first diplo game here, bigger says he hasn't played in a decade, but probably before that. scooter and Rowain started out amicably enough in diplomacy 1, but relations were not excellent by the end. Hopefully not forgotten.
We will need to attack one neighbour to get anywhere, but first year can be spent comfortable seizing norway (yay) to see who we should support. For spring moves, you can go "harmless" by putting fleets into norwegian and north sea, and move army to east coast, york will guard home isle and is probably safest. Norway gained in the fall, and you might use the north sea fleet for some support or action against low countries. Still friends all round.
Other real option first turn is sending a fleet into the channel and smack the glove into France's face, especially with army move to wales. You'd need a German alliance and perhaps a friendly/opportunistic italy to take out france. And scooter is a ...diplomatic player. Might be hard to get an alliance going.
Perhaps you can go other way, join with him and see where that takes you. Problem is germany is in the way, so need more support to take them out.
Mabye sitting on the fence first year and half is better option.
Yeah this is probably severly helpful. Personally I'd go with harmless moves, and kept up diplomatic contact with all. Only problem is, if you don't ally someone else will...
The one time I played I was turkey, so no experience at this part of the map...
-M
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Noticed that scooter calls himself the 'honorable' frence, so mabye he can be trusted if you do get an alliance.
Here's an article I found about England and opening/longterm goals:
"England, according to Trivial Pursuit, is the country most easily defended in the game of Diplomacy. The defensive position also makes it the best country for a novice to play. Unfortunately, as an island nation it is also very difficult for England to get an 18-center win.
As the game begins, you have a few goals to accomplish. First, develop friendly relations with Russia. Let Russia know that if he does not move A Moscow-St. Petersburg (unlikely in any case unless Ken Peel is the Russian player) and contest your right to Norway, you will not convoy your army to Norway. Second, seize control of the North Sea and maintain it throughout the game. Third, establish an alliance with Germany and/or France. Fourth, convince Germany or France--pre-ferably both--that Belgium should become an English center in 1901. Fifth, place an army on the continent no later than 1902.
There are two ways to play each of the seven countries in Diplomacy: aggressively or laid-back. The passive approach to the play of England will see you move F London-North Sea, F Edinburgh-Norwegian Sea, and A Liverpool- Edinburgh.
In Fall 1901 you would move F Norwegian Sea-Norway, F North Sea-Belgium and A Edinburgh-Yorkshire. If all goes well, and it often does for England in 1901, you will have aggravated no one, picked up two centers, and have left all your home centers open so you can place your two builds where you feel they are most advantageous. As with the other six nations, you can only play the "don't rock the boat" approach for so long, though.
In 1902 it is up to you to decide whether Germany or France will be your best ally. You may even decide to try a triple alliance with both Germany and France. The only positive aspect of this from an English standpoint is that Russia falls quickly. On the negative side, there are only so many centers you can take (Norway, Belgium, Sweden, St. Petersburg, and possibly Moscow). If you opt for the triple do not plan on it for the long term. Sooner or later you will have to stab Germany or France. Luckily, the Western Triple leaves England in the ideal position to do exactly that.
For the aggressive play of England you are going to need a firm alliance with Germany and a Russia who is involved in the south. You might then consider an anti-French opening: A Liverpool-Wales, F London-English Channel, and F Edinburgh-North Sea.
In Fall 1901 your options are many and you can open with anti-French actions by moving F English Channel-Belgium (often a senseless move as France will never trust you again). You might convoy A Wales to Belgium, Picardy or Brest. If you believe France will not cover Brest, then A Wales-Brest convoyed by F English Channel is your best move. If you're certain France will cover Brest, consider moving F English Channel-Mid Atlantic. You then would have a unit bordering Spain, Portugal and Brest. Remember, France is a tough opponent at any time. But if you can get a jump on him in Spring 1901, your chances of success are much greater.
What happens if Germany and France ally against you? Certainly it will take them a while to beat you. But if you sit back and simply wait you will eventually be wiped out. You're going to have to write France and Germany. Promise them anything and everything if they'll leave you alone. Next, plead with Russia, Austria and Italy. Get them to attack Germany and France. Point out that without England around, France will never fall. If you receive the help of Italy and either Russia or Austria, Germany and France will be forced to go on the defensive. You will once again be able to take the offensive.
One final point. As England, do not strangle yourself by constantly building fleets. Fleets can only go so far. Try to keep a balance of armies and fleets. There are many alternative to the play of England; you will have to decide what play works best for you in the context of each game."
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Alright, so Finally I can start engaging in the diplomatic aspects of the game.
>.>
Right then ... so Hi France ... and, um, Hi Germany ...
Well, Italy seems to be straightforward for now ... it appears he wants a 3 prong attack on france, likely in order to open up Spain for himself (as, if he gets southern france, he will likely have Spain for a very, very long time  )
I say, why not? Let him have Spain. I just want a dead france split three ways
Italy and Germany are under constant pressure from multiple fronts, so they are also the best nations to ally with at this time.
I have heard that Russia is always a good ally for England ... in this game, with Rowain's latest moves in the Spring, I am not certain that I agree with that.
I mean ... yes, an alliance with Russia will be best to keep Bigger from doing something stupid like, oh I don't know ... invading the North Sea. That being said though, this would be a very aggressive move for Bigger to make, and I am not certain if it is in his interest to do so this early (well, other than the fact that its already near the end of 1901 and I have absolutely no allies XD)
Well, I suppose we will see what happens.
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Come to think of it, It'd be awesome if somehow we were able to play a game like, say Stratego or even Risk here on RB.
(Like the ocassional big game of Risk, or my favorite Risk 2210 ... and a Duel league of Stratego  )
I would ESPECIALLY like a duel league of Stratego. I mean, while I do not necessarily the duel nature of Civ games (I like to take my time in enjoying a Civ game, or rather building nice cities and armies  ) ... in Stratego it is basically like chess or checkers, at least in the straightforwardness of it, but in my opinion it is much more fun.
There is both the 19(60s?) version which has lots of pieces (4 rows of units) and the lowest number wins ... and there is the 2000s version which has fewer pieces (3 rows of units) and the highest number wins.
The Newer version also introduces the controversial lookout/spotter unit, which I rather love by the way.
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Certainly looking for a few alliances. Lets see what we can find. Obviously its a bit late in the game to make demands on people's orders for this season ... not that it'll stop me much, mind you, but basically I can't really negotiate for anythin other than next year's movements.
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I did notice that spring moves was a de facto declaration of war on France, so that is most pressing issue for diplomacy now. The bounce in the channel has hurt his development - can't get to portugal now.
Need germany to go against france, italy is nice to have along but germany is key. A 3-way attack, leaving you with mabye brest and portugal, italy with spain marseilles and germany with the rest. Scooter is quite the diplomat, judging from the diplo 1 game so perhaps he is already allied with germany. His move into channel might indicate that. So then mabye need to fracture the alliance by pointing out to Bigger that Le Scôtér is too dangerous to leave alive. And point out that he owes you for eating you last night.
If germany + france are commited to attack it's gonna be rough. But Germany should realize that this would leave france very strong in a very secure location and germany needs to look over his shoulder while trying to expand SE-wards.
NAP against russia would work, you will claim norway I'm thinking so just state you will not move further east. (For a while).
So moves, thinking about bouncing in the channel again as safer than having the French there. New fleet build london if it's available or york.
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