Smid's Diplomacy Game Thread #3

[Teddy (IDS Legislator)]

Has anyone heard from Germany, or am I the only one who should be worried?

Erc hasn't been around much lately.
He last posted on the forum on 19 September; but he was logged in very early yesterday.
I've not had any communication with him.

Does he want to play, or have circumstances changed for him?

[Smid]

I PM'd Erc when I was establishing the game and he said he was looking forward to participating in a new game, and he was consistent in placing orders in the first game, so I have had no reason to suspect him to not be involved. I'll send him another PM to let him know the game's started.

[Erc]

I'm still here; apologies to everyone.

I forgot about it for a couple days and, before you know it, the week is gone.

Check your inboxes shortly for PM's.

[Teddy (IDS Legislator)]

Is today the deadline or was that extended?

[minionofmidas]

How about I act as a referee for this game, and everytime someone has unsportsmanlike conduct I give away one of their provinces to the victim

That does it, I'm giving one of your provinces to Ilikeverin.

Trying to invade my responsibilities.

Iceland plz.

Not one of Lunar's provinces. You shall get Mallorca.

[Smid]

The moves for Spring 1901 were:



France
F Brest - Mid-Atlantic Ocean
A Marseilles - Spain
A Paris - Picardy

Russia
A Moscow - Ukraine
F Sevastopol - Rumania
F St Petersburg (sc) - Gulf of Bothnia
A Warsaw - Galicia (*Bounce*)

Italy
F Naples - Ionian Sea
A Rome - Venice
A Venice - Apulia

Germany
A Berlin - Kiel
F Kiel - Denmark
A Munich - Ruhr

Austria-Hungary
A Budapest - Serbia
F Trieste Holds
A Vienna - Galicia (*Bounce*)

Turkey
F Ankara Holds
A Constantinople - Bulgaria
A Smyrna - Constantinople

England
F Edinburgh - Norwegian Sea
A Liverpool - Yorkshire
F London - North Sea

Following the resolution of the orders, the map appears thus:



There are no required retreats.

[ilikeverin]

A Mallorca->Minorca

[Erc]

Since each player has relatively few (sane) options in S1901, many opening moves of Diplomacy have been named.  With absolutely no intended editorial comment, the openings of each player:

France: Atlantic Opening, Picardy Variant

Russia: Ukraine System, Austrian Attack Variant

Italy: Lepanto, Anti-Hedgehog Variant

Germany: Blitzkrieg Opening, Danish Variant

Austria: Houseboat Opening

Turkey: Boston Strangler

England: The Northern Opening (or The Yorkshire Opening)

[Teddy (IDS Legislator)]

The poles in Warsaw demanded I protect their brethren in Austria!

[Associate Justice PiT]

     Wow, only one bounce.

[Teddy (IDS Legislator)]

     Wow, only one bounce.

There are only a few places that regularly have bounces. Galacia is one. The Black Sea is perhaps the most well known, I think that most games have some kind of bounce there these days. Piedmont is another place where bounces are sometimes scheduled, it gives France a bit more security in it's back door.
Burgundy, and the English Channel *can* see scheduled bounces, but if they are unscheduled, then France could be in trouble.
In the fall, the biggest places for bounces tend to be Sweden, Norway (if Russia moves an army north) and Belgium. I've seen more than one game where E, F, and G have a 3 way bounce there (mostly no press games)

All of that, of course, ignores the Tri-Ven situation.

[Silent Hunter]

All of that, of course, ignores the Tri-Ven situation.

I'm keeping Italy honest.

[Teddy (IDS Legislator)]

All of that, of course, ignores the Tri-Ven situation.

I'm keeping Italy honest.

We'll see just how honest he is
Besides, I was talking in general
(and no, I dont mean an army general, or a colonel)
[and no, I dont mean colonel sanders, or general motors]
{say major paine and I'll hurt you}

[Lunar]

Italy's moves seem to be particularly bold, especially for a country not known to make big moves early on.

interesting to try and guess who's aligned with whom off of the opening moves.  I'm sure the players at least have some idea, hopefully interacted with some of their neighbors and being rebuffed/well received

[Јas]

Italy's moves seem to be particularly bold

Fortes fortuna adiuvat!

[Gustaf]

Italy's moves seem to be particularly bold, especially for a country not known to make big moves early on.

interesting to try and guess who's aligned with whom off of the opening moves.  I'm sure the players at least have some idea, hopefully interacted with some of their neighbors and being rebuffed/well received

Is my alliance with Verin that obvious?

[Associate Justice PiT]

Italy's moves seem to be particularly bold, especially for a country not known to make big moves early on.

     Really? I thought Italy's opening was considered pretty classic by now.

[Lunar]

Italy's moves seem to be particularly bold, especially for a country not known to make big moves early on.

     Really? I thought Italy's opening was considered pretty classic by now.

The army switcheroo thing though seems odd, since if Austria stabbed it would cause the move from Rome to Venice to bounce. relatively minor risk of course

[Associate Justice PiT]

Italy's moves seem to be particularly bold, especially for a country not known to make big moves early on.

     Really? I thought Italy's opening was considered pretty classic by now.

The army switcheroo thing though seems odd, since if Austria stabbed it would cause the move from Rome to Venice to bounce. relatively minor risk of course

     Ah, that's what you were referring to. I was mostly looking at F Nap-Ion, actually.

[muon2]

Italy's moves seem to be particularly bold, especially for a country not known to make big moves early on.

     Really? I thought Italy's opening was considered pretty classic by now.

The army switcheroo thing though seems odd, since if Austria stabbed it would cause the move from Rome to Venice to bounce. relatively minor risk of course

The move isn't so odd. If Austria does attack Venice and the units bounce, Italy is in position to support a move back into Venice in the fall.

[Teddy (IDS Legislator)]

Lets examine...

moving the units as done
VS
moving rome to apulia

Lets assume Austria does nothing
no change in either set of orders, both units go though

lets assume Austria sends Trieste over to Venice
In the first set of orders, Italy ends up with a unit in ROM and APU
In the second, VEN and APU

what if Austria does above, but also moves to TYR?

In both instances, Italy can prevent Austria from taking Venice. So what's the difference?
Simple
No unit in Venice. If Austria were to attack Italy, the moves as done would allow Italy to build a unit in Venice, whereas the other set of moves would not.

Then again this is of trivial importance, as with an army in Rome, building one in Venice is not going to change the end-game much than if you had an army in Venice and built one in Rome. In fact the only real difference is if you build a fleet there. What is then done with the fleet is open to interpretation.

[ilikeverin]

Italy's moves seem to be particularly bold, especially for a country not known to make big moves early on.

interesting to try and guess who's aligned with whom off of the opening moves.  I'm sure the players at least have some idea, hopefully interacted with some of their neighbors and being rebuffed/well received

Is my alliance with Verin that obvious?

I don't think they've noticed, sweet Swede of mine

[Teddy (IDS Legislator)]

summore learnins clipped from one of my PMs

You must be logged in to read this quote.

[muon2]

summore learnins clipped from one of my PMs

You must be logged in to read this quote.

A failure to order a unit is interpreted as an order to hold (p. 4 of the rules). Any unit ordered to hold can be supported in place by another unit. The failure to order the holding unit does not prevent it from receiving support since it is interpreted to hold just like a unit that is explicitly ordered to hold.

[Teddy (IDS Legislator)]

Depends on what ruleset your using I suppose.