|
|
Message from Germany to Russia
Well that went as planned and agreed upon, except for France sneaking into MUN although that can easily be rectified.
I am glad to see that you and Turkey sorted out your differences.
I hope I have proven that when allied I will stick to what is agreed upon.
I assume you have no intention of supporting SKA - DEN. Working together with me against England ensures that any gains you make west results in having less to conquer between STP and TUN.
Is there any chance that you would consider supporting DEN? Looking at the board England must know that if you are not working with him then you will defending NWY with support from Sweden. We could use this to our advantage. Offer him SKA - DEN, this ensures that he wont be using two units on NWY.
This would allow Sweden to support DEN. My aim is to get you into NTH ASAP, which would enable a convoy to England. I have to break the EF alliance. A strong EF is not in your benefit either.
Let me know your thoughts on how to proceed, look forward to hearing from you.
Message from Austria to Russia
Eric,
Good moves on your part, just too bad I'm on the
receiving end of it. Now, what are the chances of
your going for Rum with a fleet?
Philippe
Message from Germany to Russia
Some interesting news just in. Maybe worthwhile taking a look at lorax on the dedo judge.
As you can see Turkey and Italy have an unholy alliance which is working fine.
The reason I mention that game is to ask a question.
Are IT working together, can we expect GRE - SER supported by RUM/BUL and maybe a convoy to ARM?
I know for sure that IA are not working together following a message from Austria.
This probably means one of hree things, IR have plans for the near future or that the juggernaut is on.
The third option being IT. It is an unusual alliance but I am playing it in another game and its working fine.
Just thought that you should know, I would be surprised to see GAL - RUM supported by UKR & SEV but I must admit the alliances in the east are unknown to me.
Message from Turkey to Russia
Thanks for the support, and it appears that everything went according to
plan. What support will you be needing next?
Message from Russia to England
Ben,
I'm going to spare you the whole "I feel so bad I took advantage of you"
speech and let you read it in my press to the observers. I do feel terrible
about it, don't get me wrong, I just doubt you are going to be in a state
of mind to hear about my distress given that you suffered from it, so I'm
going to leave it a fairly bland apology for now.
It's obvious that there are still ways that we can cooperate, and I'm still
willing to do so. But I'll wait until I hear from you before suggesting
anything detailed. But if you want to write me off as unreliable at this
point, I'll understand that.
I'm really rushing to get to work so am going to keep this very short. I'll
be sparse today, but will answer any questions demands as soon as I can.
--- Eric
Message from Russia to Austria
Philippe,
I wish you had said something more definitive about your plans. Given that
you gave no guarantees that you would not take Gal, or that Rum would be
used against me, I felt I had to do something to get Jason off my back.
Offering Sev S Arm-Rum is the obvious choice, because it clears out Arm.
I have NO desire to see you torn apart by Turkey or Italy. I'm quite sure
from how press has gone that Andy is pulling Jason's strings, and any
builds he gets from you will end up coming after me. What I would like to
do is what we discussed originally -- me taking Rum, and using the build to
hit Turkey.
I'm open for other possibilities, but that was my thinking in taking Gal --
making sure you wouldn't retreat there, but also having enough pressure on
Rum to retake it if it fell.
I'm short on time today, but will try to write more tonight.
--- Eric
Message from Russia to Turkey
Wow, I cannot believe how successful that was. I'm really busy today, so
I'm keeping this short. I'll talk with you more after I've had a chance to
digest the results.
--- Eric
Message from Russia to Germany
Tony,
You and I think along similar lines. I haven't heard back from Ben yet, so
can't say whether he's in "how can we patch this up" mode, or "now I'm
going to throw everything I can against you" mode. Similar to your comments
about if I were to order support for Ska-Den, I'll point out that support
for Ska-Den would end with me in Bal and supporting EF.
I'm really busy today, and may not have net access again before tomorrow.
Let me think about Swe S Den, and hear what England has to say. At this
point I'm leaning towards supporting StP until I can field a northern
fleet, which also helps with getting me to Nth.
--- Eric
Message from Russia to Italy
Andy,
Oh my.
Well, I'm busy today, so won't be around much, but wanted to touch base. I
don't have specific requests yet, but wanted you to know that I'm around.
--- Eric
Message from Russia to France
Erik,
I hate having not supported Ben. In the end, my fears about abandoning
Scandinavia were the deciding factor. I'm still very open to supporting
(E)F operations against G, but I am waiting to hear from both of you to see
if that's something I should even bother discussing.
I'm going to be off-line most of the day, but will get back to you when I can.
--- Eric
Message from Russia to Russia
Okay,
Well, I've looked at the turn results for the season on floc.net, but I
haven't actually checked my mail. I thought I would write this before I am
biased by seeing what people have to say to me.
First off, I am stunned to see that all the moves went as I predicted they
would. Part of my aggressiveness included assuming that something would be
wrong in my guesses. The bad thing is now I've basically made enemies of E,
A, and probably F. I hate being the first player to make a stab -- in fact
I rarely do it. And to essentially do it to two players (and and E) at once
is just insane. In addition to all the bad blood that creates, I'm now
looking somewhat leader-ish.
Overall, I'm not happy with the last turn. I wish I had been able to force
some concession out of Philippe, but moreso, I really don't like how the
negotiation went in the north. I did truly want to help Ben, because I
truly believe he's the better long-term ally. But assuming that I needed a
build for the south (which turned out not to be the case) then I couldn't
wait a year for it to come from Tony, especially because I'd have only one
fleet in the north (no armies) and that would be the end of things. I
strongly feel I should have tried harder to work out some longer-term
security with Ben, but I didn't see how to do that.
Attacking Ben was an excruciating decision. I did intend all along in the
discussions to follow through with Swe S Nth-Den. But when I typed up my
last report (right before actually entering the orders) I just couldn't
bring myself to do it. Yesterday before leaving work, I felt so horrible
about it that I got online to change the orders again, and couldn't bring
myself to do it. Last night on three separate occasions during a 1/2 hour
period I booted up the computer at home, entered new orders to support
Nth-Den and couldn't do it. I still don't know if it was the "right" thing
to do -- choosing position over the preferred ally so early in the game --
and even if it was, I feel like I did it extremely poorly in terms of press.
Anyway, I no doubt have a bunch of unhappy press to reply to.
--- Eric
Message from Russia to Austria
Philippe,
Sorry, I didn't see your message in the plethora of "pinnacle" press in my
inbox until after sending that last one. I think I answered your question
nonetheless.
--- Eric
Message from England to Russia
Eric -
Well, I was disappointed of course, but I can understand why, with
undertainty in the south, you felt you needed the dot.
> from it, so I'm
> going to leave it a fairly bland apology for now.
I think you were upset because I didn't write you about Denver losing a
heartbreaker on Monday Night.
> It's obvious that there are still ways that we can cooperate,
> and I'm still
> willing to do so. But I'll wait until I hear from you before
> suggesting anything detailed.
Um, how about, give me Norway back? I'm not really confident I could get
into DEN anymore. . .
> But if you want to write me off as unreliable at this
> point, I'll understand that.
Well, what kind of dipper would I be if I wrote you off.
> I'm really rushing to get to work so am going to keep this
> very short. I'll
> be sparse today, but will answer any questions demands as
> soon as I can.
No questions or demands for now, besides the one about Norway.
Ben
Message from France to Russia
Eric:
Wacky turn. While part of me regrest your decision not to support Ben as
well, part of me thinks it was a really good thing for both of us. I was
clearly in for a long fight against Germany, and Ben might have started
growing before I did, and that would spell problems. Now, both Ben and
Tony are handicapped by our collective moves. If we work this carefully,
we may be able to keep them both small and start mopping up around the
edges. With no sign of Andy heading West in the near term, I think this
may all be for the best.
Nice work with Turkey. I had heard that AT were on the ropes; looks now
like Austria is the odd man out. This, by the way, has provoked more than
one cry of "Juggernaut!" from other players. Is RT something you see
continuing for a while, or just an expedient means to splitting up AT?
I need to look at the board a little more and decide what to do: I can
keep working with Ben against Germany, though he's going to be ineffectual
at best; I could also make peace with Tony and strike at the weaker of my
neighbors. Of course, the only way I could safely do that is if I knew you
were ready to put the vice on Germany when the time came.
Erik
Message from Germany to Russia
OK will hear from you then. For now he is stating that he is talking to you and France.
He has once again asked for support to DEN. Pointing out the juggernaut and the bad influence that will have on EFG in the near future. Thats his problem. I am obviously trying to make my problem your problem.
They can take DEN without your help. MUN is lost germany must know this I can retake it easily. If however mun pushes on KIE and SKA moves to DEN supported by NTH then DEN falls. BEL will also fall or maybe even HOL. I am sure an overwhelming EF force is not in your interest. Thats why I dont see Engalnd trying to retake NWY.
Thats where I see your help is possible. State you wish to remain neutral and will selfsupport yourself and await future developments. He did state that you lied to him, he said that he was ment to move on SKA with your support. But there again you knew I was going to NTH so you didnt have to offer the support ;-)
How different the game would be if I had kept to the tripple alliance and opened up to PRU and SIL ;-)
I really nearly did piss myself laughing when you commented on what the heck France was doing in PIE. That made this game worthwhile even if I get ousted next year. I have never laughed so much when I read your comment. It hit a funny bone.
Is the move to the MAO a forbode of a move to NAO and onto NWG I dont know. Why move there only to retreat to pick up POR. Or is he thinking on moving to IRI. No matter what as long as EF are workjing together that spells trouble for me and you. They wont go after Italy if he is stopping a juggernaut. I will be intrested to see hwat happens this fall out east.
Look forward to hearing from you.
Message from Russia to Russia
Doug and Greg,
Apologies -- I sort of brainfarted and failed to realize that even
that minor comment I made about "pinnacle" press was probably
inappropriate, given that some players in "pinnacle" might be reading
my press. I will try to remember not to make any statements about
that game here.
I'd be really curious to know how many observers there were just
before and just after pinnacle got started. My guess is that it
probably has greater draw and star appeal than this game.
--- Eric
Message from Russia to England
I still have to keep this brief, but I will definitely consider the
request about Nwy. I knew that my moves in the south were going to be
exceedingly risky (despite info from you and a few others, I was
strongly suspecting Arm-Sev, Rum/Bla supporting) and so thought I
needed to force getting a build prior to '03. Since the south went so
much better than expected, the urgency level has dropped considerably.
That's not a commitment to leave Nwy yet, but it is definitely on the table.
>I think you were upset because I didn't write you about Denver losing a
>heartbreaker on Monday Night.
When I was thinking of being more flippant about it, my comment was
that the most distressing part of the move was losing a newly
converted Raiders fan.
>Well, what kind of dipper would I be if I wrote you off.
An angry and vengeful one, but arguably not unjustifiably so.
--- Eric
Message from England to Russia
Eric -
> I still have to keep this brief, but I will definitely consider the
> request about Nwy. I knew that my moves in the south were going to be
> exceedingly risky (despite info from you and a few others, I was
> strongly suspecting Arm-Sev, Rum/Bla supporting) and so thought I
> needed to force getting a build prior to '03. Since the south went so
> much better than expected, the urgency level has dropped considerably.
If you go NWY - STP, no harm done.
> That's not a commitment to leave Nwy yet, but it is
> definitely on the table.
Think about it. There's nothing I really have to offer you, besides good
will, which may be worth something to you. If I can succeed in holding the
dot for Norway, then I will be in a position to work against Germany. Which
goes to your benefit, as I see it.
> >I think you were upset because I didn't write you about
> Denver losing a
> >heartbreaker on Monday Night.
>
> When I was thinking of being more flippant about it, my comment was
> that the most distressing part of the move was losing a newly
> converted Raiders fan.
*sniff* I was thinking of you *sniff* every time Brady lit up the Bronco's
secondary *sniff* [wipes eyes]
> >Well, what kind of dipper would I be if I wrote you off.
>
> An angry and vengeful one, but arguably not unjustifiably so.
Hm. Well, fair enough. But it is not too late for you to give me reason
*not* to be angry and vengeful, which perhaps I *would* have been, had it
been a fall phase.
Ben
Message from Russia to France
>I was
>clearly in for a long fight against Germany, and Ben might have started
>growing before I did, and that would spell problems.
And that was bad for me as well, because I thought he could get big
enough to start after me while still attacking one of you or Germany.
>Nice work with Turkey. I had heard that AT were on the ropes; looks now
>like Austria is the odd man out. This, by the way, has provoked more than
>one cry of "Juggernaut!" from other players.
I'm sure. And let me guess, Andy, Philippe and Tony are the ones
yelling the loudest!
>Is RT something you see
>continuing for a while, or just an expedient means to splitting up AT?
Look at the board for S02 and take into account the fact that while
Philippe said he would "consider" moving south, he refused to promise
not to enter Gal or use Rum against Sev. Given that negotiating
background, and that I obviously wanted to see Arm removed, ordering
support for Arm-Rum was a no-brainer. The shift of the armies was
more of the "why not bet the farm that he's really going to take it"
variety. I figured that if he did go to Rum, and Philippe didn't
attack me, then I needed to guard against a retreat to Gal. If he did
go to Gal, then I was giving up Sev, but against AT that was going to
be lost come Fall anyway.
I should add that I actually mis-explained myself in my last message
to you. While I did want to get a foothold in Scandinavia, it was
just as much the the belief that I was likely to go down one in the
south (because of the risky moves) that made me feel like a build in
'02 was more important than a promise of one in '03 that I might not
be able to take advantage of.
So in short, that was all desperation, and I need to hear from
everyone before I have any clarity about what comes next.
>Of course, the only way I could safely do that is if I knew you
>were ready to put the vice on Germany when the time came.
FR is very important to me. While emotionally attacking Ben was
difficult, from a dispassionate in-game perspective I was more
worried about what it would do to FR than ER. Germany is going to
spend a lot of time trying to balance you, me and England against
each other. One thing I see is that with my jump in position, I'd
like to figure out a way to get you a jump in position as well, so we
both feel like it's profitable to keep working together. Whether that
comes from you attacking England, or you keeping England onside while
the two of you take a bite out of Germany is negotiable to me.
This is waaay too long given that I'm so busy, so I'll stop here.
Let's keep the dialog going.
--- Eric
Message from Italy to Russia
> Andy,
>
> Oh my.
>
> Well, I'm busy today, so won't be around much, but wanted to touch base. I
> don't have specific requests yet, but wanted you to know that I'm around.
Ive been on the road for 3 days..
What is the plan.
I can think of several
Message from Austria to Russia
Hi Eric,
I have had it with Andy and I decided to do something special.
While there's at least an IT in the short term, if not an IRT, the
chances of an IR being worked out in the long term are good
enough for me to worry about it.
So, instead of working in term of an AR to oppose the IT, I
decided to favor an RT for the moment. The goal would be to
sever Andy's relation in the east, then dig myself out to try to
achieve something. To do so, I would open one of my sc to
you so you don't have to attack Jason in Rum to make gains.
Hopefully, you would then use this gain in the north instead
of trying to quickly eliminate me.
All I ask from you is that this be kept secret from Andy as long
as possible and that he doesn't get to make gains in the east.
Let me know what you think of this,
Philippe
Message from Italy to Russia
Eric,
Is there a particular reason that you are killing the English??
Bones Heal
Chicks Dig Scars
Pain is Temporary
Glory is Forever
- Rugby Proverb
Message from Russia to Italy
Hi Andy,
I'm sick today, and not doing much in the way of computer stuff.
The move on Ben was not something I wanted to do. I was not at all
confident that the southern moves would work out as they did. I was
basically expecting that I'd lose Sev, have Philippe in Gal, and would be
desperate for an extra army. Granted, I could have moved StP-Lvn-War to get
the same effect, but that would mean taking a junior position in both the
south and the north. With the apparent strong EF relationship (yes, I know,
I helped to encourage that) trying to survive in the north with F Swe
unsupported by other units with no real chance of getting any centers in
the south if things went badly looked like a way to make a quick exit from
the game.
Are you just curious or is there some more specific concern you have?
As far as Philippe and Jason, what are you thinking for Fall? There's lots
of dots, but we need to make sure we don't let Jason get so many that he
can establish a solid position in the corner. What's your take on the next
steps? It looks unlikely that I can take any dots off of Philippe, so the
question becomes whether or not you want are looking to make a play on Ser
with Jason.
--- Eric
Message from Russia to Austria
Philippe,
>To do so, I would open one of my sc to
>you so you don't have to attack Jason in Rum to make gains.
The only thing is that I don't understand how you can ensure that Andy
doesn't get a build, unless you know what Jason is trying for. Bud is the
only unit that can support Ser, and if Rum supports any action into Ser,
the only thing that could stop it is me at least tapping Rum (Bud has to
provide the support). And if Rum taps Bud or is the mover to Ser, then even
tapping Rum won't stop Ser from falling. With your home SC's covered,
leaving Rum free isn't a problem for them. I guess my point is that I
cannot ensure that Andy won't make gains, especially if it's clear to Jason
that Rum isn't at risk.
>Hopefully, you would then use this gain in the north instead
>of trying to quickly eliminate me.
Eliminating someone who's helping you is bad for business (I'm having a
Tzarface flashback with that statement!). I would not do that to you. I
trust that you can see that I would have a significant self-interest in
partnering with a smaller-than usual Austria.
>All I ask from you is that this be kept secret from Andy as long
>as possible and that he doesn't get to make gains in the east.
That's not a problem. I can see that trying to make an RT look clear will
galvanize the board on your side more than a more "unlikely" IT. (Though IT
could probably get Erik's attention quickly!)
So explain to me in more detail what you want to do.
--- Eric
Message from Russia to Turkey
Hey Jason,
Well, busy yesterday, sick today.
I'm trying to figure out what we should be doing. I did not expect to end
up in Gal, and am actually able to support myself to hold there. It seems
unlikely that Gal-Bud would be successful (he'll probably order either Vie
S Bud, or Vie S Bud-Gal), so I'm kind of at a loss. I could try to move for
position (Gal-Bud, Ukr-Gal (Rum supports)) but that leaves me kind of
strung out, and probably antagonizes Tony, so I'd have to think about that.
What do you think?
--- Eric
Message from Russia to France
Erik,
Busy yesterday, sick today, but I do want to write something.
Any further thoughts on how to manage EG? Clearly I can see him stay even,
grow, or go down one. Are any of these preferable to the others?
If Tony holds Den, then at the end of the season he'll be even or plus one,
as I see it. He'll probably attack Mun with enough to dislodge you, hoping
Ben attacks me out of spite instead of Den. If that happens, then worst
case is that he trades Bel for Hol, holds Mun and ends up even. Basically
I'm asking: who do we want to see hurt the most?
Another question becomes: how clear do we want FR cooperation to be? If you
help Ben this year (e.g., support him to Bel) and I don't help him against
Tony, then we'll have a clear EF vs. GR. Then I could hit Tony (in Den/Ber)
while you take centers off of Ben (Bel, and a move on the Island) in '03.
That would force EG vs. FR, but they'd be so out of position that they
might not be able to do much about it.
I want to reiterate that I've been sick, so haven't really looked over the
board that carefully to consider the repercussions of that last suggestion.
But while I'm still out of it enough not to be worried about them, I'd be
interested to hear your thoughts. It would give us both a lot of momentum
that could let us swing to the south pretty quickly.
--- Eric
Message from Russia to England
Ben,
I'm sick today, so this will be short.
A secondary concern about Scandinavia, that was part of the thought process
in taking Nwy was that with only one unit in the north and no prospects for
builds until late 03, I'd never be able to hold the position. A Nwy from my
point of view is a reasonable insurance policy for Swe, which was part of
the reason it made sense as a move despite my wanting to work with you. I
recognize that this is stated from the Russian point of view, so I don't
know if you'll see the logic of this. But F Swe alone with lots of English
units to the north and an angry German fleet to the south looked like a bad
situation.
If you got back a dot that I could not threaten -- Den being the obvious
choice -- I would still have the security I was looking for in Scandinavia,
while you would still have all of the advantages of the forward position
against Germany, without any Russian units that can threaten you.
Is that as good as getting back Nwy?
Let me know what you think.
--- Eric
Message from Russia to Germany
Tony,
Sorry, I was sick today so didn't get on the computer until late.
Your point is absolutely valid. Looking at the map, the only reason I would
need to support Nwy is if I think Ben is going to attack me. His response
to an offer of Ska-Den should make it clear which way he is going to want
to move.
I'm going to keep this short, but wanted to let you know that your message
makes sense and I'm writing a brief note to England to suggest the Ska-Den
move.
I'll let you know when I hear more from him.
--- Eric
Message from Austria to Russia
> The only thing is that I don't understand how you can ensure that Andy
> doesn't get a build, unless you know what Jason is trying for. Bud is the
> only unit that can support Ser, and if Rum supports any action into Ser,
> the only thing that could stop it is me at least tapping Rum (Bud has to
> provide the support). And if Rum taps Bud or is the mover to Ser, then even
> tapping Rum won't stop Ser from falling. With your home SC's covered,
> leaving Rum free isn't a problem for them. I guess my point is that I
> cannot ensure that Andy won't make gains, especially if it's clear to Jason
> that Rum isn't at risk.
All I can hope is that my offer is good enough for Jason;
but it's true that you can't make any promises for Serbia.
I will be happy with your making sure of what you can
on your side; but please refrain from attacking Jason as
I would prefer to see him fully trust you instead of keeping
things up with Andy.
> Eliminating someone who's helping you is bad for business (I'm having a
> Tzarface flashback with that statement!). I would not do that to you. I
> trust that you can see that I would have a significant self-interest in
> partnering with a smaller-than usual Austria.
I really hope so.
> That's not a problem. I can see that trying to make an RT look clear will
> galvanize the board on your side more than a more "unlikely" IT. (Though IT
> could probably get Erik's attention quickly!)
Erik doesn't look like he can handle an IT at the moment.
> So explain to me in more detail what you want to do.
Simple, I send Vie-Boh and you simply walk in. Once
there, I trust that you won't support Andy east and would
rather make gains yourself then do so.
Regards,
Philippe
Message from Germany to Russia
Ok Eric, look forward to hearing from you.
Message from Italy to Russia
Hey Eric,
>
> I'm sick today, and not doing much in the way of computer stuff.
I hope you feel better.
> The move on Ben was not something I wanted to do. I was not at all
> confident that the southern moves would work out as they did. I was
> basically expecting that I'd lose Sev, have Philippe in Gal, and would be
> desperate for an extra army. Granted, I could have moved StP-Lvn-War to get
> the same effect, but that would mean taking a junior position in both the
> south and the north. With the apparent strong EF relationship (yes, I know,
> I helped to encourage that) trying to survive in the north with F Swe
> unsupported by other units with no real chance of getting any centers in
> the south if things went badly looked like a way to make a quick exit from
> the game.
Understood. Well...you may want to make friends with him again, and he has
pretty much told me that he needs to hear it from you.
I have been your strongest supporter in the west, and now they Ben is
questioning my judgement.
> Are you just curious or is there some more specific concern you have?
Well...I want th EF to stay together, and that move put a big hurdle in
front of it.
I would suggest asking him to convoy you to Denmark and supporting it in.
And giving him the option of supporting it or going for Holland.
It gives him his dot back if it works, and you get a dot to replace it
with.
> As far as Philippe and Jason, what are you thinking for Fall?
I asked Jason to give me 2 supports to Serbia. But I havent heard from
him.
> of dots, but we need to make sure we don't let Jason get so many that he
> can establish a solid position in the corner. What's your take on the next
> steps?
Well...I would like to get Serbia, so that I can build an army and a
fleet. I would even cede Serbia to Jason afterwards, I just need the build
now. It would give me the units I need to pin Phillipe in.
It looks unlikely that I can take any dots off of Philippe, so the
> question becomes whether or not you want are looking to make a play on Ser
> with Jason.
Oh....I disagree, maybe not this season, but I think we can get you either
Vienna or Budapest next year.
If we can get Jason to support me to SER this fall, I will have the
leverage to force Philippe in the north, and position to move on Jason
either next year, or the year after.
Andy
Message from Turkey to Russia
Well, Andy is pushing me to support him into Ser with Bul and Rum, while
Philippe is telling me he'll give me Ser to prevent Andy from getting it.
I don't know how you feel about Italy holding Ser, but with his fleets,
if he builds a third (to my one), that'd be dicey.
You can always attack Rum with Gal or Ukr, and cut my support of Gre -
Ser. That would prevent Andy from getting a build.
Ben also mentioned that he'd prefer to keep Nwy. You're probably better
off going against Germany than England, anyway.
jason
Message from England to Russia
Eric -
> I'm sick today, so this will be short.
>
> A secondary concern about Scandinavia, that was part of the thought
process
> in taking Nwy was that with only one unit in the north and no prospects
for
> builds until late 03, I'd never be able to hold the position. A Nwy from
my
> point of view is a reasonable insurance policy for Swe, which was part of
> the reason it made sense as a move despite my wanting to work with you. I
> recognize that this is stated from the Russian point of view, so I don't
> know if you'll see the logic of this. But F Swe alone with lots of English
> units to the north and an angry German fleet to the south looked like a
bad
> situation.
>
> If you got back a dot that I could not threaten -- Den being the obvious
> choice -- I would still have the security I was looking for in
Scandinavia,
> while you would still have all of the advantages of the forward position
> against Germany, without any Russian units that can threaten you.
>
> Is that as good as getting back Nwy?
>
> Let me know what you think.
You have two northern units right now. While I am perfectly willing to
swap/loan dots where necessary, I do not accept that it is "necessary" for
you to borrow Norway at this point. While I may in time want to capture
DEN - and if you are offering support, let me know - I am not persuaded
that I ought to give you Norway in exchange.
Perhaps it is because I am thickheaded, or perhaps it is your illness, but
I am missing the point. If you feel well enough, I'd appreciate you
addressing my points.
Ben
Message from Austria to Russia
Eric,
We have a problem. It seem that Jason's relation with Andy is much
stronger then I thought. I told him I wanted to favor an RT and
offered him Serbia, but here's what he said about that: "I'll see about
Ser. There's a lot of demand on it these days".
With that kind of response, I doubt anything can be done to break
this IT relationship and I'm forced to go back to the previous plan of
getting your fleet in Rum so you can dislodged him from Bla. The
best way of doing it is probably to support Sev-Rum from Ukr, Gal
& Ser while I support Ser from Bud in case it can be salvaged.
If you have a better idea, I look forward to hearing it,
Philippe
Message from Italy to Russia
Eric,
What is Turkey telling you his moves are.
He has promised me 2 supports to Serbia. I would appreciate it if you
would encourage that.
thanks
Andy
Message from France to Russia
Eric:
I think we need to keep FR cooperation quiet for as long as possible. If
England believes that I'm working with you, especially now, his trust in
me is going to plummet. He's not too happy with you.
Tony's trying to get me to switch sides, of course, and is dangling
Belgium as a carrot. Since I can't hold Munich anyway, I may as well take
it. With Mun - Ruh, Pic - Bel and Bur S Pic - Bel, it's mine. I can tell
England that he should try to re-take Norway, which, thanks to support
from Sweden, should fail. That will put Germany at 4 or 5 (if he takes
Holland) and England at 3. Then we're set up for the plan as you outlines
it (you going for Den, me for the island).
I could even move Mao - Iri, playing into Tony's suggestions for me
switching sides, which would make me poised for a serious strike against
Ben next turn.
Thoughts?
Erik
Message from Russia to Turkey
> Well, Andy is pushing me to support him into Ser with Bul and Rum, while
> Philippe is telling me he'll give me Ser to prevent Andy from getting it.
>
> I don't know how you feel about Italy holding Ser, but with his fleets,
> if he builds a third (to my one), that'd be dicey.
Actually, there's an outside chance he'll get two builds without Ser. If
Philippe moves Tri again, Ven-Tri gets Andy a build.
In answer to your question, I think Andy growing that fast could be really
dangerous. I believe that he would probably move west with a fleet or two,
but he only needs to get as far Mar/Spa before setting up a stalemate line
and trying to hit you. In any case, if he gains Ser and builds a second army,
he can probably get into Tri and guarantee you can't retake Ser from him very
quickly.
> You can always attack Rum with Gal or Ukr, and cut my support of Gre -
> Ser. That would prevent Andy from getting a build.
But if I cut the support without attacking strongly (meaning, without
supporting myself) it will be obvious that the intent was to cut support for
Andy. He'll know we cooperated, at least in that he'll know you told me that
you were supporting him to Ser.
I gather you want him to think you are working with him, but I think that
this would be going to a lot of work to get nowhere. Right now it sounds like
Philippe is trying to keep Andy from growing. If we make it look like we're
fighting (which is what me tapping Rum would be), he (Philippe) may end up
needing to cut a deal with Andy. That would necessarily mean you losing Bul,
and probably Rum too.
> Ben also mentioned that he'd prefer to keep Nwy. You're probably better
> off going against Germany than England, anyway.
Yeah, Ben has said the same things to me. I'd be curious to hear your reasons
for thinking I'd be better off going against Germany. I'm not disagreeing
with you, but I know my own thinking is colored by being too close to the
situation, and obviously, Ben is biased as well.
I'm still not fully recovered yet, so I hope this all makes sense.
Thanks,
--- Eric
Message from Russia to Austria
Philippe,
> We have a problem. It seem that Jason's relation with Andy is much
> stronger then I thought. I told him I wanted to favor an RT and
> offered him Serbia, but here's what he said about that: "I'll see about
> Ser. There's a lot of demand on it these days".
Clearly I've been off all weekend. I've gotten some press from each of Andy
and Jason and there might be some room to break up the IT. I'll see what I
can do about that and get back to you.
I know you won't overlook this, but do note that if you move Tri again,
there's a chance Ven could take it. Hearing you think about moving to Boh
makes me concerned that you might not think about bouncing Ven-Tri should it
happen (perhaps you were thinking about Bud-Tri, Ser-Bud, Vie-Boh, but that's
putting a lot of trust in Jason not move Bul-Ser instead of Rum-Ser).
Anyway, your defense is hardly my business, but I wanted to share the things
I was worried about that will hopefully help you.
--- Eric
Message from Russia to France
Erik,
I've been off of email all weekend and apparently so have you.
After some press I've recieved over the weekend, I'm reasonably certain that
it's a good idea for us to do something to hamstring Ben. If I attack Germany
now, it's going to allow Ben to pick and choose between us (Tony and me).
That's bad for me. I'm also reasonably certain that Andy and Ben have a deal
to come after you after they each cement their positions against A and G
respectively (one big indicator is that Andy seems unusually upset that I may
be slowing down Ben's progress). That's bad for you.
So as noted in the last message I'd like to talk about what we can do to
quickly clean up in the north.
--- Eric
Message from Russia to England
> You have two northern units right now. While I am perfectly willing to
> swap/loan dots where necessary, I do not accept that it is "necessary" for
> you to borrow Norway at this point. While I may in time want to capture
> DEN - and if you are offering support, let me know - I am not persuaded
> that I ought to give you Norway in exchange.
> Perhaps it is because I am thickheaded, or perhaps it is your illness, but
> I am missing the point. If you feel well enough, I'd appreciate you
> addressing my points.
I don't know if it's the illness or not, but I'll give it another try.
My point was that to move on Tony would have required leaving only one
northern unit (Stp-Lvn). I had stated early in our discussions that for good
E/R cooperation, I would likely want enough units in Scandinavia to form a
northern stalemate line. Looking at the board had I moved Stp-Lvn, that was
not likely to have happened at any point. That plus the feeling I would need
a build for working in the south is what prompted the move.
On the second point, I was not explicitly offering support to Den, but I was
raising the idea that that might be reasonable recompense. It would give us
stable positions in the north while still advancing our position (really more
your position) against Tony. At this point I have not agreed to any
cooperative move.
Sorry, this note doesn't feel very politic. But I wanted to get something out
to you tonight.
--- Eric
Message from Russia to France
Erik,
Our messages crossed.
I'm sure that Tony is offering to cut support for Nwy for Ben to keep Ben
focused away from Den. Who knows, he may even go through with it. Tony is
doing whatever he can to break up EF. If you got Bel and Iri, that would
basically cut Ben out of everything (guaranteed down two by 04) and then we
could collapse on Tony.
To be honest, that's waaay more aggressive than I normally play this game,
but I'd be willing to give it a go if you are.
I have to go to bed now, so will likely not see your response to this until
tomorrow.
--- Eric
Message from Russia to England
On an unrelated note, both of our teams sucked today. I think mine sucked a
whole lot more than yours, but I may be biased.
--- Eric
Message from Turkey to Russia
Well, it turns out that I decided to help Andy into Ser. That might come
back to haunt me, but I do plan to build F Smy regardless.
As for Ben, I'd say it's a lot easier for you to hold him off than
Germany. If he's down to 3 centers, he won't be able to backstop us
against France and Germany.
jason
Message from Germany to Russia
Still waiting to hear from you. I hope you see there is no need to support
NWY. He will be coming after me. I am expecting MUN - KIE and both English
fleets to hit Denmark. With or without your support ;-)
There is nothing I can do about it now, I just hope I have convinced you to
support me. A strong EF will be a formidable force.
Message from England to Russia
Eric -
> My point was that to move on Tony would have required leaving only one
> northern unit (Stp-Lvn). I had stated early in our
> discussions that for good
> E/R cooperation, I would likely want enough units in
> Scandinavia to form a northern stalemate line.
Yes, I remember that conversation. I had thought I responded, that such a
force would be four to six units (can't remember for sure if you can do it
with four, may need five) and require Russian occupation of Norway, which is
hardly pro-English. What I recall I wrote in exchange was, you may wish to
defend your border with me *diplomatically*, as to construct such a massive
force and deploy them against a friendly England might drain your more hotly
contested borders to the south and west.
> Looking at the board had I moved
> Stp-Lvn, that was
> not likely to have happened at any point. That plus the
> feeling I would need
> a build for working in the south is what prompted the move.
As I said, I understood it in the context of the upheaval in the south.
Fortunately that seems to have abated. Unless you are Austria, which you
are not.
> On the second point, I was not explicitly offering support to
> Den, but I was
> raising the idea that that might be reasonable recompense. It
> would give us
> stable positions in the north while still advancing our
> position (really more
> your position) against Tony. At this point I have not agreed to any
> cooperative move.
Here is what I am seeing, as I struggle to read between the lines. Forgive
me if my inexperience leads me down the wrong path in this analysis.
You clearly have a southern partner. My guess is, you are biding your time
and are prepared to choose Jason or Andy, depending on your needs when you
are forced to make the choice. A southern partner for Russia means, to many
Muscovites, expansion in the North. Which is why you talk to me of
stalemate lines & expanding to cover Norway, etc. *However* I would urge
you, before you rush too quickly to follow the script, consider the
following alternative: work with Erik and myself against Germany. You will
have to deal with Tony eventually, why not now, when he is engaged with EF?
If you do get to choose from your southern friends, and would eventually
like to make that push for the northern waters, why not do that after Tony
has been limited or eliminated? RG conflict is basically unavoidable, and I
daresay with Tony in Germany that much moreso in this game. ER conflict, on
the other hand need not *ever* take place. So I would recommend to you,
reconsider this path I think you are on. You do not need a Northern
"stalemate line" - I have vacated Norway to give you security and I would
like to see us work together.
On to a lighter subject. . .
> On an unrelated note, both of our teams sucked today. I think
> mine sucked a
> whole lot more than yours, but I may be biased.
Yes, but Oakland is supposed to suck. Didn't you get the memorandum? The
Baltimore game was a circus. For one and a half quarters we played like
Super Bowl champions, blowing Saint Louis off both sides of the ball, to
come back from the 14-0 head start to be winning going into the half.
Unfortunately neither our starting qb nor our offensive line came back onto
the field for the second half. We had a backup at quarterback and five
random stiffs from the stands, wearing Ravens uniforms and pads, as our
offensive line.
Pushing a quality Jets team to overtimes was not so bad. Blowing the lead
was ugly, but if I told you ahead of time you'd be losing to the Jets in
overtime maybe you wouldn't be too upset. Discouraging to read Jerry Rice
complaining about the coaching, though. . .
Ben
Message from France to Russia
Eric:
I agree, it's a little aggressive, but I see opportunities here. Thanks
for the info about Andy and Ben, though that's not surprising; I'd be
doing the same in both their positions. The key is to take one of them out
before that can happen. Italy seems more useful to you in the near-term,
so I think England is the obivious candidate.
I'm going to end up with Belgium no matter what. Ben is fixated on taking
Norway back; as such, you may want to watch for slipper maneuvers on
Tony's part -- it would not be entirely out of line for him to suddenly
break your support to Nwy and let England back in. In fact, that's the
sort of manipulation that he seems to be most fond of.
The big question is simply whether I should make a move on Iri right now
or not. If you keep Nwy, are you planning on building StP? If so, what and
which coast?
And heading into next turn, how do we continue with this? Can you afford
to send, for example, Gal over to Sil?
Erik
Message from Russia to Germany
Tony,
Sorry, I've been sick and jumped online for only a few minutes over the
weekend. I thought I had sent you an update, but obviously failed to.
Basically, right now I'm hearing from a number of places that Nwy is Ben's
target. That has me leaning to supporting Nwy, on the assumption that Den is
not threatened. It seems unlikely that Erik will cut your support for Den,
since he knows he can't hold Mun. I guess it's possible that Erik might try
to help Ben to his own detriment, but it seems unlikely.
Basically we're in a three-way guessing game, where Ben can either attempt a
two-strength attack on Den (hoping for support from Swe), attempt a
two-strength attack on Nwy, hoping for you to cut support from Swe, or can
offer to attack Swe with you while Nth cuts support. Any of these is a risk
-- if I offer support for Ska-Den he might attack Nwy knowing I can't defend
it. Similarly, if you offer to move Den-Swe for any reason, then he could
attack Den because it will be on the move.
--- Eric
Message from Russia to Turkey
Here's my concern: if you and I fight while Italy grows, then he'll be in the
driver's seat. It also means a very good chance that RT conflict is coming,
since it doesn't make sense for you to build up an opponent right before
attacking him. If we do end up fighting, while Andy has units in Ser, Ven and
probably Tyr, he'll get the lion's share of the Balkans, as well as being
able to draw out RT fighting by supporting whichever of us is doing worse.
Maybe I'm being alarmist, but can you help me understand how RT would go
forward if you get Andy into Ser? Or are you just trying to goad me into
tapping Rum? :)
--- Eric
Message from Russia to Turkey
Did I already mention the possibility of Rum-Ser, Bul S Rum-Ser, Gal/Ukr-Rum?
That would give you the build for F Smy, make sure that Andy cannot project
force north into the Balkans, and still leave us with a bunch of armies that
can combine to get you Gre, and then split the Austrian home centers among
us.
--- Eric
Message from Russia to England
> I had thought I responded, that such
> a force would be four to six units
> [....] and require Russian occupation of Norway, which is
> hardly pro-English. What I recall I wrote in exchange was, you may wish
> to defend your border with me *diplomatically*, as to construct such a
> massive force and deploy them against a friendly England might drain
> your more hotly contested borders to the south and west.
Correct, and I'm not looking to deploy such a force early. I know I'm
repeating myself here, but my point was that having only one unit in the
north now made having the possibility of defending myself in the north later
(any by later, I mean mid-end game) much more unlikely.
>> Looking at the board had I moved Stp-Lvn, that was
>> not likely to have happened at any point. That plus the
>> feeling I would need
>> a build for working in the south is what prompted the move.
>As I said, I understood it in the context of the upheaval in the south.
Actually, I hadn't realized that you made that statement at any point in this
dialogue.
>Fortunately that seems to have abated. Unless you are Austria, which you
>are not.
:)
> Here is what I am seeing, as I struggle to read between the lines.
> Forgive me if my inexperience leads me down the wrong path in this
> analysis.
I'm clearly not doing a good job of communicating this. I think this may be
in part because I'm being somewhat indirect in my comments. Let me try to be
more direct: I see a very strong EF, where both players are very vigorous in
their desire to see me help with removing G. There is nothing inherently
wrong with that, but we both know that Tony is going to be doing whatever he
can to throw one of us in a different driection. Last season he offered
Den-Nth to me, he probably offered Den-Swe to you. Overally, he's trying to
play us against each other, and as you comment, I daresay he's trying to do
so much moreso than you and I are trying to play each other (if that's not
true, you obviously won't tell me, but if it is my hat's off to you for your
diploming skill).
By virtue of your fleet strength, once you are in Den, Tony cannot
realistically make a move that hurts you, or even really benefits me. He can
make moves that slow you and he can fail to oppose me, but that's about it.
With F Swe alone in the north, and a vengeful and angy German F Bal due to
retreats, there are all sorts of things Tony can (and would) offer to you to
get you to move north on me. Eventually as he grinds down, you would be very
tempted to take advantage of that support, since there would be no way for me
to realistically retaliate.
Clearly he still can help you, and my moves have probably made it more likely
that you might work with him sooner rather than later. I would be stunned if
Tony has not already offered to use Den to help you against me, and I won't
be too surprised if he actually provides such support, though I suspect he's
really more interested in seeing Kie freed up to help defend against Mun.
Frankly, if Tony does end up helping you I will no doubt come crawling back
to you with a completely different viewpoint on the importance of a second
Scandinavian unit for Russia.
A Nwy is clearly not great for England, but it's a whole lot better than F
Nwy, and it's no threat to England beyond the loss of that particular dot.
It's clear that we can cooperate from the current board position, though I'm
not looking like as trustworthy an ally to you as I probably did earlier.
From my point of view the value of A Nwy is in making it more inviting for
you to spend effort moving west rather than east once Germany falls. I wish I
could have come up with a better scenario for getting that position to be,
but that's the motivation.
So enough excuses and discussion. You are saying that Nwy-StP is a good way
to rebuild our relationship. Supposing that I agree to that, what would your
moves be and how would we proceed in an EFR vs. G?
> If you do get to choose from your southern friends, and would eventually
> like to make that push for the northern waters, why not do that after
> Tony has been limited or eliminated?
You may be pegging me as more confident than I am. I am not at all clear that
I get to choose from southern friends. I still feel like I'm playing catchup
with the other alliances down there.
On the other point, I think that's what I was trying to address in the longer
section above. I don't want to make a big push to the north; I just want to
have enough in place to not look like an easy mark down the road.
>>>>>>>>>>>
>On to a lighter subject. . .
>Yes, but Oakland is supposed to suck. Didn't you get the memorandum?
No official memorandum, but the message has come through loud and clear. If
the first two losses didn't make it obvious, the last five in a row certainly
did. The most anguishing thing is that I have tickets to the game with the
Broncos on Thanksgiving weekend. I don't know how much I'm looking forward to
going to that one....
> The Baltimore game was a circus. For one and a half quarters we played
> like Super Bowl champions, blowing Saint Louis off both sides of the
> ball, to come back from the 14-0 head start to be winning going into the
> half.
That was amazing. I was *sure* you guys were going to wipe them out, but the
score compared to the stat box was just bizarre. I think they said the Rams
set a record for most points/yard gained by any team that scored over 30
points. And the stat that Faulk had two TDs on -1 yard rushing. Just bizarre.
> Unfortunately neither our starting qb nor our offensive line came
> back onto the field for the second half. We had a backup at quarterback
> and five random stiffs from the stands, wearing Ravens uniforms and
> pads, as our offensive line.
Welcome to my world. Rick Mirer as old as the rest of the team, just with
less experience. :/
> Pushing a quality Jets team to overtimes was not so bad.
"I've seen the Raiders play quality Jets teams [we were at the Jets-Raiders
playoff game two years ago] and that was NOT a quality Jets team."
> Blowing the
> lead was ugly, but if I told you ahead of time you'd be losing to the
> Jets in overtime maybe you wouldn't be too upset.
You are ever the diplomat. :)
> Discouraging to read Jerry Rice complaining about the coaching, though. . .
Well, if a 2-7 start doesn't cause people to complain, something else is
wrong. Gannon saying that he was perfectly happy with his play when the team
was at 2-2 or 2-4 or so was just stunning.
--- Eric
Message from England to Russia
Eric -
Excellent to hear from you.
> >As I said, I understood it in the context of the upheaval in
> the south.
>
> Actually, I hadn't realized that you made that statement at
> any point in this
> dialogue.
I think what happened is, you overlooked what I'd written because I used the
Cyrillic word "undertainty":
************
Message sent to Russia:
Message from BHarris@StAttorney.org as England to Russia in 'c2':
Eric -
Well, I was disappointed of course, but I can understand why, with
undertainty in the south, you felt you needed the dot.>
***********
;-)
[snippage]
> A Nwy is clearly not great for England, but it's a whole lot
> better than F
> Nwy, and it's no threat to England beyond the loss of that
> particular dot.
That was my thinking, too. I could not understand why you captured with the
army.
[more snippage - reinsert where appropriate]
> So enough excuses and discussion. You are saying that Nwy-StP
> is a good way
> to rebuild our relationship. Supposing that I agree to that,
> what would your
> moves be and how would we proceed in an EFR vs. G?
How about, I dislodge NWY and you disband it, rebuilding in WAR? It would
require an extension of trust, on your part, but it's one possibility.
Another is NWY - SWE, SWE - BAL. Could bounce, but again, I could force NWY
and you would have that rebuilding option. Frankly I haven't given this
much thought - please send your counter-proposals.
What I liked about STP - LVN was that it put you in Berlin pretty quickly.
Water under the bridge now, of course.
I am trying to be smart; please bear with me.
[more snippage - too much Dip at work]
> >>>>>>>>>>>
> >On to a lighter subject. . .
> >Yes, but Oakland is supposed to suck. Didn't you get the memorandum?
>
> No official memorandum, but the message has come through loud
> and clear. If
> the first two losses didn't make it obvious, the last five in
> a row certainly
> did. The most anguishing thing is that I have tickets to the
> game with the
> Broncos on Thanksgiving weekend. I don't know how much I'm
> looking forward to going to that one....
If you have tickets - you should be looking forward to it. Win, lose, or
draw. Going to the game is fantastic.
> > The Baltimore game was a circus. For one and a half
> quarters we played
> > like Super Bowl champions, blowing Saint Louis off both sides of the
> > ball, to come back from the 14-0 head start to be winning
> going into the
> > half.
>
> That was amazing. I was *sure* you guys were going to wipe
> them out, but the
> score compared to the stat box was just bizarre. I think they
> said the Rams
> set a record for most points/yard gained by any team that
> scored over 30
> points. And the stat that Faulk had two TDs on -1 yard
> rushing. Just bizarre.
Clearly as I sit here our season hangs in the balance, while they MRI Kyle
Boller's knee.
> > Unfortunately neither our starting qb nor our offensive line came
> > back onto the field for the second half. We had a backup
> at quarterback
> > and five random stiffs from the stands, wearing Ravens uniforms and
> > pads, as our offensive line.
>
> Welcome to my world. Rick Mirer as old as the rest of the
> team, just with less experience. :/
I'll trade you Chris Redman for Rick Mirer.
Ben
Message from Austria to Russia
> Clearly I've been off all weekend. I've gotten some press from each of Andy
> and Jason and there might be some room to break up the IT. I'll see what I
> can do about that and get back to you.
I would remind you that the dl is tonight,
so don't waste too much time with Jason.
Hope to hear from you,
Philippe
Message from England to Russia
Eric -
Plan B - I hope addressing all your objections. Tony's been offering
support for SKA - SWE. What if I *accept*?
You hold onto NWY and (assuming Tony makes good on his promise and supports
SKA - SWE; if he doesn't, fairly or unfairly, I'd suspect a leak) you
retreat from SWE to BAL. Suddenly my position against you is not very good
- I am further than ever from STP - but our combined position against
Germany is better than ever.
I like this plan best & have put in the corresponding orders, with wait set.
Thoughts?
Ben
Message from Russia to England
> I think what happened is, you overlooked what I'd written because I used
> the Cyrillic word "undertainty":
> ************
> Message sent to Russia:
>
> Message from BHarris@StAttorney.org as England to Russia in 'c2':
>
> Eric -
> Well, I was disappointed of course, but I can understand why, with
> undertainty in the south, you felt you needed the dot.>
> ***********
> ;-)
Ahh. I think I was so stunned by the use of the word "disappointed" that I
didn't digest the rest of the message.
>> Supposing that I agree to that, what would your
>> moves be and how would we proceed in an EFR vs. G?
>How about, I dislodge NWY and you disband it, rebuilding in WAR? It
>would require an extension of trust, on your part, but it's one
>possibility. Another is NWY - SWE, SWE - BAL. Could bounce, but again, I
>could force NWY and you would have that rebuilding option. Frankly I
>haven't given this much thought - please send your counter-proposals.
Well, this is the reverse point of view of who extends what trust, but what
about standing pat now (meaning holding onto Nwy) but following this plan for
next season. Essentially me taking Nwy, but looking to replace it (rather
than augment it) with Ber in '03. If Tony helps you against me, you know I
will be motivated to help you -- in that case I'd probably use the center or
disband to build F StP/sc. If he doesn't, then I'd probably bulid A War. In
either case, we could move forward together.
So I guess what I'm saying is that I would like to move as if I'm going to
keep Nwy. I'd like to sugarcoat that, but I don't think it's that
sugarcoatable. Since I expect Tony has already offered support against me
(whether or not he provides it) I won't take it amiss if you attack Nwy in
Fall, even if you are successful. In that case, our moves end up being what
you suggested anyway (this supposing you end up taking it with a fleet and
not an army). The other option for you would be that you try to take Den and
ignore me. I gather you are disposed towards the former option, but I don't
need you'd to tell me which way you expect to move or whether or not you
expect to be successful.
> I am trying to be smart; please bear with me.
That's when I always get into trouble myself!
> If you have tickets - you should be looking forward to it. Win, lose,
> or draw. Going to the game is fantastic.
True, it's just the 3-4 hour round travel time (round trip) is a lot of
investment for a bad game. On the plus side, we should be able to find some
free seats in good sections!
> I'll trade you Chris Redman for Rick Mirer.
Touche!
--- Eric
Message from Russia to England
Our press passed each other.
Yeah, I knew you both were too good to miss that option.
FWIW, I expected he would offer that support as well, and have already hinted
to him that I realized he might be tempted to offer to help you with Den. I
didn't explicitly say Ska-Swe on the off-chance that neither of you would
come up with it, but I've had my eye on that move for awhile. Be aware that
threats for retaliation have already been made against him.
My preference is that you attack Tony, but that's not terribly realistic and
so is not a demand I can make of you. When I said "go ahead and attack me if
you can get Tony's help" in that last message, Ska-Swe was specifically in my
mind as a possibility. I will not hold it against you if you make that
attack, but do be warned in evaluating Tony's offer that I've already warned
him about the consequences of such a move. At the same time he has asked me
to offer you support for Ska-Den and then to order Swe S Den. The obvious
idea being that if you work with me you suffer (Den is supported, you go down
one) and if you don't, I suffer (Nwy is not supported), but in either case
he's doing well. I think he wants the freedom to order Kie S ???-Mun and so
is more interested in distracting you. But I can't overlook the real
possibility that he'll actually order the support.
So that move is your call. Given what I've heard, I'm entering orders to
self-support myself, and you shouldn't have to tell me what you will actually
order. As long as you don't move to Nwg or stick an army into Nwy, I think we
are good. I promise to act surprised if you do succeed.
--- Eric
Message from Russia to Austria
Philippe,
I don't have high hopes of getting Jason to change his mind, but I think the
moves are likely to work out in a way that will keep you fairly happy. Until
I hear something from Jason, I'm still planning to take Rum as we've
discussed.
I don't think that what (if anything) gets discussed between Jason and I will
impact your moves at all though.
I realize I haven't said anything of value in this message, but I wanted you
to know that I'm not looking to do anything that will require last minute
complex coordination between you and me.
--- Eric
Message from England to Russia
> As long as you don't move to Nwg or stick an army into
> Nwy, I think we
> are good. I promise to act surprised if you do succeed.
By telling you ahead of time, and securing your blessing, my hope is it will
be win/win for our relationship. I would like to succeed mostly because I
would like to see you in BAL. Our position would be crushing.
If it fails, as you say, you will owe me one next year, and I will still be
in a good position to make you sorry, if you try to welch on me. It won't
be worth the one dot, as you know.
It will be marvelous if it succeeds - I hope you can act well. . .
Ben
Message from Russia to England
I agree that it would be win-win. My point was more that Tony IS forewarned
that I know he might try that. I have not (and will not) say anything to make
him think that I am expecting it.
Good luck, I think. :)
--- Eric
Message from England to Russia
Eric -
> Good luck, I think. :)
Thank you, my friend. We will see.
Ben
Message from Russia to France
Erik,
From recent press I think there's a good chance E/G may be working against
me. I may well lose Nwy. Consider in your planning on Iri vs. Por that
England may not actually go down a center. That may affect how much you want
to press Ben vs. Tony.
--- Eric
Message from Austria to Russia
> I don't have high hopes of getting Jason to change his mind, but I think the
> moves are likely to work out in a way that will keep you fairly happy. Until
> I hear something from Jason, I'm still planning to take Rum as we've
> discussed.
>
> I don't think that what (if anything) gets discussed between Jason and I will
> impact your moves at all though.
>
> I realize I haven't said anything of value in this message, but I wanted you
> to know that I'm not looking to do anything that will require last minute
> complex coordination between you and me.
No, that's perfect. I wanted to make sure that I
wasn't supporting Sev-Rum for nothing.
Philippe
Message from Russia to Germany
Tony,
I'm getting a little frustrated with Ben. He has repeatedly asked me to give
him back Nwy. It's actually kind of funny, because he keeps saying that he
has not agreed to me taking it, as if it were his to give. He was not willing
to discuss taking support to Den until he is back in Nwy.
It is abundantly clear that he is not planning to attack you until I leave or
am forced out of Nwy. I'm going to have to stick with supporting myself in
Nwy for now. I'm pretty confident that you can ignore the threat of him
attacking Den and use Kie to help take back Mun. Of course, that's easy for
me to say, since you're the one taking the risk. I don't want to know whether
Kie will support Den or Mun, but you do need to know that Swe is ordering
support for Nwy and that I think England will not be hitting Den.
Yours,
--- Eric
Message from Germany to Russia
Well that would fit in. EF are asking me to cut support from Sweden to allow
E to retake NWY.
I said no and that I would only support DEN - SWE.
So I am 100% sure he will go for Norway.
I will be losing DEN. He wont go for NWY without my support, I have not
given it. Only verbaly.
Message from Germany to Russia
I ment SKA - SWE not DEN - SWE
> I said no and that I would only support DEN - SWE.
> So I am 100% sure he will go for Norway.
> I will be losing DEN. He wont go for NWY without my support, I have not
> given it. Only verbaly. Anyway I cant hold DEN with KIE as MUN will cut
support from KIE.
I guess I just have to lose DEN.
Message from Russia to Russia
Well, I'm pretty happy with the way things seem to be going in the north. I
don't actually mind losing a dot to Ben, I just don't want to have to move
against Tony when he could retreat to Bal. If I end up retreating to Bal,
then that's actually pretty good. Of course, Ben could use Swe to take Nwy
and really kill me, but if there is a GE that I can't split up, then I'm
not going to feel too bad dying that way.
I'm a little concerned about not having heard from Erik, but I can live
with that. If he attacks Ben, then Ben will need my help. If he doesn't,
then Tony is still in trouble. If things go the way I think they will.
The south is less clear. With Andy, on the one hand it would be good for IR
to allow Andy to take Ser. On the other hand, he is basically saying "look,
I need two builds, but you should give up a build in the north to make it
easier for me to get even more builds in the west". I believe that my take
on what he wants to see happen (Philippe die, but RT to start fighting) is
accurate, and I believe that Jason is on board with that.
I think Jason is trying to look nice to Andy by supporting him to Ser, so
that I will look like the bad guy if I tap the unit. My thinking is either
I'll leave the unit alone or I'll destroy the unit. Destroying the unit
still means that Jason gets a build, and it basically guarantees that the
build will be F Ank, instead of allowing for the chance that he really will
build F Smy as he's saying he will.
So for now my moves are Swe S Nwy, Nwy S Swe, Sev-Rum, Gal S Sev-Rum and
Ukr S Sev-Rum. I considered something like Ukr-Rum, but I think Jason will
take destroying Rum as a bad thing no matter how I try to spin it, and
taking it with the army is just going to make Philippe unhappy. There's the
chance that Jason will do Con-Bla-Sev (I would certainly consider it in his
shoes), which would be very unpleasant. If he thinks I'm attacking him (and
Philippe may have shared that info) then that's actually a higher
likelihood than I'd like to think. Or Philippe and Jason could be planning
Vie-Gal along with Con-Bla-Sev, but for now I'm going to hope/guess that's
not happening.
--- Eric
Message from Russia to Germany
>I guess I just have to lose DEN.
I can say this: If you do lose Den, it means that EF is MUCH stronger than
I thought. Of course I could be underestimating them, but if I am it will
be a real eye opener for me, and I will be very interested in seeing you
get it back. Getting Den back shouldn't be too hard to do even if it does
fall.
But as I said, what I'm hearing strongly indicates that you will not be
attacked.
--- Eric
Message from Turkey to Russia
Right now, Andy and I have a deal where he gets Ser and I get Gre. For
the moment, I'm happy with that. You and I have to deal with Austria and
Germany. In the future, I might reevaluate Andy.
jason
Austria: Army Budapest SUPPORT Army Serbia
Austria: Army Serbia SUPPORT Russian Fleet Sevastopol → Rumania (*cut*)
Austria: Fleet Trieste → Adriatic Sea
Austria: Army Vienna → Trieste (*bounce*)
England: Fleet London → North Sea (*bounce*)
England: Fleet North Sea → Norway (*bounce*)
England: Fleet Skagerrak → Sweden (*bounce*)
England: Army Yorkshire HOLD
France: Army Burgundy SUPPORT Army Picardy → Belgium
France: Fleet Mid-Atlantic Ocean → Portugal
France: Army Munich → Ruhr
France: Army Picardy → Belgium
Germany: Army Belgium → Burgundy (*bounce, destroyed*)
Germany: Army Berlin → Munich
Germany: Fleet Denmark HOLD
Germany: Army Kiel SUPPORT Army Berlin → Munich
Germany: Army Ruhr → Holland
Italy: Army Greece → Serbia (*bounce*)
Italy: Fleet Ionian Sea → Tunis
Italy: Fleet Naples → Ionian Sea
Italy: Army Venice → Trieste (*bounce*)
Russia: Army Galicia SUPPORT Fleet Sevastopol → Rumania
Russia: Army Norway SUPPORT Fleet Sweden (*cut*)
Russia: Fleet Sevastopol → Rumania
Russia: Fleet Sweden SUPPORT Army Norway (*cut*)
Russia: Army Ukraine SUPPORT Fleet Sevastopol → Rumania
Turkey: Fleet Black Sea SUPPORT Army Rumania
Turkey: Army Bulgaria SUPPORT Italian Army Greece → Serbia
Turkey: Army Constantinople SUPPORT Army Bulgaria
Turkey: Army Rumania SUPPORT Italian Army Greece → Serbia (*cut, destroyed*)
|