Dip 22 Postmodern - End of Game!

[Gerwald]

Victor, again congratulations on finishing third behind a complete tactical moron. Oh and a fool to boot. Enjoy having yet another antagonist in this club.

[RUFFHAUS8]

Okay, clearly it's time for me to wade in with my $.45 worth

First of all, I think it bears noting that EOG statements are a tool to provide an explanation of the various perspectives on how the game was played. And while criticism and venting are bound to be present in these writings, I think it's important to leave debate and more importantly insults out of it.

One of the most important lessons to be learned about Diplomacy is that that all players see the same board in different ways. Just because one strategy makes perfect sense to you, doesn't mean that your neighbor, ally, oppoenent, etc., sees things the same way. Sometimes it can be difficult to disclose the real reasons for this with the game going on. And EOG statements provide a chance to explore each other's thought process.

Now on to the game. I'm going to follow my own advice resist the urge to poke at Imran, but needless to say, I was very dissapointed to have had to resign as Nigeria. I had taken then to a game leading poition and was rolling with a triple alliance of Iran-Nigeria-Turkey against Egypt, which Hacksaw formed in a probable episode of crossgaming. i had all kinds of options open to me and was looking forward to my first experience with this map. But the game was stalling, and no one was willing to pick it up. Imran looked unconcerned, and wasn't willing to be a hardass with the slackers not turning orders in. I bit the bullet and went out and found a competent replacement for Nigeria in Victor, resigning to take over as GM.

Sahib had taken Poland to an awesome start, and his sudden disappearence was a major catalyst for things to come. Poland's one great empire was beset by NMRs as such Diplomacy luminaries as the long departed Luk took the helm. Luk then quit after a series of poorly written orders futher damaged his chances. Coug took over, and at least turned in orders every turn, but he wasn't really playing. And while this was significant, clearly the turning point in the game was when I strongarmed Berzerker into taking over a floundering Germany.

As I said above, this was the single most dramatic recovery that I've ever seen in a Dip game. Germany made an amazing recovery after being the redheaded stepchild of Europe for the first couple of years. And by the time anyone paid any attention to him, he was topping the board, and it was nearly too late. In this respect Russia, Nigeria, and Turkey share the blame.

In the midgame Iran drew the short stick mainly because everyone knew that Hacksaw was the weakest player. Compounding the problem, Hacksaw was things was demanding far more than his share of the spoils from Egypt and probably whoever was the next victim. All three of you threw far too many units at Iran and obsessed over a few supply centers while Berzerker took England, France, Scandinaia and Poland. It wasn't necessarily wrong to take Hacksaw out, but he didn't have enough centers to war over. This conflict left Russia exposed to the German stab, prevented Turkey from ruling the Mediterranean Sea effectively and delayed his conquest of Italy, and kept Nigeria from holding any claims on Britain or the Mid Atlantic Ocean.

Both Spain and the Urraine became key battlefields, which Germany again won for various reasons, but mainly because trust could not be established in the Middle East. The lack of trust leads to the lack of cooperation. Germany was never beset by these issues.

I was suprises that several things didn't happend during the game. Notable to me was the flat out rejection by everyone of Russmunki's proposals as England. Russ had a few very valuable units that would have severely handicapped Germany's growth had they not had to concern themselves with Nigerian, Spanish, and French units as well. Russia might have thrown in here as well. But once again people took the easy builds and forfeited good positioning. Russ may have eventually fallen to Germany, but he could have acted as a buffer state to Germany for a long time.

The bickering between Turkey and Nigeria was the key event in the game though. It never (and still hasn't) stopped. Had the two of you found common ground this game would have been a draw. It cannot be pinpointed to any one maneuver, or even to poor Shadowstrike's gaffe. Strike was a relative newbie, and needed constant assistance to pull off what was being asked of him. Relying on him to make the perfect move everytime was probably poor judgement. His role was a difficult one as it was, and not very rewarding I might add. He tried his best, and at least he learned a few lessons.

Anyway, there are certainly other issues to discuss, and I can't possibly go into all of them here. I hope that it was fun for all of you. I'd like to try the map again (as a player this time!)



[This message has been edited by RUFFHAUS8 (edited March 14, 2001).]

[Berzerker]

You guys need to relax and not take the game so seriously, please. I had the solo without the move to Lig because of a numerical advantage in Yugoslavia/Croatia.

[Gerwald]

Good point Berzzy. Again congrats!