[MN-dip] mn_std01 EOG

[Zachary Mark]

Hi all,

General comments: The next time we run this game, I
would love to have Saturday included as a game day,
and I would love to retain the must_order rule. That
rule is genius and I think it entirely appropriate.
Also, some kind of increased press would be very good
- especially if Saturday and Sunday remained non-game
days. Waiting all weekend for Russia to make a retreat
without being able to talk to anyone in the meantime,
for example, was just atrocious. We shouldn't allow
that to happen next time.

Specific comments:

Christian is absolutely correct, T/E/G communicated
the most during this game and I think that brought us
through to the end. I'm grateful Ry4an didn't go for
the win because I think he had an outside chance of
getting it, particularly if he had held off on
attacking Russia for a bit longer. But I can
understand why he did, since it was only a matter of
time before Russia attacked him first. Towards that
end, I allowed Russia to take Berlin in F06 (sorry
about that lie) knowing that the most likely outcome
was to make England get in gear on the Russian attack
and Turkey to finally join in on it. Turkey couldn't
afford a Russia able to build in SEV at any time and
crash through the gates - or so I thought. I'm glad
that's how it turned out.

Chris, I wish I had known this was your first game!
There were a lot of suggestions I didn't bother making
because they were too "obvious" and I didn't want to
be too overbearing an ally by pointing them out. But
if I knew you were a beginner I could have helped you
coordinate your defense against Turkey a lot better.
For instance, Italy can't exactly afford to cede the
Ionian if he hopes to prosper. Keeping that is far
better than protecting Tunis, and since I had
England's ear I could have told you Tunis was safe
anyway. Also, your attack on Vienna needed to come
from Trieste, not Tyrolia, with Venice following up
into Trieste. That move would have allowed you to
build a fleet for much-needed defense against Turkey.
But it all makes sense to me now and you will be a
much more experienced player next game. I'm glad you
had fun and I hope you play in the next one. :)

A comment to Alan: I still don't understand your move
into TYR and BOH. I made it very clear that I was your
friend every season, but i also made it clear I wanted
the areas between us empty. You moved into Tyrolia,
then proceeded to follow up with a move into Bohemia
despite my strenuous and vocal objections. Why, I
don't know. But the point is I responded by asking
Italy to attack you, and he did. I regret it now
because Austria is a buffer against Turkey, but at the
time I felt I had to do something to get you off of
Munich.

Christian, you took STP in 02 but didn't go any
further until 07 - If I were you I would have been far
more aggressive in pursuing that advantage and using
the extra centers to keep the incursion into the
Mediterranean going. You would have had me surrounded
and been in an excellent position to take a shot at a
solo yourself. The bounce in Belgium in 03 in
particular I thought was a waste of time and kept you
from developing what could have been an enviable
position in the North. Very well played though, you
just moved at a much slower pace than I would have in
your position. Also, we've talked about this already
but for the other players: I would have never stabbed
you had you agreed to DMZ the North Sea. I couldn't
have you breathing down my back all game and I would
rather have lost myself than given you a free pass at
a solo.

Russia was abysmal. I received no press from him from
3-21 onward and none before that through 3-1. And
before that, the only messages I received were on 2-13
and 2-15. So, maybe 5 messages total the entire game
since he joined. And he was late every turn -
unacceptable. If that's how you're going to play then
don't play at all. He's probably not reading this
message anyway but maybe we could authorize the GM to
dismiss a player in future games if they're late too
many times in a must_order game (since that also
implies they are not playing the game in good faith,
i.e. blatently not talking to anyone move after move).

Ry4an played extremely well - what else is there to
say? :) Just a couple things: Were I you I would have
tried for a solo by leaving Russia to me and
Christian. But that would have entailed a lot of risk
for you, and I can certianly understand why you ended
the game as you did.

Jeremy, I really wanted to be your ally. But in your
first message you told me to not enter Ruhr and
Belgium, and you said "we might be willing to allow
flexibility with Hol." Heh, I thought Holland was
Germany's given! And Ruhr is German land through and
through. :) So I chose you as my first enemy purely on
that message - it seemed as good a reason as any to
make a quick enemy. And since Italy said he was game I
went for it. Personally I think you played very well
but you just got unlucky. I just wish you had defended
Brest in F05 (and Russia attacked STP that year to
complete my stab of England) but oh well. Outside of
T/E you communicated the best and I think in a
different game we would be excellent allies. We are
both aggressive players and we could have stormed the
board and then stabbed each other with 50-50 chances
each for the solo. :) Perhaps another time.

That's all I can think of now. Good game to everyone,
it was a lot of fun.

Zach


      ____________________________________________________________________________________
Park yourself in front of a world of choices in alternative vehicles. Visit the Yahoo! Auto Green Center.
http://autos.yahoo.com/green_center/