On Sat, 21 Nov 2009 05:40:25 -0000
"codadewest" <CodaDeWest@...> wrote:

> Its nice to see some games going and folks having fun.  Any new
> regular games starting soon?

I'm working on a little something to deal with my shortcomings as a GM,
but I'm still about a year or so out.

I'm talking about a natural language interface for a judge. Unless I get
inspired with some way to do it that doesn't need the other stuff I'm
working on, I won't have anything to test until next fall at the
earliest.

I want to have it act like order confirmation for the players, but take
care of order entry, time management and adjudication for the GM. It's
also important not to impose any requirements on the players over and
above what is already required by the rules of the game and the club.

If there's anyone with Python or Pike coding experience or who likes
learning bizarre computer languages like LPC or CRM-114 then I'd be glad
for some help, otherwise I'll plug along the best I can and announce a
test game as soon as I have something working.

Chris

Its nice to see some games going and folks having fun.  Any new regular games
starting soon?

IF ENOUGH PLAYERS ARE INTERESTED I WILL RUN THE GAME!
hapolley@...

THE COLD World War MAP:  [http://hapolley.webs.com/HTML_FILES/world2blank.jpg]
COMPLETE RULES AT:
http://hapolley.webs.com/HTML_FILES/HTML_FROM_TEXT/ussr_vs_usa_cold_war.html

Once again, as in the time of our Grandfathers and Fathers,
we face the Americans, with their decadent Cities,
and their 'Rock and Roll' - 'Red October'.

This game is derived from the various
World War Variants found on the Internet, to which I have grafted my
Engineer, Partnership, and madman Rules.

Concept:
Chris Davis, the winner of my prize game, suggested I adapt
my rules to create a USA vs. USSR Cold War Game.  After some thought I
decided that the USA and USSR start out as the only Super Powers, but
that other super powers can form by growing to 6 (SC), six Home Supply
Centers, in size.  Once you are a Super Power completely taking over
another country has certain disadvantages; your units must remain in
place to own a foreign SC, move it and the SC reverts to the former
powers ownership.

     1. Terms and Concepts:

     Super Power:
     A Player Controlled Diplomacy Country which has Nuclear Missiles.
     Minor Power:
     A Player Controlled Diplomacy Country which does not have Nuclear
     Missiles.
     Rogue State:
     A Diplomacy Country not controlled by a Diplomacy Player or Super
     Power.
     Client State:
     A Rogue State with only one of its home Supply Centers occupied by a Super
Power.
     Occupied State:
     A Player Controlled Minor Power with one of its Home Centers
     occupied by a Super Power.
     Player Controlled: is either a super or minor or occupied power
     controlled by a Diplomacy Player.
     Mother Power:
     What the Super Power controlling an occupied or Client state is
     called.
     Missiles:
     On their Winter Retreat Phase; Super Powers have Nuclear Missile
     Launchers equal to: their total Winter SC count 'with retreats OTB',
     divided by three, rounded down.  M USSR - Alaska destroys the
     Alaskan Supply Center and its railway.  Alaska will never be listed
     again as having a supply Center, however the rail link can be
     rebuilt in the next Winter turn.
     Missile Strike:
     Refers to a number of missile strikes at the end of the Retreat
     Phase against another Player Country's Supply Centers.

     Super Power Rules:
     1.    A Super Power can only Launch Missiles after one of its Units has
     been Dislodged by a Super or Minor Power, or after it has been the
     object of a missile strike.  The Super Power can then Strike the
     Attacking Player's Controlled Country SC and any of its Client
     Country's SC.  The first Missile strike can be followed by a second
     missile strike from the nuked Super power on the next retreat phase.
     This strike and counter strike may continue until a retreat phase
     passes without a missile strike.
     2.  If by chance two or more foreign player powers in the Winter
     season occupy a Rogue or Minor country's Home supply Centers before
     its status changes to Client or occupied State, and one is a super
     power, the occupied country can not become a client or occupied
     state so long as it remains divided by more than one player power.
     In such a situation One player can not attack a super power SC
     without risking a Missile Strike.
     3.  A Super Power can control a Rogue Country so long as he occupies
     only one of the Rogue Country's Home Supply Centers.  In this
     situation the Rogue Power is now called a Client State.  If a Super
     Power Unit leaves a Rogue Country Home SC and does not occupy it on
     the Winter turn, the SC once again belongs to the Rogue Power and a
     Rogue unit may be built on this SC by the GM.  A Super Power can
     move a Unit from one Rogue Home SC to another, before the Winter
     Season, without losing control of the Rogue Power.

     4. A Super Power can attempt to control a minor power by occupying
     one of its Home Supply Centers.  If he succeeds the Minor power
     becomes an Occupied Power.  If the super power can hold on to only
     one of the Occupied Powers Home SC for three Winters in a row, the
     Minor power becomes a Rogue power and its Player is out of the game.
         The Occupied Power can send in orders for its units but those units
     can also receive Civil disorder moves from the super power or any
     other Player controlled Diplomacy Country.  The Occupied Power's
     orders become just one set of Civil Disorder moves which can be over
     ridden by other CD orders.  Unlike other units in Civil Disorder, a
     foreign Player must bid at least two of his unit moves, for each
     Civil Disorder Unit, for the bid to be accepted.
     5.  Except for the USoA and the USSR; Super Powers have the word
     Empire attached to their name.

     Minor Power to Super power!
Once a Minor Power owns 6 Home Supply Centers it becomes a Super Power
for the rest of the game.  The captured Home Centers are transferred to
the minor power as Home Supply Centers, If the losing Country has no
Home Supply Centers left it units become owned by the games Neutral
Player and the Country and its player are out of the game.

     Railway Building
Each Super Power can build only once a four area railway on its Winter
turn.  The railway must start at one of its supply Centers and not end
at or go through any other Countries Supply Center.  The railway may not
touch the boarder of an adjacent area more than once; in other words it
can not double back on its self.  A super Power can then extend the
railway, by the same rules, one area every winter turn.  The railway can
only be extended at one of its two ends and once built it can only be
damaged by missiles not a foreign occupying unit.  A power which defeats
a super power does not take over the captured railway unless it builds
its railway up to one end of the defeated powers railway.

     CD Unit Control Rules
Any Player Power may attempt to control the fall and spring unit orders
for Rogue and Occupied Powers using Civil Disorder Moves.  These are
referred to as Madman moves in Engineered Diplomacy.  For a Client State
Only the Mother Super power may send in CD orders for its Client
Diplomacy Country.  Players will be notified of what Minor powers have
not sent in preliminary orders for their Units within three to two days
of the movement deadline.  Other powers may then send in CD orders for
these units.  If these players NMR, these CD orders will be listed first
and take precedence over duplicate mortgaged units moves for Rogue,
Occupied and Client CD Moves.


CD ordered units and Occupied Country units which capture a super power
SC do not trigger a missile attack.  You must list CD orders by Country
for them to work on Occupied Powers, Otherwise they go into the Rogue
and NMR file and may not work.

     Winning Criteria
The First Super Power to control more than 50% of the Worlds existing
Countries Wins the Game.

IF ENOUGH PLAYERS ARE INTERESTED I WILL RUN THE GAME!
hapolley@...

THE COLD World War MAP:  [http://hapolley.webs.com/HTML_FILES/world2blank.jpg]
COMPLETE RULES AT:
http://hapolley.webs.com/HTML_FILES/HTML_FROM_TEXT/ussr_vs_usa_cold_war.html

Once again, as in the time of our Grandfathers and Fathers,
we face the Americans, with their decadent Cities,
and their 'Rock and Roll' - 'Red October'.

This game is derived from the various
World War Variants found on the Internet, to which I have grafted my
Engineer, Partnership, and madman Rules.

Concept:
Chris Davis, the winner of my prize game, suggested I adapt
my rules to create a USA vs. USSR Cold War Game.  After some thought I
decided that the USA and USSR start out as the only Super Powers, but
that other super powers can form by growing to 6 (SC), six Home Supply
Centers, in size.  Once you are a Super Power completely taking over
another country has certain disadvantages; your units must remain in
place to own a foreign SC, move it and the SC reverts to the former
powers ownership.

     1. Terms and Concepts:

     Super Power:
     A Player Controlled Diplomacy Country which has Nuclear Missiles.
     Minor Power:
     A Player Controlled Diplomacy Country which does not have Nuclear
     Missiles.
     Rogue State:
     A Diplomacy Country not controlled by a Diplomacy Player or Super
     Power.
     Client State:
     A Rogue State with only one of its home Supply Centers occupied by a Super
Power.
     Occupied State:
     A Player Controlled Minor Power with one of its Home Centers
     occupied by a Super Power.
     Player Controlled: is either a super or minor or occupied power
     controlled by a Diplomacy Player.
     Mother Power:
     What the Super Power controlling an occupied or Client state is
     called.
     Missiles:
     On their Winter Retreat Phase; Super Powers have Nuclear Missile
     Launchers equal to: their total Winter SC count 'with retreats OTB',
     divided by three, rounded down.  M USSR - Alaska destroys the
     Alaskan Supply Center and its railway.  Alaska will never be listed
     again as having a supply Center, however the rail link can be
     rebuilt in the next Winter turn.
     Missile Strike:
     Refers to a number of missile strikes at the end of the Retreat
     Phase against another Player Country's Supply Centers.

     Super Power Rules:
     1.    A Super Power can only Launch Missiles after one of its Units has
     been Dislodged by a Super or Minor Power, or after it has been the
     object of a missile strike.  The Super Power can then Strike the
     Attacking Player's Controlled Country SC and any of its Client
     Country's SC.  The first Missile strike can be followed by a second
     missile strike from the nuked Super power on the next retreat phase.
     This strike and counter strike may continue until a retreat phase
     passes without a missile strike.
     2.  If by chance two or more foreign player powers in the Winter
     season occupy a Rogue or Minor country's Home supply Centers before
     its status changes to Client or occupied State, and one is a super
     power, the occupied country can not become a client or occupied
     state so long as it remains divided by more than one player power.
     In such a situation One player can not attack a super power SC
     without risking a Missile Strike.
     3.  A Super Power can control a Rogue Country so long as he occupies
     only one of the Rogue Country's Home Supply Centers.  In this
     situation the Rogue Power is now called a Client State.  If a Super
     Power Unit leaves a Rogue Country Home SC and does not occupy it on
     the Winter turn, the SC once again belongs to the Rogue Power and a
     Rogue unit may be built on this SC by the GM.  A Super Power can
     move a Unit from one Rogue Home SC to another, before the Winter
     Season, without losing control of the Rogue Power.

     4. A Super Power can attempt to control a minor power by occupying
     one of its Home Supply Centers.  If he succeeds the Minor power
     becomes an Occupied Power.  If the super power can hold on to only
     one of the Occupied Powers Home SC for three Winters in a row, the
     Minor power becomes a Rogue power and its Player is out of the game.
         The Occupied Power can send in orders for its units but those units
     can also receive Civil disorder moves from the super power or any
     other Player controlled Diplomacy Country.  The Occupied Power's
     orders become just one set of Civil Disorder moves which can be over
     ridden by other CD orders.  Unlike other units in Civil Disorder, a
     foreign Player must bid at least two of his unit moves, for each
     Civil Disorder Unit, for the bid to be accepted.
     5.  Except for the USoA and the USSR; Super Powers have the word
     Empire attached to their name.

     Minor Power to Super power!
Once a Minor Power owns 6 Home Supply Centers it becomes a Super Power
for the rest of the game.  The captured Home Centers are transferred to
the minor power as Home Supply Centers, If the losing Country has no
Home Supply Centers left it units become owned by the games Neutral
Player and the Country and its player are out of the game.

     Railway Building
Each Super Power can build only once a four area railway on its Winter
turn.  The railway must start at one of its supply Centers and not end
at or go through any other Countries Supply Center.  The railway may not
touch the boarder of an adjacent area more than once; in other words it
can not double back on its self.  A super Power can then extend the
railway, by the same rules, one area every winter turn.  The railway can
only be extended at one of its two ends and once built it can only be
damaged by missiles not a foreign occupying unit.  A power which defeats
a super power does not take over the captured railway unless it builds
its railway up to one end of the defeated powers railway.

     CD Unit Control Rules
Any Player Power may attempt to control the fall and spring unit orders
for Rogue and Occupied Powers using Civil Disorder Moves.  These are
referred to as Madman moves in Engineered Diplomacy.  For a Client State
Only the Mother Super power may send in CD orders for its Client
Diplomacy Country.  Players will be notified of what Minor powers have
not sent in preliminary orders for their Units within three to two days
of the movement deadline.  Other powers may then send in CD orders for
these units.  If these players NMR, these CD orders will be listed first
and take precedence over duplicate mortgaged units moves for Rogue,
Occupied and Client CD Moves.


CD ordered units and Occupied Country units which capture a super power
SC do not trigger a missile attack.  You must list CD orders by Country
for them to work on Occupied Powers, Otherwise they go into the Rogue
and NMR file and may not work.

     Winning Criteria
The First Super Power to control more than 50% of the Worlds existing
Countries Wins the Game.

I just wanted to remind everyone that the deadline for submissions to Diplomacy
World #108 is January 1st.  The theme this issue is face-to-face Diplomacy,
although as always we plan on theme material occupying only a portion of the
issue as a whole.  So please consider fitting a few hours writing time into your
holiday schedule!  And don't forget about our Variant Design Contest (full
details in Diplomacy World #107); while the deadline for that isn't until March
15, we already have entries working their way into my email box.



If you'd like to write something for Diplomacy World but can't think of a topic,
just drop me a line and I'll give you plenty of choices!

hapolley(at)yahoo(dot)ca

Still open France, Russia, Holland, Japan, send me a preference list to sign up!
The game will be run in "Boris the Spider".

Vol 9, #34 is now available at:
http://members.cox.net/boris_spider/EB.html

Hugh Polley (GM)

First, elections. It seems somewhat absurd to spend more time on
meta-discussion than playing, so I'll call for nominations, retirements
and objections to floating the current slate of officers for another 6
months. If there's any action on this call then I'll pull together a
formal election process for November, but if there's no personel
changes and no objection then we'll suspend that part of the charter
until April-May.

Second, my understanding of DW distinctives is that we do not object to
automated adjudicators like the WMJudge or RealPolitik, but we do want
a human GM to read the orders. Syntax errors, permissive absences,
convoy route specification and depersonalization of our fellow players
are features of a Diplomacy judge that we do not want. If I'm right
then I have ideas that would work well for this group and enable me to
make games available as fast as they can fill. If I'm wrong, I need to
know so that I can work on a social solution instead of a technical one.

What I'm looking at is using programmable chat rooms for game rooms.
The chat rooms can handle mail messages as well as a number of
different chat clients. The room will send order acknowledgements to
the player that make no reference to the acceptability of the contents.
The GM will receive a copy of the original orders and the way that the
game engine interpreted the orders. If there is any ambiguity then the
game engine will wait for the GM before processing. A player will never
have to format their orders for the benefit of a computer system or use
commands like "press to A" to communicate with other players unless they
volunteer to do so for specific game format. With this type of game
format, me or anyone who wants to do so can run a nearly unlimited
number of games simply by answering any player questions, interpreting
any orders that have been flagged as ambiguous and letting the game
room  do its thing. The programable rooms will keep game time, run
adjudications and publish maps that will probably look like these:

http://usak.asciiking.com/webtools/gamelist/bellicus

But with larger labels that are title case for most provinces and all
uppercase only for Supply Centers.

Chris

The November 2009 issue of Eternal Sunshine is now available, both in the ES
Yahoo group at

http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/eternal_sunshine_diplomacy/

in pdf format, or in pdf and html format in the Diplomacy section of my personal
website at

http://www.whiningkentpigs.com/DW/

Lots of fun this issue, including Part 4 of I'm No Edward Norton, the beginning
of the new By Popular Demand game, Deviant Diplomacy insanity, and much more. 
Enjoy!  Check it out and send me some letters, orders, and feedback!

PS - The direct link to the pdf file is:

http://www.whiningkentpigs.com/DW/es34.pdf

The following is a response to discussion on the dipai group about the
DAIDE method of setting orders as preliminary. I am sending it to
the following distribution lists for the reasons cited:

	 dipai - Because the Diplomacy Artificial Intelligence community
	 is the launch point for this discussion.

	 rtdip - Because these are the players who will be the first to
	 be affected by these developments.

	 dpjudge - Because I am very likely to include the chat service
	 described as the social media context for USPN, my DP Judge
	 installation,4200 and allow the DPPD as a method for logging
	 into the chat. There is a high probability of DPJudge 2.0 being
	 federated with this infrastructure.

	 DipWorld - Because this chat service is the cornerstone of my
	 plan to revitalize the DipWorld community with a supplemental
	 social context, a replacement for Yahoo-based game rooms and an
	 automated natural language interface. (The chat server includes
	 an email interface and the game room metaphor of the service on
	 asciiking.com is inspired by DW game rooms.)

	 DWStaff (closed list) - Because this is a description of plans
	 that I intimated in my most recent article in the Diplomacy
	 World 'zine and I want feedback from the rest of the staff as
	 to how to develop this for future articles.

Please keep in mind that the two paragraphs below are taken out of
context. They do not reflect the opinion of the original poster or the
DAIDE community towards the RT Diplomacy community, but rather the
importance of preserving the DAIDE software platform's usefulness for
its original purpose.

> This is DAIDE and we should base the project around the
> development of AIs.  Which means fast games, at bot speeds.  If we
> slow down bots for the instances when humans 'may' be present, I
> think we are doing the project a disservice.
>
> I would much rather have the aimapper, auto-set NOT(GOF) in the event
> that a message has been received after orders are submitted and GOF
> set by the human.  This would put the humans response time on par
> with the bots, and would mean that bots would not need to envoke
> delays for human players that may or may not be present.  Slowing
> down bot-bot tournaments as a result.

I agree with the conclusion although the formulation of the premise may
be awkward.

The RT and AI communities experience both synergy and conflict. This is
not unusual, unexpected or in any way a bad thing. I am, however,
interested in a roadmap to handle the conflict while preserving the
synergy.

I think an emphasis on core DAIDE tools that is oriented towards AI
development is a reasonable goal that is in unfortunate conflict with
the long term viability of the RT player community. If this is not
resolved then the RT community associated with DAIDE will continue to
languish and RT playing communities will be established independently
of its efforts, erasing the benefit of those accomodations that have
already been made for RT play by programmers in the AI community.

I believe that the solution to this problem is for the RT player
community to migrate to a client-server protocol that is not maintained
by the AI community. The client application should offer the salient
benefits of the AImapper in terms of playing experience (i.e. an
interactive map that is integrated with the client) alongside social
networking tools that are feature competitive with general purpose chat
clients. The server should operate in federation with one that
implements the DAIDE protocol and it should implement one or more Open
general purpose protocols for chat, with access to subscribers of major
commercial chat applications a desirable feature. It is also important
that the server operate persistently on reasonably priced hosting plans
and the client software not be constrained to a desktop environment.

I have identified a protocol, PSYC, and a tool chain (below) that are
capable of serving this role. I am working with the developers involved
to deliver these capabilities for the Diplomacy hobby in general and
the RT community in particular. These are the components:

Eric Wald's Parlance is a DAIDE server written in Python, which lends
itself to portability and extensibility. Eric has been very responsive.
The DAIDE interface in Parlance was written to an extension proposal
orignally drafted by David Norman to implement multiple concurrent
games on a DAIDE server. Care is taken to make the server compliant with
the behavior expectations set by David's DAIDE implementation while
implementing hooks so that the server can interoperate with other
software. Eric has implemented DPP/0.17 on Parlance, an update to the
text protocol on which the DAIDE language is based, in order to allow
Parlance to work with other chat servers, many of which do not
implement non-text protocols gracefully. Eric will also be implementing
a bridge so that players logged into the Parlance server on the DAIDE
standard port (16713) on asciiking.com can chat and receive presence
updates using the AImapper.

Psyced - http://www.psyced.org/ - supports PSYC, Jabberâ„¢/XMPP, IRC,
TELNET, HTTP, Applet, SMTP, XML, and RSS natively. I will be providing
a DPP bridge so that the psyced server can operate in federation with
Eric's Parlance server. Federation means applications work together
without forcing others to change the way the work in order to do so.
That means if you have a GoogleTalk identity or a chat client that you
like to use then you can use it with other services that are federated.
The psyced deployment on asciiking.com is already set up to receive
connections from PSYC, Jabberâ„¢/XMPP, IRC and TELNET clients. You can
find instructions at http://usak.asciiking.com/chat/ or connect with
an Applet at http://psyc.asciiking.com/static/ using your web browser.

Dyskinesia is a chat client for the PSYC protocol written in C++ with
Qt webkit as its GUI toolkit. Qt is the native user interface kit for
Nokia smart phones and it compiles on Windows, MacOS, Linux and
AndroidOS (iDon't, DroidDoes) as well as Nokia's SymbianOS. One of the
features of webkit is that it builds user interface elements using the
same markup, control and formatting languages used in web development,
meaning that the same code used for the web interface with other chat
clients can be loaded inside the chat window for those who use the
native PSYC client. I am working with the lead developer Ketmar -
http://ketmar.no-ip.org/ - to complete this capability. I will be
maintaining the stable Linux release and hosting Windows and MacOS
downloads when the application is feature complete.

All three of these software components are free and open source. My
contributions will be available under the same terms as the original
programs. That means unrestricted noncommercial use while commercial
implementations of the Diplomacy server must contend with Hasbro/WotC
intellectual property claims and competition from free servers including
asciiking.com, which will continue to operate on a nonprofit, user
supported basis.

The end result is that players will have many choices to connect with
real time Diplomacy games. The federated structure will allow both the
AImapper and a number of general purpose clients to access both chat and
Diplomacy games. Players with only a browser will be able to play and
chat using a Java Applet and interactive web page. The AImapper will
have the admin message functionality extended by the server and receive
results normally. IRC users will be able to log in using their client of
choice as will those using XMPP and, eventually, other chat protocols.
Those players will receive updates via chat and view results in the
interactive web page. Each client will use native methods of access for
interacting with chat and games, including their own methods for
identifying players.

Chris

Diplomacy World #107, the Fall 2009 issue, has just been released.  You can find
it at the official Diplomacy World website:

http://www.diplomacyworld.net

and at the Diplomacy World Yahoo group:

http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/diplomacyworld/

Inside this issue you'll find articles such as:

The Diplomacy World Variant Design Contest

Jim Burgess and Edi Birsan on Balance of Power

Numerous reports from HuskyCon VII

New DW Technology Editor Chris Babcock's take on the future of on-line Diplomacy

New DW Strategy & Tactics Editor Joshua Danker-Dake on finding purpose when
victory is unattainable

The final two years of the DW Demo Game "After the Rapture" plus all the EOG
statements

And much much more!

Take a look, and if you get a moment send us some feedback at
diplomacyworld@...

Late autumn is the traditional time for elections, so (coincidentally,
I'm sure), early autumn is the traditional time for road repairs and
other civic improvements.

In keeping with that spirit, I'd like to encourage civic-minded
DipWorld members who would like to "do something" to contact me within
the next two weeks if they would consider serving on the War Council.
At this point, not much is required of members, but as Secretary of
War, I have spent the last year researching approaches that might lead
to DW re-emerging as an active gaming venue. Some of my ideas, like an
only GM assistant that uses natural language processing to provide the
benefits that the judge-based Diplomacy hobby experiences in terms of
time management and adjudication accuracy without sacrificing the
personability and accessibility of games in the DW community, well,
that one is a couple years off yet.

What I do have available today is a virtual convention, or rather a
chat server that is themed as a convention. I'll be supporting more
chat protocols once I have made XMPP easier to use, but for the time
being players can connect to this server via IRC, telnet or XMPP
(Jabber or GoogleTalk). This can provide several things for DipWorld.

First, is real time connections and the sense of community that follows
from that. One of the great things about this group has been that we
get to know eachother as people and, because of that, we treat each
other as people when we play - none of the silentness and tardiness
that comes from feeling as if you are playing against an AI.

Second, if there are 8 players online and one of them can serve as GM
then we can play real time games with real people. I do have a DAIDE
server set up that I will be integrating with this chat server, but I'm
not talking about that. I'm talking about the "honest to goodness, send
your orders to the GM, he keeps the time and sends you the results"
type of Diplomacy just like we play by email, only in real time. By real
time, I mean live - 15 minutes max for negotiations during move phases
only and 3 minutes to draft and submit orders. I may not be online
during the most popular hours at first, but if we build some traffic
then I can work with my wife on the schedule to be there once I know
what the patterns are... and we do have other people here who can run a
game at that pace.

Third, if anyone has a blog, Twitter account or other newsfeed type
item that is possibly of interest to other players then please send me
the URL for the RSS feed or the web page. If you control the server for
the site then it may be possible to provide a real time feed, which may
result in more comment activity on your blog, followers on Twitter, or
friends in other social networking places.

So, how to join...

On IRC, connect to asciiking.com on port 6667. Provide the nick and
password you want to use to your IRC client or use the /nick
and /register commands once connected. Once you are logged onto the
server with a nick, you'll be in #Hall.

On Telnet, connect to asciiking.com on port 2323. Provide your nick at
the prompt. If registered, you will be promted for a password. If not
registered, you can use the /register command to secure your nick with
a password of your choosing. The first time you sign on, you will be in
"Hall @>".

On XMPP, Jabber or GoogleTalk, you can use an existing account or
create an account with an ID in the form of "nick@..." (nick
at asciiking.com) on asciiking.com port 5222. If your client has a new
account wizard that should work without modifying the server settings.
Once you have an account, "join groupchat" "*Hall" @ "asciiking.com".

If you register a nick at asciiking.com, those using a Jabber-type
client will see you as another Jabber user with a JabberID like
"nick@..." (nick at asciiking.com). Players using IRC and
Telnet will see local users by their nicks and Jabber users will appear
as xmpp: followed by their JabberID.

Service on XMPP/Jabber/GoogleTalk may be a little flaky. If you get a
message from the server announcing the room topic then all is well,
otherwise you'll need to get and respond to an invitation to be able to
get messages from the room. I test this protocol using Kopete and
accounts on Google, ASCII King and another Jabber server with mixed
results. I regularly follow up with the creators of the chat server and
I'm working on a friendship/invitation bot that will recognize when
players are online and invite them into the chat room. In the
meanwhile, don't be afraid to add Kol_Panic (at) asciiking.com to your
contact list so that I can stand in for the automaton until it is
available.

If it looks as though we might get enough players online at one time,
we'll select a GM, join the RTRP_Dip game room ("Real Time Real People
Diplomacy") on the server and send invitations to this list and the
RTnow Yahoogroup to round out the field. If we finish in one sitting,
that's great. Otherwise, we'll either make an appointment to resume or
finish the game in email with 1 week between moves.

I'm working on this 4-8 hours a day, 7 days a week right now and
generally logged in while I'm working.

In two weeks, I'll post an update and start soliciting nominations for
the coming election (after checking the charter and the archives).

Chris

The October 2009 issue of Eternal Sunshine is now available, both in the ES
Yahoo group at

http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/eternal_sunshine_diplomacy/

in pdf format, or in pdf and html format in the Diplomacy section of my personal
website at

http://www.whiningkentpigs.com/DW/

Lots of fun this issue, including a new column contributor (you'll have to look
to see who), the return of Albion, Part 3 of I'm No Edward Norton, the end of
the latest By Popular Demand game (and the beginning of the next one) an dmuch
more.  Enjoy!  Check it out and send me some letters, orders, and feedback!

----- Original Message -----
From: Keith Bailey
To: dipworld-owner@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Friday, August 28, 2009 11:56 AM
Subject: Online Diplomacy Tournament




Dear Dip World

Your community are cordially invited to play in Redscape's Patriot Games
Tournament.   It is the 10th edition of the tournament and it is open to any
player including all non-Redscape members (you do not need to join Redscape).

The tournament  lasts for one standard game.  All the details are available at
http://engility.com/pg/landing.html

It is a team based tournament so it is possible to arrange a full Dip World
team.  Teams are typically formed via a sports-style draft from individual
entries HOWEVER we can arrange for a pure DipWorld team as required.  If you
have seven players (or 14 players!) from DipWorld who want to form a team please
get them to sign up via the link in this message seperately and then contact me
to help arrange them into their own team.

Best regards

Keith Bailey (GMKib at Redscape)


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Windows Live Messenger: Celebrate 10 amazing years with free winks and
emoticons. Get Them Now

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Windows Live Messenger: Celebrate 10 amazing years with free winks and
emoticons. Get Them Now

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Eternal Sunshine #32, the new September issue, has just been released.  You can
find it in pdf format in the Eternal Sunshine Yahoo group at:
  http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/eternal_sunshine_diplomacy/
or in both html or pdf format in the Diplomacy section of my personal website
at:
http://www.whiningkentpigs.com/DW/
Included in this issue you will find:
Part Eight of Halfway Home at the Halfway House
Part Two of I'm No Edward Norton
Letters
Hypothetical Questions of the Month
Football Prediction Contest Picks
Movie Reviews
Issue #10 of Jack McHugh's Brain Farts
Another great column from Paul Milewski
Out of the WAY #11 by Andy York
Gamestarts in Diplomacy and Gunboat
Plenty of Game Openings – Diplomacy, Gunboat, Fog of War, and more
Complete and utter hilarity and chaos in the Deviant Diplomacy II game
And much more!

Check this issue out (and all previous issues as well, which are available on
both sites), and drop me a line with comments, criticisms, suggestions, ideas,
letters, game entries, columns, or anything else!

Hello Everyone:

Only Two (2!!) days left before registration closes for the Dipsters No-Press
Tournament.

Registration closes on August 22 with games beginning in a staggered start on
September 8, 2009.

The players who have already joined the tournament are:

Trevor Baillie
Mike Barnes
Amotz Bar-Noy
Andy Bartalone
Eran Borenstein
Kelly Bridgeman
Andrew Brierley
Douglas Brown
Phil Burk
John Bush
Michael Carter
Steve Coberman
Gian Paolo Costantino
Christopher Davis
Fabio Drucker
Scott Ellis
Heath Gardner
James Geluso
Ben Goldsmith
Joshua Gottesman
Dale Grantham
Trent Green
Mark Gregory
Andre Luiz Gumiero
Christopher Hack
Arto Hakkarainen
Scot Hicks
Juan-Manuel Ibarra
Markus Kaestenbauer
Derek King
Dave Kleiman
Alan Kosansky
Adam Lang
Alan Lange
Wuqing Langzi
Ronald Lokers
Dorian Love
Gilles Marion
Adam Martin-Schwarze
Rian Mitra
Martin Moore
Paul Novak
Jaco Overdijk
Jonathan Powles
John Quarto-vonTivadar
Gabe Racz
Rocky Rochford
Nathaniel Schlaud
Rob Sharp
Graham Sherriff
Dejan Susovic
Bruno Tizon
Andy Tomlinson
John Walker
Brian Wallace
Robin Walters
Charles Welsh
Eric Williamson
Peter Wyatt
Michael Yatchman
Griff Young


I know that there are many more of you who should be and will be on this list!


If you are not yet on the list, you need to register before August 22nd:

http://www.dipsters.org/dnp.html

Links to the Tournament Rules Page are included on this Registration page.

Everyone who has a record of reliability and who can play according to the
Tournament Rules is welcome to play in this tournament.

It is not restricted only to members of the Dipsters Group and Diplomacy Direct.

Enjoy the tournament!

Best of Luck to Everyone!


Alan Mennel

Hello Everyone:

I just want to remind you all that we have approximately one week left before
registration closes for the Dipsters No-Press Tournament.

Registration closes on August 22 with games beginning in a staggered start on
September 8, 2009.

The players who have already joined the tournament are:

Trevor Baillie
Amotz Bar-Noy
Andy Bartalone
Eran Borenstein
Andrew Brierley
Phil Burk
John Bush
Michael Carter
Steve Coberman
Gian Paolo Costantino
Fabio Drucker
Scott Ellis
Heath Gardner
James Geluso
Ben Goldsmith
Joshua Gottesman
Dale Grantham
Trent Green
Mark Gregory
Andre Luiz Gumiero
Christopher Hack
Scot Hicks
Juan-Manuel Ibarra
Derek King
Dave Kleiman
Alan Kosansky
Adam Lang
Alan Lange
Ronald Lokers
Gilles Marion
Rian Mitra
Martin Moore
Paul Novak
Jonathan Powles
John Quarto-vonTivadar
Gabe Racz
Rocky Rochford
Nathaniel Schlaud
Rob Sharp
Graham Sherriff
Dejan Susovic
Bruno Tizon
Andy Tomlinson
John Walker
Brian Wallace
Charles Welsh
Eric Williamson
Peter Wyatt
Michael Yatchman
Griff Young

I know that there are many more of you who should be and will be on this list!


If you are not yet on the list, you need to register before August 22nd:

http://www.dipsters.org/dnp.html

Links to the Tournament Rules Page are included on this Registration page.

Everyone who has a record of reliability and who can play according to the
Tournament Rules is welcome to play in this tournament.

It is not restricted only to members of the Dipsters Group and Diplomacy Direct.

Enjoy the tournament!

Best of Luck to Everyone!


Alan Mennel

Hello Everyone:

My apologies if this is too far off topic.  I simply want to provide information
for those of you on this site who also enjoy Ken Lowe type tournaments.

I just want to remind you all that we have only two weeks left before
registration closes for the Dipsters Conventional No-Press Tournament.

Registration closes on August 22 with games beginning in a staggered start on
September 8, 2009.

You may register for this tournament at:

http://www.dipsters.org/dnp.html

Links to the Tournament Rules Page are included on this Registration page.

Everyone who has a record of reliability and who can play according to the
Tournament Rules is welcome to play in this tournament.

It is not restricted only to members of the Dipsters Group and Diplomacy Direct.

Enjoy the tournament!

Best of Luck to Everyone!


Alan Mennel

The August 2009 issue of Eternal Sunshine, Issue #31, has just been released. 
Inside you'll find:

The usual crap
Halfway Home to the Halfway House - Part Seven
I'm No Edward Norton - Part One
Subzines from Jack McHugh, Paul Milewski, and W. Andrew York
Play Reviews by Larry Cronin
Football Prediction Contest
Plenty of Game Openings
Letters
Hypothetical of the Month
The latest game results
And maybe some other stuff, who can remember?

Check it out!  You can find it in pdf format in the Eternal Sunshine Yahoo forum
at:

http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/eternal_sunshine_diplomacy/

Or in both pdf and html format from the Diplomacy section of my personal website
at:

http://www.whiningkentpigs.com/DW/

Enjoy!

Stephen Agar is working on scanning and posting the full contents of his NAVB
files, so a much more complete listing will be available in time (this is a
large project and will take weeks to months).  All I had to do was bug him to
death and register my own variant website domain to force him to give up sleep
and time with his family!

In the meantime, he needs some specific help and I have been assigned the task. 
Stephen's files (and what he has posted on www.variantbank.org, the un-updated
version) pretty much only cover variants produced before 2001.

If you have variants which were produced since then, I need them.  You can check
the web site to see if they are listed at all.  If not, I need them!  Or if
you're not sure, don't bother - just assume I need them.

Remember, as this is a variant bank (meant to be all ecompassing), we need not
just the most recent version, but each major version along the way.  So whether
you're a designer, enthusiast, or just casual Diplomacy variant player, if you
have electronic or paper copies of any variant which you think may not be in his
files, contact me at diplomacyworld@....  Without your help, we can't get
this task completed!!!

The Summer 2009 issue of Diplomacy World, #106, has just been released, with a
theme of Historical Variants!  141 pages of Diplomacy for your reading
enjoyment.  It would impossible to list all of the highlights, but a small
sampling would include:

Multiple articles on World DipCon 2009, including one from champion Andrew Goff

Prussian strategy in the Ambition and Empire variant

Two new variants: Battleship and 1648 with detailed designer notes, plus many
more variant articles, historical and otherwise

Lots of information and player statements on the Diplomacy World Cup

The second to last installment of the Diplomacy Demo Game "After the Rapture"

The first installment of our new variant Demo game of the "Known World" variant

A review of phpDiplomacy on Facebook

And SO MUCH MORE!

You can find the new issue of Diplomacy World for free download in pdf format in
the diplomacyworld Yahoo group:

http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/diplomacyworld/

or directly from the official Diplomacy World website:

http://www.diplomacyworld.net

Read it, absorb it, and let us know what you think about it!  The deadline for
#107 is October 1st, 2009, with a theme of "Balance of Power."  Remember, theme
material only takes up a portion of each issue, so don't feel your submissions
need to be theme-related!

Now released: The July 2009 issue of Eternal Sunshine, issue #30.  Included in
this issue:

* Diplomacy results
* By Popular Demand
* Movie Reviews
* Deviant Diplomacy II
* Bourse
* New Game Openings
* Subzines by Jack McHugh, Andy York, David Hood, and Paul Milewski
* Prison Stories
* and more!

You can find Eternal Sunshine #30 in pdf format in the ES Yahoo group at:

http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/eternal_sunshine_diplomacy/

or in both pdf and HTML format in the Diplomacy section of my personal website
at:

http://www.whiningkentpigs.com/DW/

Check it out and let me know what you think!

PS - Diplomacy World #106 is about to go into final proofing...watch for it
sometime after July 4th weekend!

The Windy City Weasels, Prime Weasel Jim O'Kelley, War Weasel Jeremiah Peterson
(and his tournament committee) and reigning Alpha Weasel Nick Rohn, are proud to
invite you to attend:

WEASEL MOOT III: The Search for Kevin O'Kelly

That's right! America's critically acclaimed, crowd-pleasing, best named and
most attractive Diplomacy tournament returns to the Days Inn at Lincoln Park in
Chicago for their third annual weekend of stabby action. Sadly, our Sub-Prime
Weasel, Kevin O'Kelly, has been lost off the island of Matrimonos and we hope
that he will return in time for the event. We would like to have a large crowd
on hand for his eventual return.

When: September 18-19, 2009.

Where: Day's Inn Chicago, 644 W. Diversey Pkwy., Chicago, IL 60614.

What: A three-round Diplomacy tournament. Best two rounds count for score. It
only takes one round to be eligible for awards.

How much: $35 before the tournament, $40 at the door. ($20 for students and
kids; $18 if they preregister.) You may preregister through September 11 by
PayPaling to wcwsneak@.... (NOTE: If you're a $25 paid-up member of the
Weasels, we'll knock $5 off your registration fee. What a deal!)

Room Reservations: Call (888) LPN-Days or (773) 525-7010. The group code is
DPTM. We encourage our suburban players and out-of-town travelers to group up
and reserve together! More info at http://www.daysinnchicago.net

Highlights: Jim O'Kelley has been busy scribing hand-written invitations to
several members of the ol' Diplomacy Postal hobby (when players would actually
take out pen and paper and stamps and WRITE to each other. By hand. How quaint.)
We anticipate that several of these luminaries of a bygone time will appear at
Weasel Moot III! We also hope to welcome a bumper crop of national travelers to
Chicago for a late-summer gathering.

I'm new to your group, can I play too?: We WELCOME new players! We're a friendly
bunch of people who play hard and enjoy themselves immensely while doing it. If
you're local to Chicago and new to the game of Diplomacy, consider joining us at
one of our many gatherings before tournament weekend as well.

I'm a Scoring System Addict and must know what scoring system you use: Our
scoring system will closely resemble that used during Weasel Moot II; it's a
center-based system with an additional pot of points distributed to those who
settle in a draw. We'll be happy to divulge more details in a future message.

Schedule:

Round 1 - Fri. Sept. 18
Registration: 5:45 to 6:15 p.m.
Board Call: 6:30 p.m.

Round 2 - Sat. Sept. 19
Registration: 9:00 to 9:30 a.m.
Board Call: 9:45 a.m.

Round 3 - Sat. Sept. 19
Registration: 5:15 to 5:45 p.m.
Board Call: 6 p.m.

The tournament will end at a predetermined time between 3 a.m. and 5 a.m. on
Sunday, Sept. 20. A brief (but rousing) awards ceremony will follow within 15
minutes of the completion of the last game.

Questions? Contact us at weaselmoot@... or visit our Yahoo group at
games.groups.yahoo.com/group/ChicagoDip/ or our website at
umbreho.dyndns.org/wcw or our Meetup group at diplomacy.meetup.com/30/.

WHO'S IN?

Sincerely,
Your Weasel Moot III Tournament Committee

Jeremiah Peterson, War Weasel
Jim O'Kelley, Prime Weasel
Kevin O'Kelly, Sub-Prime Weasel (currently lost at sea)
Christopher M. Davis, Secretary
Christian MacDonald, Treasurer
Paul J. Pignotti, Verbose Weasel

Bernie
 
we hardly knew ya
 
God Bless and good healh
 
and when the sun sets at 3pm in your residence and you want to play again......
 
we'll be waiting

--- On Sun, 6/21/09, B CRANIE <bcranie@...> wrote:


From: B CRANIE <bcranie@...>
Subject: [DipWorld] DW 434 England EoG
To: DipWorld@yahoogroups.com
Date: Sunday, June 21, 2009, 2:27 PM








Firstly Craig you are simply the best GM I have played with! Period!!!!!! !!!
 
There were a fair number of players I had met before Adam, Ray, Fletch and
Forrest I had played with before.
 
David B I played with as a subbie in a recent game (same countries) so the only
player I didnt know was David O.
 
The early stages of this game were excellent! Loads of communication and ideas,
I was soooo excited by the prospect and Craig was right to flag up the game as
one to watch.
 
The early stages saw England being invited into an ERF and a EGI.  Neither of
which were attractive!  I felt like the meat in the sandwich in both gut
reaction! My gut has stood me well in previous games.
 
I was totally honest and open with everyone concerned and stated I would not
join any "3 somes" in the opening game.  I also told Ray that if he threw
everything south then I would attack St P.  I did!
 
I did agree with Ray not to take with an army.
 
I was totally disinterested in Italy's game plan which seemed to me to ignore
the interests of others with the prime factor being exploring his theories of
how Italy would fare going west.
 
Ended up in a long term alliance with Germany which would have suceeded bar one
major error on my part!
 
There was one major mistake in the game and it was mine. I retreated a unit to
Spain instead of NAT.
 
I soooooooo lived to regret that.
 
On the carebear thing I side with Fletch it was his game to decide the ending
of.  Forrest is one of natures gentlemen I have allied sucessfully with him in
another game.  Sometimes it is more rewarding to repay trust than to stick in
the knife.  Kudos Fletch!
 
Thanks to all for your tolerance during my "inconvenience" ! Fully functioning
again but feel this has been my last game of Dip by email.  Will play F2F and am
exploring Second Life as a possible new avenue of play BUT when winter comes I
may change my mind (smiles).
 
Thanks again to all for a good game brilliantly GM'd
 
Bernie

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]



















[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Firstly Craig you are simply the best GM I have played with! Period!!!!!!!!!
 
There were a fair number of players I had met before Adam, Ray, Fletch and
Forrest I had played with before.
 
David B I played with as a subbie in a recent game (same countries) so the only
player I didnt know was David O.
 
The early stages of this game were excellent! Loads of communication and ideas,
I was soooo excited by the prospect and Craig was right to flag up the game as
one to watch.
 
The early stages saw England being invited into an ERF and a EGI.  Neither of
which were attractive!  I felt like the meat in the sandwich in both gut
reaction! My gut has stood me well in previous games.
 
I was totally honest and open with everyone concerned and stated I would not
join any "3 somes" in the opening game.  I also told Ray that if he threw
everything south then I would attack St P.  I did!
 
I did agree with Ray not to take with an army.
 
I was totally disinterested in Italy's game plan which seemed to me to ignore
the interests of others with the prime factor being exploring his theories of
how Italy would fare going west.
 
Ended up in a long term alliance with Germany which would have suceeded bar one
major error on my part!
 
There was one major mistake in the game and it was mine. I retreated a unit to
Spain instead of NAT.
 
I soooooooo lived to regret that.
 
On the carebear thing I side with Fletch it was his game to decide the ending
of.  Forrest is one of natures gentlemen I have allied sucessfully with him in
another game.  Sometimes it is more rewarding to repay trust than to stick in
the knife.  Kudos Fletch!
 
Thanks to all for your tolerance during my "inconvenience"! Fully functioning
again but feel this has been my last game of Dip by email.  Will play F2F and am
exploring Second Life as a possible new avenue of play BUT when winter comes I
may change my mind (smiles).
 
Thanks again to all for a good game brilliantly GM'd
 
Bernie

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Hell, late as usual.
Firstly apologies for being so predetermined in this game at the start, I hope I
can explain it.
  Having never really made italy work well going west I wanted to see if it was
at all possible.  To me it was clear that Germany and England BOTH needed to
play ball to allow italy to progress against France.  I didn't know David in
France before so that it was easy to decide to pursue this opening.  It was
clear that it was dicey, but it looked good when Germany happily agreed to going
against Fance also. Britian hummed and made non intelligable noises but I hoped
that he would jump on board once GI got moving west.

So I went west and Adam funked. He cried about it afterwards - there was a great
nashing of teeth but by then it was too late.  We had France very exposed at the
start with him gaining only one unit in the first year (if my memory serves me
right), but Adam couldn't commit (Adam, Mun - Bur (or the lack of it) was our
downfall mate!) and then the whole thing fell apart.

At which stage I went into survival mode, made grovelling peace with David,
tried to kick life into the agreed AGI only to find out that AT had something
much better going, got rolled over, thrown a life line (which looked more like a
noose) and tried to reposition in turkey (ha, ha). The "plan" being to encourage
Austria to stab Turkey by weakening turkey so much and then become the new
turkey!

Apologies for being uncommunicative in this one. RL was a bugger (another
daughter born a few months ago) and my perspectives for the game were poor. It
was also plain to see that agendas from a previous game were still a big
influence here.

Congrats to Fletcher (though i think you should have gone for it too) and many
thanks to all especially Craig for the best GMing that I have seen in a long
time.  Those regular reminders saved me from a few NMRs.

Hope to "see" everybody again soon.
Cheers, David O'Callaghan

Adam,
We were playing the same game...just different perspectives. I do agree with you
the game was frustrating and long. I did hold out on the EF too long and should
have worked a better alliance with you. The whys are a bit foggy as it was so
long ago and most likely were not substantive. The lack of communication on my
part in the middle was because I had given up. Frustrated by you and Bernie and
of course the wild Italian (maybe I should be faulting my negotiating skills) I
even offered myself as a vassel to Bernie. He rejected the offer and would
rather see me defeated. At that point I became committed life long friends of
Turkey and Austria. Hopefully we can work together in a different game as
different countries. A change of location would do me good..
I think this game had some of the most talented players I have played with to
date. Maybe that is why there were not many suprise moves. :) Oh well...no need
to over analize as I did my early alliances in the game as that did not work out
for me either.
 
I hope to meet you all on the map soon.
 
David Barron

--- On Wed, 6/17/09, Ace Rimmer <smegdwarf@...> wrote:


From: Ace Rimmer <smegdwarf@...>
Subject: [DipWorld] DW 434 Germany EoG
To: DipWorld@yahoogroups.com
Date: Wednesday, June 17, 2009, 3:30 PM








Hmmm... I must've been playing in a different game than Forest and David. But
the two things that do seem consistent are that I was a non-factor in their
EoGs, and I have never been so drill-to-the- cranium bored in a game of Dip in
my life. Nine months can do that to you.

When I started this game, I hoped to ally with David (whom I had just GMed in
the entertaining DW 432). David struck me as an able and innovative player, and
I had hopes. But all of that went piff -- a big, cosmic *piff* -- thanks to Ray.
Ray I-was-eliminated- in-the-last- ice-age-it' s-nice-you- still-remember-
that-I-was- in-the-game Bruce. For reasons that must be attributed to
inexplicable insanity, Ray organized an early AEFR mission to liberate the
Germans. And he would've gotten away with it had it not been for those meddling
Austrians. Fletch's misorder (Galicia sounds so similar to Bohemia, doesn't it?)
saved me from Ray, and they went off on their own spat, resulting in Ray's
totally justified annihilation.

Meanwhile, I had promising communications with A, F, and I. England was not
particularly helpful. Turkey sent some perfunctory emails but eventually (in
October) he stopped talking altogether. Ray never gave me much lovin', even if
he did apologize for starting me out behind the eight ball. So, I returned to
trying to ally with David. And it failed. In the process, David frustrated me
and annoyed me, for as he says, he was really allied with Bernie and not me. I
no longer remember the why or the how, but I do recall that I grew sour on David
-- he didn't seem to be negotiating in good faith. But Bernie and I managed to
maintain a light patter in which it became clear that he, too, was growing
annoyed with David.

When Bernie attacked David, and an interesting thing (didn't) happen. David
never wrote to me again (four days before Forest stopped writing to me). Even
though I was Germany and England had just stabbed him. And I had a sour enough
taste in my mouth that I let him be. So, I never wrote to David again, either.
And the game turned into no-press, with me just coordinating moves with Bernie.

I should take a moment to note what a shame it was that Mr. O'Callaghan didn't
have success as Italy. I like David, though I will agree with Forest that some
of his ideas seemed -- well, predetermined. He was set from the outset of the
game to attack France, even though he hadn't acquired a feel for the rest of the
board. I think he also was not the most communicative, if I remember correctly
what others told me. But had it not been for the AT, he would've been a valuable
friend. And an entertaining writer.

There was a cusp in the game -- I think we all know it -- when EG were trying
desperately to cripple France before AT could arrive to the rescue. Um... we
failed. And I wish Bernie had just proxied his units to me for a year or so,
because we needed to eliminate that French fleet, and it never made it to the
top of Bernie's to-do list, and... well, I think AT did an excellent job of
saving a valuable French ally. And once Bernie was unable to seal of Gibraltar,
the stalemate line could not be held.

Now, you might think from all of this that the game was actually pretty
exciting. But after the first few years, it really wasn't. Part of my problem
was the utter silence I shared F and T. And part of my problem was that Austria
-- the only enemy with whom I chattered for any significant part of the game --
was unwilling to take the solo, even when (long before France had regained his
footing) I offered to convoy his armies into Sweden. I seem to recall that
Bernie would've helped. And did I mention that Turkey didn't have his home
centers covered? Fletch could have, should have, and of course, would have
soloed. I suppose it's noble to stick by your allies no matter what, but solos
do not come around very often. In fact, one could almost argue that it's poor
sportsmanship (in a convoluted sort of way) to not even be trying to solo. So, I
was disappointed in Fletch. But I don't hold it against him.

So there it is. Carebear alliances are a mind-numbing cure for being interested
in a game. But as Craig pointed out not too long ago (indirectly, when he noted
the cockamamie distribution of units on the board), this carebear was an
extreme.

I apologize for the moaning, but I'd do a disservice if I cloaked my feelings.

Craig, you were thoroughly professional, reliable, and first-rate as a GM. Good
job and thank you.

Bernie, you were a fine ally while your interest persisted.

Adam



















[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

So I'll make mine short since I agree with ALL the other EOGs to date.

I was waiting the care bear label to come up. Agreed that its a boring style and
I can sympathize. In another, recent game,  not one but TWO players not only
aided a solos, they went out of their way to make it happened (for a third
player). And celebrated it afterwards. Extremely frustrating game for me. I get
it.

That being said, I reserve the right (so long as you will continue to play with
me) to end a game any way I like, especially of I'm the chip leader. There was a
point in the game, and it was so long ago now that I don't remember, that I
absolutely HAD to have Forest's help and I secured it by promising him survival.
I'm willing to break such a promise in some situations, but not this time. It
felt right to honor his loyalty…no matter how you are "suppose to play this
game".

Several of you rightly pointed out the solo and asked me if I was going to take
it. I saw it there, of course.  And I considered it carefully too. However, when
I repeatedly answered "no solo" then repeated put forth a combined draw
proposal, it was repeatedly denied. We could have ended this game months ago and
I would have been grateful.

So perhaps it was little bit of bad sportsmanship to continue playing as I
did…but I found it a little irritating that players with no chance of winning
were trying to dictate my terms of victory. Make sense? Like you said, Adam, no
hard feelings. And I found these last few years extremely boring as well..like
when my wife makes me play out hands of Euchre even when the game is over.

What else? France…I saw your "defensive" positions late in the game and kept my
neighboring ones empty ... If you had (unwisely) stabbed, I could have used THAT
as a pretext for soloing..if that makes sense to anyone still reading.

Last quick word to one of my favorite players, Ray Bruce/Bruce Ray. You are
brilliant but you have to switch it up a little. You can't be the alpha bully in
every game. Like in poker (Michael B, back me up here if you're listening) ,
you've got switch-up playing styles

I had fun, up to a point. Thanks everyone for playing. It was a pleasure. Great
job by Craig.

Next game?
Fletch

Hmmm... I must've been playing in a different game than Forest and David.  But
the two things that do seem consistent are that I was a non-factor in their
EoGs, and I have never been so drill-to-the-cranium bored in a game of Dip in my
life.  Nine months can do that to you.

When I started this game, I hoped to ally with David (whom I had just GMed in
the entertaining DW 432).  David struck me as an able and innovative player, and
I had hopes.  But all of that went piff -- a big, cosmic *piff* -- thanks to
Ray.  Ray
I-was-eliminated-in-the-last-ice-age-it's-nice-you-still-remember-that-I-was-in-\
the-game Bruce.  For reasons that must be attributed to inexplicable insanity,
Ray organized an early AEFR mission to liberate the Germans.  And he would've
gotten away with it had it not been for those meddling Austrians.  Fletch's
misorder (Galicia sounds so similar to Bohemia, doesn't it?) saved me from Ray,
and they went off on their own spat, resulting in Ray's totally justified
annihilation.

Meanwhile, I had promising communications with A, F, and I.  England was not
particularly helpful.  Turkey sent some perfunctory emails but eventually (in
October) he stopped talking altogether.  Ray never gave me much lovin', even if
he did apologize for starting me out behind the eight ball.  So, I returned to
trying to ally with David.  And it failed.  In the process, David frustrated me
and annoyed me, for as he says, he was really allied with Bernie and not me.  I
no longer remember the why or the how, but I do recall that I grew sour on David
-- he didn't seem to be negotiating in good faith.  But Bernie and I managed to
maintain a light patter in which it became clear that he, too, was growing
annoyed with David.

When Bernie attacked David, and an interesting thing (didn't) happen.  David
never wrote to me again (four days before Forest stopped writing to me).  Even
though I was Germany and England had just stabbed him.  And I had a sour enough
taste in my mouth that I let him be.  So, I never wrote to David again, either. 
And the game turned into no-press, with me just coordinating moves with Bernie.

I should take a moment to note what a shame it was that Mr. O'Callaghan didn't
have success as Italy.  I like David, though I will agree with Forest that some
of his ideas seemed -- well, predetermined.  He was set from the outset of the
game to attack France, even though he hadn't acquired a feel for the rest of the
board.  I think he also was not the most communicative, if I remember correctly
what others told me.  But had it not been for the AT, he would've been a
valuable friend.  And an entertaining writer.

There was a cusp in the game -- I think we all know it -- when EG were trying
desperately to cripple France before AT could arrive to the rescue.  Um... we
failed.  And I wish Bernie had just proxied his units to me for a year or so,
because we needed to eliminate that French fleet, and it never made it to the
top of Bernie's to-do list, and... well, I think AT did an excellent job of
saving a valuable French ally.  And once Bernie was unable to seal of Gibraltar,
the stalemate line could not be held.

Now, you might think from all of this that the game was actually pretty
exciting.  But after the first few years, it really wasn't.  Part of my problem
was the utter silence I shared F and T.  And part of my problem was that Austria
-- the only enemy with whom I chattered for any significant part of the game --
was unwilling to take the solo, even when (long before France had regained his
footing) I offered to convoy his armies into Sweden.  I seem to recall that
Bernie would've helped.  And did I mention that Turkey didn't have his home
centers covered?  Fletch could have, should have, and of course, would have
soloed.  I suppose it's noble to stick by your allies no matter what, but solos
do not come around very often.  In fact, one could almost argue that it's poor
sportsmanship (in a convoluted sort of way) to not even be trying to solo.  So,
I was disappointed in Fletch.  But I don't hold it against him.

So there it is.  Carebear alliances are a mind-numbing cure for being interested
in a game.  But as Craig pointed out not too long ago (indirectly, when he noted
the cockamamie distribution of units on the board), this carebear was an
extreme.

I apologize for the moaning, but I'd do a disservice if I cloaked my feelings.

Craig, you were thoroughly professional, reliable, and first-rate as a GM.  Good
job and thank you.

Bernie, you were a fine ally while your interest persisted.

Adam

I agree with Forest. This was an interesting game. Craig did a great job even
through personal difficulties...Thank you Craig.
 
I started the game having played with Bernie and hoping we could work together.
He was not as open as I was hoping so I tried to hedge my bets by talking with
Germany. Italy attacked me from the get go and with no sure ally I thought it
was all over from the beginning. Eventually England struck an alliance with
Germany and I was done for. I fought as much as I could and eventually Austria
attacked Italy and I was able work out a no attack treaty with Italy. Turkey
came to my rescue with England and provided the helping hand needed to turn the
tide.  Austria made quick work of the middle taking Germany’s attention off
me and Turkey trusted Italy too much losing his home land. I felt bad for him
but did appreciate his help in the North. I helped him gain SCs from England so
he would not lose any units. Austria was extremely trustworthy even though I
took up defensive positions in the middle just in case. I must admit I was
tempted to stab on more than
  one occasion but I held true because I realized I would have been eliminated if
Turkey and Austria  had not helped me.
Great play by Fletch. He deserves the honors for wiping the board with his
enemies and staying true to his allies. Forest…thanks for saving my bacon. I
am glad to draw with you guys.
Bernie…next time ally with me at the start and we can sweep the board ;)
 
David
D. Barron of France

--- On Tue, 6/16/09, Forest Markowitz <hampton_west@...> wrote:


From: Forest Markowitz <hampton_west@...>
Subject: [DipWorld] DW 434 EOG Turkey
To: DipWorld@yahoogroups.com
Date: Tuesday, June 16, 2009, 10:26 AM








An interesting game. First my thanks to Craig Reges for his outstanding job in
chairing this game - well done Craig and thank you for your patience with my
occasional rule questions.
My initial reaction to the game was to be in absolute fear of Russia as I knew
the Czar from a previous game and by reputation as an agressive player. I was
surprised when he proposed a three way partnership with Austria, Russia and
Turkey. It reminded me of the movie The Godfather where Marlon Brando warns Al
Pacino that the ally who comes forth with a deal after the Godfather dies will
betray him. I had that sense of Russia. At the very same time Italy gave me a
set of "do not occupy" zones, mainly the Agean and East Med seas. That
immediately told me I could not rationally deal with Italy so I was really
limited. However, I did have a sense Austria was not happy with the triple
entente and I sensed I'd have to choose one country or the other quickly, and
Austria seemed the better of the two. Austria, however, made that decision for
me by skillfully not following Russia's initial recommendations for movement.
This made it clear to me Fletch was the
  power to ally with and it worked. I ignored an early mis-step by Austria and
wrote it off to a defensive move on his part and we remained solid partners the
rest of the game.
There were times I thought he would go for the solo and in a game where "your
word" often means little, Tom Fletcher kept his - a solid player indeed.
After Russia left the game most of my immediate focus was to try to keep England
in check in the North as the German/French/ English relationship evolved. I knew
Bernie as an outstanding player and I was trying to keep him bogged down anyway
I could. A deal with France became apparent as Italy was just too
non-cooperative; At this point I had no real hope of winning this game and went
into draw mode. France turned out to be a solid ally and with Austria we worked
well. David Barron was also true to his word and skillfully turned what looked
like elimination into a viable position. As for Italy I made the mistake of
agreeing to keep him in the game and I let him off the hook. I should have gone
for the juggler. He skillfully escaped and ended up occupying my homeland and
causing me all sorts of trouble. David O'Callaghan - I have to hand it to you -
nice job.
Thank you guys for a fun game - Bernie, I trust all is well with you. Fletch and
David Barron - great working with you guys!!!!!



















[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

An interesting game. First my thanks to Craig Reges for his outstanding job in
chairing this game - well done Craig and thank you for your patience with my
occasional rule questions.
My initial reaction to the game was to be in absolute fear of Russia as I knew
the Czar from a previous game and by reputation as an agressive player. I was
surprised when he proposed a three way partnership with Austria, Russia and
Turkey. It reminded me of the movie The Godfather where Marlon Brando warns Al
Pacino that the ally who comes forth with a deal after the Godfather dies will
betray him. I had that sense of Russia. At the very same time Italy gave me a
set of "do not occupy" zones, mainly the Agean and East Med seas. That
immediately told me I could not rationally deal with Italy so I was really
limited. However, I did have a sense Austria was not happy with the triple
entente and I sensed I'd have to choose one country or the other quickly, and
Austria seemed the better of the two. Austria, however, made that decision for
me by skillfully not following Russia's initial recommendations for movement.
This made it clear to me Fletch was the power to ally with and it worked. I
ignored an early mis-step by Austria and wrote it off to a defensive move on his
part and we remained solid partners the rest of the game.
There were times I thought he would go for the solo and in a game where "your
word" often means little, Tom Fletcher kept his - a solid player indeed.
After Russia left the game most of my immediate focus was to try to keep England
in check in the North as the German/French/English relationship evolved. I knew
Bernie as an outstanding player and I was trying to keep him bogged down anyway
I could. A deal with France became apparent as Italy was just too
non-cooperative; At this point I had no real hope of winning this game and went
into draw mode. France turned out to be a solid ally and with Austria we worked
well. David Barron was also true to his word and skillfully turned what looked
like elimination into a viable position. As for Italy I made the mistake of
agreeing to keep him in the game and I let him off the hook. I should have gone
for the juggler. He skillfully escaped and ended up occupying my homeland and
causing me all sorts of trouble. David O'Callaghan - I have to hand it to you -
nice job.
Thank you guys for a fun game - Bernie, I trust all is well with you. Fletch and
David Barron - great working with you guys!!!!!