Greetings and salutations!  I prefer not to bounce in Galicia - it weakens Austria against Italy since you can't cover Trieste and it means I HAVE to move Moscow to Ukraine, which commits that unit to a southern direction early.  What are you thoughts? I’m not a fan of fighting Italy or Russia as Austria. Germany will also probably guarantee Tyr. I just want to survive, and you two are capable of picking me apart. Is there some sort of arrangement we can come to with turkey and the Balkans that doesn’t involve me wasting away in the carpathians? How much of Turkey are you willing to let the Italian have?  I'd like two centers and I'd be comfortable with you having Bulgaria - as long as you were willing to head after Italy next. Two centers is a lot to give if I’m doing the heavy lifting and then fighting Italy on top of it unless you’re going through Arm? I assumed you’d be going north? I mean, I'm assuming you've got Italy doing a Lepanto and getting out of position.   When you said an arrangement with Turkey  - did you mean the three of us working together or you and I splitting him up.  'Cause if we split him up, then a 50/50 split seems pretty fair, right?  I'd get two, and you'd get Bulgaria and another. I meant carving him up. If you take the Armenian opening, I’m fine with a 2 & 1 + 1. I just need some time to figure out Gal. I can always use Gal to support you into Rum? The Armenian opening?  What is that?  I've never heard of it. There’s a couple ways to do it. The most sure fire is F Sev - Rum; A Mos - Sev; A War - Ukr;
F Rum - Sev; A Ukr - Sev; A Sev - Arm The less sure is hoping you don’t bounce in Black while moving A Mos - Sev —> A Sev - Arm; F Black - Bul EC; A Ukr - Rum. I think I would prefer to sit back and see what's happening before committing so strongly to an opening like that. I would prefer if we left Galicia a DMZ, I'm not comfortable with you moving in there in '01.  I think keeping it unoccupied during the game would be best for us to have a partnership. May I ask what your intentions are with War and Mos? They have to go somewhere, and they both don’t fit down south if you don’t move into Gal or Sev. I prefer to hold with Moscow and see who's telling me the truth. Have you been telling people that you’re opening to Galicia? I’ve had several players ask me if I’m bouncing you there. No, I have not told anyone that I’m moving to Galicia. I’ve even told a couple that I wasn’t going to. The only reason that would happen is if you and I don’t work out an agreement and I have to do a hedgehog. I would like to stress that my preference is for Gal to be a DMZ with no bounces I need confirmation from you that you’re staying out of Gal. I don’t want to destabilize things by moving there if you’re not attacking it. Getting to my phone now.  My preference is to DMZ Galicia as well. Cool. I’m moving a standard Austrian opening that gives me flexibility with Greece and Italy. I changed my orders to Galicia because (a) I felt that you waffled back and forth on it and (b) corroboration from other players. And I’d rather guess wrong and be there myself than guess wrong and have someone else be there. Who told you I was moving there? I never told anyone that I was moving Gal. I only ever said that I might hedgehog if you kept me in the dark. I’m asking who gave you the Gal info because I want to make sure I don’t get stabbed again. If you want to try and repair the relationship, will you move A Gal - Rum? I’m open to that. When I was told you were looking to hedgehog, the word “might” was dropped off. Then I had to google “Austria” and “hedgehog” and .... that’s a low win probability opening IMO. Yeah, it is, because it means that Austria has no friends and is doomed to die first. I hate it and almost prefer to do a key Lepanto over a hedgehog. I’ve never willingly participated in a Key lepanto. I’ve done it twice and it worked, but those were on an android app where people were more likely to do silly things. I have had one or two forced on me, and in my past 5 or so games I had to fight one off as Turkey. France benefited from that one. What’s going on in Tyolia? Was Italy supposed to go to Venice as well? Nothing good is going on. That was an unnecessary move Well, unnecessary if you’re going to parent with him, yes. I left Galicia and that should give us some space to work together, if you’d like to make a suggestion. I’m thinking. I’ll have to get back to you. Italy and France getting 3 builds presents a bit of a pickle. I think an EF is good for you. Hey, I’ll be back online around 7 pm est. if you’d like to talk about how we proceed with respect to The balkans. Would you mind sharing why you picked A War over A Mos? Yes. England asked me to build there. He’s asked me to go after Germany with him. Turkey, of course, is asking me to send it to Galicia. Which is why I’d really like to talk to you about the balkans France is going to eat up most of those gains if you pressure Germany from the west, and then take England easily. France has the largest navy and no real threats. That being said, your relations with the West are none of my business. What do you think about F Sev - Arm,  A Ukr - Sev, A Rum S A Ukr - Sev, A Serb S A Rum hold Depending on how the spring shapes up, I will be able to act more directly against the Turks. That seems like a horrible set of orders.  Why not suggest that I cut BLA with SEV and either you support me into Bulgaria or I support you into Bulgaria?  It sounds like you're trying to get me out of position and slow Turkey down while you work with him. I’m not meaning to push you out of position. Turkey built F Smy and is probably going to hit Greece and move his armies up behind him. If he does that, he’ll have to either rush losing Ank or cede control of Black. I’m hoping to have a more certain lay of the land after spring and expect to be in a place where I can help take down Turkey. If I attack Turkey now, I’ll lose what little advantage I have over turkey. I’m not putting my foot down and saying I’m committed to the orders I suggested. If you are totally opposed to my order suggestion, we can keep talking. If the Italians scare me, I don’t want to worry about you or Turkey. If the Italians keep their word, I’ll be fighting Turkey, not you. That’s why I want you to shift East Ok.  Explain to me why you're in the Ionian and not in Greece? I'm just very confused why you would  go there instead of Greece  - I understand the need to self-bounce in Budapest, but the move to Ionian confuses me. There are two reasons for Austria to have a fleet in the Ionian in Spring 1902. The first is for Austria to attack Italy. The second is to make it seem like Austria is attacking Italy when really the target is in either France or Turkey. I didn’t go for Greece because Turkey said he wasn’t going to go for it last year and leaving it open bought me some good will. Also, I wasn’t sure if you and Italy  were going to screw me, so I tried to avoid upsetting any of you. Regardless of if you believe me, Turkey’s Armenian flank is exposed and I’m not in a position to attack you because I built in Trie and  Hungary / Bud is unoccupied. Also, I didn’t move into Gal at the start of the game, like I promised and took you at your word when you said you moved into Gal because of bad intel. alright.  well, I think you've put yourself way out of position.  Turkey has asked me to support his attack on Serbia, and I'm going to, so if Italy taps you in Trieste and Turkey is telling me the truth, you'll lose it.  Let's be honest with ourselves, if both Italy AND Turkey want to attack Austria, Russia is pretty much always going to join in.  Maybe Turkey is lying to me and is going to work with you to force Rumania or something.  I doubt it though.  I wish you the best of luck and i'm sorry if things turn out super bad for you.  In the future, if you ever get the idea to do anything with your fleet other than use it to take greece - you need to crush that good idea fairy quickly.  Turning it into an extra army through a build is super, super important. I wish you had defended against the attack I described to you.  Unfortunately, you didn't.  Any suggestions ?  You're about to go down a unit. You can switch sides and hit Bul instead of me? Italy has access to Smyrna and the Turkish right flank is still open. A Rum - Bul, F Sev - Arm, A Gal - Ukr, a War - Ukr? You can pick up Bul and Ank before anyone else is able to mess around. You’ll also be able to build another southern fleet if you wanted to I mean, this would work a lot better if you had held Serbia. Why didn't you support yourself to hold? Because you telling me you’re going to hit a certain territory only lets me know I need to defend something, and not what territory in particular, so I turtled. I suppose I could have been trying to slip into GAL and  BUD while getting you to just order mutual support orders ... but I prefer to order supports to moves I know will go through.  I guess I projected that onto you instead of putting myself in your - understandably - paranoid shoes. I’ve trusted you before but trusting you and Italy at the same time was more than I could do. I tried to signal the blue water Lepanto without outright telling you. Do you have any suggestions? Next time, don't do a blue water lepanto.  I played face-to-face on Sunday as Russia and Austria and Italy tried to do a blue water lepanto.  I probably could have soloed, but I didn't build a fleet sev. Now, a suggestion more specific to this game?  Let me look at the board. It was that or die in year one. Italy opened asking for a key. I’ve never worked well in an Austro-Turkish alliance and the rest almost pushed me to a hedgehog. I did what I could. Ok, that's a tough situation. And then the asshole in Russia opens to Galicia.  It's enough to drive a man to drink. I had a bit of tequila tonight... Ok, here's a thought - what if you support me into Serbia, I move my fleet SEV-RUM, and then build a second southern fleet.  In the next year, I crush into Bulgaria, you backfill Serbia and take Greece - rebuilding all the way. I know it's not ideal for you, but ... you did the blue water lepanto, why not try this? Yeah, I’ll take a fleet in Rum all day. Where do Gal and War go? West? Or I could support myself to hold. you probably can't afford me lying to you on this one and then doing something with the units that leaves another center exposed.. I’m losing a center, I’d prefer Gal cleared. If you have to eat Germany then fine. England is off balance if they plan on working with France instead of bottling up in Nth, and that alliance has to fall apart. I have GAL-BOH ordered. Is war going Sil or back filling Ukr or something? I know you could just lie, but I still feel like it’d be negligent for me to not ask. Actually, I could lie to you.  But I have given it some thought.  I think you genuinely want to work with me.  and I actually want to work with you (not a big fan of Turkey making so many gains!).  I will move WAR-SIL as well. I’m pretty sure Turkey is covering Smyrna (and I’m pretty sure you’re convoying Apulia to Syria You going to keep your southern fleet or give up on the med? I’m weighing the f sev build because I don’t know if we need two fleets back there. Thoughts? You coordinated the shift to Serb & Greece with turkey and didn’t need my support. If you don’t build it, I’ll assume your 1902 dealing was in bad faith. Ok. I see your point. But I cleared Galicia. I’m asking if you really think that we need two Russian fleets. And, well ... you know what? Yes. Yes we do. Because that’s what it will take for us to have peace.   (I ask the right to revisit this pending Germany’s retreat order). You can’t clear the Black Sea without a second fleet. You have two armies on Germany’s border, but if we have to revisit it after the retreat, then that’s what we have to do. You know, with Italy SO far out of position, you could just run in on him.   And yeah, I'll build the second fleet.  if anything, it will give you and I three fleets in the Med, which will be useful for after you take on Italy.  Which is going to happen at some point, right?  Otherwise, I'm not really sure where you'd go. Obviously, we need to resolve what's going on in the Balkans, etc.  But, I find it useful and beneficial to discuss the long term picture with allies.  And, after my moves and the build I'm about to make, I'd like you to consider me an ally - or at least a potential one.  What are your impressions of Italy - is he a straight shooter with middle management written all over him?  Do you think you can trust him or work with him after Turkey is cracked? I had to build up North, unfortunately. I still think I can slip into the Black Sea. He’s going to be focused on the south, I’m pretty sure. Was the bounce in Vienna prearranged? It doesn’t look like it was, with the fleet move to Adriatic. The bounce was prearranged For what it’s worth, Italy told me that he was going to attack you this past turn. But, with respect to our border, let’s take BUL  and Greece off of Turkey this turn. Not sure what we’re doing together. I will (waste) a turn and order defensive moves. Do you have any interest in improving your position and/or playing Diplomacy?  I'd like to work with you, but you're making it extremely difficult by ignoring my messages and not making any suggestions. I would like to head south.  If you could head in a direction that isn't warsaw, I think that we could work together.  Are you still tied to working with Italy or are you open to another path? So... care to work together? I could use some help to keep Germany out of Warsaw. I can’t support you against the Germans directly, but I can help against Turkey and stay out of Sev, freeing up another unit? I don't understand why you can't help against Germany.  If it's a "I want to work with him" thing, he will head after you once he's done with me.  If it's a "I've got something else for UKR to do ... "  then you're lying to me. That’s really frustrating what Italy just did to you. It’s too bad that you’ continued to work with him instead of helping me defend against Germany. Now, I can’t hold anything north of STP. That is, until France attacks him. I mean north of Sev. Are you able to work with me against Turkey? Because I’d like to assume you’re done working with Italy. Would you like to try to work together here?  I haven't attacked you the entire game.  I've been asking you for help.  You've also only replied to one message from me in the past month. I'd be willing to offer you support into Warsaw. Ok. If we don’t all work together, France our Germany will win. How are you going to bury the hatchet with turkey? I don't see why that's necessary. Also, because you let Germany take Warsaw, they're already past the stalemate line.  There's really nothing we can do to stop them. What we need is for one of them to turn on the other and try to get a solo.  But, me and Turkey patching things up is really inconsequential to the whole thing.  Especially since he disbanded a fleet. My game was ruined the moment I didn't guarantee Berlin for myself and instead counted on England to accept my support into Kiel.  And then England TOTALLY fucked my game up.  Italy going after Sevastopol instead of Turkish or Austrian dots didn't help either, and neither did you galavanting into fucking Ukraine for no good reason. I can't fucking believe people are getting paid to play in this game as a study on communication, and no body is fucking communicating.  Total shit show, but that's what you get when you recruit randoms off of reddit. Anyway, this has basically turned into a game of gunboat, with you going weeks between replying to my messages, Italy never responding, Germany never responding, Turkey never responding, and England never responding. And I fully expect to hear back from you sometime after Thanksgiving, based on your track record.  And, you'll probably fucking lie to me again and screw your own position up even more in the process - since that seems to be your preferred style of play this game. The game has been rocky for everyone. I stopped responding to you on purpose at the start and then shifted into a screw out after Italy didn’t do anything for three turns So, what are you doing with Ukraine?  Right now I have Moscow supporting it to Warsaw, let me know please. I'm also supporting myself into Bulgaria, I suggest you use Bulgaria to take Greece.  Or cover Budapest.  Your call.   I'd like to finish off Turkey in this go around if you please. So, to wrap things up ... I've offered you support into Warsaw and  asked you to work with me against Turkey ... and your response has been that we need to start working together.  But, you haven't indicated in any way shape or form what you plan on doing or what you'd like to do together.  So, basically ... I'm in the same god damned situation with respect to trying to work with you, in which I've proposed things we can do together, asked for your help or feedback, and received nothing but silence in a game where you are getting PAID TO TALK.  What the actual @!#%, man? I have to hit Gal because of Germany. I can not move into War from Ukr because of the retreat order.  Moving from A Rum - Bul shift your units further out of the German front and will speed the collapse.
I propose

F Black - Rum
A Rum - Ukr
A Ukr - Gal
A Mos - War I'm not comfortable leaving the black sea and I'm appalled that you would suggest it.  You are continuing to demonstrate no interest in actually working with me. I will, however, not attack Bulgaria and move to Rumania Ukraine, as you've requested/suggested. *Rumania to Ukraine. Ok. Works for me. what are you doing with Bulgaria? It isn’t moving. ok .... If Turkey moves Greece out, then I’ll move it. I’m trying to move towards the front is it supporting yourself into Greece?  Is it suppourting CON to hold? what front? GErmany is already past the stalemate line. you can't actually slow him down. Are you formally included in the Franco German alliance? If not, then that’s a front. He’s about to move units into position to take Mos FRance is already past the stalemate line.  you can't actually slow him down either.  What we need to so, in order to survive this game, is to consolidate and defend what we can. If I can get another build, and you can get another build, then we can actually slow Germany down.  My build would come from CON and yours would come from Greece.  Can your unit in Bulgaria support me from BLA-CON? I still don't think we can stop him, but we can slow him down and maybe get France to attack him.  THEN the game opens wide And ... I forgot to click submit on my orders update. 😞 But.   You supported con to hold. Fuck you, bro. I’ll throw the solo to Germany if I can. Cool Oh, ha!  There's only one game year left.  None of this shit actually matters. We get paid either way and I think the gm said something about a minimum of five centers because of the chat snafu. I mean, I'm a little pissed off that you've lied to me since 1902, but ... 🤷‍♂️ minimum of five centers? Mostly just ghosted you. Everything through 1902 was being “sharp “ with my promises. No idea what sharp means.  And  no idea why you felt is was appropriate to "ghost" someone in a game where you are being paid to communicate with other players. I'm thoroughly unimpressed by a lot of the play in this game, and even more so in the quality of communication. Think of sharp conduct as a technically correct, malicious compliance type behavior. Legal, but pushing the boundary towards fraud.

Not responding to something is often a good tactic. If you can’t say anything nice at all then don’t say anything at all. If answering a question or asserting a position is disadvantages to being uncommitted and silent, then be silent. Oh, I totally understand the value in the cold shoulder.  But you accepted $40 to play in a game of Diplomacy that would evaluate the honesty of your correspondence. in order to keep moscow, what is your suggestion? What a clod you are. How in blue fuck does keeping Turkey in the game benefit you in the least.