Hey Hey is for horses ( my dad used to say...) 🙂 And cattle True dat! I hear Italy is inclined to go after France.  Could of course be a total lie, but if they’re also asking you to join in, maybe it’s genuine? What do you hear? Nothing from Italy other than hello Can you do me a favor and see if he seems interested in a E+G+I pile-on to F?  You don’t need to commit to anything, but if he doesn’t seem interested then it means he’s coming after me.  And having Austria collapse early does nothing to help England’s mid game, you know? :). Just means there’s probably a huge Russia and / or Italy on the board! I’d rather not have Italy dabbling in France because the west gets crowded much more quickly than the east. There are more centers in the east than the west.

Italy doing a lepanto to Turkey’s south is a fairly standard opening that keeps Austria and Italy neutral with each other http://www.diplomacy-archive.com/resources/strategy/articles/lepanto.htm http://uk.diplom.org/pouch/Zine/S1998M/Birsan/Lepanto.html Have you heard from Germany? I’ve heard from Germany: he says you’ve offered him an alliance, and I encouraged him to take it if he gets trustworthy vibes from you, for what it’s worth (E+G is preferable to me, given that it keeps Russia in check). As for the Lepanto, it’s up to Italy if he wants to go that route.  I’d be fine going after Turkey with him, but if he’s... impatient, that quickly turns into “I’m bored waiting for my second build, I’ll go after Trieste now!” If you know what I mean. Nice opening.  That’s taking the driver’s seat early! Yeah, if only pic wasn’t there. Wasn’t expecting Pie to happen, but that’s a definite plus for Germany. Pic is fine.  They have some guesswork to do: take the build from Por, and cover Bre with Pic (risking your convoy to Pic or you just walking into MAO, with them having no open center to build another Atlantic fleet), or else forgo a 1901 build and self bounce in Bre (leaving you looking like a genius if you guess right and support Pic-Bre, leaving them both without a build *and* way out of position). Lots of options for you (but no, no guarantees I suppose) Yeah, it’s all mind games and I can’t participate in them directly Yeah not much luck they’ll listen to your suggestions at *this* point 😉 Would you mind offering France some advice under the guise of trying to keep the west together longer? To be honest: I’ve reached out but gotten radio silence from day one from them.  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯  I’ll keep trying though! 1. Point out that England can force Belgium

2. Point out that Germany won’t give up a second build for a guaranteed Burgundy

3. Point out that a bounce in Bur (i.e. A Pic - Bur & A Mun - Bur) bounces A Wal - Pic

4. Losing Bre is unlikely because of the guaranteed Bel and even if France loses it, they won’t have to destroy and will be able to move A Mar & A Pic into place next year Scratch that. just advise France to bounce Bur because Germany won’t use two I could try either kind of suggestion, but aren’t they more likely to worry about what you do than what Germany does?  How about this: I’ll try to get some idea about which way they’re most concerned with before I suggest which way to go, and then check in with you.  If they never respond to my messages, well that’s also an indication they’re not so great at this game and you can go for whatever attack a n00b wouldn’t see coming 😉 I’m trying to get Russia to point out Belgium because Russia and I are clearly at least at peace with our openings. You’re naturally close to Germany, and will have more info on that front. Two seemingly separate pieces of info that form a cohesive story when joined might create a stronger narrative in France’s head I’m just spitballing. If you disagree, please let me know so that I can orchestrate a cohesive front of information Indeed, this is a good point. As long as France isn’t ignoring all inbound messages and wasting our glorious diplomatic efforts ;p He was chatting with me a good bit before the turn. Germany just made a better argument closer to the deadline. Ah ok. Maybe just skiing today or something. Some of us do have lives, I suppose.  Not me, but some of us 😦 I’m happy to pass on your suggestions as is,but will let you know before I do (once I’ve heard back from them). In return: do you have any intel on R/T relations? so for what it's worth, France thinks I'm "an ally of Germany" and so doesn't want to share their plans with me unless I join in a 3-way alliance with them and Germany against Italy (which sounds weird, and I don't know how that would work).  I think they're just not really experienced at this game, but at the same time, don't seem too inclined to take my suggestions either.  So I *think* that any info I pass on to them might just backfire.  I *did* already mention that losing Burgundy now would cause their entire position to crumble (which is the truth), so perhaps they're already planning to cover that (I would, if I were them, probably). Thanks. If I were them, I definitely would move to Bur. I would also move to Tyr, but I’m weird. Oh I would *totally* move to Trl.  I thought about suggesting it to them, actually, before I talked to you about the various misdirection ideas. It's a fun English position when France can't build a second fleet.  You're sittin' in the cat seat now! Yeah, those French moves were interesting to say the least. Definitely makes life easier.

You’re not doing too bad yourself with Turkey being so bunched up and Russia struggling in Swe. I didn’t even notice A Smy... Yeah A Smy is an interesting choice: F Smy slows Italy and I down, but leaves Arm undefended against Russia.  A Arm keeps the Russian at bay, but means that frankly I could take Bul and then leave the Turk bottled up behind the Bosporus... forever, guarded by only one unit.  It’s like England with no fleets! Fun times in both of our spheres.  You and me and Germany are looking pretty nice.  Do you and I wait until T/F are more dismantled before we talk about coordinating our next target, or do we start musing that now? 🙂 I think we wait a bit. If someone found out we were even discussing stabbing them it’d hurt our ability to take out F & T. Welcome to the sunny Mediterranean, Prime Minister! 😉 You sent a message in general chat and the bot deleted it. You can only send messages to individuals. What did you say? Secret plans, broadcast to everyone! ;p Has the time yet come to see how we can work together? So this game, I think is it called "move little armies and fleets around a board", or something else, I forget? 🙂 Do we want to split this game two ways, or three?  We’re stalemated in the Med, but I kill Russia, you kill Germany would be better than you and Germany slow me down and we end the game with 4 players, right? But I’d be fine with an EGA draw as well Germany and I are past the land and Mediterranean stalemate lines right now, and as you pick Russia apart, I’ll be able to blow past the northern one. Even though the game ends in 1910, I’m going to play it like it won’t. Good luck cracking Ion! (FYI there are stalemate lines that don’t include Tunis in the east, if you weren’t aware)