So what do ppl think. Thus far w the FOW3’s my first impression is to try FOW4 starting gunboat and only negotiate w who you discover. But some have mentioned an aversion to such…

The concept of gunboat diplomacy is you can see all the units but you can’t diplome. In fog, you can’t see your enemies, but you can diplome. So to deprive one of both vision and diplomacy… well what have you got left but some random chance orders? It’s not Diplomacy at that point.

I think I’m leaning back toward having fow4 when it launches, be open diplomacy… Otherwise what’s the point of an 18-player game, if you can only ever negotiate w your 3 or 4 adjacent neighbors that you meet? There has to be some mechanism to encounter other players, so that you can negotiate w ppl a few nations away… For example we all know that although E/T are rarely adjacent, they always have plenty to discuss in the standard game.

-mike