Friends, Diplomers, Stabbers,
This game has been a learning experience for me in playing Diplomacy online. Even though this was my second game on Diplomacy Corps, the first game I played never made it very far.
The question was raised several times to me - why do you continue playing - the game is already lost. The main reason for me continuing in the end was that I was learning some of the tactical maneuvers involved in the game. Finland, as he stated in his EOG statement had several opportunities to stab me before he became the board leader, but he did not, so I stayed with him until the end. I enjoyed the tactical aspects of the game, although the diplomacy left something to be desired. I guess that I will have to learn.
Why didn't I protect my centers better in the end? I kept on looking at the rules for Baltic, and the rules stated that you need 15 centers for the win, so I didn't figure that Mike was close to winning. I have a recollection of having discussed whether to win at 15 or at 12, but I never could find a mail about it. That's not an excuse, that just a reason for why I didn't think that Mike would stab me this turn. I think that give a unit or two more, I would have move more against Mike. In retrospect, I should have made Mike move back his fleet in the North Baltic as soon as his troops were deployed in Russia/Poland.
Chris - you are right that I played you against Finland. I never really committed to the attack, mostly because I always had Poland breathing down my back, while Finland never really made an offensive move against me (except for when he took Aland even though I told him not to).
Regarding the situation in the west: Kattegat was always the key here, and had Lee kept to the DMZ agreement we had, I'm fairly certain that we could have worked to the east instead of keeping many troops in the west. I had troubles getting enough units to up in arms at the western front.
Lee - you kept telling me that I threw the game to Mike. However, I gave you several opportunities to stop him, essentially giving you the keys to stop him from gaining centers a couple of times. You however kept on bringing all your troops to bear on me. Since you did seem hell-bent on stopping me, I just tried to see if I could open the lock. I am happy that in the end I got Malmo, although the point was moot at that time.
Regarding the map issue that came up in the mid-game. In retrospect I would say that the game would probably play better if Bolmen(wc) is not connected to Vattern. However, the statements regarding "Fleets retreating across land" does not apply to the map in question, since there are way more stranger moves available:
F Goteborg->Siljan->Stockholm->SGoB would be valid moves, although they are very strange.
A fleet in Saimaa could also move to both Kuopio and GoF which is just as strange. I think that the map would be better off if the water-ways were more defined.
Greetings from a wintry Frillesås, Sweden (on the border between Goteborg and Bolmen, on the coast)
/Fredrik
