[SPOILERS] Lewwyn, The Oblivious Archduke of Austria

[Mardoc]

Had some more conversations with Russia and Germany. Germany says I shouldn't trust Russia and Russia wants me to work with trustingly. Pretty much the only thing that's certain is Germany has my back and the next move set will tell us where the true colors lie. Of course, my moves are going to piss off both Russia and Turkey.

I can't wait to see!

[Lewwyn]

Here's Russia's response:

Well I see you felt you could not trust me. That is too bad. Obviously you can see that I lived up to my end of the bargain. Even better, I'm in the Black Sea. A pro-russian build would be A Tri, while moving Gal back to Bud in the spring.

I'd like to build A Sev but I am not sure I can afford to with you in Galicia.

Thoughts?

dan.
regoarrarr
russia

I felt it was necessary to break character here so as to be perfectly clear sometimes the fun is not fun when it could mean the difference between winning and losing. "It's fun to have fun, but you've got to know how!"

Sorry, I could not trust you more. You can understand that I'm in a more precarious position than anyone else (except maybe France at this point) so I went with the move that was more neutral and offered survival against a stab. Now that I've actually seen the moves I can trust you more. Even the moves I have done would show direct aggression against turkey and only self-preservation (Though I know it can be construed as aggressive) in Gal.

Congrats on the Black Sea. I will build in Tri. Retreat from Gal to Bud. Also, I will be going after Greece. I don't know what Amelia will do. Her only real chance of not having that army destroyed is to retreat to Bul while supporting from Con, but if you move Rum - Bul with fleet support she bounces and can't retreat. However, if she attacks Bla and kills your support she'll survive into Bul. I don't know how much of that she's thought through.

Suffice to say I will build in Tri. We can plan more after that.

Lew

[Gold Ergo Sum]

These things cracked me up the most:

You on the D-low, these other crypts don't dig the vibe.

The word is actually Crips, which is an LA street gang that feuds with the Bloods.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crips

like friggin' condors
you know them? They be extinct

Condors. Totally not extinct.

[Lewwyn]

Condors. Totally not extinct.

... I knew that.




BTW not much has happened in the last few days. Pretty much most conversation is at a bit of a standstill. I've had a couple chats with Germany.

Oh and I forgot! Russia wants me to move Gal-Boh because Germany is too strong. WE MUST ATTACK! Yeah... about that bro. I'm totally going to move my armies AWAY from you, Turkey and my undefended lands. Totally.

[luddite]

Huh, so rego really was attacking Turkey. That's good!

England seems to be working closely together with Germany, too. Italy maybe working with them too? I can't tell. Did Rowain tell you that he was gonna attack trieste like that? At least you kept the army there.

There's a possibility for an interesting standoff with russia right now. If you bot move into Bulgaria with 1 support, you'll bounce each other, and Amelia will keep control, even without any support.

I'm worried though, that Rego will actually succeed in taking down turkey, and in a way where he gets all of turkey + rumania, and you don't get anything except maybe bulgaria. If that happens you'll be in a really bad position.

Maybe time to shift gears and start an alliance with Turkey?

[Lewwyn]

Well, I'm having a lot less fun right now. I realized something the last two days. Diplomacy is my least favorite part of the PBEMs, one of the reasons I love the CTON game. Why did I sign up for this? Oh that's right because I ex[ected to have Guap helping me out. He's disappeared.

Anyway in the past day I've gotten these messages:

Russia:

Hey Lewwyn,

Well it looks like things went very well for us. With my Black Sea convoy, Turkey is definitely doomed and she'll be out of the game by 1903. Though I was a bit freaked out when somehow Sareln had me moving to Galicia instead of Silesia, but I'm glad that got worked out.

The real question is what next. Germany's move to Silesia was a known bounce, but I'm very nervous about his fleet move to the Baltic Sea. It's not going to Sweden, since England is there, so it seems like it has to come my way, right? I don't know if that qualifies as "know it when you see it" or not :-)

Do we give Italy Greece? If we can convince him not to order Wes-Spa (And allow France to thwart Bre S Gas-Par with Spa S Par-Gas), it might be worth it. Do you think you'll need to order Ser S Gre in case Italy and Turkey work together?

Anyway I should be around to chat later today and we can figure things out - where we go from here and such

dan.
regoarrarr
russia

Italy:

Hi Lewwyn

With Russias army in Armenia instead of Ankara the world does look a bit different.

How sure are you that it is not a Russ+Tur cooperation?

Greetings from Rome

Rowain

England:

Lewwyn,

So it seems quite a bit of turmoil in the east with an apparent stab on Turkey by Russia. I must admit that I'm a little concerned, because if Regoarrar gets your help, Turkey will go down fast, and Russia will undoubtedly benefit from that far more than you will... I will tell you that Regoarrar has been sending messages to myself, Germany, and (I think) Italy all about alliances that don't involve you, so he doesn't seem to confident with an A/R alliance, which makes me wonder if A) you guys don't really have one and he just got really lucky or B) you are being used a little bit and he doesn't plan to stick with you once it's no longer convenient. And I guess I'm just concerned that Regoarrar will "ally" with you to kill Turkey, take most of the spoils, then turn his back on you and divide your land with someone like Italy, while you get left in the cold and Russia becomes a dominant force.

So what's your take on things? I don't mean to be too pushy obviously. I'll be very transparent with you and say my biggest fear is a roided-up Russia after it eats a large Turkey sandwich (shout-out to Mardoc for the turkey sandwich comment!), but I am also concerned about you getting stabbed next after Turkey crumbles, so I'm curious what your take is on this. I think I'll be around some to chat tomorrow, but I'm not sure how much.

Thanks,
scooter

Turkey:

Austria,

I understand that you and Russia have been working together to take me down. I don't mind, it's part of the game after all. However, once Russia takes my centres, i can assure you that he'll be wanting to take over Austria as well.

If we can stop Russia from getting a build this cycle, things will probably go your way that you are able to gobble up russia centres, giving you much more than sharing half of my centres with him.

To that end, i am willing to support your army in Serbia to Rumania. I am not able to stab you in any way should you do that, and it leaves your army in Gal free to wrack more havoc on Russian farmlands.

I have to pull back my fleet in AEG, in order to allow con and smy to support each other from Russian aggresions. This way, you can get the ser/gre/rum area, as well as russian centres.

How does this sound to you?

Amelia

I've also heard from Germany who want me to attack Russia with their support.


So yeah, I'm in demand. Thing is I have options I can choose to go one way or another at this point. Either go with Germany or go with Russia seems to be the biggest choice. Also Italy is point to a Turkey, Russian alliance and wants to "help". I'm really not sure. AT this point it all feels more like work than like a game. I think part of that is that the days are too long. I blatantly ignored everyone yesterday and signed out of chat because I just didn't want to think about it. The most fun I had was when I was making stuff up in funny messages, but even that can't mask the drama pushing and pulling of diplomacy. I suppose its not really my cup of tea.

Tonight I will decide which way to go. Russia has promised me all the Balkans for our continued alliance and attack upon Germany. Germany wants to help stop Russia. Italy wants a piece of Turkey (or me probably) but may support me this turn. I'll try to figure out what I'm going to do tonight. I may just say eff it and attack rego.

[Lewwyn]

Here's a msg I made to scooter. It has no substance really, I'm just trying to keep him busy. There really isn't any meaning other than egging him after rego more than he already is:

Scoota-boy,

We be chilin' fo now. I ain't on the trust with no one. Dog's be yappin' and my head be doin' 180 grinds yo. Rego-Bear be eating fo sure, but dunno what that change to Arm was. I be all like "thats wack" and so I dunno whats up. You should be top droppin' round the north Scoota-boy. Go blaze a bit round Rego-bears house, give him somethin' ta do. I ain't comfortable, but turkey sandwiches are only good after Thanksgivin' You gonna make me give thanks?

Lewwyn

I'm talking to Rowain and he wants to support my hold in Gre as he believes Rego is still working with Turkey. Dunno how much I trust that but not much I can do but say thanks and keep supporting myself from Ser.

I'm working on an idea that I work with rego and move toward Germany but all the while planning to stab Russia. I tell Germany I'm coming and to play along with me moving towards them. Truthfully this just pushes off my decision some more since I can easily tell either side I'll support them in the coming turns.

[Lewwyn]

Possible plan... I get Russia to support me Ser into Bul. I get Germany to NOT bounce Russia into Sil. I move into War from Gal. I use Italy to hold Gre. I get Gre, War and possibly Bul at the end of the turn and get 3 builds.

Yes? Possible? basically work with Germany, get Italy and Russia to help while stabbing russia at the same time. If russia only takes one Turkey center next turn as well they get no new builds. At that point maybe I have enough to simply move on Russia's home centers.

Daring? To daring?

[Commodore]

Go big or go home, that's always how you play the game. They don't call this Risk for nothing...

[luddite]

Go big or go home, that's always how you play the game. They don't call this Risk for nothing...

I agree. Do whatever seems the most fun, even if it's not 100% the best move.

That being said, I still think allying with Turkey right now is your best move- she needs you as an ally, very badly, so I really doubt she'll stab you. And if you get Rumania then you'll be in position to grab bulgaria whenever you want it. Moving galicia to Ukraine would cause massive problems for Rego- he'd have to guess where you'd attack after that, so you'd have a high chance of capturing moscow or warsaw.

Besides, amelia is way more trustworthy than Rego .