[Spoilers]Rowain of Italy

[Rowain]

So what plans do I have? A lot depends if Scooter will attack me in spain this turn. If he does I will move everything to the west to make sure he gets killed faster than myself no matter what happens in the east.

If he does not and moves to defend his Homeland I will support his A in GAS to hold and I will refrain from moving into POR for this year.

In the east I'm not sure what is the best course. From all the players I enjoyed talking with Lewwyn the most.
Going from the position allying with Russia and fight Austria might be the right move but if Austria and Germany a really working together England will be gone soon no matter what I do.

So if I attack Austria I get an angry neighbour to my east and a big neighbour in the west in need of a few centrers for a solo-win. Not really the best place to be.

[Rowain]

Spring 05:

Why o why has Lewwyn to be such an greedy, thickskulled person.

I was happy to help him to clear the east to reach a nice 3-way balance (Germany , Italy & Austria).
In fact my moves to support him into AEG were ready to get sent to Sareln when we had this little chat.

Rowain: Hi
Lewwyn: hey
Rowain: Yes I will support your fleet from GRE into AEg and move from EAS into SMY this turn
Lewwyn: heh I thought orders were due yesterday so I sent that email early
but yeah my orders are in
Russia might roll over
Rowain: Usually they were but Sareln needs 1 morer day cause of travelling
Lewwyn: just fyi
Rowain: He said so ?
Lewwyn: mnnn surrender of sorts
wanted to offer his fleets to my use
I've told him he has to surrender all of turkey and moscow and disband units there
he can keep stp and sev and the unit in the north to attack germany
Rowain: And no much left then
Lewwyn: well if he plays it well and get a scandanavian SC or two he can build more fleets in Stp
take a couple more work through England or something
basically he has chance
Rowain: What did he answer ?
Lewwyn: otherwise I just wipe him out for safetys sake
he seemed to agree
I mean
its not like he has a choice
Rowain: You know I would wipe him out anyway
Lewwyn: Thats what I'm gonna take from him anyway
yeah I know
Only good enemy is a dead enemy
but it might be worth even for a couple years
Rowain: Keeping someone alive in your backyard is a dangeroous business
Lewwyn: having him attack germany in the north
thats why he only gets to keep his armies in the north
all I need is to keep on army in moscow and one in rum
Sev will be empty
if he get an SC and builds in Sev I take him out
either way
if he does what I order him to do this year it will make it easier
Rowain: Faster at least
Lewwyn: right
which means if he does what I say we might be able to start to move on Germany in a year
and get you at least 1 build
depending on how it goes maybe 2
will you take por this fall?
Rowain: Most likely
But it depends what scooter and uber do
Lewwyn: k so yeah you'll get 2 most likely
2 fleet builds would help your naval power in the west
Rowain: Indeed
Lewwyn: after this spring you may want to send your Ion fleet that way to get a jump on moving them all there
Rowain: Won't I need the ION fleet to get GRE?
Lewwyn: if you take SMY
then move that fleet back over to take greece and we swap em
when you build two fleets you can't send them both west at the same time anyway
one of those two flees will go to Ion
the other to tys
so you will have a fleet in ion later I'm just thinking about how to speed up the german front
Rowain: For a balanced working together I think I prefer to have GRE and SMY (with POR that brings me to 9 Sc while you will have 10
A arrangement where I have 7-8 SC and you have 12 is not really the profitable to me
Lewwyn: I agreed to giving you one SC in the Turkey area
SMY originally but then I agreed to Gre instead
Rowain: Yea´h that was before it was clear that you get WAR and MOS too
and russian support and 2 centers to take when ever you feel like it
Lewwyn: hmmm really? I always knew I'd get them
Rowain: I thought them to be uberfishs
Lewwyn: well he still wants me to give him War
Rowain: And minfd I add without my interference inthe west they might well be
Lewwyn: You want to change the agreement is what you want to do
Rowain: I want to work with you. But an agreement were the SCcount is 7 : 12 is not going to work well
Lewwyn: I could lie smail nod and tell you I'd give you both and then stab you on it, but I'd rather like for us to work together so I'm going to tell you straight up that I'm only agreeing to the original agreement of 1 SC
I did well with my stab of russia and with disbanding his army it got me war now probably mos, what your asking is that I give you SCs because I've grown stronger through those moves while you have not
Rowain: I'm asking you in the spirit of a working together: I have refused to take SC to keep scooter strong enough to pester uberfish
I have worked with you so far for no gain at all.
Lewwyn: you will have 8 SCs in the fall
Rowain: If you think my actions till now do not warrant 1 SC
Lewwyn: you will take SMY and por shall you not?
Rowain: I have no guarranty for any of those
Lewwyn: I will guarantee SMY at the least
and por you can easily take by the fall no?
Rowain: scooter can stop it
Lewwyn: only at the cost of his home SCs
Rowain: depends what deals he does with uber
Lewwyn: Uber will want to crush England
he only has to guess
right
Rowain: Not if you storm to 12 center and Russia moves to your help
Lewwyn: you are exageratting
because I will not have 12 centers when you have SMY or Gre
Rowain: If have only GRE you have Austria, Turk4ey, BUL, RUM, SEr , WAr & MOS thats 11 and SEV is yours when ever you want = 12
Lewwyn: I need Sev to stay russian so that he can support 2 armies in the north
Rowain: When you need it you will take ituntil then the Russian units in the north bring you to 13 Units doing your biding
Lewwyn: So
maybe I should make that clearer
So.
You told me you wanted to nibble an Sc here and an SC there. You said you were a vulture. The way I see it I'm giving you an SC so we cooperate. Its not like I do all the work on the front end and then every time it looks like I'm going to be gaining alittle more we change the deal so that you get more too
you have to make strides too
which means maybe not holding 4/6ths of your army
Rowain: You mean maybe not helping Austria havig a secure western border for example?
Maybe not attacking Turkish units so that Austria can reap benefitsis that what you mean ?
Lewwyn: I mean maybe Supporting England into Bur or taking Por if you need an SC so badly
You not attacking austria was the point of the agreement in the first place
Rowain: Yozu wanterd that I leave POR alone so that uberfish is busy
Lewwyn: You brought it up as a possibility in the first place!
Rowain: Yep so that uberfish doesn't run away in SC's
Lewwyn: You wanted to do it so I said fine, I have not ordered your troops or told you at all what to do in the west
I agreed that it could helpp
Rowain: Of course not
Lewwyn: but its not as if I'm begging you not to take Por
Look I want to win, I'm all for giving you a shot as well but I'm not going to simply hand over more SCs when we had an agreement for one only a season earlier
I still only have 8 SCs!!
I don't have moscow or any of Turkey!
Rowain: Not now but soon with Russia already surrendering
Lewwyn: At the very beginning I said they MIGHT
I have no way of knowing if he is for sure or not
it could entirely be a ploy
Rowain: Thats true
Lewwyn: in fact if he's working with Turkey he will take Bul and rum this turn!!
Rowain: But as far as I understood you He has no chance to cheat you anyway
He will lose MOS and then his units are seperated
Lewwyn: and you don't think that would set me back
take even longer?
Rowain: Nah Even if he complies hyou have to move your units in
It is maybe a year faster if he is a good dog but thats all
Lewwyn: I somewhat disagree
but maybe my idea of speed is scewed
skewed
look
you want more but I'm not offering it right now
MAYBE
in the future
but I'm sticking to 1 right now
Rowain: I was not talking about taking GRE and SMY this very turn
Lewwyn: Just understand that I'm highly against it and we'll see
are you okay to still work together in that light
Rowain: Understand that a situation were you are running away and hand out only breadcrumbs is not really to my liking
I think we work together well but there needs to be balance
Lewwyn: If things go well I'll be moving against Germany next Spriing
get into position on the west side and I'll support you into munich
Once we have munich and you're threatening English Isles and west eurpoe I think You'll see why I'm only giving you breadcrumbs right now
you have the oportunity to take a lot more SCs then me in the future
Rowain: Thats is wrong
Lewwyn: If I support you into munich I'm actually cutting myself off from that
Rowain: MUN is right before your nose so I can have it as long as you leave it to me
Lewwyn: isn't that my point I'm trying to give it to you
Rowain: What centers do you thing you will have in 3 years?
And what do you beleive I will have.
But again I'm not talking about geting those 2 centers this year.
But once Turkey and Russia is cleared we need to find a balance
Lewwyn: sigh
look do you at least understand why I suggested moving Ion-Tys in the fall
Rowain: Yes
Lewwyn: anyway I gtg do some work
Rowain: OK
Lewwyn: you still supporting me out of greece?
heh
Rowain: INto AEG
Lewwyn: yes
thats something you like anywayXD
Rowain: I like Turkey beeing eliminated. I like russia getting eliminated
But think about tall poppies and the like

Short version:

Rowain: For a balanced working together I think I prefer to have GRE and SMY (with POR that brings me to 9 Sc while you will have 10
A arrangement where I have 7-8 SC and you have 12 is not really the profitable to me
Lewwyn: I agreed to giving you one SC in the Turkey area
SMY originally but then I agreed to Gre instead
Rowain: Yea´h that was before it was clear that you get WAR and MOS too
and russian support and 2 centers to take when ever you feel like it

and that right after he told me to move my fleet in ION out of the way . Now letting somebody else move into ION is never a good idea for Italy and together with his 'why should I hand you centers?'- attitude I decided to get the whires hum.
As a result Russia has no interest in surrendering and uberfish broke the assistance from WAR so that Russia kept MOS this turn.

Now us 2 fighting each other benefits Russia and Germany far more than any of us so I still want to work with Lewwyn but OTOH I had to show him that Italian support is worth something. That 2 centers for a save border in the west is to Austrias benefit. I hope he will start to talk to me again.

[Rowain]

Fall 05.
Lewwyn decided that it is better for him to give Russia his centers and forfeit any chances in the game than talking to me and offer GRE+SMY for 10+ centers and a good chance to win.
I must confess that I thought better of him but thats the way it goes.

[Rowain]

1906: Not a really good outcome this fall. It looks like Rego made a deal with Austria. Is he really that shortsighted that he believes he can break my resistance before I can help uber to reach 18 centers?

Does he believe that he can reach a better outcome than a 3way?

To calrify: I don't see any way how I can reach 18 centers so my best hope is a 3-way which was what I tried to accomplish.

If I can't get that my next goal is to survive till the end of game which might mean helping another player to reach 18centers (solowin). Given the current situation my best bet in this case is helping uberfish.

[Rowain]

Fall 1907

England bows out of the game so :wink2: scooter. You played a good, strong defense after you miscalculation in 03. Funny that your move out of EDI surprised Germany that much so that they have their homecenters blocked and can only build 1 unit instead of 2.

Russia continues with the killing of Austria gaining 4 centers this year.

Lewwyn Lewwyn why didn't you talk to me after 05? The sandover approach to Diplo works in CIV because no deal gets violated but in Diplomacy this kind of action gets you killed.

The big question remains will David and Rego agree to the 3-way or will one of them trry to be extra clever.
Worst case they both try. If thats the case I will defend vs Rego and not the west. Afterall Germany has been a friend and kept his deals far better than Russia.

[Rowain]

And Nr 4 is gone. This time Lewwyn :wink2:

He played a strong game at the beginning including a nice stab vs Russia. But then he forgot that this game is called Diplomacy and not Silency.

I really would have liked to work with him vs Russia. If he had talked to me he would not have lost a center. We would have gotten to 10/11 centers before England got finished and might have an interesting endgame.

With the current centercount I have to work for a 3-way-draw instead.

Anyway Lewwyn I hope you got at least some fun out of it.