[SPOILERS] Hungary for power: Tatan and the Austrian clusterfunk!

[Tatan]

[Tatan]

The Man!

All you need to know is that I am that guy--you know, that one guy who is always one step ahead and three steps behind. That one guy whose master plan involves everything but the contingency, which of course proves to be the missing piece. That one guy who actually prepares a late-game macro plan while doing a worker rush in Starcraft. Yup, I am a professional self-professed n00b.
:blob:

The Plan!

So I've landed Austria, which was actually my first choice. (!!!) Why? Because when you play Austria, you play big or you play broke. No middle ground, no wussying around in 4th place for years on end before getting crushed.

Austria has 4 neighbors:
-Germany (Bigger), with whom I will attempt to achieve a NAP (we have no reason to fight, given that neither party would be capable of holding on to the other's supply centers).
-Italy (Twinkletoes), with whom I will try to ally or at the very least achieve a NAP. If he's receptive, I might propose some sort of Lepanto opening (I would really rather work with rather than against Italy, because Austria vs Italy situations generally never EVER end well for Austria).
-Turkey (Mattimeo) and Russia (Rowain), one of whom I will want to ally while stabbing the other. In a vacuum I would prefer to work with the former, but assuming I can ally with Italy I will probably have to stab Turkey. Of course, there is always the danger of these two going for the Juggernaut, which would basically spell GAME OVER for me no matter what (especially given that Rowain appears to be a veteran Diplomacy player).


England (Tasunke) and France (Scooter) probably won't matter much at all to me for quite some time. That said, it would be nice to cosy up to Scooter, seeing as he will likely be one of the major late game powers.


And with that, the wild rat race begins!

[Tatan]

The big question on everyone's mind, of course, is how I can possibly top Lewwyn's diplo style in the first game. Classic southern American? Unintelligble 1337? Perpentach? I'm open to suggestions. :D

[Mardoc]

To *top* Lewwyn? I think the answer is clear: write your missives in Hungarian!

[Tatan]

To *top* Lewwyn? I think the answer is clear: write your missives in Hungarian!

On it!

Üdvözlet, vézna idegen! A nevem Tatan, és én vagyok itt, hogy mutassa meg, hogyan igazi háború folyik!

Related: google translate wanted to autocorrect "my name is Tatan" to "my name is Satan".

[Tatan]

Let the dance begin...

Missive to Twinkletoes of Italy:

Ahoy, Twinkletoes!

I'm not going to bother with any fluff or filler text--here's the point of this message:

Italy and Austria share the closest border of any nations. This means we have to decide pretty much immediately whether we will fight, or whether we will cooperate. I prefer cooperation. Whenever Austria and Italy fight, no matter which side "wins", both nations usually end up far behind everyone else. So let's not fight!

In fact, I would like to propose an alliance. Perhaps this seems a little hasty on my part, but as Austria it is very important for me to find out right away which of my four neighbors I can trust and which ones plan to stab me.

Of course, seeing as we have all weekend to plan spring 1901 moves, I can understand if you want to take a little time to contemplate this proposal.

Cheers,
Archduke Tatan

P.S. For what it's worth, you were the very first one I contacted. :D

Missive to Bigger and Waterbat (Bigbat?) of Germany:

Ahoy, Bigger (and Waterbat)!

Seeing as we're neighbors, I thought I would just send out a standard cheerful greeting. I hope we can have fairly rosy relations for at least the immediate future; Germany and Austria don't have much reason to fight, given that you're probably busy stabbing either France or Germany and I'm scrambling to secure my western, southern, and eastern borders.

Perhaps you would be up for establishing some sort of no-man's land in Bohemia and Tyrolia?

Cheers,
Archduke Tatan

Epic chat with Mattimeo of Turkey:

[COLOR="Yellow"]mattimeo[/COLOR]: Hi, I'm sending out initial greetings to people when I see them online.
So, good morning
me: Not where I live!
mattimeo: How's Austria treating you so far?
me: Well, I have potentially hostile players on four sides and my paranoia level is at maximum!
mattimeo: Germany really shouldn't be that interested in being hostie to you early game...
me: True
mattimeo: and I have at least three moves to be able to hit one of your home supply points
so I'm not that close
me: Yet.
mattimeo: heh
me: Speaking of which...
to be blunt: do you see yourself allying against me with Russia?
Because obviously I will do quite a lot to stop that from happening...
mattimeo: at this point
I am slightly against the idea of allying with russia
primarily due to F(Sev)
me: I must admit that i am no diplomacy expert, but from what I can tell
A Russia/Turkey alliance usually ends up benefitting russia more in the end
mattimeo: also, while RT alliances can be fairly strong, Russia usually gets the most out of them
and has the better potential stab abilities
me: Exactly
mattimeo: and given it's Rowain, who is apparently reasonably experienced at this
he's more likely to be able to take advantage of any openings than I am
(also less likely to leave any)
me: IIRC, he basically played everyone against everyone in Diplo 1 as Italy
and ended up lasting until the end
He's certainly dangerous
which is why I probably prefer allying with you instead of him
mattimeo: well, lasting to the end is apparently more on the books for Turkey than outright winning
and I'd probably prefer allying with you rather than him as well
so this is somewhat of a productive start
:D
me: :D
mattimeo: (also, these smileys are awesome)
me: Yeah
mattimeo: I've not used gchat before
me: I don't use chat in general that much; my thoughts are usually too slow for it
mattimeo: ah, OK
I prefer it to email, but not too fussed about using either
me: YEah, I don't have much preference between the two
mattimeo: the IRC channel I usually lurk in is desolate half the time, so I'm used to not getting responses for a while when chatting
me: I'll try to make up for it with poor quality!
mattimeo: heh
me: wouldn't want them to look bad or anything
mattimeo: also, I'd forgotten about this 'til now
but your user pic and custom title mean I'm almost obligated to ally with you
:D
me: yeeessss
I knew that would help me someday
mattimeo: heh
me: getting back to the game...
would you be up for some sort of split inthe balkans?
mattimeo: sure
quite happy to let you know I'll have an army in Bul at the start of Fall
(if that wasn't common knowledge for everyone in the game already)
Serbia is pretty much yours
me: well, i can in turn tell you that I fully expect to have serbia under my control sometime soon
lol
yeah
mattimeo: Gre and Rum, definitely one each but I'm not sure of the optimum split there
me: depends on what russia and italy do, i suppose
mattimeo: yeah
me: I'm going to try to play real nice with italy
mattimeo: just don't encorage a Lepanto and we're good
me: so maybe I can redirect twinkletoes towards france
:D
of course... i would never do such a thing
mattimeo: at least, that's your line whenever you talk to me
me: obviously
just as your line whenever you talk to me is "russia must die!"
mutual suspicion is the foundation of friendship <#
mattimeo: <3
me: <3
mattimeo: ice-cream is the best emoticon
me: hmmm, that makes me hungry...
mattimeo: encouraging Italy to go west would be nice, though, yeah
me: i'll have to work around scooter, which could be pretty dang difficult...
considering his silver tongue
mattimeo: security in the med would definitely facilitate stabbing deep into russia
yeah, that'll be fun
me: i suppose a lot of it depends on how much russia focuses on scandinavia
mattimeo: what do you think of the balance in the western theatre?
me: tasunke is doomed
mattimeo: given Tasunke, I don't know that Russia will have that much opposition in Scandinavia
which I suppose makes hitting him in the south all the more important
me: i predict that either an F/G alliance will eliminate england, or scooter will use tasunke to stab germany and then pull a backstab
yeah
this is going to be difficult... fun, but difficult...
mattimeo: yup
Austria was my 3rd pick, I think?
pretty much exactly for that
fun, but difficult
me: 'twas 1st for me, because apparently i'm suicidal
mattimeo: turkey just likes hiding in the corner all game
me: turkey your first pick, or second?
mattimeo: first
turkey, england, austria
because going from hiding in either corner to being smack in the middle is totally logical
me: turkey's almost impossible to eliminate without a heavy naval backstab
yup.. why settle for a moderate position like france or russia? go for the extremes, i say!
mattimeo: I've heard that an AR alliance can do ugly things to turkey, but it still takes a while...
me: well, i suppose if turkey gets bottled up in bulgaria, its screwed
especially if russia controls the black sea
mattimeo: yeah
me: but austria is eqaully screwed against a R/T alliance, so in a way we're even?
mattimeo: heh
me: speaking of which...
assuming you are serious about an A/T partnership/non-aggression pact,
what do we tell russia?
mattimeo: not sure
I've already told him I'm looking to bounce BLA in spring, but that's pretty much expected...
me: bounce in bla is standard unless Turkey really, really, really trusts russia
we could both pretend to work with him against each other
make him think he's playing us against each other
mattimeo: well, russia might realy want to grab run stright up...
yeah, that was pretty much what I was coming to as well
involves actually communicating with him meaningfully first, though
me: i'll probably let him contact me first
so I can see what his approach is
mattimeo: hm, good point
approaching Germany to help lessen possible pressure on you from Russia by threatening to bounce Swe might be useful as well
me: maybe
i tried to start a working relationship with germany by proposing a neutral zone in boh/tyr
mattimeo: well, Germany has very little to gain from Austria being ganked, and a realatively secure flank to lose...
me: so i could push for that depending on how warmly they react
yeah, that's the logic i'll be pushing with him
i'm sure he'll have enough on his hands with scooter
mattimeo: the problem with tyr being a dmz is that Italian agression against you is likely to want to use Tyr...
me: true
didn't think of that
but i'm really hoping it won't come to that with italy
mattimeo: yeah
me: if italy attacks me, i'm basically screwed no matter what
considering how much that slows my expansioin in the balkans
mattimeo: you still get 1 first year
that's as many as I'm likely to get
me: but if italy is attacking me, you can be pretty sure russia will join in
mattimeo: yeah, point
me: because i would make such an easy target
i'm hoping i can get italy to look west,
we can take over the balkans
and stab russia in the belly before anyone figures out what's going on
mattimeo: if italy is looking west, you get Gre and I get Rum, looking to hit north?
me: i'll tentatively say sure
but a lot depends on what russia does
mattimeo: we can possibly arrange a swap some time later, if the front moves past
definitely depends on russia
me: swap would be good
greece suits turkey much better than austria
mattimeo: yeah
me: but in the beginning i can't exactly be picky
mattimeo: but it's generally easier for you to claim it than rum in the first year
me: yeah
i suppose if TT is really enthusiastic about allying, i could even go tri->alb
in the spring
but I'm not counting on that
mattimeo: tri->alb is expansionist, tri->ven is defensive
me: "expansionist" is a generous way of putting it
mattimeo: how about we re-negotiate who gets what with regard to rum and gre after spring moves play out?
me: deal
mattimeo: cool
me: this is all getting a bit far ahead anyway
mattimeo: so, you get Ser, I get Bul, we work out what else happens when we have more info
yes?
me: yes
exact moves tbd
mattimeo: done
yup
I only have one that I actually have to determine though :D
me: i assume you'll be moving smy->con?
mattimeo: most likely
->arm telegraphs intentions slightly too clearly...
me: it would seriously mess up russia
but it's probably not worth it for you
mattimeo: yeah
if he bounces Gal and moves Mos north, then it's perfect
me: that would be a bit of a pipe dream
mattimeo: but otherwise, it's not likely to actually gain me that much first year
me: but yes, it would be completely perfect
yeah
mattimeo: completely unrelated: any idea how to get timestamps to show up in this chat?
me: nope
mattimeo:
me: it seems like there should be some way, though
you could record the exact time each sentence appears on your screen
but somehow, that seems like too much work
mattimeo: definitely
well, I should finish up this summary post I'm making for my thread then get going
was nice talking to you
me: aight
nice chatting with you :0
that was supposed to be a ""
mattimeo: nope
:0
me: >:-O
mattimeo: >:D
me: >:-|~
mattimeo: nice
me: it's my personal masterpiece
anyway, c'ya
mattimeo: 'night

That chat is obviously the most important thing. tl;dr of it is Mattimeo would prefer to work with me over Russia, I agreed with him, everyone cheered.

All the talk of an A/T alliance is 100% serious on my part; Mattimeo seems like an easy guy to work with, and strikes me as moderately honest.

[Tatan]

Tatan,

Greetings! I know, France and Austria don't exactly have tons to talk about - but I figured I'd say hi. Had any luck with talking to the others so far? Things are a little quiet, but I imagine they'll pick up today. I admit I'm a little nervous jumping into a game with 4 unknown Diplomacy quantities (including yourself!) and having 2 of them as neighbors while I'm a "known quantity" so to speak.

So you talked much with your neighbors? Your neighbors seem more eager to talk to me than my own neighbors! Not sure what that means, but hopefully it's just that your neighbors have had more time on their hands thus far . What's your read on Mattimeo and Bigger? Have you talked with them yet? I don't know too much about either of them, so I'd be curious to hear your insights on them.

Anyways, feel free to email or poke me on chat whenever! Also - if you don't mind to reply-all that'd be helpful - Gaspar is ded-lurking me so i find it best if he's copied on this stuff so he stays in the loop.

Replying to all is no problem for me.

I haven't talked that much with my neighbors thus far, but it seems I may be able to avoid the usual mass Austrian dogpile. Rowain is ever aloof, of course, but that seems to be his style, so I'm not too worried about it. Twinkletoes was really friendly, so I don't think he's attacking me. Don't know about Mattimeo, that guy was a little shifty.

-Archduke Tatan

Yes, of course I know that Scooter is an information broker and anything I say about Rowain and TT will probably be promptly passed along to them, why do you ask?
Obviously I'm just a very trusting person who expects to be left in peace.

[Tatan]

Arg, curses.

[COLOR="Red"]me:[/COLOR] Hey, you said you might be available for a chat?
[COLOR="Lime"]Twinkletoes89:[/COLOR] yup
how's it going
[COLOR="Red"][COLOR="Red"]me:[/COLOR][/COLOR] sorry i haven't responded to the emails yet
ah, busy-ish. but that's life.
and you?
[COLOR="Lime"]Twinkletoes89:[/COLOR] not too bad - got a uni exam on thursday but shouldn't be too bad
[COLOR="Red"]me:[/COLOR] so about this whole "alliance" thing...
what exactly is your proposal?
(sorry that that is the vaguest possible thing I can say)
you mentioned in your last email something "profitable regarding the balkans"
[COLOR="Lime"]Twinkletoes89:[/COLOR] basically I can say emphatically that have considered the 3 major attack plans that Italy has and I have ruled out attacking you]
[COLOR="Red"]me:[/COLOR] awesome
[COLOR="Lime"]Twinkletoes89:[/COLOR] I am seriously considering a lepanto opening right now to
which may mean some opportunities for you to profit in the Balkans
[COLOR="Red"]me:[/COLOR] interesting
one thing I am afraid of about a lepanto, though:
mattimeo seems to have shown more interest in working against rather than with russia
i don't want to force him into "juggernaut" mode
[COLOR="Lime"]Twinkletoes89:[/COLOR] which is even better
because Rowain is pretty much on board
he raised the possibility of a RAI alliance instead of going after you
[COLOR="Red"]me:[/COLOR] hmmm
[COLOR="Lime"]Twinkletoes89:[/COLOR] which would mean that Turkey is in serious trouble
[COLOR="Red"]me:[/COLOR] true
[COLOR="Lime"]Twinkletoes89:[/COLOR] and we can all make decent gains
[COLOR="Red"]me:[/COLOR] frank question though: what do I have to gain from this long-term?
because R/I vs A seems like the natural extension
what I'm trying to say is this: as austria I need to walk a careful tightrope, and since I think I have managed to wrangle non-aggression from Germany and Turkey (and hopefully you as well :D), I am cautious about going all in against one of my "secure" neighbors
[COLOR="Lime"]Twinkletoes89:[/COLOR] Its a valid concern, but an IA v R alliance can work. We then don't need to build fleets for the Med and adriatic and can focus all our energies on Russia
Plus I imagine Germany would want in on a Russian containment job
[COLOR="Red"]me:[/COLOR] yeah, I have talked to germany and they have agreed that russia is threatening
so you do have a good point
This one decision pretty much decides the rest of my game, so I hope you can understand why I am cautious making it
[COLOR="Lime"]Twinkletoes89:[/COLOR] Of course
[COLOR="Red"]me:[/COLOR] Would you be willing to share any information you have on the E/G/F triangle?
Last i heard from bigger, he was still deciding which alliance to pursue
but that was a while ago
[COLOR="Lime"]Twinkletoes89:[/COLOR] England is screwed imo
he hasn't replied to n
anyone
and it seems to have forced FG together
[COLOR="Red"]me:[/COLOR] I didn't think tasunke would last long, but that's a remarkably quick fold
[COLOR="Lime"]Twinkletoes89:[/COLOR] you never know
I dunno his moves and he does have a decent defensive position
but he seems to have alienated his best ally options
[COLOR="Red"]me:[/COLOR] I suppose that pretty much eliminate your ability to go into france, too
at least early on
[COLOR="Lime"]Twinkletoes89:[/COLOR] Possibly
I have got my moves in position where I can do either Lepanto or anti-France in '02 so I can still see how things turn out and if Tasunke wakes up
but I think Lepanto is my best bet
[COLOR="Red"]me:[/COLOR] speaking of which... what are you planning with the army in ven?
[COLOR="Lime"]Twinkletoes89:[/COLOR] Hold
[COLOR="Red"]me:[/COLOR] not that I don't ABSOLUTELY trust you , but be aware that I plan to move tri->ven with my fleet
that shouldn't be a problem, right?
[COLOR="Lime"]Twinkletoes89:[/COLOR] fine
I've put my moves in and I am holding
you will see that
btw
I have agreed a DMZ with Germany over Tyr for all of '01 and wondered if you wanted to sign on too?
[COLOR="Red"]me:[/COLOR] Definitely, count me in
[COLOR="Lime"]Twinkletoes89:[/COLOR] excellen
[COLOR="Red"]me:[/COLOR] that was the thing i was worried about actually--you going ven->tyr and rom->ven
[COLOR="Lime"]Twinkletoes89:[/COLOR] if we can work together on tyrolia early on, we can perhaps nurture the possible IAG counter-Russia alliance in the aftermath of Turkey falling (if things come off)
[COLOR="Red"]me:[/COLOR] I would be open to that
I think IAG is a very strong mid-game alliance, because as long as expansion can be agreed upon fairly there is very little reason to quarrel
one thing-you said earlier that Russia was "in" against Mattimeo... what exactly does that entail?
[COLOR="Lime"]Twinkletoes89:[/COLOR] No major details yet, but we discussed eastern cooperation and he was very enthusiastic over an IAR alliance against Turkey. We can see how the dice fall but I am hopeful my moves will fully convince him
[COLOR="Red"]me:[/COLOR] okay
[COLOR="Lime"]Twinkletoes89:[/COLOR] Plus he thinks Mattimeo is a much weaker target than you
[COLOR="Red"]me:[/COLOR] well, to be completely honest with you, I think you are probably right that a lepanto stab vs turkey would be best for both of us... I must admit though that I am reluctant to reduce my options so early
I don't think my moves will matter terribly much either way, though, so if it is okay with you I shall see how the situation unfolds before saying anything binding
[COLOR="Lime"]Twinkletoes89:[/COLOR] I'm not asking for 100% commitment now. We need to see how spring falls to be sure we can do it
[COLOR="Red"]me:[/COLOR] obviously nothing shall be spoken to turkey
okay, we're on the same page
[COLOR="Lime"]Twinkletoes89:[/COLOR] You will be hedgehogging I'm sure
[COLOR="Red"]me:[/COLOR] yeah, since I'm pretty much a complete n00b I'm just trying to survive for right now
[COLOR="Lime"]Twinkletoes89:[/COLOR] its the best and safest move
[COLOR="Red"]me:[/COLOR] alright, well, I gotta go play the PB7 turn and send in my moves
so unless there's anything else you wanted to say...
[COLOR="Lime"]Twinkletoes89:[/COLOR] fair enough - see you on the other side!
[COLOR="Red"]me:[/COLOR] cya!

tl;dr TT says he definitely won't attack me (he seems honest this time). He also really REALLY wants Lepanto. I was non-committal.


Three things...
1) I handled this chat horribly. I was tired and just got home, but still... I was much too obvious, forthcoming, and (for lack of a better word) introspective. Important chats are not the time for reflection!

2) I am going to have to side with either TT or Mattimeo; there is no middle ground, with an Italian attack on France out of the picture (dang it, Tasunke ). This one decision is giving me a really, really hard time. On the one hand, pissing in TT's face when he's already in a tight spot is a horrible idea. On the other hand, Mattimeo is very likely to help against Russia and thus be an ally for quite some time, while a I/R backstab of me is quite likely if I help kill Turkey.

3) I don't think I'm cut out for Diplomacy. It's a lot of work keeping on top of everything, and underneath all the words I have a nagging suspicion that I really don't have a clue about what I am doing...

[Tatan]

Diabolical!

Mattimeo: so, how 'bout that hedgehog
me: hey
mind if I do something really quick?
Mattimeo: TT looks like he's setting up a Lepanto against me
yeah, go ahead
me: i'm gonna disconnect and then reconnect on another computer...
Mattimeo: OK
me: sorry
i'm back
what makes you say that?
wait a second
nevermind, stupid question
I just took a second look at that map (haven't had much time to analyze it yet)
Mattimeo: yeah
especially given the Hold in Ven
stock standard Lepanto
meaning I need as many fleets in the Med as possible to hold it off :/
me: yeah, this could get interesting...
Rowain sent me a message earlier: "Your move into RUM is abit unexpected and disturbing to me."
Mattimeo: I was expecting you to move ->Ser as well
me: why?
ser is overrated
Mattimeo: Rum there's a distinct chance of bouncing first year, which could leave you with not gaining a centre
Ser is safe
me: if he had bounced me earlier, you would have gotten the black sea
if he bounces me now, you still get the black sea
Mattimeo: yeah, sure
me: and I retreat to ser
win-win, unless you move into ser
Mattimeo: yeah, definitely not moving to Ser
though Rowain did try to convince me to
me: hey, can I let you in on a secret?
like, a BIG secret
(I know that is incredibly cryptic and unhelpful)
(sorry, but it is important)
Mattimeo: I won't reveal it to anyone unless I stand to gain a significant amount from doing so
is that good enough?
me: as long as we're on the same side, yes
seriously, though, I would prefer this to be a secret
Mattimeo: bettwe you than Russia, or the Italy that's planning a Lepanto
better*
so we should be on the same side for a while yet
me: okay, prepare for wall of text
Mattimeo: I might start worrying if you start rampaging over the Russian centre while I'm stuck defending the Mediteranean, though
me: TT approached me yesterday about joining with him and probably Russia against you. He says that attacking me or France won't work, and you are his only logical target. He really, really, REALLY wanted me to help him go Lepanto. So I basically have no choice but to support either you or him; no middle ground. I was waffling a bit about it last night (he made a persuasive case ), so I went ahead and proceeded as if nothing was afoot; however, I have decided that you are, quite frankly, a much better ally than he.
Mattimeo: huh
I had a chat with him yesterday as well
and he seemed to be somewhat undecided as to whetehr he was going through with the Lepanto, or if it was a feint so that we could both stab you
me: lol
Mattimeo: I know, right?
me: when was your chat, out of curiosity?
Mattimeo: ~16 hours ago
me: also, from his moveset it would imply he is stabbing you, unless this is some crazy anti-austrian gambit i've never heard of
also, that means he chatted with you just after me
Mattimeo: his initial tack was that it's an obvius fake to get me screaming 'Lepanto' to everyone, so that he could then move on someone else with surprise
me: ha ha
either way I think Italy and Russia will be working together soon, if not already
Mattimeo: and then when I was non-committal about potential strikes on you, he came back with "well I guess I'm just going to have to continue with the actual Lepanto then"
and proceeded to flip back and forth for the next hour and a half whenever I said anything...
me: interesting
Mattimeo: yeah, Italy and Russia working together is what I'm mainly worried about at the moment
(other than you, Italy and Russia all working together, but I hope that's not likely)
me: for what it's worth, during our chat I was kind of noncommital the whole time, but he never wavered from his plan
don't worry about that
if i allied with them, you can bet that i would be their next target
Mattimeo: yeah, I'm assuming he was only saying we should go after you 'cause I called him on the Lepanto
"if i allied with them, you can bet that i would be their next target" <--- yeah, that's one of the main reason I have no intention of allying with them either...
me: yep
monkey in the middle gets dead
we have one thing going for us: france and germany are much more likely to stab italy and russia after dealing with england
Mattimeo: unless they stab each other
me: also good for us!
Mattimeo: yup
me: i'm starting to like daggers
Mattimeo: was trying to get scooter to build F(Mar) and come hit Italy to potentially disrupt the Lepanto
I don't think it worked though
me: I wonder what he will build; A(par)?
i have to admit I'm not very familiar with france
Mattimeo: yeah, he was claiming that he didn't feel too comfortable with such a distance between his only two armies, with germany right next door
me: reasonable
Mattimeo: he's likely to take Bel and Spa in winter, so A(Par) is pretty good placement
me: won't he get bounced by germany in bel?
Mattimeo: and F(Bre), after moving to the MAO this turn
nah, pretty sure they've worked something out
me: it's really too bad tasunke went afk
bigger told me he really wanted to ally with england
Mattimeo: apparently it's just that emails haven't been delivered
or something
me: ???
Mattimeo: have you checked the org thread?
me: oh, weird
you think he would have emailed someone else, though
Mattimeo: yeah :/
apparently he responded to a forum PM that Bigger sent
me: when/with what?
Mattimeo: but that's about it for contact with anyone
dont' know anything about details
me: btw, abrupt subject change, but we need to sort out our stories that we will share with TT, Rowain, and Bigger
and I guess scooter if you're in communication with him (I'm not really)
Mattimeo: I've told TT that this season I'm definitely setting up defensively for his Lepanto, but said that if sucha threat dissapears I might eb up for hitting you, mainly to get him off my back
other than that, screaming 'Lepanto' and turtling seems like a good stat, for me at least
me: yeah
for TT, I guess I can either feign indecisiveness, or pretend to cooperate
*with him
I'll probably try to go for a combination of the two, but I don't think I could string him along for very long if it came to that
Mattimeo: relatively certain that anything I said to him about potential for hitting you has either been dismissed completely, or stored as potential ammo for when he needs to actually gain your trust against me...
me: okay
Mattimeo: ...also that came out all wrong :/
gain your trust when he's defending against me and is desperately looking for an ally*
me: I think I know what you mean, though
Mattimeo:
me: lol
so i was thinking with regards to rowain:
I could send him a message along the lines of "But Rumania is next to Budapest! It's an Austrian birthright!"
and generally play the n00b while attempting to make him think I am just a clueless nimrod
(when really I am just clueless )
Mattimeo: also: you were just following the Hedgehog, which seemed like a relatively successful starting build
me: did I follow an actual respected build?!
yesssss
Mattimeo: the Southern Hedgehog is generally considered better
since, as I said, Ser is garunteed, Rum not so much
but yes, it's an actual start that has been given some merit and much discussion
me: alright, thanks for the good excuse
Mattimeo: lol
me: so what about bigger?
I'm on relatively friendly terms with him, but I don't know how much is safe to reveal
Mattimeo: I'm hoping we can convince him to go ahead with the Swe bounce
me: he has no reason not to
russia is no friend of germany's regardless
*of what he does here
Mattimeo: other than that, I'm not really sure what to pass on
I've already screamed 'Lepanto' and told him I plan to hide in the forner for a while
but that's pretty much been my opening line to everyone
corner*
me: i want to gain his trust, so I'm reluctant to lie to him and say i'm working with TT against you
but I also don't want to risk a leak by telling him i have no intention of doing lepanto
Mattimeo: ah, yes, I see where the issue mgiht arise
I'd just say, continue being slightly anti-russian with Bigger, that should be all ou need to do
me: yeah
okay
he should definitely believe me on that one, given bud->rum
Mattimeo: hopefully, yeah
so what are your plans with Rum before it gets dislodged?
can I suggest a daring raid on Sevastopol for the lulz?
me: obviously
wait, do you expect him to dislodge it in the winter?
because I thought that the threat of ank->bla would be enough to deter him
Mattimeo: if he gets the build, he can build Sev and hit into the BLA with two fleets
so no, threatening a fleet in BLA doesn't do much
me: hmmm
this corner of the world is going to turn into a hellhole a lot sooner than I thought then
Mattimeo: there's always the off chance that he might try it anyway, though
at which point, the daring raid on Sev might pay off!
yeah, this corner of the wolf generally decends into a clusterfuck fairly rapidly
world*
me: i was about to say, lolwut
Mattimeo: nah nah nah, Europe is just a giant wolf
and this corner of it can get quite messy
you see, the black sea is actually its arse
me: ahh, thanks
I never knew that!
it's these fun facts that you learn every day that make the world a brighter place
Mattimeo: lol
<snip out long tangent on computer programming>

BigFatImportant section for the tl;dr readers out there:

me: TT approached me yesterday about joining with him and probably Russia against you. He says that attacking me or France won't work, and you are his only logical target. He really, really, REALLY wanted me to help him go Lepanto. So I basically have no choice but to support either you or him; no middle ground. I was waffling a bit about it last night (he made a persuasive case ), so I went ahead and proceeded as if nothing was afoot; however, I have decided that you are, quite frankly, a much better ally than he.
Mattimeo: huh
I had a chat with him yesterday as well
and he seemed to be somewhat undecided as to whetehr he was going through with the Lepanto, or if it was a feint so that we could both stab you
me: lol
Mattimeo: I know, right?
[...]
Mattimeo: his initial tack was that it's an obvius fake to get me screaming 'Lepanto' to everyone, so that he could then move on someone else with surprise
me: ha ha
[...]
Mattimeo: and then when I was non-committal about potential strikes on you, he came back with "well I guess I'm just going to have to continue with the actual Lepanto then"
and proceeded to flip back and forth for the next hour and a half whenever I said anything...
me: interesting
[...]
if i allied with them, you can bet that i would be their next target
Mattimeo: yeah, I'm assuming he was only saying we should go after you 'cause I called him on the Lepanto
"if i allied with them, you can bet that i would be their next target" <--- yeah, that's one of the main reason I have no intention of allying with them either...
me: yep
monkey in the middle gets dead

[Tatan]

Hello your imperial Highness

Your move into RUM is abit unexpected and disturbing to me.

So how to you see we continue from there on?.

-Rowain
Csar of Russia

I'm not exactly sure why you are so bothered. ??? Rumania is extremely close proximity to Austria and therefore my natural expansion. Russia is big and thus has more room to expand into, so Austria is much more deserving of Rumania. I thought this was common knowledge??? Besides, I was following the opening move set from the nearly universally used Hedgehog strategy.

I think we can still be friends though! Let us work this out.

-Archduke Tatan

Obviously I'm 100% serious.








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