dazedroyalty Wrote:Spulla took a particular approach to diplomacy that in this situation failed to work. So now everyone is claiming that their approach was a horrible idea. (I will admit that I personally find the tone of their messages distasteful as well). However, their strategy was legitimate and could have worked, in which case they would be heralded as playing the diplo game extermely well. There is no way they could know all the other civ's relations to one another early on. They took a calculated risk in their diplomatic tone and it failed, unlike the Saints on-side kick.
After lurking this game for a while, replying to this finally got me to register. I've similarly been noticing a lot of people arguing that Spulla should have picked one firm ally instead of trying to be friendly to everyone. It would have worked out well this time, but think about it. That argument is effectively saying that they should have picked out one team to be a solid long-term ally by turn 50, before having any kind of coherent picture of the world and players. In the overwhelming majority of games, that would be a profoundly
move. Which means that it would be a profoundly move in this game, unless you're prepared to argue that they should have seen the CoW coming that early... when there's no way it would have happened without truly excellent Ottoman diplo.Their diplo could have been better around the edges, sure - but I simply don't see any major blunders. Certainly nothing like the CoW attacking at four different times in five different stacks and begging to be provided with a textbook example of Defeat in Detail... if they'd all attacked at turn 100, coordinating their targets, India would be GONE.