S1901M Press from A to A

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Message from [agtomlinson_at_ntlworld.com,knave_at_sympatico.ca as] Austria to
Austria in 'teachme3':

Copy of previously sent message for archiving purposes:

Hello David

Thanks for your last message.

Firstly, a bit about me. I'm a mere stripling of 25 years, and currently I
live and work in Cardiff, Wales, UK (dealing with domestic and commercial
noise pollution problems, so a certain degree of negotiation and diplomacy
is required!)

I've had a quick read through the article you sent me - I seem to recall
reading it before, though I can't be sure, and certainly don't disagree with
any of its points (even #8!). The way I foresee the game working was also as
you suggest - the coach suggesting options, with the player making the final
decision.

My playing history? Well I have never played FtF Dip, although a friend (my
best man) had played a couple of times and was keen to try and get a game
going, but we could never find 7 people! However, I did pick up the
(appalling) Microprose game, which did at least let me get a handle on the
game mechanics, and it was through browsing the 'net for further info that I
came across the Pouch and from there the play-by-mail game. I've played one
complete game ('jwalker' on NZMB as Russia), and am involved in another
('cherry' on USGG as England). I've also filled a couple of vacant
positions - as Turkey in a mercy position in 'realtime' on SEPO (where my
sole objective was survival based on two units in Italy, and I managed to
survive by being a pawn to the eventual winner, England) and also as England
in a reasonable position in 'drumgray' on NZMB (which ended in the dreaded
three-way draw). I'm also playing Austria in the recently started axis and
allies vs Diplomacy variant test game that has just started (axis on DE66)
which is offering a little variety.

So what am I looking for in terms of coaching? Well, a bit of everything I
suppose. One of my weaknesses in the few games I've played has been the
occasional tactical error - usually missing a possible broken or unexpected
support, which has been sufficent to make an attack/defence fail - this was
particularly true in jwalker, when Russia had a reasonable starting position
go wrong because of a couple of oversights that resulted in losses in the
north and stagnation in the south - closely followed by a botched stab on my
erstwhile Austrian ally, which wasn't sufficient to kill him off, and his
two remaining units caused untold damage to my defensive position against
the Germans. In drumgray my error was probably to be too conservative - I
made a bid to seal up the Gibraltar stalemate line against a strong Austria,
but then spent too long making sure it was totally secure against an
extremely implausible Austrian assault, when if I had been more aggressive I
could have been in a position to drive further into the Mediterranean.

In terms of press in the past I have tried to write to all players each turn
at least once, especially early on, although I have tended to find that this
has eased off after a couple of turns, which has perhaps left me open to
being stabbed or becoming too comfortable in an alliance and missing an
opportunity. Other than that, I'm really not sure whether what I have
written has been good or not! I've probably found it difficult to strike the
balance between giving specific proposals for co-operation (see attribute
#3!) and not giving away too much of my true intentions. I generally try to
follow the policy of telling the truth the majority of the time (though not
necessarily the whole truth), and have avoided outright lies except where
necessary. Maybe I need to be a little more conniving. Again, I try to 'play
the whole board' and assess the impact of other nations growth and decline
on the prospects for my own nation, but whether I have taken appropriate
action in the past is a different matter!

And the other thing I am keen to do is have a go at playing Austria. I was
keen to play a Central Power in this game as previously I have only played
England or Russia. From everything I have gleaned in the past reading up on
good strategies for the different nations, the main emphasis for Austria
seems to be 'talk to everyone' and grab as much as you can. I guess a major
concern should be stirring up trouble between Russia and Turkey, and working
with one against the other - the geography would suggest that AR is a better
team than AT long-term, although obvious the diplomacy and mechanics of the
individual situation will have a bearing. The general trend in Dip at the
moment seems to be against the RT, but it might not be a bad policy for
Austria to encourage the view in the West that the RT is a possibility,
simply because the fear factor of that could be a useful tool.

Anyway, I guess ideas for long-term strategy can wait a little, at least
until the main game begins - and even then, in the early turns survival for
Austria seems to be the main objective!

Hope to hear from you soon
best wishes
Alastair
Received on Wed Nov 13 18:59:08 2002