by Fatmo » 18 Feb 2013, 02:52
Marking this to make sure I keep track of it. I was involved in this game for maybe two-three months (one of the several players for Great Britain), and I'll try to come up with a brief summery of my time in it. Even after I had to pull out due to RL issues taking most of my time (I felt I couldn't continue to give this great game the proper attention it deserved), I still followed the progress of this game. It was fun to watch and an honor to have played even a small role in it.
From what I remember off the top of my head, I came into the game during an interesting period and in an interesting position. I basically had small footholds on both the European and North American continents, but was not in too commanding of a position in either. In Europe, I entered around the time Nigeria was starting to make his big move north into the continent from the south side of the Med as well as the Atlantic, while I had a pretty good hold of the Northern Atlantic.
Most of my diplomacy around Europe was with Nigeria, Russia, and Germany. As we all know, Nigeria was a very effective and prolific diplomat. We had lots of talks about allying and dividing western Europe (mostly held by Germany and the remnants of Catholica), but I could never bring myself to really believe that he would ultimately stick by me. I'm not sure how much he actually thought I would follow through with him. He was in a position to make far more gains than I, and my instincts told me that it would be better to try to restore the balance of power in Europe than to completely destroy it.
This was where a problem surfaced. In order to effectively resist Nigeria, Germany, Russia, and I would have had to be very well coordinated and in constant communication with one another. I had lots of good talks with Russia, but Germany was very inconsistent in terms of his communications, at least with me. After a while, I was basically tearing out my hair waiting to hear back from him. Perhaps it would have benefited me to go with Nigeria's plans during that time, as he was much more consistent, and made more sense, but I didn't like my long-term options as I saw them if I went down that path.
In the end, I ended up getting into a pretty decent position against Nigeria in the Atlantic, good enough for a stalemate. However, because of my European alliance's failure to communicate, Nigeria was able to basically take over both sides of the Med, and he would eventually go on to keep up the pressure and take over Europe, though he didn't break through the Atlantic until after I left the game.
Meanwhile, in North America, I had to try to carve out a little sphere of influence for myself, ensuring that I was able to keep building up my pretty much dominant position in the Northern Atlantic. I feel I was probably more effective in my diplomacy in this theatre, and I can only wonder what would have happened if I was able to keep playing here. Around the same time I joined the game, Haroon had just joined as the USA, and we got off on a pretty good foot. We established through our talks and moves that we could trust the other, and I felt I had a solid ally now in the Americas. Also, after carving out a bit of Eastern Canada, I started having meaningful talks with DOI in Canada. I really liked where this was going, and now I wanted to try to find a way of using my new connections to start actually having some kind of effect on the game.
One of the things I did that I'm pretty sure had an effect on the direction of the game was to help organize an alliance between USA and Canada against Illinois, who was becoming a serious power in the continent. This also would ensure that those two were focussed west, away from me, meaning that I could have a chance to use the forces I had to try to stop Nigeria. In the end, the alliance against Illinois was incredibly effective, and had the exact outcome I wanted. I was less effective in Europe, but I felt that while I was there I did the best I could. I did not allow Nigeria to break through in the west, but I didn't leave my replacement much breathing room. I noted that Britain seemed to fall faster than I thought it would after I left.
I suppose my main questions would be to TWC, DOI, and haroon. Wyse (if you even remember my brief time in this game), do you feel that things would have turned out differently between our nations if I had actually fully bought into your plan in Western Europe, or would you have simply used the forces you had up there to turn on me once Germany and Catholica were taken out?
DOI and haroon, I was really enjoying the diplomacy we had going on between us. I think we may have had something good going on, and again, I'm sorry I had to leave so abruptly.
Wow, long AAR considering I really wasn't in this game for nearly as long as some others, and my involvement was a very long time ago. It was very interesting though, and one of only two forum games I've ever played. I may have to jump into another one sometime, but if I do I'd love to start one and not just come in as a replacement.
Anyway, good game everyone. I especially have to give it up to you guys who played through the entire game.
You don't know what I'm thinking...because I don't know what I'm doing.
Conq wrote:Fatmo — you are a relentless mountain stream, ever-flowing, slowly but surely carving away at the rock face below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjEgjTfcEJk
As a start, I'd like to spend my time the coming weeks on reading on all your AARs. Much has happened, but please all take your time to dig into your memory to tell the tale of all your ploys, wars, stabs, and what were the considerations in all the draw proposals.
