Waiving Builds

[PonderStibbons]

In a recent Gunboat game I played I waived a build as Austria when I could have built an army because I decided a fleet suited my long term prospects better. I'd never seen anyone waive a build before that and in the few games I've played since I don't think I've seen it happen again, which has made me wonder if there is something I've been missing. Are there any circumstances under which you guys would waive a build? Have you ever? Why?

[Strategus]

In a recent Gunboat game I played I waived a build as Austria when I could have built an army because I decided a fleet suited my long term prospects better. I'd never seen anyone waive a build before that and in the few games I've played since I don't think I've seen it happen again, which has made me wonder if there is something I've been missing. Are there any circumstances under which you guys would waive a build? Have you ever? Why?

Yes. For instance if your only build would threaten an ally you want to keep sweet. Or if you want to save a few up for a pending stab. Or for the reason you stated.

[NJLonghorn]

I once had a fall season where my allies and I made some guesses that all broke my way. I gained 3 SCs and they each gained 0, iirc. In any event, I forewent one of my builds because I planned to cede an SC to each ally and didn't want to have to destroy the next year.

[Iggy]

In a recent Gunboat game I played I waived a build as Austria when I could have built an army because I decided a fleet suited my long term prospects better. I'd never seen anyone waive a build before that and in the few games I've played since I don't think I've seen it happen again, which has made me wonder if there is something I've been missing. Are there any circumstances under which you guys would waive a build? Have you ever? Why?

Yes. For instance if your only build would threaten an ally you want to keep sweet. Or if you want to save a few up for a pending stab. Or for the reason you stated.

I concur. Ceding a build to appease an ally and/or not be too threatening to an ally is about the only thing I can think of other than your scenario for not building if you have an open home center.

[NoPunIn10Did]

In a recent Gunboat game I played I waived a build as Austria when I could have built an army because I decided a fleet suited my long term prospects better. I'd never seen anyone waive a build before that and in the few games I've played since I don't think I've seen it happen again, which has made me wonder if there is something I've been missing. Are there any circumstances under which you guys would waive a build? Have you ever? Why?

Not all home centers are equal in utility. Maybe you have London & Edinburgh currently occupied, for instance, but what you want is a fleet that can go East. Building in Liverpool could get you that fleet in two turns, but so could saving the build until the next year (which would let you change your mind).

[jay65536]

In a recent Gunboat game I played I waived a build as Austria when I could have built an army because I decided a fleet suited my long term prospects better. I'd never seen anyone waive a build before that and in the few games I've played since I don't think I've seen it happen again, which has made me wonder if there is something I've been missing. Are there any circumstances under which you guys would waive a build? Have you ever? Why?

In addition to what others have said, another time you might waive a build is when you have multiple builds, but instead of dropping them all at once, you build all but one and keep another build in your pocket. In addition to "saving it up for a stab", you might also want to pass on a build to defend against a future stab. If the stab comes, you build defensively (or remove 1 fewer unit), but if the expected stab doesn't come you drop another offensive unit the next year. (Or, you keep waiving and just tell your ally, "if you break our DMZ in XXX I'll immediately build in YYY".)

Along the same lines, let's say you have an agreement to carve up certain territory with an ally, and you get all "your" centers at once. You might decide to waive 1 or 2 builds, not primarily to appease your ally, but instead because you want to space your builds out. Sometimes that's a good thing. I could see that being especially true if you get 3 centers--if you build 2 and waive 1, then you drop 2 units right away, which can't be bad, and then the following year you build at least 1, but you build 2 again if you pick up 1 new center.

Personally, I believe the last time I waived a build was in a FtF game 2 years ago. I was Turkey and decided I was going to stab my Austrian ally, would rather have had an army, but didn't want to tip him off by actually building it. And we were so far advanced on the front that a fleet wouldn't have made it anywhere useful in a year anyway. As it turned out, he stabbed me at the same time I stabbed him! Neither of us got anywhere, and the game eventually ended in a former-2-center Italy coming back to solo.