First of all... I award the player of the game award to England. Very well played! He played the game and the players like a pro. I suppose a 3 way was a decent result for me too, as I've managed to lose every game as Germany on PlayDip until now. For some reason it feels like I once again somehow managed to get everyone angry at me though, except for England and Turkey.
The main reason I stabbed England and decided to aim for a 2 way was because I felt I needed the points in the league. Of course, I could've attempted a 2 way with England too, but Austria would've had easier time kingmaking England than me, while with Austria I would have an easier time stopping him from soloing if he decided to go for it. Which was exactly what ended up happening.
I tried to keep this short, but... I guess I just like to ramble.
1901:Russia, Austria and Turkey seemed to be the chatty ones, Italy completely ignores me, and England and France don't write much.
We get along great with Austria, and we agree to split Europe between us. He talks about a 2 way draw, which I assume to be the usual codeword for "let's not attack each other while rushing for solo", but as we write more he seems to be oddly serious about it.
I tell Turkey to be careful, and he tells me that Russia seems very dangerous... but he ends up letting Russia have the Black Sea anyway. I was sure he would successfully defend against Russia, which would've changed the game dramatically.
France seemed very cautious, and he seems to want a Western Triple, while England tells me he's with me if I want to attack France. I heard nothing from Italy, and France wanted a bounce so nothing happened yet. I hate it when I have no idea where the game will be going even after the S01 negotiations are over.
France seems to ignore my subtle hints that England wants to attack him while continuing to push for a WT, so I end up attacking him in F01. England could've changed sides at this point, but thankfully he doesn't. Meanwhile France builds in a way that guarantees that we have no way of attacking England together, so I have no choice but to keep attacking him.
Spring 19021902-1903:Since England seems friendly I decide to attack Russia too. I was going to anyway, but then Austria tells me that Warsaw will be open... which seemed kind of dubious, but I decided to go for it. Of course that was either a lie or a mistake on Austria's part, and I only get Sweden out of my attack. Austria could now side with Russia, which would end in a slow R/A vs. E/G slugfest. Thankfully he doesn't.
I asked Italy to attack France, and he did, but he's still unresponsive, so I don't help him with Marseilles. I think this might've caused his grudge against me, but... I had no idea what his overall plans are so why should I help him? I had also already coordinated my moves with England when he asked me for support, and I didn't bother to suddenly change my plans.
I try to keep Turkey in the game, as I need him to slow Austria down (besides, he seems like a nice person). Sadly he gets reduced to a single center.
Spring 19041904:The year I stab England. Before taking Brest and Belgium I had to get him out of position by supporting him to Spain, hoping that Italy will retake it in the fall. Italy is really angry with me though and it seems like he'd rather lose than do something to help me, so he lets England have Spain even though he would need the build to fight Austria.
England's response to my stab is way too reasonable though, so tried to subtly tell him that I would be ready to go with a 3 way if Austria stabbed me.
Spring 19051905-1907:I thought my stab was pretty good, but England puts up a really good fight. I suppose that shouldn't come as a surprise since he didn't have to worry about anyone else besides me, and it takes me a while to get my new shiny fleets somewhere useful. I had to hope that Austria would be content waiting for me to finish my side of the board.
Spring 19081908-1911:Austria had gotten more and more unresponsive over the years, and my suggestions for DMZs and bounces have been mostly ignored. I'm pretty sure I hinted pretty strongly that England doesn't seem to bear a grudge against me, and that I would have to go with a 3 way draw if Austria moves to one of the DMZd areas to "help me", but of course Austria ends up drawmaking England by moving to Livonia. I had tried to keep enough units around so I could quickly form a stalemate line if needed, and so it's not too hard to stop his solo.
Spring 1909I wrote quite often that I tried to be rather subtle with some of the things I wrote to people, and the main reason for that is that it seems very common to forward messages in League 3 games, and I'm not really sure how to deal with it. I think I might be a little bit TOO subtle though, as often my warnings would be completely ignored.