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- England
- In my opinion, this power is relatively weak in Gunboat. But I also would not have played England the way this player did. As England, I think my greatest enemy is France and I would only trust or ally France if forced to do so, and even then I would be very cautious in keeping my guard up. I think England made a mistake by not opening to English Channel, and kept making his strategic situation worse by making himself vulnerable to France.
- France
- I think France is the strongest power in Gunboat. The French player did basically what I would have done this game: he tried to take advantage of England’s servile stance, gambled that Germany would come to regret helping to eliminate England, and (probably) plotted to backstab Germany once England was done for. However, Italy‘s harassment of France early on really slowed down France‘s progress, and eventually I (Germany) outplayed and overpowered France together with Italy. Can’t win ‘em all.
- Russia
- This power is very difficult to succeed with in Gunboat.[1]I’d go as far as saying that Russia is the worst power in gunboat Diplomacy by a big margin, being poor at both offense and defense and a target for nearly every other power. Even though Russia was off to a really strong start, Russia never gained enough power to have defensible positions in the long run. This is why I hate playing Russia. I don’t have an opinion on what Russia should have done differently.
- Turkey
- Played a solid defensive game. Often, all you can do as Turkey is hope that a western power goes for a solo win before you’re eliminated, and that’s what happened here.
- Austria
- Despite all my bellyaching, Austria impressed me greatly this game. His ruthless style of play, constant probing to take additional centers, and attacking Italy multiple times to keep him down (not to eliminate Italy, just to keep Italy weak so that Austria couldn’t be attacked – that’s what I think Austria was doing) added up to an excellent game. Austria is the most difficult power to play in Gunboat, by a big margin.[2]I stand by this remark. Austria is the most difficult power to play, but not the weakest. Russia is the weakest, but is relatively straightforward to play. I usually fare poorly with Austria. I think I could learn a lot from this game.
- Italy
- He played a patient game and he played for a draw. He was constantly vigilant against attempts to eliminate him and my solo win attempt. In the endgame, Italy played excellently and kept me from winning. I strongly agree with Italy’s plan to not attack Austria and probe for attacks on Turkey and France instead.[3]If you want to know more on why I agree with his strategy, read my post on why I like to play as Italy in gunboat Diplomacy..
Footnotes
| ↑1 | I’d go as far as saying that Russia is the worst power in gunboat Diplomacy by a big margin, being poor at both offense and defense and a target for nearly every other power. |
|---|---|
| ↑2 | I stand by this remark. Austria is the most difficult power to play, but not the weakest. Russia is the weakest, but is relatively straightforward to play. |
| ↑3 | If you want to know more on why I agree with his strategy, read my post on why I like to play as Italy in gunboat Diplomacy.. |
I have read the whole journal and footnotes. Great stuff! It could do with another round of proofreading before becoming an all-time classic. Those three Austrian armies went south and WEST. The expression “each other’s” needs just one correctly-placed apostrophe. And I think there was one point where you said you wondered whether a particular power (Italy?) would attack itself. A “were” should have been “where”. Missing words here and there. All basically understandable, though. And it was nice that the pages got shorter towards the end.
I had a look at the Germany game that you won and referred us to. That early southern French fleet (played by a relative newcomer to Gunboat) certainly was wasting a lot of time and sending poor signals! Possibly “helped” Austria to fare poorly.
This was as long as Let’s Play. Very interesting stuff. Even though I am not a current Diplomacy player (I’ve played in the past), getting insights in the thoughts of a top player was really cool.
Thanks for the compliment. I am delighted that this content is still interesting to readers years after I finished the project.