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From: ncg@ukc.UUCP (N.C.Gale)
Newsgroups: net.games.pbm
Subject: Re: Austria
Message-ID: <5257@ukc.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 24-Jun-85 16:46:57 EDT
Article-I.D.: ukc.5257
Posted: Mon Jun 24 16:46:57 1985
Date-Received: Thu, 20-Jun-85 20:45:06 EDT
References: <5230@ukc.UUCP> <5233@ukc.UUCP> <677@fisher.UUCP>
Reply-To: ncg@ukc.UUCP (Nige Gale)
Organization: Computing Laboratory, U of Kent at Canterbury, UK
Lines: 48

In article <677@fisher.UUCP> david@fisher.UUCP writes:
>There is no such thing as a respectable second place finish.  If you
>do not win or draw, you lose, whether you end with zero centers or
>sixteen.  Therefore, I would have taken the slim chance that the Russians
>would come to their senses and stabbed France rather than be an
>accessory to my own loss.  A 1% chance of sharing a five way draw has
>a greater expected return than a 100% chance of finishing second to a
>solo winner.
>

The trouble was that Russia had no common border with French occupied
territory. In order for Russia, England, Turkey and Austria all to bring
the maximum number of armies to bear on French frontiers (as was necessary,
and very quickly, too), Russia would have to
a) abandon her homeland to the mercy of someone the player hates and has
been persecuting throughout the game
b) move through my own similarly undefended homeland without snatching
a couple of supply points from someone the player hates

Not 1%
much, much less.

What the Hell is a five-way draw anyway?
We were playing to conclusion

Immediately after that game, we started a new one, and I was placed
right next to the player who had been playing France (who I decided
not to backstab and allowed to win in the previous game).
He was Turkey, and I Russia.
Now if I had just done a vicious backstab, I wouldn't be in a very
good position in this game, would I?

In my first year at University, there was this person whose first
action, whenever he formed an alliance, was to betray it. Eventually
everyone else's first action, whenever a game started, was to ally
against him & put him out of the game.

Personal and emotional considerations must be taken into account when
playing against people you have to see the next day.
Trust does carry between games.
So if your chances of winning the current game are zero or less, perhaps
it is a good idea to plan for the next...


-Nige Gale

Now look what you made me do.
I've swallowed my contact lens.