Chapter 6: I’m Goin’ Down

Season Covered: Spring 1902 Negotiations

Winter 1901

To recap: Russia and Italy had been sending me press since Winter 1901 to patch it up with Germany and attack France.  Easy for them to say.  I did my best with Germany, but he refused to budge.  I even tried to pitch the Western Triple idea back to Germany, and France agreed, but Germany did not respond.

Things are bleak.  I spent the whole day being mad at myself for being too aggressive and being pushy.  I hated my earlier suicide vest demand to Russia.  On the other hand, the suicide bomber threat worked in the short term, because Russia did not build a unit in St. Petersburg.  France is still a significant threat, however, and I would not be surprised if he moves towards me.  I try to patch things up:

In times of melancholy, I go to Bruce Springsteen.  Short detour here:  My best friend, who is dead, got me hooked on The Boss.  And, in difficult times, Bruce has been there for me.  I think of my departed friend, our good times together, and what Bruce meant to each us.  So, I turned to a concert on iTunes and looked at the map.

Then it hit me: Bruce has over 300 songs, and I know a ton of the song verses.  Let me look at this Board and analyze the game through Springsteen lyrics.  I did so and then sent press to everyone at once with my brief analysis of their game situation with a Bruce lyric and a link to my favorite Bruce performance of each song.  It sounds lame now, but at the time I thought it was pretty humorous and got a good chuckle out of it.

I put a lot of effort into the selections.  It took me a couple of hours going through the songs and trying to find a lyric that would fit the situation for each player.

The other competitors seemed to like it, as well.  Finally, I did something that people liked.  I’m not sure it got me anywhere, but at least I was going back to Goals 1 and 2.  I began to realize that I have one asset, and that is, I have an excellent social game, and I should try to maximize its value.  

Germany and France agreed to WT.[1]  

I figured, what the hell, let’s do it.  I preferred WT because I had no position on France, and I thought with F and G occupied I could get Sweden or St. Petersburg and get a build, and if France moved to the Med and Germany to Russia, then I might be able to scoop up some centers in the rear.  In the back of my mind, however, was the old adage, “If something sounds too good to be true, then it probably is.”

Despite the risk, I decided to press forward and not be clouded by the pessimism of Fall 1901.  The only real immediate issue was further angering Russia after he honored my request not to build in St. Petersburg, but it is what it is.  I have to grow if I want to win.

So, as part of this renewed effort to work with FG, what do I do?  I try to pump them up and get them excited.  In a post entitled, “F*** it, Let’s go,” I wrote:

I suggested a bunch of moves (not reproduced here). The whole providing moves thing had been a tried and true tactic for me in the qualifying rounds.  Most of the time, the other players entered the moves, and I dictated the action.  Here, I got some mild responses, but no commitments.   I tried again to push and got a little bit of an agreement, but no one would give me exactly what I wanted, but I went with it anyway, seeing no better option.  Finally, after loads of press with little in response, I write:

In response, well, nothing. Crickets upon crickets. And then in quick succession:

Not exactly the ringing endorsement I wanted.  No camaraderie.  Sometimes you have to date the girl who says yes because it’s better than watching Star Trek in your room. I give a little sign off to my new alliance partners.

I don’t know why I wrote mom, since she was dead, but I meant my mother-in-law. In the back of my mind, disaster loomed, but I counseled myself that I feared the Semi Sea Lion in Fall 1901, and it did not come true.  I was going to stay calm.

Notes

[1] Western Triple – The English, French, German alliance.