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The Turn of the 20th Century - Europe Ah, it's the 20th century! The dawn of a new age. One of hope and potential. Surely this will be the time century where humanity lays down its tools of war and learns to work together peacefully, yes? Let's take a look at Europe, shall we?  Ah, yes. Europe. The map we see here highlights the seven dominant empires in Europe's borders. For those of you not geographically inclined: the United Kingdom and the French Republic represented in blue, dark and light respectively; Imperial Germany in brown; the Kingdom of Italy in green; the Dual-Monarchy of Austria-Hungary in red; the Ottoman Empire (Turkey) in yellow; and the Russian Empire in white. Many smaller nations existed within Europe at this time, sure, but the power rested in the hands of these seven nations who absolutely got along at all times all the time. Note: For people unfamiliar with Diplomacy and who skimmed through the OP, I will just refresh some basics about the units here. - There are two: Armies and Fleets. - Armies can move over inland provinces and coastal provinces. - Fleets can move over open water and coastal provinces. - Like chess, no two units may occupy the same space. - A fleet in open water can convoy an Army on a coastal province to another coastal province. - "Greyed out" provinces/nations are off-limits. (Switzerland is impassible, Iceland is neutral, Sicily is superfluous, etc.). - Turkish armies can cross Constantinople to the Balkans; Germany armies can cross Denmark to Scandinavia - Each Army and Fleet is equal to "1 strength". They can support each other into other provinces, as long as supporting units could also legally move in, adding another +1 to strength with each support. Defense works the same way to hold a province. - 18 SCs to win the game. All nations start with 3, except Russia who starts with 4. Those are probably the most important basics to keep in mind while watching. Anyways, the whole future is ahead of Europe in the year 1900. Why, let's take a look and see how our glorious leaders are collaborating with one another on the world's stage:  In-game negotiations look like this in the app. You can have conversations one-on-one or in any number of people up to the max of, well, all players in the game. For the sake of THIS Let's Play, I will only be posting in-game chat from the main group chat which all players are a part of. It is essentially the "public sphere" in-game, so it will be transcribed here for the LP's enjoyment. (I won't be posting walls of screen caps because that would be tedious as heck). League of Nations Chat posted:* Now entering "League of Nations Chat" * Ah yes, the world is at peace. These great nations can't wait to steer Europe into peace and prosperity. What waits them in the coming years? Spring 1901 is just around the corner...
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Mar 29, 2020 06:53
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| # ? Apr 26, 2024 04:19 |
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Also, please place your bets before the next update! (So, the first turn). Once armies and fleets start moving around, experienced players might be able to pick up on what each nation is planning and make more calculated bets.
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Mar 29, 2020 07:00
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Italy will win. I want to believe. e: Oh, I guess I misread the betting. Germany will be the first go. anilEhilated fucked around with this message at 12:29 on Mar 29, 2020 |
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Mar 29, 2020 08:50
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Are we doing victory bets as well as “next to get knocked out”? Because I’m guessing Russia as the long term winner.
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Mar 29, 2020 09:12
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Austria bites the bullet.
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Mar 29, 2020 11:24
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I always assume Austria will be first out until proven otherwise 
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Mar 29, 2020 12:22
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If we're doing victory betting, Italy will win.
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Mar 29, 2020 12:45
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Edit: I misread. I'm betting on Germany being the first to go.
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Mar 29, 2020 13:27
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Betting on France out first.
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Mar 29, 2020 14:28
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HisMajestyBOB posted:If we're doing victory betting, Italy will win. I mean, we can do both. I'll go back and add ultimate victory bets to the tally for whoever is interested in making them.
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Mar 29, 2020 15:16
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I'm gonna guess Austria first eliminated, and also Austria as winner. Because it always feels like if it isn't one its the other as Austria's fate.
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Mar 29, 2020 15:20
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If we're going for a winner too then I should probably be loyal to my own country. UK for the win!
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Mar 29, 2020 15:26
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I’ve played exactly one game of diplomacy (in a history class in college, actually) so I’ll just guess those results: Turkey goes first, Russia wins.
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Mar 29, 2020 15:32
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Austria wins France is first eliminated Austria and Germany make a NAP, as does turkey and russia
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Mar 29, 2020 19:07
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Turkey will be the first to go. Russia wins in an alliance with Italy.
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Mar 29, 2020 20:55
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Germany is first to go, Russia wins allied with either Turkey or England.
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Mar 29, 2020 22:23
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Germany/Austria and Russia/Turkey are the two classic alliances of Diplomacy, but both suffer from the problem that one of the pair is very clearly the senior partner.
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Mar 29, 2020 22:28
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Yeah any turkey who makes the mistake of allying with russia rapidly has to come to terms with second place. That or get really intricate with a very good stab.
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Mar 30, 2020 00:34
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Spring 1901 It's Spring. The bees are in the air, the flowers are blossoming, the major powers of Europe are making power grabs on smaller nations--wait...  Okay, some have jumped straight to taking over other countries, while others are clearly mobilizing to do so. War is afoot, people! Austria-Hungary A Bud - Ser F Tri - Alb A Vie - Bud - Austria-Hungary has occupied Serbia (oh, that Austria-Hungary!) United Kingdom F Edi - Nrg F Lon - Nth A Lvp - Edi - Britain is moving its fleets northward to Scandinavia. France F Bre - Mid A Mar - Spa A Par - Pic - France is moving to take the Iberian Peninsula. Germany A Ber - Kie F Kie - Hol A Mun - Ber - Germany has occupied Holland. Italy F Nap - Ion A Rom - Apu A Ven Hold - Italy is moving into the Mediterranean. Russia A Mos - Stp F Sev Hold F Stp (sc) - Bot A War Hold - And Russia is also moving northwards. Ottoman Empire F Ank - Con A Con - Bul A Smy - Ank - Turkey is similarly moving into the Balkans.  Nothing of note has happened next. Some actual conflict should be happening soon. EDIT: Also, the League of Nations General Chat has gone eerily silent. Sally fucked around with this message at 14:04 on Mar 30, 2020 |
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Mar 30, 2020 07:04
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Hmm, question for the thread. As I was quickly tossing up the opening moves, I wondered how much of a run down I should be writing in the update posts. Is it obvious from the board moves what is going on? Is it worth my repeating? Should I offer speculation? Is my speculation worth anything considering I am also in the game and it may all be a clever ploy to further deceive the players in the thread? Some true moral quandaries are arising...
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Mar 30, 2020 07:06
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Dash Rendar posted:Hmm, question for the thread. As I was quickly tossing up the opening moves, I wondered how much of a run down I should be writing in the update posts. Is it obvious from the board moves what is going on? Is it worth my repeating? Should I offer speculation? Is my speculation worth anything considering I am also in the game and it may all be a clever ploy to further deceive the players in the thread? I'm just peanut gallery but I've always liked seeing discussion of moves and potential future developments in these kinds of threads. I was in the process of writing up some commentary of my own but it was just coming across as inane sportscaster stuff, so meh.
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Mar 30, 2020 07:28
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oh noooo! post the inane sportscaster stuff! i love it!
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Mar 30, 2020 07:40
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Lemniscate Blue posted:I'm just peanut gallery but I've always liked seeing discussion of moves and potential future developments in these kinds of threads. There's nothing stopping you from making inane sportscaster-ish commentary...so long as it's at least period-accurate. 
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Mar 30, 2020 07:41
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Dash Rendar posted:Is it obvious from the board moves what is going on? No. Can we get full moves? It would be nice to confirm that Russia held two of her units. When bounces happen it's going to get confusing. Early things to note is that no one gets Belgium without foreign help this year, England and France seem to have some kind of agreement as neither made any kind of threatening moves against each other, and I'm not entirely sure what Germany and Russia are thinking/doing. Austria/Italy - you're doing good. Meaning neither of you hosed it up so far. Good. Keep doing that. Germany - this is a completely different game if you tried to move to Burgundy. Hopefully there was a reason for that, but given the pro-England moves it doesn't look great for you.
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Mar 30, 2020 07:49
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Dash Rendar posted:Hmm, question for the thread. As I was quickly tossing up the opening moves, I wondered how much of a run down I should be writing in the update posts. Is it obvious from the board moves what is going on? Is it worth my repeating? Should I offer speculation? Is my speculation worth anything considering I am also in the game and it may all be a clever ploy to further deceive the players in the thread? I'd suggest posting the full moves and then having some "zoom-ins" on areas where conflict is happening. You don't need to speculate on players' motives, but some explanations on who won battles and why would be helpful.
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Mar 30, 2020 08:00
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Ooh, Austria is doing very well! I don't understand why Russia kept the sev ship in place, but it could just be something that was agreed to. war also stayed in place, so it might just be a matter of not provoking others yet. Here's what I'm guessing. Psuedo-alliances / non-aggression: - France and England. The English channel wasn't taken. - Italy, Germany, and Austria. They aren't contesting each other, with ven holding and vie and mun opening up. - Russia and Turkey. sev stayed in place despite Turkey's ship going to con. Normally, I'd expect Russia and Turkey to just bounce their ships off the BLA sea if they were allied though. Based on what's being contested, England needs to decide its friend(s) now. It can cautiously claim nwy or use its ships also decide the expansion of Russia, England, and France. Predictions: Austria: 5 (+ser, +gre) England: 4 (+nwy) France: 5 (+spa, +por) Germany: 4 or 5 (+hol. den depends on a friendly or risk-averse England) Italy: 4 (+tun) Russia: 5 (+swe) Turkey: 4 (+bul) rum and bel are tough and depend on alliances. I'm excited for the next move! NeoRonTheNeuron fucked around with this message at 09:32 on Mar 30, 2020 |
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Mar 30, 2020 08:41
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Dash Rendar posted:Hmm, question for the thread. As I was quickly tossing up the opening moves, I wondered how much of a run down I should be writing in the update posts. Is it obvious from the board moves what is going on? Is it worth my repeating? Should I offer speculation? Is my speculation worth anything considering I am also in the game and it may all be a clever ploy to further deceive the players in the thread? France and England have a pact afoot, probably along the lines of England leaving France to take spain while england gets norway. Given how italy has moved i feel this is going to be of more benefit to france, who can get a guaranteed +2 supply year one Not sure what russia is doing, holding two units on turn 1 seems like a mistake, particularly as it left the black sea unoccupied.
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Mar 30, 2020 08:43
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Dr. Snark posted:There's nothing stopping you from making inane sportscaster-ish commentary...so long as it's at least period-accurate.
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Mar 30, 2020 08:53
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I've played exatly one game of Diplomacy before as the Ottomans and them teaming up with Russia is exactly what I did in my game. Being able to only ever worry (barring an obvious betrayal) about one direction of board can be very advantageous as the Ottomans and Russians don't have to worry about the Black Sea. Russia can march on Germany and Scandanavia while the Ottomans march on the Balkans and both can pincer AusHungary. Even better if there's a third party on the other side to apply their own pressure, either because they smell vulnerability or because there's also an alliance there.
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Mar 30, 2020 09:34
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Looks like France allied GB, Germany and Italy and Austria through they allied Italy to me.
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Mar 30, 2020 13:12
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SUMMARY OF ALL RUNNING BETS: Next country to get eliminated: Immediately after a country gets knocked out, everybody can bet on the next country to be eliminated. Every time you’re right, you get a point, top score at the end wins the category. Current player scores: None, duh, it's turn 1! It's not even possible to get completely eliminated from the game this early, silly. Active Bets: Austria-Hungary (6): 1234567890num, Bellmaker, Eeepies, HisMajestyBOB, Mirrors, NeoRonTheNeuron Britain (2): biosterous, wologar France (4): silvergoose, Jobbo_Fett, Namtab, Old Grey Guy Italy (3): Akratic Method, bunnyofdoom, Jesenjin Germany (4): anilEhilated, MagusofStars, Rocket Baby Dolls, Coward Turkey (3): Dav, Tevery Best Lots of bets on the central European powers. Makes a lot of sense, because they're the ones that can easily get blindsided by a 'friend' or ganged up on. Overall winner:  Note - most people only provided their "next loser" bet, so let's do a one-time extension of the deadline and let people join in if they haven't yet. Austria-Hungary (5): Cythereal, Jesenjin, Mirrors, Namtab, Old Grey Guy Britain (2): biosterous, Rocket Baby Dolls France (1): wologar Germany (1): Eeepies Italy (4): anilEhilated, Gamerofthegame, HisMajestyBOB, Jobbo_Fett Russia (4): Coward, Dav, MagusofStars, Tevery Best Turkey (2): Akratic Method, silvergoose Joint France/UK (1): bunnyofdoom Dash Rendar posted:Is it obvious from the board moves what is going on? Also, are the arrows from the game or you? Because I think straight arrows might be easier to follow, especially in cramped areas like near Germany. Also would remove some weirdness like how France's fleet apparently became land vehicles for a couple hundred kilometers of Northern Spain. EDIT: Votes current as of 3/30 at 4:30 PM. MagusofStars fucked around with this message at 21:32 on Mar 30, 2020 |
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Mar 30, 2020 13:24
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Ah okay. I think it's going to be a Turkish snowball for the win! What happens if there's a joint win, in terms of the bet?
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Mar 30, 2020 13:34
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GuavaMoment posted:No. Can we get full moves? It would be nice to confirm that Russia held two of her units. When bounces happen it's going to get confusing. TheOneAndOnlyT posted:I'd suggest posting the full moves [...] Good lord, I knew there was something missing from the update. I was tired last night. Yeah, the orders! Okay, they're up for this update. I'll post more discussion of moves for future updates. And the zoom is a good idea and one I intended doing for conflicts.
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Mar 30, 2020 14:06
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France and Austria have both made good (though standard) opening moves. England's opening is standard and not aggressive. Germany keeping units in Berlin and Kiel is questionable unless they really, really distrust Russia. Similarly, Turkey moving its fleet to Eastern Med or Aegean and army to Con is, in my opinion, a stronger opening than what they went with, unless they also thought a Russian attack was imminent. Italy has some options here. It will be interesting to see what happens. I also question Russia holding two units in place. Given Germany's and Turkey's moves, this suggests some missteps in negotiations, but not to the point of outright hostility. Or maybe they are solidifying an alliance? Fall 1901 will tell. One thing is clear: there have not been any obvious blunders or backstabs yet, and it's still anyone's game.
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Mar 30, 2020 14:22
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Overall winner: Germany . In my opinion the central powers either die early or win so those are my votes.
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Mar 30, 2020 14:43
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Yeah, I think the main things that stood out to me is that Turkey and Russia are being awfully trusting of one another, and France and England are trying to avoid even looking at one anothers militaries. Honestly, if you ask me England is making a mistake here. Getting bogged down in Scandinavia is a quick path to irrelevance once you get your 4th army/fleet from Norway. being in ENG guarantees your security and lets you keep France to 4 in Fall. Italy I really like the moves they're making, getting in on the Balkan triangle is a good way to get your 5th since Tunisia is the only one they can really count on. That army in Venice means they can probably count on Austrian support for the convoy move to Greece because it both fucks Turkey which is good for both Italy and that army in Venice while it couldn't take Trieste it could mess up timetables for the Austrian moves eastward. I'm a big fan of the Italian Austrian alliance and I hope they're coordinating at least a little bit. Russia, what are you doing. F SEV - RUM if you aren't gonna contest the black sea (which you should have) and if you aren't doing that, you should really have done A WAR - GAL just to put the pressure on Austria and if you were really worried about Germany brought A-MOS forward to LVN if you weren't confident about A WAR - GAL or just straight to WAR if you were rather than going all in on Scandinavia Germany could have walked into BUR this turn, its wild to me that it wasn't covered by either France or Germany. Other than that weird MUN move it mostly feels like an orthodox German opening to me. I'm pretty convinced this is actually just all good politics on Frances part, he's somehow convinced both Germany and England to keep what looks like a 1 tile distance from any of his cores. At this rate France is gonna get two new armies in the fall and suddenly look a lot scarier. I'm not sure anyone is in a position to put the brakes on Frances dream in 1901 either. When they put down their fleets or armies is when you're gonna find out who he's intending to stab. Turkey. If you are friends with Russia I'm surprised you didn't do a mutual bounce in BLA just because that's the safe option. Given how little movement their is out of Russia, in hindsight if you'd gotten bold with A SMY - ARM and F ANK - BLA you'd be walking into a 5th center in the fall with SEV. That would have been a great position to be in as Turkey, breaking out of the corner is hard as hell, especially for you compared to England.
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Mar 30, 2020 15:01
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I'm tempted to root for Italy, but overall winner: France.
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Mar 30, 2020 15:04
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I bet Loser: Italy winner France UK agree to split Europe. Also, do we know which player is which country, or is that a seeeeecret.
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Mar 30, 2020 15:05
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First loser is France. Can't believe my overall winner bet of Italy wasn't recorded. This thread's rigged!
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Mar 30, 2020 15:10
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| # ? Apr 26, 2024 04:19 |
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Mirrors posted:Honestly, if you ask me England is making a mistake here. Getting bogged down in Scandinavia is a quick path to irrelevance once you get your 4th army/fleet from Norway. being in ENG guarantees your security and lets you keep France to 4 in Fall. Yeah, my experience is that if England just tries to stick to Scandinavia and the Low Countries, they're going to get bogged down and become irrelevant. England needs to make bold moves to become a power player, and the path to a victorious UK always involves a dead France. This kind of approach can work in the early game, but only if a dagger is coming for France's back.
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Mar 30, 2020 15:13
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