Broadcast message from X-Planet Cosine X in hgwells:

EOG Statement from the PLanet Cosine X

First off, let me say how wonderful this game was to play
in. It's by far the most intriguing variants I have tried.

The role playing (my favorite part of judge dip) was fantastic,
and was indeed my downfall. I was fooled by the differences
in the role played war and the *real* war.

From the start, I had wanted to have an alliance of sorts
with the Jedis, though I never was blunt with Dan about
that. His announced opening moves were very akin to what
I was thinking about, and though that is he was to control
the seas, I should do my best with the land.

While I was formulating my opening press, I was beat to
the draw by Vader. The Empire was claiming the Balkans,
the very center of my land-based strategy. I thought
it might strengthen potential ties with the Jedi if I
were to show my defiance to the Empire up front, and
demand the Balkans myself. I was hoping the role played
war would strongly influence the real war. Of course,
had I known Dan was the Jedi, I would not have relied
on this. He is one of the few that would not be influenced
in this way...

The Empire was strangely accommodating, so I thought I would
risk moving a bit north, to Trieste. I had not expected
the Empire to land quite so close.

After the first beam-downs, it was very clear that with the
Empire in the way, I would not be able to move towards
the heart of Europe (Munich, et. al.) and that I would
need to move towards Russia and sneak through if there
was any chance of succeeding. I tested the waters with
the Jedi in Turkey to make sure that he was indeed planning
on running with all of asia minor, and then went about
cleaning things up in the Balkans.

I wasn't able to efficiently use the colonizing rules
to my benefit (something I think I can manage now)
while both of my neighbors did. I quickly lost ground,
more than I was gaining.

By the second year, it was clear the the Empire and the
Jedi were in some way cooperating. THis is what I feared
most. With both of them working to expand through me, there
was little I could do other than try to do as most damage
as I could before I went. However, once I was squeezed into
orbit, enough of Europe had been either occupied or
colonized that I was not even able to do that.

In short, I failed to utilize colonization and relied
on the role playing to influence the game. It takes
a strong player to *not* have the
Empire and the Jedi fight to the death, and I had hoped
neither were.

Thanks, everyone for a wonderful game. I look forward
to the next.

eric
Physicist from Planet Cosine X

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