I hate playing Turkey in standard variant games. It's options are so limited and, with smart people playing Italy and Austria, it is usually bottled up in the corner with no place to go. In modern, however, Turkey has (in my opinion) a much more interesting opening position, and that is why I requested it.
I started off on very good terms with both Egypt and Ukraine, and either one would have suited very well as a strong ally. Unfortunately, keeping both of them as allies would have been very unwise, as had they decided to team up against me, Turkey soup would have been relatively easy to prepare. Ukraine was growing much faster than I was, so Egypt was the recipient of my first stab.
I was planning to stay with Ukraine all the way through the game and end with a 2-way draw. I tend to be leery of such arrangements when the winning condition is just 1 more than half of all centers, but since eight extra centers were required to win this game, I felt confident that a mutual deal could be reached. Indeed, the Ukraine-Turkey steamroller seemed at least as effective as legendary Russia-Turkey steamrollers in the standard variant.
In that comparison, however, Ukraine in "modern" has one major drawback -- it cannot build fleets on the north coast. Therefore, when Russia was eliminated, Britain had an easy time walking into the Scandinavian centers and threatening the Murmansk/St.Petersburg area.
The game had settled down to the game of "Cleanup" about which Italy was complaining when I managaed to get 4 builds and Ukraine got none. I thought long and hard before stabbing Ukraine because I calculated that UBF would be able to set up a stalemate line, but I decided to give it a try anyway. UBF were successful in setting up a line which could have worked had the right set of orders been given, but I was lucky in that nobody remembered to support Barcelona. After that, it was just a matter of systematically pushing forward for the win.
I had a lot of fun playing this game (regardless of the fact that I won, although that certainly didn't hurt). I didn't particularly appreciate some of the personal attacks or excessive whining that occured during the midgame, but I guess that comes with the territory (I do, however, appreciate any apologies which followed said attacks). Commendations to Egypt, Britain, and Ukraine for their impressive play and to France, Britain, and Ukraine for staying with the game all the way to the end. Also to Brian, who helped us all through judge crashes and unforced abandonments and such like. It's been a pleasure gaming with you all, and I hope to see you all again in future games.
-- the Turkey (Turkey in "lie2me")
Congrats to Turkey as well as to the other players who stuck it out or stepped in to help finish the game.
Britain
Master: Dr. Brian M. Burkhart burkhart@galen.hwi.buffalo.edu Britain: Michael Fonte fonte@pc2.nmrlab.hscsyr.edu Egypt: Jay Obermark trurl@eecs.umich.edu from S2000M: Mark Kennedy mkennedy@portal.ca from F2001M: Jeff Behan nx08339@deere.com France: Paul Robins paul_robins@watsons.co.uk from F2002B: Matthew R. Schwab mrs@fame.com Germany: Jason D. Ludlow JasonDL@datastorm.com from S1997R: Paul Houldridge PaulDH@datastorm.com Italy: Markus Klein markus.klein@wiesbaden.netsurf.de from F1998M: Robert Shepard rshepard@ncgate.newcollege.edu from S2002M: Luca Varani luca@mrc-lmb.cam.ac.uk Poland: Deb Ghosh ghosh@chonata.hwi.buffalo.edu from F1996B: Joseph W. Carl Jr jcarl@cannet.cannet.com Russia: Petar Mimica pmimica@public.srce.hr Spain: Mark Sawicki sawicki@nexus.hwi.buffalo.edu Turkey: Christopher Hack chack@uclink.berkeley.edu Ukraine: Stephen Paltiel evil@uclink.berkeley.edu from F2001R: Robert Shepard rshepard@ncgate.newcollege.edu from F2001B: Stephen Paltiel evil@uclink.berkeley.edu Historical Supply Center Summary -------------------------------- Mor Nap Mil Cro Gre Ist Ank Isr Ale Lib Irn Kha Kie Rum Aus Kra Gda Bie Year Tun Rom Ven Ser Bul Izm Ada Cai Asw Sau Geo Sev Ode Hun Cze War Lit Mos 1994 . . I I I I . . . . T T T T . E E E . . . . U U U U . . . . P P P . . R 1995 B I I I I I I . T T T T T T E E E E E E . T U U U U U . G . P P P P P U 1996 B I I I F I I . T T T T T T E E E E E E T T U U U U U U I P P P P P U U 1997 B E I I F I I T T T T T T T T E E E E T T T U U U U U U I P U U P P U U 1998 B E I I I I T T T T T T T T T T E E E T T T U U U U U U I U U U U U U U 1999 B T T I I T T T T T T T T T T T E E E T T T U U U U U U U U U U U U U U 2000 B T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T E T T T T U U U U U U U U U U U U U U 2001 B T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T U T U U T U T U U U U U U U 2002 T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T U T T T U U U U U U U U 2003 T T T T F T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T U U U U U U U U 2004 T T T T F T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T U U U U U U U U 2005 T T T T F T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T U U U U U U U U 2006 T T T T F T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T U U U U U B U U 2007 T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T U T U B B T T Historical Supply Center Summary (cont) --------------------------------------- Gor Stp Nor Swe Ber Mun Bel Mon Lyo Bor Liv Lon Sve Mad Year Ros Mur Den Ham Fra Hol Swi Mar Par Ire Edi Gib Bar Por 1994 R R R R . . . G G G G . . . . F F F F . B B B B S S S . 1995 R U R R B G R G G G F G B F F F F F F B B B B S S S S S 1996 R U R R B G R G G G F G B F F F F F F B B B B S S S S S 1997 U U R R B B R G G G F B B F F S F F F B B B B S S S S S 1998 U U R R B B B G G G F B B F F S F F F B B B B S S S S B 1999 U U U U B B R B U G F B B F F F F F S B B B B S S S S B 2000 U U U U R B B B U G I B B F F F F F F B B B B S S F S B 2001 U T U U B B B B U U I B B F F F F F F B B B B S B F F B 2002 U T U U B B B B U U I B B F F F F F F B B B B B B F F B 2003 U T U U B B B B U U U B B F F F F F F B B B B B B F F B 2004 U T U U B B B B U U U B B F F F F F F B B B B B B T F B 2005 U T U U B B B B U U U B B F F F F F F B B B B B B T T B 2006 U T U U B B B B B B U B B F F T F F F B B B B T B T T B 2007 T T U T B B B B B B U B B F T T B F F B B B B T T T T T History of Supply Center Counts ------------------------------- Power 1994 '95 '96 '97 '98 '99 '00 '01 '02 '03 Player Britain 4 7 7 9 11 11 11 13 13 13 Michael Fonte Egypt 3 6 6 5 4 3 \ Jay Obermark 1 \ Mark Kennedy Jeff Behan France 4 7 8 7 6 6 7 8 8 \ Paul Robins 9 Matthew R. Schwab Germany 4 6 5 \ Jason D. Ludlow 3 3 1 1 Paul Houldridge Italy 4 6 6 5 \ Markus Klein 5 2 1 1 \ Robert Shepard 1 Luca Varani Poland 3 5 5 \ Deb Ghosh 3 Joseph W. Carl Jr Russia 5 4 4 3 2 1 1 Petar Mimica Spain 3 5 5 6 5 5 3 1 Mark Sawicki Turkey 4 7 8 11 13 16 20 25* 28 28 Christopher Hack Ukraine 4 7 9 12 15 19 19 \ Stephen Paltiel 16 \ Robert Shepard 14 14* Stephen Paltiel Index: 14 37 42 50 63 81 94 111 121 123 Power 2004 '05 '06 '07 Player Britain 13 13 15 15 Michael Fonte France 8 7 6 3 Matthew R. Schwab Turkey 29 30 32 42 Christopher Hack Ukraine 14* 14* 11 4 Stephen Paltiel Index: 127 131 140 201 * = 1 unused build. Index is the sum of squares of the number of supply centers divided by the number of players. It is a measure of how far the game has progressed.