Autumn 1901 is arrived and peace reigns across the land. The Russians and Turks appear to have experienced a slight failure to communicate, leading to a fender-bender in the Black Sea. It may have been fog. France has taken l'Espagne under her protective wing, as other powers have done for neighboring territories and waterways, with nary a shot fired.
As 1901 comes to a close, the dream of world peace is nearly realized. This has been much helped by Germany and Italy apparently falling asleep at the helm, leaving other powers to peacefully inhabit undisputed regions, leaving only a few backwaters unoccupied. The skirmish in the Black Sea continues unresolved, but there is little cause for concern that a superpower and a former empire cannot work out their differences, situated as they are in the Middle East with access to abundant energy supplies and a broad variety of peoples with whom to coordinate.
1902 brings occupation of the last European territories. Germany, under new management, has expanded into Denmark, while Russia won a battle for Rumania, giving up control of the Black Sea to Turkey. Paging blackbootz and cgod; your nations await orders.
Borders are redrawn as 1902 comes to a close. cgod enjoyed advances, surrounding the Black Sea, and Quatrarius gained ground in the Ruhr Valley of Germany. Italy has awakened under the leadership of mk, while War is keeping busy rearranging furniture in the British Isles.
Politics by other means is being practiced in earnest, with hotspots in central Europe and the Caucasus. Germany's new leader is immersed in crisis, while Italy takes advantage of a calm spell to sort paperwork following regime change. England and Austria, meanwhile, hold steady while the world burns around them.
Cables are flying as East and West Europe collide, and Russia and Turkey continue to grind Ukraine into dust. Two nations are down to three supply centers but tenaciously hanging on. France enjoys a considerable lead with eight supply centers in the spring of 1904.
Turkey has gotten itself into a bit of a RL fiasco. Without going into the sordid details it involves a few thousand dollars, maybe a lawsuit and a great deal of rage. In one sense I have only myself to blame but only in that I left myself vulnerable to getting fucked by someone I knew was desperate. Don't know what I could have done differently that wouldn't have cost someone else (who is a good guy) tens of thousands of dollars. Anyway, the cold rage, negotiations, and pacing back and forth have left me little bandwidth for diplomacy these past few days. It's just money and it's probably a valuable learning experience. The part that bugs me the most is everyone who is getting mad for me, doing every thing I can to not rage and think only of best solutions, don't need people being all worked up about it for me.
Europe is united as one in wishing the Sultan rapid deliverance from these nuisances and travails, and hopes to welcome him back soon so he may erratically lash out at neighbors, issue cryptic and terse communiques, and grind down the few remaining tree stumps in the Ukraine.
I think I'm abdicating. I'm on vacation and can't manage a daily check-in. I thought I could, but I'm not even around my phone for the reminding alert. Best of luck to the other powers! Sorry if spoiled the fun.
It's alright - a vacation is understandably more important. Thank you for playing.
This is my first time playing, but I agree that the map view leaves out the most important aspects of the game, the diplomatic chatter. I only have visibility into the public international dialog and private communication between Austria and other powers. I don't know if the private channels will become public at the end of the game, but I will be very curious to know what my neighbors are saying now. Tensions are rising and I expect 1902 will be an interesting year.