Dangers of the History book.

Deacon wrote:
Well, I think one of the reasons the games tend to play out the way they do is that a lot of the 'loser' positions never get played.

You only get one position in a game. Most would rather play England than the Jacobites. France over Blackbeard, Austria over Hungarian Nationalists and so on.

Having looked at a number of the smaller positions, you don't really have a lot of resources or options, so it makes for a much more restricted game.

So as a consequence, I think the game self-selects for 'winners' and the historical trends play out.

I can't think of a solution for it unless Richard could come up with some half-position where you paid a normal turn fee a month, but no extra orders, and just set high level direction for the position with going into too much detail. Perhaps that would encourage people to play one of the smaller spoiler positions in a new game.

But even that I think would be hard to do.

I doubt Richard would want to do it, but another idea to encourage more balance in the positions played is to make the base turn fee different, and so make the bigger states subsidize the turn fees of the smaller states in some way, basically putting market demand to work and charging more for the in-demand positions and less for the less desirable positions.

I just don't see any easy answers to this game tendency, and I think most don't really view it as much of a problem, so I suspect it will mostly remain that way except for a few of us Don Quixotes who will tilt at windmills.

J Flower wrote:On the subjet of Looser positions what about Poland. It is one of the larger positions bu tseems to get neglected some what. Is it because we all know it will eventually get Partitioned by it's bigger Neighbours?

There must be potential there I would be glad to hear from players with first hand experience of playing it.

J Flower wrote:I wonder if the strong bias of Anglo-Saxon players also has an impact on the way the French position is viewed, is it possiable that we want England to emerge as the all conquering power? There is always a bit of National animosity between England & France. Even when it is good natured upon the sports field.

J Flower wrote:Maybe it has something to do with history. Afterall France was finally beaten, the Ottomans also slowly fell from a great power status. Russia was & remains a large powerful position, even in modern times. could it be the survival instinct that our subconcious put to the fore that guides our decisions with regards to those countries. Take on France or Ottomans you know you have a chance to win because historically it did happen. Everyone who went up against the Russians came off second best.

Jason wrote:I don't think France is a 'loser' but perhaps one where it is never quite as great as it could of been, or didn't maintain the greatness as long as it should have (at least if you look at it where it was in 1700).

The Real Louis of France wrote:

Jason wrote:I don't think France is a 'loser' but perhaps one where it is never quite as great as it could of been, or didn't maintain the greatness as long as it should have (at least if you look at it where it was in 1700).

Quite right Jason! It would be a mistake to imagine that after Napoleon, France never recovered. France created a colonial empire in the 1800s which was equivalent to the British Empire, though never quite as commercially profitable. The physical location of France put it in the way of the expansion of a unified Germany, and France did suffer disproportionately from WW1. However, I think it is a modern Anglo-Saxon myth to denigrate France (after its defeat in 1940). The French Empire still exists with large overseas territories being treated as parts of France. In economic terms France has more leading companies than the UK or Germany, though Germany is more focussed on manufacturing, France leads in services, agriculture and basic materials. French public services are also way above average, and I don't know of anyone in the UK who isn't slightly envious of French trains. It may be fashionable to denigrate France, but if you look at France today compared to many other countries, it is far from being a loser. It is still a country of tremendous resources, innovation and character, which others would do well to learn from.