Imperial Diplomacy II - Ezio's Spain (Part 1)

[@SpiderEnjoyer]

Ah yes, the minimally edited 3h of raw boardgame AAR, now THAT's my type of content.

[@JG-vh6oy]

It's peak

[@queares_]

my favorite

[@TichiFox]

Why I subbed

[@mrcopycat2355]

Yes! I need a playlist with all of Ezio's games. The full "see dot/take dot" cinematic experience

[@bingham6275]

Athapasca here! England didn't talk to me and France was very demanding. You were the one European power who talked with me and wasn't pushy, so I teamed up with the other natives and went with you as an ally. The adoption was real!

[@DiploStrats]

Thanks for playing! I'm glad I could make a good first impression with you. That was a huge priority of mine, and it's validating to hear I did a good job.

[@childrenofartem1798]

Inuit here. To add some context on why Ute-Shoshone and I stabbed Athapasca instead of continuing with the anti-England/France attack. Athapasca had waived there southeastern build that was closest to France without telling either of us. Along with Austria telling us that France was claiming Athapasca had switched sides, this made my paranoid ass think I was about to be attacked, so we made our move. After we realized Athapasca had stuck to the plan all along, we didn’t want to waste the tempo and decided to continue with the attack anyway. Sorry about that again!

[@theonlyknight3171]

Assyria was an ancient iron-age empire centered around northern Mesopotamia, around the same time as Babylon. Culturally speaking, they were a semetic people speaking a language related to arabic and hebrew. Abyssinia is a sorta geographic-geopolitical term that was used to refer both to the medieval ethiopian empire/kingdom _and_ the region it inhabited. It's a more nebulous term that doesn't necessarily refer to a state, though in this case (Imp Div) it does.

[@BS-bd4xo]

Wow it's fascinating to see how chaotic and complex the diplomacy is between colonials. Helping France in one place while being kinda neutral in another while planning indirectly its downfall in another.

[@adrianobackespilla2514]

Aymara here! This was really fun to play - just a shame that my other two neighbors were incredibly hard to talk to (Mapuche, Portugal). And you guys were spot on with the starting position of Aymara: there’s no feasible way to stab Spain unless you overcommit, and so I felt like I had no choice but to side with Spain. Either way, that year 1 bounce with Portugal was brutal, especially considering he got nothing from it but an enemy haha

[@MrAmbitione]

Spends an hour talking about discussion before game start, later says "Builds were the first really significant time for a lot of discussion to happen."

[@DiploStrats]

The classic experience lol. Thanks for watching!

[@_mwk]

Tokugawa was just roleplaying isolationist japan

[@DiploStrats]

An effective roleplay to be sure.

[@audiosurfarchive]

🚨 IMPDIP (yum) TIMESTAMPS 🚨 [submit more below] START Spring Y1 25:36 negotiations with regionals v. colonials 45:15 obligatory Ezio v. France issues 57:30 "Austria is an odd one" 1:02:05 Mediterranean recap 1:03:21 Philippines/Indonesia and Greater Pacific + other regionals overview 1:07:10 Ezio & Tyler discuss inevitable Portuguese implosion; also Tyler is RPing a pirate kingdom START Autumn Y1 1:12:09 "we can see some moves now guys (only been an hour) 1:16:54 Europe & Med overview 1:33:21 Alliance speculation & conspiracies among regionals

[@hidden3235]

wait lmao is this just spring y1, i thought this was everything oh goooodddd

[@connorbrooks7501]

I’m really enjoying this so far. I don’t typically work from home on Mondays, but I decided to today so I could listen to this ASAP

[@Xcyiterr]

the first imperial dip video was what got me interested in diplomacy at all in the first place with how convoluted and huge its map is so happy you guys are doing a second video on it

[@gabrielnord625]

I just want to say that you guys and this channel is one of the things I treasure most on KZbin. Somehow, more than any stand-up or anything else, you make me laugh out loud continually throughout your videos. Please continue doing exactly what you're doing, I love you for it.

[@DiploStrats]

Thanks so much for the kind comment! Glad you're enjoying it.

[@12michaelcox]

I'm playing in the A2 Chrysanthemum game thanks to your first video! Thank you for all your Diplo commentary

[@DiploStrats]

Sorry for the occasional clicks/glitches in the audio... seems like it's time for me to get a new mic!

[@DerVarg]

As you are now a KZbin-Phenomenon, if not Legend, I bet this should be managable to you :P

[@smthreallycool]

As a man with the hallowed "influencer" status, I think you can manage something.

[@shilohmagic7173]

I love Ezio and Capt. Meme as co-hosts.

[@timothymclean]

I'm glad I got here late. Watching this with the knowledge that Part 2 is titled "Ezio's Pain" builds a sense of dread as Ezio talks about how strong Spain's position is, and how well press was going, and how England literally handed over a minor power's worth of supply centers without a fight, and how he provoked a war between his two North American/Caribbean rivals, and everything else that went right in the first few turns. 1:07:05: NO! God, read the room, Portugal! 2:40:40: Ah, el Doctrino Monroe.

[@RoyalFusilier]

I was so happy to see this in my feed. Definitely my favorite Diplomacy variant ever, and seeing Ezio take a turn at the wheel will be a lesson in realpolitik indeed.

[@strat6204]

How DARE Ezio say that he doesn't care about historical accuracy. I demand 2 dots as recompense for this unholy offense to history. >:(

[@egill2242]

Perfect timing :D I needed background noise to do programming class work to.

[@biscuit715]

Love this variant. Feels like it keeps the spirit of diplomacy really well.

[@aliksanon6491]

Man I like this Game mode but the Caucasus provinces always have something wrong with them. Last time it was Azerbaijan being in the wrong place. Now the province Tbilisi doesn't even contain where Tbilisi is. Kudos for the effort in the map tho looks sick

[@That_0neGuy-Fr]

Tbilisi is there tho...

[@aliksanon6491]

@That_0neGuy-Fr nope, tbilisi is in eastern Georgia, but the tbilisi province is cut off. Ear the rimoti mountains which are in western georgia, like the ONE part of Georgia that isnt included is literally Tbilisi 😂

[@That_0neGuy-Fr]

@aliksanon6491 ah yeah I see in now lol

[@doornob7859]

I’ll be taking the obvious centers…

[@LazyBird352]

Another multi-part series?! Wow! I feel like we're going to get more of them in the future

[@milky7812]

I'm exited to see what ezio has done with my country!

[@icecreamguy5977]

Hey! Mali here. Here I was thinking that my constant complaining about Portugal's army builds and how they "didn't want conflict" was too much, but after hearing how Ezio sacrificed entire days to the diplo gods it clearly did not even dent the time he put in. I think Ezio not stabbing Portugal here was one of the biggest mistake of my game as Mali too, second only to not managing to make Portugal a friend in the first place. Also, I love the part where you justify dotting Portugal with "the Netherlands told me to do it," imaging what Portugal would have thought in response to that is amazing.

[@DiploStrats]

Pleasure playing with you too Ice cream! I was def feeling myself a little too much thinking all the rival colonials were perfectly ok with me dotting them. I did invest a *ton* more time into this, so I'm sure you had a more efficient use of your time in this game lol. You're def going to be more prominent in the future :)

[@TheH3LLP3R]

Whoa idk why youtube stopped showing y'all in my subscription feed but I'm glad I checked in to make sure lol Definitely gonna be watching this at some point. Might not be anything better than Ezio deciding whether to stab the western hemisphere on turn 3 or just the entire world on turn 5 instead lol

[@DiploStrats]

I've switched my default youtube feed from the normal one, to subscriptions only.

[@TichiFox]

I'm A2G Ayutthaya and I found it thanks to you. I actually have a shot of winning my server. I dream about being the subject of one of your videos lol

[@the1laughing1reaper]

Loved this episode, the ARR feel is fantastic.

[@DiploStrats]

I know you probably mean AAR but I choose to believe we have pirate energy ARRR ME HEARTIES

[@LazyBird352]

Saw this video in recommended and instantly read it's title as "Imperial Diplomacy II - Ezio's pain". speaking of which, when will we see commentary for Ezio's game of 5D diplomacy?

[@someknave]

Love this! Really impressed with the gameplay, and the variant seems awesome. It really doubles down on the asymmetry of the game. The imperials can afford to make numerous small mistakes and inefficient plays, but if they make one big strategic blunder or they mess up in their diplomacy and they quickly become cooked. Where as the regionals need to play sharper and can get rocked by a colonial swarming in from another theatre, but have much less to manage. I would definitely prefer to play as a regional as I think it would be way easier to manage. But Ezio seems to have solididied his central american holdings into a regional power while keeping the advantages of a colonial.

[@personguy8697]

I'd love to see a highlight reel video of positions from the games you and ezio aren't playing. I've thoroughly amused myself playing a defeated Kongo that escaped to Puerto Rico in Lily

[@DiploStrats]

I like this idea :D We'll see where we're at when we finish commentating these two games though - hopefully people aren't tired of ImpDip at that point!

[@fratguide]

Praise Bumble!!! Praise the Holy Straight Lines!!!

[@Sohexmetphospha]

Ezio's mispronunciations of country names are kind of incredible.

[@DiploStrats]

I promise they're not intentional. This is what happens when I'm introduced to all the country names by reading them, rather than hearing them.

[@kenkoopa7903]

I do find it a little funny that Cpt. Meme the Brit got the pronunciation of Catawba more correct than Ezio the NA-ican did.

[@andrewkelley9405]

great way to start off a monday workday. i love this variant.

[@shilohmagic7173]

so, Vassalization is GONE that's nice.

[@BaptisteMartorell]

I would love to see a game where you played Mali

[@an0n065]

This variant looks super fun... and I am so glad I decided not to play it 😂 Super impressive time commitment by Meme and Ezio, really cool to watch this game from the outside

[@owentucker6215]

Gotta commend ezios immense patience r1 with neighbors, I don’t know if I’d be able to hold myself back lmao.

[@kinglyknight]

Can't wait to see meme do just as well!

[@BS-bd4xo]

God I love Mali's position.

[@derrickthewhite1]

Pronouncing ute as "oo-tay" has me laughing. Its so simple and so English and not really obscure, there is a major college mascot called the Utes.

[@milky2368]

i hope you consider covering more ImpDip 2 games!! would love to see reviews of all the games

[@agamemnonofmycenae5258]

1:36:33 what I gather from this is that always assume the opposing party is lying to you, so always consider if it's in Ezio's interest to lie to you.

[@ack7]

Man, imagine getting this variant in 5D diplomacy

[@DiploStrats]

nonnonoonononnoononoonononoononon

[@Ciurk]

should probably say in title its only part one

[@martins.4423]

Imperial diplomacy really scratches my itch for an absolutely maximalist take on the game that still feels true to the spirit. I don't think I should ever be allowed to play it, since it would become my job, but spectating alone has been incredibly fascinating for all these games. One thing I keep wondering from a high-level strategy perspective: How do you work with a position where you have completely disconnected territories that don't or only minimally share potential partners (such as Poland and to some extent Holland). Is there any way you can leverage this into more than just essentially playing two games of diplomacy? Looking at the map, I thought that maybe a good way to play poland was to grab a core each in the Carribean and in Africa, but to only build in Europe if possible, basically exploiting my colonies for units until someone decides to grab them from me. Also, as someone from Austria, playing as the Archduchy would give me permanent nightmares. Forget about Austria in classic diplo, this truly seems like an unwinnable start. France almost always has it out for you, you're a great shared target for Poland/Ottomans, and Spain is not going to like any encroachment on the med.

[@DiploStrats]

I do love how the variant doesn't have *too* many new rules, so it lets the core of the game shine. I'm not sure how I feel about the fact that mutual winners are possible, b/c that changes the dynamic more than almost anything else, imo.

[@martins.4423]

@@DiploStrats I agree. One nice thing it does though is allow there to be different "tiers" of countries. I think not allowing the big empires to mutually win would already improve things, since as a regional you have to basically kill everyone you were speaking to at the start to win.

[@skarppost4322]

Praise Bumble

[@PattPlays]

5:00 CORE THE THREE SAHARAS ALLIANCE

[@bradleygrace7783]

Are there any 'corner' powers on this map where you can almost get away with only talking to a handful of people out of curiosity?

[@petemagnuson7357]

A lot of the regionals seem more contained, at least initially. Pink Qing in Asia only borders like, Russia Japan and Ming initially. You'll probably want to talk to their neighbors but it's much more reasonable. It's a bit outdated, but you could check the previous bornu game where they can reasonably ignore anyone without land in Africa

[@easytiger6570]

I think either Atha or Abyssinia, but as you expand, more people become relevant to you

[@easytiger6570]

​@@petemagnuson7357Qing borders Russia, and Russia borders a ton of people

[@bradleygrace7783]

Thanks guys, wanted to ask the question as the more I watch these the more I'm tempted to join my first variant game 😅

[@wmcduff]

Qing also borders Tokugawa. Honestly, most of the 4s and 5s aren't too bad, other than maybe Austria. Inuit and Mapuche felt like the two most on the edges.

[@snorri0411]

missed a trick on calling it Ezio's Emperial Espagna Escapades right at the end there...

[@cixzejy]

I think the Rule changes make this variant far better. Playing A2 was a lot of fun despite the time sink

[@kenkoopa7903]

It is interesting that as Spain, you come to the opinion that it's better to work with the regionals to stab the colonials to achieve victory. There is a strange historical basis to that, but it's pretty ugly, as the history of colonialism is wont to be. The other colonial powers would seek to fully supplant the invaded local populations, either by exterminating them or by subjugating them, but Spain instead sought to intermarry with the locals and entrench themselves within preexisting power structures, effectively taking over indigenous societies from within. This, not guns nor germs (though the many varieties of germs, not just smallpox, helped), was the reason they were able to establish the foothold in Mexico they have by 1642; they arrived in the midst of a power struggle between the allied peoples of the Aztec Empire and slipped into power when they helped the native Mexicans topple the emperor. These efforts weren't enough to circumvent the existence of white Latine folk, and they remained at the top of the racial hierarchy and still reap the benefits of that to this day, but there was a psychological effect on the descendants of these intermarriages-the mestizos- who could lean on their Spanish ancestry (often their father's ancestry as well) for greater status and opportunity, which the Spanish colonies deliberately afforded them over other racial categories to slowly choke out indigenous culture and identity even where indigenous blood ran.

[@audiosurfarchive]

🚨🚨🚨 Hell yeah here we gooooo 🚨🚨🚨 🤤 TASTY, TASTY 👿IMPDIP👿

[@SouperShowArchive]

A2F's Mapuche here! this playtest was a lot of fun. Mali absolutely deserved that solo.

[@epps8686]

as an African power, I sincerely hate the Sahara lmfao

[@lofidante1778]

When are we getting CaptainMeme and Ezio in a game together as England and France in Imperial Diplomacy?

[@benjaminengslev4261]

Is Ezio going soft?

[@DiploStrats]

Haha. Maybe I am. I think this game/position called for a different style of play than my usual "grow as much as possible, as quickly as possible" play.

[@q-tuber7034]

See dot… that’s fine, no need to take dot

[@mountelbert4214]

The Somali pirates player getting shut down made me sad

[@optopesi2156]

vidoe idea meme and ezio minecarft lets play

[@isaacshultz8128]

We hoog

[@The1Immortal]

Yes, hours long content...

[@malchar2]

Shoshone is pronounced shoh-SHOH-nee.

[@fishy4617]

holy shit white guy pronounces Cebu decently this is historic.

[@jo3]

I like the content, but I do wish you guys got to the point a bit faster.

[@DiploStrats]

We honestly try. There's just *so much* to talk about, we're never sure how much we can afford to cut.

[@martins.4423]

@@DiploStrats For me, it always help to write down notes on what order I want to say things in and how much time I plan to spend on it. Keeps on you track a bit and is easier than trying to edit a monologue later.

[@J3Puffin]

angrycomment.png Will be interesting to see the difference between this game and Meme’s when it finishes