Imperial Diplomacy III - Blitz Co-op England

[@DiploStrats]

Couple things: Live commentary videos of this same game, by Flare, DamienReave, KingOfPrussia and Sportsballs: kzbin.info/www/bejne/fpfOl2OIn7WDkLM (Part 1) kzbin.info/www/bejne/op6remZmjMiAqac (Part 2) This is technically the fourth ImpDip game we've played, but I'm labelling it ImpDip III because we haven't recorded the other yet. Soon (TM)! And finally, this video marks my first attempt at using background music, since the empty spaces where we were just typing was pretty noticeable. I'd love any feedback on that, because it's very much a thing outside my area of expertise and something I'm quite unsure about.

[@sergewind2208]

Technically technically, Meme's Spain can be ImpDip2.5 because it's a companion piece to Ezio's Spain which was ImpDip2

[@DiploStrats]

@@sergewind2208 I might actually take that idea :D Although I need to figure out how to write 2.5 in Roman Numerals. II.V?

[@DerVarg]

@@DiploStrats I guess so

[@skarppost4322]

Regarding the background music, I like it but I am also biased to eu4 by a few thousand hours :D

[@mewr11]

@@DiploStrats You can always take the Kingdom Hearts approach of "II.5"

[@robertscott7812]

Meme and Ezio doing coop Diplomacy? We get closer and closer to the Minecraft Let's Play with every video👀

[@SpiderEnjoyer]

The match hasn't even started and the DiploStrats team is already manually moving every single conversation to curry favor with the other players... God I love what Diplomacy makes people do

[@owentucker6215]

Diplomacy is such a beautiful game because so much of it is played off of the physical board. So you get mind games like this…

[@DiploStrats]

Find every edge you can.

[@JohnHazl]

5:28 "[one of the France players] is the person Ezio stabbed in his Imperial Diplomacy game" - do you have any idea how little that narrows it down?

[@thawk75]

Great video and an amazing result. You might have not technically won, but it has to feel like one considering the only power stopping you from a win is one that is nearly impossible for you to interact with, especially in a blitz setting where you don't even have time to convince their neighbours to stop them. Props to Ezio for doing as well as he did on so little sleep.

[@DiploStrats]

Thanks! I only did so well b/c I was fed so many builds early, *and* because Meme did a wonderful job navigating things in Europe, setting our enemies up to fail. I'm *really* pleased with how well this worked. -Ezio

[@thawk75]

@@DiploStrats Oh I understand that you both did very well, I'm just biased since if I woke up before 5AM to play this most of what my co-op partner would hear would be loud snoring

[@hardcorelace7565]

The time difference between blitz chess and blitz diplomacy is hilarious.

[@tobiashaythornthwaite3542]

The longest time for an entire blitz chess game is 10 minutes, if both players use all of their time, then there's diplomacy What do you mean 10 minutes a bliyz game, that's hardly enough for a half a phase

[@Bankosek]

Ezio's laugh as they watch the orders come in is wonderfull haha. It's honestly incredible watching how you two work together. Best example of how cooping a colonial can work to your advantage. gg

[@DiploStrats]

The move reveal in Diplomacy is always such a high/low for me. When things go well, it's amazing. And when things go poorly, it's so crushing. I *love* it.

[@flare2209]

I’ve watched 2h30m already, this video is so much more exciting than I thought it would be haha! The music *really* adds to the vibe, makes your planning seem so much more *magnificent*! More stuff like this! (I need a three month break before running a similar event again 💀)

[@yourloyaldeckhand3321]

never before thought I'd enjoy watching a guy talk in discord chats for six hours, but here we are

[@owentucker6215]

This Variant is honestly amazing. It’s super unique but doesn’t actually change the rules of diplomacy significantly. (Only win conditions and coring are different). The idea of a Colonial power where your holdings are spread out between many theatres is crazy unique, and really changes the diplomacy basics without actually changing the rules.

[@TheMan83554]

The Europa Universallis music is perfect here

[@NAKanaroko]

I was playing EU4 while watching this and got confused for a second because 'my game volume increased'

[@janitorjams2091]

4:08:01 "Jobs or lives, such a dilemma isn't it? "I'm a politician. Jobs every time." that chat log is absolute gold

[@DiploStrats]

I was wondering if anyone would see that :D I watch far too much Yes Minister for my own good -Meme

[@PMaurits]

@@DiploStrats I paused a lot to read many of the chats. Too curious :D

[@theonlyknight3171]

It's so interesting watching this after having spectated the full ~8 hours from the popcorn channel. There are so many narratives that you just miss out on like Salt bemoaning his tempo loss, the Ming player struggling to survive, the Otto-Saf death war that started on accident and lead (basically) to their deaths... But here we see the story of the fastest growing ImpDip game and all the ways it might have not happened. Such a great variant, this is.

[@LazyBird352]

I always wondered if coop diplomacy was a thing. Now I definitely know it is.

[@DiploStrats]

It's more rare than it should be, I think - I've never played in a co-op Dip game before this. It was fantastic to do!

[@owentucker6215]

@@DiploStrats I think a big problem is that organizing a Dip game is enough work on its own without having to get 2x the players just to start. 100% agree that there's a lot of value in a format like this though, especially under time constraints. Also not every map for Diplomacy is easy to split responsibilities like Imperial. I might try this with my Board Game group as a way to get new players in. We have a regular 7, but getting new players is always tough, this could be a good way to proceed.

[@zuxxu1593]

Heya! The American France player here. Safe to say that it's clear I'm not that experienced, and that's true. This was my third ever game of Diplomacy, so I was mostly playing for fun. I saw the crowd and knew I'd get slaughtered! I did have a great time tbh! Even though I'd preferred to have played a bit better (those misorders still aren't pretty). As for why we went anti-Spain: we had a chat that was anti-English in spring, with NL and Spain. We thought Spain leaked after spring y1, but you seemed to have figured it out yourselves (and NL was the bigger threat it seems). Overall, I certainly had a great time! Hopefully another time I'll not make a fool out of myself (and play a bit more careful, I blame Firebender for the offensive moves ;p)

[@DiploStrats]

It was a tough position for you, absolutely. We were going to war from the get-go, pretty much entirely because of your partner. We figured it was going to be a brutal war. Thanks for playing! I'm glad you had a fun time, even though things didn't go well for you on the board. -Ezio

[@AM-we1es]

Editing? In a Diplostrats video? Snow way!

[@DiploStrats]

Progress!

[@connorbrooks7501]

The music is a great touch! I loved how you faded it out during the talking bits. I think music is just a bit loud during the non-talking parts, per my taste. I’m excited to watch the rest!

[@DiploStrats]

Definitely going to make it a bit quieter if/when we do another video like this - I'm glad it mostly worked in any case!

[@theonlyknight3171]

Cheering for this Mali because they're a TROOPER!!

[@DerVarg]

5:15 "The player Ezio stabbed in his ImpDip play" -> [Insert "Do you have the slightest idea how little that narrows it down" meme here]

[@smthreallycool]

I was spectating the first half of this game, and i spent the time focused specifically on europe and followed every press message. Trying to piece together what was happening without the map got more tricky as time went on, but i got some very accurate predictions in the beginning. I don't know about Ezio, i didn't look at the Americas, but Meme specifically had a show of force in press usage, with some masterful plays and nuanced messages, especially considering the time limit. You did well, and that wasn't an accident.

[@Red_Oak.]

I like how Portland doesn't even encompass the city of Portland. (You can see it at 1:50) Also love the music. Your keyboard is VERY loud so the music balances it out well.

[@SilverWolf09100]

Portsmouth would be a much better option rather than Portland. Portland is further up the coast in Maine (Massachusetts) while Portsmouth is probably the most relevant port city in NH.

[@matthewmcneany]

British Army in Kabul. What could possibly go wrong?

[@xanderalaniz2298]

Ezio vibe: "Not big 3. Just big me."

[@articasterisk]

6 hours of my free time magically vanishing after i see a new diplostrats video drop (except this time i was in this game!!! woah!!! i was mapuche btw unfortunately i didnt share a single press message with england) :(

[@GRUGLIFE]

Live game and they still start half an hour in.

[@CW11721]

6 hours for one imperial diplomacy game? Such a quick video!

[@Driesipops]

Is this a cry for help?

[@skarppost4322]

Praise Bumble!

[@Definitely-potater]

Such a fun video, so glad I could help run this. The way you split this all up between reminds me a bit of 1862Dip but in that variant it’s a built in feature. Either way I hope you enjoyed yourselves and maybe this can be run again to completion.

[@Ciurk]

👁️

[@stillfog7531]

Thank god, now i have something to listen to at work

[@nlwegun7784]

5:10:24 was that Packers love from Ezio? This man is so based, Go Pack Go tomorrow against the Eagles!

[@DiploStrats]

Go Pack Go! I'll be watching live for sure

[@DiploStrats]

Also thanks for watching all 5 hours, and paying enough attention to notice the Packers reference!

[@nlwegun7784]

​@@DiploStratsMy man! And of course! This is exactly the type of video I watch all the way through, even though they're probably really difficult to make 😅😂

[@kandrenai]

It irritates me everytime Ezio says 'King' and not 'Ching' for Qing

[@isaacshultz8128]

Cry about it

[@DiploStrats]

Pronunciation is hard. That one's frustrating b/c I know the right way to say it, but when I'm reading I don't notice often. We'll do better in our next Impdip video

[@Ciurk]

​@@isaacshultz8128 bro

[@owentucker6215]

2:16:10 is a top notch reference. Men of culture indeed.

[@DiploStrats]

They're so good!

[@isaacshultz8128]

Incase of what

[@torgor_]

Hahah I never realized how wordy these dialogs with other players can get. I suppose it is called diplomacy but everyone's so formal!

[@wonkyslipshod1925]

I started my first game of imp dip as russia and Y2 i have a 4 front war 10/10

[@CW11721]

Go Pack Go! Glad to hear Ezio pulls for the correct team in football.

[@DiploStrats]

Always! Since Favre bby

[@heinrichvonbaden8824]

excellent music choices

[@merlijnalbers9603]

Oh no, I have a flight in ten hours, if only I had something to kill the time

[@TheThinKing23]

I didn’t realize you were a Europa Universalis IV fan! It’s probably my all-time favorite game, and makes a great multiplayer experience tbh. Diplomacy + a ton of internal management and actual battle tactics :) Have you ever read A Player of Games? You might enjoy it

[@DiploStrats]

It's my second most played steam game behind Civ V! I love it, but I'm terrible at it - I pretty much exclusively play the big overpowered factions. Probably need to figure out how to play it well some day :D I've never heard of a player of games, no - I might check it out in future!

[@walkingsophie]

I loved the mini golf gameplay you should start a mini golf channel

[@Sock-qv9wr]

So I normally play EU4 while watching your vids. It took me a while to realize it wasn't my game playing this great track

[@damienreave]

Love the bgm, smart move.

[@biscuit715]

Does recording while playing affect your play style or diplomacy? A while back I used to be friends with a streamer and whenever we played I felt like I had to ham it up for the "camera" but perhaps it's different when it's not live.

[@DiploStrats]

Really good question! I think generally it doesn't affect my playstyle much - the only real difference I felt in this game was being a bit slower on the press because I was talking out loud more than I naturally would. I think for most streamers, there's a lot of pressure to be entertaining for the audience to make sure the viewers are constantly entertained, so you've got to be a little over the top. We're not really in that same space, though - with DiploStrats generally being very long, very drawn-out strategic analysis with very little editing, people aren't really expecting anything over the top from us, so we tend to be in a pretty comfortable spot just doing our own thing at our own pace when recording. I'm not sure that translates too well to live VoDs like this - it was a bit *too* slow even for DiploStrats, which is why I've sped up so many of the sections where we're not talking - but it means I can play how I normally would without thinking too much about the fact that it's being recorded. At least, that's my own view on it - Ezio's might be different! - Meme

[@owentucker6215]

@@DiploStratsI think the VOD with boring parts sped up was perfect for me! I love specifically getting looks into the actual diplo and not just descriptions. Sometimes HOW you say something is more important than WHAT is being said.

[@biscuit715]

@@DiploStrats I wasn't expecting such a detailed answer thanks! I really enjoyed this one, I often found myself pausing to see what you were saying in the sped up sections so I don't think it's too slow at all.

[@yoshthen00b]

Colonial press is a hard drug

[@Phrinn]

with all the music breaks and general editing. how long was the editing process?

[@DiploStrats]

It took about 12 hours total, although I wasn't fully focused on it the whole time. The music was surprisingly easy to add actually (just required looking up guides on audio ducking), the time consuming part was cutting out the keyboard audio and speeding up the bits where nobody was talking!

[@benji.3002]

Amazing video so far

[@mr.narwhal547]

music was just a little bit too loud when you were not speaking, but other than that great video. fun watching you guys play, maybe ill get involved one day.

[@thirdmunky]

I got to watch this live! It was so much fun! I was too late to sign up, but I'm looking forward to trying this format out next time. I'm excited to watch your commentary now :D

[@RuntaTQ]

yoo, Blitz Imperial!

[@TheThinKing23]

Oh. My god.

[@optopesi2156]

vidoe idea meme and ezio minecarft lets play

[@WinnaTheKing]

This is a terrible awful and amazing

[@kandrenai]

Is that eu4 music?

[@DiploStrats]

Yep!

[@andrewkelley9405]

lets gooooooo!!!

[@The1Immortal]

Exciting

[@c4ndl326]

putt party mentioned