The fastest Diplomacy solo possible with Peter McNamara and Bradley Grace

Following on from last episode we discuss with Peter McNamara and Bradley Grace the fastest Diplomacy solo possible, all the math and all the reality of how to make it possible!

Intro

• The guys introduce the episode and explain the latest comedy of errors plagueing the show. This includes recording at home again (another dumb reason why) and why Gavin is recording on his iPhone's speaker (0 mins 15 secs)

Interview with Peter McNamara and Bradley Grace on soloing fast

• We begin setting the scenes for this episode's discussion with Peter McNamara and Bradley Grace about how to theoretically solo the board as quickly as possible and how to best practically achieve this (2 mins 25 secs)
• They discuss their drinks in the interview and the reason for the discussion (3 mins 30 secs)
• Peter talks about the theory behind how to solo as quickly as possible on the board in 1903 (7 mins 30 secs)
• Theoretically most players can get to 21 SCs in 1903 (9 mins 30 secs)
• Brad talks about the theory of reaching 21 SC in 1903 as England (11 mins 15 secs)
• Peter talks about a Backstabbr sandbox with Italy in 1903 with 21 SC (12 mins 30 secs)
• They discuss the mathematical equation to solo in 1903. Peter doesn't have it at hand, so Gavin finds it on ChatGPT with lots of other useful elements for this strategy (14 mins 30 secs)
• They all move onto the practical dynamics of being able to solo as quickly as possible, with Brad discussing soloing in 1904 (22 mins)
• Peter gives his perspective on why he could never solo that fast (26 mins)
• Ken asks about being able to make 18 with your own units, without other countries convoying (30 mins 45 secs)
• They talk about the practical aspects for how to convince players to allow you to solo so fast (37 mins 40 secs)
• Peter blows away the myth of The Return of the Mack (42 mins)
• Peter manages to find the sand box for the game at the 2020 Poppycon (45 mins)
• Ken and Gavin pay tribute to both Peter and Bradley as players and ask about their upcoming tournaments - apologies if they talk about tournaments that happened. Remember, things are pretty busy for the guys now so sometimes the podcast episodes come out much later then when they were recorded (50 mins 30 secs)
• The interview wraps up (55 mins)
• The guys give their perspectives on the interview and an update on the math sent post-interview by Peter - apologies for the bad audio from the breeze. They ask if anyone is aware of a solo by 1903 (56 mins)
• Ken talks about heading over to the Southeast Asian New Years Tournament, with Gavin asking if he's going to try a fastest solo ever effort (1 hr 2 mins)
• They also discuss busting (unfortunately) the Return of the Mack myth (1 hr 5 mins)

Around the grounds

• Gavin discusses buying into a game he didn't remember buying in to (1 hr 6 mins 30 sec)
• The theory about dogs and their owners and picking up a great position that with some fast talk is doing very well (1 hr 8 mins)
• Ken discusses his Imperial game (1 hr 10 mins 45 secs)
• Despite talking about the vDip for podcast listeners, the game is no longer available - sorry folks with all the busy real life stuff tihs episode was recorded about a month before it came out (1 hr 15 mins 45 secs)
• They touch on the last time they were in Thailand when they came up the idea of Big Stick Diplomacy. They talk about whether to add to the variant the ability to move from one theatre to another, but allowing for a delay getting there eg using David E Cohen's ocean stacking or similar for naval travel (1 hr 19 mins)
• The guys start wrapping up the show (1 hr 25 mins)

Venue: At home, Brisbane

Drinks for the interview:

Gavin:- Hempranillo Australian shiraz-tempranillo

Ken: Kaner's dark ale home brew

Bradley: Coors beer

Peter: Penfolds shiraz

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Thanks as always to Dr Dan aka "The General" for his rockin' intro tune.