My advancement in the game

[Kart]

I learned to respect other players from Joe_Boot.
I learned combat in early stages from Kidd
I learned combat in later stages from RoiLeon
I learned Att placement from He who shall not be named
I learned trade from many... Aye Cappy (that's right, I learned a lot from him attacking me), Black Sparrow, Sir Henry, many others
I then rewrote the book on trade and keep rewriting it as the game changes (no, I will not give you a copy)
I learned about port control from everyone who has ever held and lost a port
I have learned from everyone who ever attacked me
I continue to learn every day from both old and new members of SSTG.

Most importantly, I learned from everyone I talked to. If you want to learn, do not be an island. Even talk to your enemies, they might become your friends.

[Shadowood]

Helm
Black Sparrow
Juicy
Nelson

[DezNutz]

Most importantly, I learned from everyone I talked to. If you want to learn, do not be an island. Even talk to your enemies, they might become your friends.

Worth repeating.

You will only know so much, but what you do not know is infinite. Learning is and must be continuous.

[William one eye]

Mine is an odd list indeed. Some of you may have not taught me these things directly or intentionally but i learned them from you.

Importance of a tail. Valar
Importance of relationships . Avery
Importance of a guild. Avery
Dont make threats you dont plan to follow through on Avery
Respect for senior players. Helm
How to grow. Helm
How not to lead. Big tea
Potential value of underdeveloped players. Shadowood
Importance of following politics. Meliva
Persuasion. Astor
Team building. Astor
Battle management. Avery
How to adapt quickly. Chin Chin
Power of understanding human nature. Ivan
How to control a port. Phoenix
Not to attack those that outclass you. Phonenix.
Plunder board strategy. PulPop
Reasource management. Lodswe
Wealth management. Jim hawkins
Taking advantage of badly managed situations. Juicy
Flaming in the tavern. Fox
Strength of a team. Fox
Importance of game mechanics. Juicy, Avery, and Haron
Relationship building. Haron
Importance of Strategic planning. Haron
Intangible value. Vane
Strategic planing Vane
Comradery. Vane Fox Helm
Question everything evern if its your own idea Maha
Players can truly change and grow. Grim reaper
Excellent post Grim

Probably have forgotten quite a few that should be added to this list.
Aside from this
I learn from everyones actions and the consequnces they have. Learned a lot from reading far back in the tavern.
Learned a lot playing on my own with no help for the first few weeks. I wish that I could learn from masters that were gone before my time and hope to learn from those I have not yet encountered.

Strongly agree with Kart those who are an enemy one day may become your freinds another.

[Haron]

Like William said, some things were not thought intentionally, but I still learn a lot from observing others. And fighting others, and cooperating with others. When I see something I consider strange, I stop to think what that could mean. Often I conclude that the player just doesn't know what he's doing, but sometimes I realize that there's a good idea behind what I see. But including all those would make the list too long, and not make much sense. I guess I should mention Juicy, though, whom I have learnt both from cooperating with and being attacked by. I'll even tell something I learned. I had read about all the voodoo cards, and thought I understood how they worked. So I was a little surprised when Juicy started his attack with a "Vengeance of the Witch Doctor" card, since I had not cast any voodoo on him. This was obviously deliberate, though, and not a mistake. But according to the description of that card, this made no sense. So I realized that this card did MORE than the description. It also reports back the danger of the target fleet, so it gives you valuable information! I actually missed just that effect, and was thinking of suggesting a card which did just that, so this was valuable information. This is just an example, there are many other cases of watching things that at first seemed strange, but which revealed something important to me.

Apart from that, I've learnt a bit of "who's who" and the history of Avonmora from several people, most notably from Stan. I consider this very valuable information, and since I only started playing in March/April this year, reading old forum posts and chatting with experienced players is the only way for me to get such info. I also learnt a bit about nation fighting and national takeovers from watching Danik and LT attacking USA, and later Midway, where I even learnt some nice details from participating at a late stage. Oh, and I got some really nice ideas regarding how to use and exploit the economy from watching BigTea.

The most important "teacher" has been SkyHawk, though. One thing is the things he told me or posted in the guild. Valuable information, sure, but the most important thing he did, was make me envoy of the guild. And acting leader in his absence. I was thrown out at the deep end and had to learn to swim fast. And from that, I learnt a lot, and fast. The most important lesson was to talk to people. Getting to know the other players. One thing is that this is advantageous for the game play, particularly when in a guild like ours, but most importantly: These chats are among the nicest aspects of the game. So when I talk with you, don't think "Hmmm, he's only fishing for information or trying to get a contract". Sure, I may be doing that TOO, but most importantly, I talk to you because it makes the game more enjoyable. For me, but also for you, I hope.

[ChaIbaud]

"How to flame tavern- Fox" The most important thing to learn, William.

[Bmw]

Pretty nice to say but I learned what kart had said you should learn from your enemies and your allies

[Grim_reaper]

And when i meant Third world Republic [TOR] and T'zak Ryn [Merc] i meang everyone in both of those guilds and yes the lists are lengthy and at the end of me and [TOR] we had a fallout but amends were made and punishment acceptance was recognized, and there are some people that aren't from those guilds that helped me like the people who helped me with loans and Charles Vane only reason he's named is cause he's not apart of [TOR] or [MERC]