diff --git a/ai_diplomacy/clients.py b/ai_diplomacy/clients.py
index 624f08d..3eed399 100644
--- a/ai_diplomacy/clients.py
+++ b/ai_diplomacy/clients.py
@@ -13,6 +13,8 @@ from dotenv import load_dotenv
 from openai import AsyncOpenAI
 from openai import AsyncOpenAI as AsyncDeepSeekOpenAI # Alias for clarity
 from anthropic import AsyncAnthropic
+import asyncio
+import requests
 
 import google.generativeai as genai
 from together import AsyncTogether
@@ -800,12 +802,29 @@ class BaseModelClient:
 
 class OpenAIClient(BaseModelClient):
     """
-    For 'o3-mini', 'gpt-4o', or other OpenAI model calls.
+    Async client for OpenAI-compatible chat-completion endpoints.
+    Accepts an optional base_url override.
     """
 
-    def __init__(self, model_name: str, prompts_dir: Optional[str] = None):
+    def __init__(
+        self,
+        model_name: str,
+        prompts_dir: Optional[str] = None,
+        base_url: Optional[str] = None,
+    ):
         super().__init__(model_name, prompts_dir=prompts_dir)
-        self.client = AsyncOpenAI(api_key=os.environ.get("OPENAI_API_KEY"), base_url='https://gadgets-become-throughout-kenneth.trycloudflare.com/v1')
+
+        # Allow env var or constructor arg
+        self.base_url = (
+            base_url
+            or os.environ.get("OPENAI_BASE_URL")
+            or "https://api.openai.com/v1"
+        )
+
+        self.client = AsyncOpenAI(
+            api_key=os.environ.get("OPENAI_API_KEY"),
+            base_url=self.base_url,
+        )
 
     async def generate_response(self, prompt: str, temperature: float = 0.0, inject_random_seed: bool = True) -> str:
         # Updated to new API format
@@ -1224,44 +1243,188 @@ class TogetherAIClient(BaseModelClient):
             return f"Error: Unexpected error - {str(e)}" # Return a string with error info
 
 
+class RequestsOpenAIClient(BaseModelClient):
+    """
+    Synchronous `requests`-based client for any OpenAI-compatible API.
+    Wrapped in `async` via `asyncio.to_thread` so it can live beside
+    the aiohttp / SDK implementations without changing call-sites.
+    """
+
+    def __init__(
+        self,
+        model_name: str,
+        prompts_dir: Optional[str] = None,
+        base_url: Optional[str] = None,
+    ):
+        super().__init__(model_name, prompts_dir=prompts_dir)
+
+        self.api_key = os.environ.get("OPENAI_API_KEY")
+        if not self.api_key:
+            raise ValueError("OPENAI_API_KEY environment variable is required")
+
+        # Constructor arg > env var > default official endpoint
+        self.base_url = (
+            (base_url or os.environ.get("OPENAI_BASE_URL") or "https://api.openai.com/v1")
+            .rstrip("/")
+        )
+
+        # Pre-build the endpoint used by Chat Completions
+        self.endpoint = f"{self.base_url}/chat/completions"
+
+    # ------------------------------------------------------------------ #
+    # internal synchronous helper
+    # ------------------------------------------------------------------ #
+    def _post_sync(self, payload: dict) -> dict:
+        headers = {
+            "Content-Type": "application/json",
+            "Authorization": f"Bearer {self.api_key}",
+        }
+        r = requests.post(self.endpoint, headers=headers, json=payload, timeout=60)
+        r.raise_for_status()
+        return r.json()
+
+    # ------------------------------------------------------------------ #
+    # async public API
+    # ------------------------------------------------------------------ #
+    async def generate_response(
+        self,
+        prompt: str,
+        temperature: float = 0.0,
+        inject_random_seed: bool = True,
+    ) -> str:
+        system_prompt_content = self.system_prompt
+        if inject_random_seed:
+            system_prompt_content = f"{generate_random_seed()}\n\n{system_prompt_content}"
+
+        # Standard OpenAI JSON payload
+        payload = {
+            "model": self.model_name,
+            "messages": [
+                {"role": "system", "content": system_prompt_content},
+                {"role": "user", "content": f"{prompt}\n\nPROVIDE YOUR RESPONSE BELOW:"},
+            ],
+            "temperature": temperature,
+            "max_tokens": self.max_tokens,
+        }
+
+        # Run blocking call in threadpool
+        loop = asyncio.get_running_loop()
+        try:
+            response_data = await loop.run_in_executor(None, self._post_sync, payload)
+        except Exception as e:
+            logger.error(f"[{self.model_name}] HTTP error: {e}", exc_info=True)
+            return ""
+
+        # Extract assistant content
+        try:
+            return (
+                response_data["choices"][0]["message"]["content"].strip()
+                if response_data.get("choices")
+                else ""
+            )
+        except (KeyError, IndexError, TypeError) as e:
+            logger.error(f"[{self.model_name}] Bad response format: {e}")
+            return ""
+
+
 ##############################################################################
 # 3) Factory to Load Model Client
 ##############################################################################
+def _split_model_and_base(spec: str) -> Tuple[str, Optional[str]]:
+    """
+    Accepts strings like  'gpt-4o'               -> ('gpt-4o', None)
+                           'gpt-4o@http://foo'    -> ('gpt-4o', 'http://foo')
+    """
+    if "@" in spec:
+        model, base = spec.split("@", 1)
+        return model, base.rstrip("/")
+    return spec, None
 
 
 def load_model_client(model_id: str, prompts_dir: Optional[str] = None) -> BaseModelClient:
     """
-    Returns the appropriate LLM client for a given model_id string.
-    
-    Args:
-        model_id: The model identifier
-        prompts_dir: Optional path to the prompts directory.
-    
-    Example usage:
-       client = load_model_client("claude-3-5-sonnet-20241022")
+    Factory supporting:
+      • '<prefix>:<model>[@base_url]'
+      • '<model>[@base_url]'  (heuristic fallback)
+
+    Recognised prefixes → client class
+       openai, oai              → OpenAIClient
+       requests, req            → RequestsOpenAIClient
+       responses, oai-resp      → OpenAIResponsesClient
+       claude                   → ClaudeClient
+       gemini                   → GeminiClient
+       deepseek                 → DeepSeekClient
+       openrouter, or           → OpenRouterClient
+       together                 → TogetherAIClient
     """
-    # Basic pattern matching or direct mapping
-    lower_id = model_id.lower()
-    
-    # Check for o3-pro model specifically - it needs the Responses API
+
+    # First: pull any '@base_url' suffix off the full string
+    model_part, explicit_base = _split_model_and_base(model_id)
+
+    # Next: check for explicit '<prefix>:...' pattern
+    if ":" in model_part:
+        prefix, rest = model_part.split(":", 1)
+        prefix = prefix.lower()
+        model_name, alt_base = _split_model_and_base(rest)
+        base_url = explicit_base or alt_base  # explicit wins
+
+        if prefix in {"openai", "oai"}:
+            return OpenAIClient(model_name, prompts_dir, base_url)
+
+        if prefix in {"requests", "req"}:
+            return RequestsOpenAIClient(model_name, prompts_dir, base_url)
+
+        if prefix in {"responses", "oai-resp", "openai-responses"}:
+            return OpenAIResponsesClient(model_name, prompts_dir)
+
+        if prefix == "claude":
+            return ClaudeClient(model_name, prompts_dir)
+
+        if prefix == "gemini":
+            return GeminiClient(model_name, prompts_dir)
+
+        if prefix == "deepseek":
+            return DeepSeekClient(model_name, prompts_dir)
+
+        if prefix in {"openrouter", "or"}:
+            return OpenRouterClient(model_name, prompts_dir)
+
+        if prefix == "together":
+            return TogetherAIClient(model_name, prompts_dir)
+
+        logger.warning(f"[load_model_client] Unrecognised prefix '{prefix}', falling back.")
+        model_part, explicit_base = rest, base_url  # keep analysing without prefix
+
+    # ------------------------------------------------------------------
+    # Heuristic fallback (unchanged apart from base_url support)
+    # ------------------------------------------------------------------
+    model_name, base_url = _split_model_and_base(model_part)
+    base_url = explicit_base or base_url
+
+    lower_id = model_name.lower()
+
     if lower_id == "o3-pro":
-        return OpenAIResponsesClient(model_id, prompts_dir=prompts_dir)
-    # Check for OpenRouter first to handle prefixed models like openrouter-deepseek
-    elif model_id.startswith("together-"):
-        actual_model_name = model_id.split("together-", 1)[1]
-        logger.info(f"Loading TogetherAI client for model: {actual_model_name} (original ID: {model_id})")
-        return TogetherAIClient(actual_model_name, prompts_dir=prompts_dir)
-    elif "openrouter" in model_id.lower(): # or "/" in model_id: # More general check for OpenRouterClient(model_id)
-        return OpenRouterClient(model_id, prompts_dir=prompts_dir)
-    elif "claude" in lower_id:
-        return ClaudeClient(model_id, prompts_dir=prompts_dir)
-    elif "gemini" in lower_id:
-        return GeminiClient(model_id, prompts_dir=prompts_dir)
-    elif "deepseek" in lower_id:
-        return DeepSeekClient(model_id, prompts_dir=prompts_dir)
-    else:
-        # Default to OpenAI (for models like o3-mini, gpt-4o, etc.)
-        return OpenAIClient(model_id, prompts_dir=prompts_dir)
+        return OpenAIResponsesClient(model_name, prompts_dir)
+
+    if model_name.startswith("together-"):
+        return TogetherAIClient(model_name.split("together-", 1)[1], prompts_dir)
+
+    if "openrouter" in lower_id:
+        return OpenRouterClient(model_name, prompts_dir)
+
+    if "claude" in lower_id:
+        return ClaudeClient(model_name, prompts_dir)
+
+    if "gemini" in lower_id:
+        return GeminiClient(model_name, prompts_dir)
+
+    if "deepseek" in lower_id:
+        return DeepSeekClient(model_name, prompts_dir)
+
+    # Default to OpenAI-compatible async client
+    return OpenAIClient(model_name, prompts_dir, base_url)
+
+
 
 
 ##############################################################################