Greetings!

I was just wondering what your aims were regarding territory in the area? May I suggest that we keep Tyr as a DMZ for the time being? Hi there, Italy!  In my experience, Austria and Italy fighting anytime before 1904 or so ends one way: they are both eliminated.  So keeping a DMZ is good (ideally find a way to keep all four of TRL, ADR, TRI and VEN as a DMZ) but even better would be a joint goal we can work together on.  Typically as Austria my thoughts are to keep Russia and Turkey from allying, and pick one side against the other.  If you wanted to go after Turkey with me, that could work, but if you wanted to go after France (with either English or German help), I could go after Russia with Turkish help.  In general, I guess I’m saying I’m willing to go almost any sensible way that goes along with an alliance which I can grow to trust 🙂 I was definitely thinking of going after France, as I find they can quickly spiral out of control if uncontested.

Might be best if you go after Turkey with Russia and I'll focus my attention West Awesome.  I reached out to Russia and will let you know how that turns out. You have any indications that you’ll get any help against France? It can be a slow and annoying slog if you go 1:1 against them... England seems to be interested, so hopefully we can nip France in the bud ASAP So how did we want to move in Spring to set us both up to feel safe and not tightly entangled in each other’s business?  Any particular moves you have in mind, given what you’ve been hearing? Do you want to move against Turkey quickly? If so, I can suggest a strategy for us to take him out I’d be happy to go after Turkey - once they control Aeg + Bla, they are nearly impossible to ferret out of that corner.  But if you’re going after France with English help, nothing I do (even with Russian help) will go *fast* against Turkey unless the Turk just totally doesn’t know what they’re doing. They’ll go down, just not super fast - that’s just how it goes against the corner pocket powers... This article has an effective strategy for neutralising Turkey but we'd need to work very closely together. What do you think?

http://www.diplomacy-archive.com/resources/strategy/articles/lepanto.htm The Lepanto works well against Turkey, but does require our combined full attention: it would mean you decide to drop your idea of going after France, because you’d need both your first fleet and the one you build in Winter to be used in the east.  If you’re interested in going easy with me instead of taking on France, then sure: I’ll go to Alb in spring, and Gre in fall which sets us up for a supported attack on Aeg in spring 02. I appreciate your being true to your word and leaving Trl open. I trusted you and moved away from our mutual border.  I expect that France will run away from Pie now that they’re under attack, but if you want to follow Ven-Pie, we would be in an easy position to have both Ven, Trl, Adr, and Tri all open as a safe DMZ, and could agree not to build in Tri or Ven without prior agreement.  Let’s us work as safely together as any alliance could be while we go after Turkey without leaving many units home “wasted” just guarding against each other. Of course, if I end up bouncing in Gal again I may have to build another army in Tri, so if you want to leave Ven where it is and watch what France does for now, that’s cool too! Those terms sounds most agreeable. I think it's definitely in our interest to work closely together For this turn, I will stay in Venice just to see if France pulls back. Just letting you know for full disclosure I totally understand. I appreciate the transparency: Adr + Trl still DMZ, but I understand your needing to wait in Ven to see what France does.  Do you feel you'll have to take Tunis with the fleet, or can we still do the Lepanto?  Taking it with F Ion-Tun slows us down by a full turn in our eastward movements, but if that's what needs to happen, so be it! I'm going to convoy into Tunis so as not to move the fleet excellent, that'll set us up for a convoy to either Syria as a sneak attack, or right into Constantinople if I can get into Bulgaria to support it, depending on which way the Turk tries to defend. Ideal. Reckon we'll have him out soon enough Oh just for full disclosure on my part: I may drop Vie-Ven to cover that, since it’s a fall turn, and well “trust but verify” is always sensible, right? 🙂 I totally understand, go for it I'll build in Vie and Bud, and leave Trieste open to help enforce our DMZ.  It looks like France won't be able to build any fleets, so I guess we'll see how long they can keep England and Germany from eating them up, eh?  You may want to consider using your "rearguard army" in Venice in France: either you can offer to help kill France (in exchange for a supply center: Mar) or prop them up (to slow down the EG alliance from progressing too fast), by using A Pie S Mar, which France will need once there's a german army in Gas.  Just some thoughts. I'm setting up the Convoy this turn. Are you able to shift south-east to assist in attacking Turkey? Yep - I'm taking Bul (with Russian help) this next turn, and in the fall, can both tap Con to cut any supports it may give, as well as move Gre-Aeg to help support your attacks on Smy.  Does that work for you? Sounds good. I'm helping to take down France as well cool.  Be tough about it: if they ask for your help, since you can't easily go over there with strength (until you've completed the convoy), demand they get  you into Mar as the first step, and from there you'll support the rest of their attacks.  If they say no, you can always say, "if I'm not getting anything out of it, I may as well *support France*, instead of supporting their demise, you know?" 🙂 Actually now that I look at the board more closely- since Turkey built an army, they are basically permanently no threat. If you want to change direction and focus your attention to focus on France, I wouldn’t see it as a betrayal - my advance on Turkey would go slower, but it would still work, as two fleets aren’t necessary to force advancement into Aeg. Either way: if you want to keep going east, I’ll help you into Smy if you’ll help me into Con after! I think we'll do the Smy and Con, I need me some supply centres sounds like a plan! As you imagine, I’m heading to Aeg now, to help speed up the dismantling of the Turkey carcass :). What’s up in France?  Germany going to let you have Mar, or are you going to slow down their advance so we can resolve the east before they get done in the west? He wants me to support him into Mar as he's worried they'll cut his supplies from Paris Makes sense - Germany has some guessing games in there... I’d normally build A Vie, but England has 4 fleets ready to pour around Gibraltar into the Med (they’ll say it’s to kill France, but what do they do after taking Spain an Portugal?) and even after we get you this build from Smy, we’ll only have 4 combined between the two of us.  If you want me to build a fleet I can, but if I don’t hear from you I’ll assume A Vie. You can build the army if you want, hopefully, we'll be able to take enough ground to build up our Navy soon enough I’m fine either way, just trying to pick which way covers the most options. Vie protects from Germany, but they’re still busy and Russia can help hold them off too.  A fleet makes sure England is matched but like you’re saying, we can hopefully do that next year too. Germany has just told me that he's offered France protection if he goes against England oh wow, that would be very helpful!  I'll talk to him to encourage that.  England could be a huge threat with all those fleets if nobody goes against them. I'm going to bring my fleets back over as you've got Turkey pretty much sorted now with Russia Makes sense.  You going to try and help France and Germany against England?  Or attack France while Germany protects them?  Or just cover to make sure England does't swing too fast into the Med? Mainly cover against Eng Yeah good plan.  4 fleets right there is a lot. France is dipping out and giving his points to England. Hopefully Germany and I can take a few and maybe stand a chance of taking the fight to England makes sense!  it'll be a race to get there in time. It looks like Germany and England are coming east already.  I'm set up to push into Munich, once you can get around to Marseille and Burgundy.  I think I need to build a Fleet this year, because we otherwise don't have enough fleets to hold England back, even if Russia and I can make headway on the land.  Or are you trying to help France survive now?  Should I negotiate with them to offer support of Bur-Mun?  I think we need to get you a build from Marseille sooner rather than later, right? I've negotiated with France so that for now, he's going to let me into Mar if I support him into Spain for now

If he can help us kick Britain out of the med then I'm willing to do that for him now

You should probably ask him about Bur-Mun, as I reckon he'll want the help Oh I just realized Germany is getting a build, so it will probably be an army in Kiel, which will keep me from being able to get Bur-Mun to succeed.  But as long as I keep attacking Mun with support, it'll keep the German with all three units locked in place for now, which will hopefully help you in France. Fantastic We are going to need one of my fleets to move into Ion, because you don't want to have to waste F Tys S Tun against two english fleets forever.  Have they talked to you at all?  Seems like their actions speak louder than words... I must say that, as much I don't want to think it, you do seem to be converging to make a move against me If I wanted to attack you, I could indeed peel you apart right now, and there's not much you could do about it.  If I totally stay away from you, England pushes you right back to the borders of your homeland, and probably overcomes your defenses, given the location of the units right now.  Where would I be if that happened?  Do you think you have some tactics which would hold them off without any help from me?  If you have a plan that looks solid, I'm all ears.  I built the fleet, as I mentioned, specifically because England otherwise had us outgunned at sea, and clearly wasn't planning on fighting Germany. That's what I wanted to hear, I believe you.

You can move that fleet into the Ioanian, of course.

My only communication with England so far has been them trying to bargain with me to let them move on to take you out. So far I have not responded but, should we see an opportunity, I could always see how far a lie could get me I doubt England will believe either of us... 😦 Probably not, but could be worth a shot at some point True.  Maybe try and see what they want? See, I told you that you could trust me.  Nice defensive work, btw!  England can't hold Tunis long, once you pull a fleet out into Tys, we can take it back. My army in Pie will be supporting Mar!  Unless we're using Mar-Bur to cut the support Bur can give to Mun, in which case Pie can support Gol-Mar as a beleagured garrison to make sure you hold onto it. I think I'll be holding in Mar this turn, want to shore up the med before attempting to move on again If you're holding, you can count on Pie to support it to hold, so you can focus your fleets on naval manouevers.  Speaking of which, we should talk tactics to keep the strongest position.  And you're building a fleet, right? Aye, I think a fleet would be the most useful for fighting England. GoL s Wes, Wes S Ion-Tun, Rom-Tys, Pie S Mar, Mar S Spa, and we ask France to do Spa S Wes?  Most likely, England orders NAf S Tun so as not to lose that, but then we hold position while Rom-Tys tightens the noose.  If on the other hand they give up on Tunis in Spring, by doing NAf and MAO s Tun-Wes, it does explode your fleet, but then we have Tys and Tun and you can rebuild the fleet and I can also build one if needed.  What do you think? That sounds agreeable to me. Just as a note though, will I be getting Tun back at some point in your plan? I most likely won't get in - if I were England, I'd use NAf to support Tun this season.  In which case Tys and Ion can work together to attack it next season.  But if I do get in, we get you that one back or Spain (if we can get France into Portugal at some point), whichever is easiest to juggle around.  If you ended up with *both* Spain and got Tunis back, am I just using three of my units out of the goodness of my heart?  ;P  - but seriously, priority one is push England out of the Med, priority two is to crack the E/G defense line, and beyond that, we just make sure to divide spoils fairly, and in a defensible way (no point in me owning Portugal, as how could I defend that?) That's fair, we should have this if we play our cards right Yep, there are some guessing games, but I think we have the better position now. So, we can get you Tunis this season, guaranteed: Wes-NAf, Ion S Tys-Tun, Tys-Tun.  But in exchange, can you also help me and Russia in Germany, by doing Mar-Bur to cut their support? We could protect Mar by doing Pie S Lyo-Mar, to give it a beleagured garrison I can definitely do Mar-Bur. The rest of it sounds good Ugh. Sorry about that.  I just got worried everybody was getting builds and I wasn’t, but wanted to maintain the great position pushing England back.  I shouldn’t have taken Venice without asking.