Greetings Russia ! I have a proposal for you Excellent! I'm always open to a good proposal. What do you have for me? I figure that since this setup means there are no groups chats, it'll be pretty hard to coordinate against us, so if we can get a Juggernaut rolling, we'll be pretty unstoppable Agreed, though I don't think that it'd be much harder to coordinate through the multiple channels, even if that does mean that there's potentially more room for deception. Well, in any case, if you want to go for it, if definitely be game I'd I'm down for it, sure Great! What do you think about openings then? For now I put in something pretty standard, but if you want we could also try something fancier Also a heads up, at anyone nosing around, I'm acting like I'm not sure what I'm doing / considering going after you -- just thought you should hear it from me first I think we should stay conventional for the time being, after all, it's convention for a reason. And that's a good policy, keep your opponents underestimating you and they'll be surprised when you start whupping them. Alrighty, sounds good to me So a bounce in Bla then? Sounds good to me 👍 Would you be ok holding sev this turn so I can start to send my fleet towards the Mediterranean? if so, one idea we could go for if we want to simulate conflict between us is I move to rum, and you support yourself in, so it looks like I was trying to bounce you hopefully then you can get Austria to trust you and leave themselves vulnerable Can do, and also I very much like that idea, keeps them from catching on too early. Great, sounds like a plan then I'll probably be sending my other army to Syria then, so I can build a fleet in Smy and start moving West Unless you think it should go to Armenia for extra play action? Armenia makes it harder to be in position when the fighting starts if you ask me, from Syria you can easily convoy out, but either way works for me. mm, thats fair yea -- I'll think it over and get back to you on that then ok, so here's what Im thinking: I'm pretty suspicious of a Lepanto coming from Italy/Austria, so I don't think I'll really have the opportunity to convoy in the immediate future
That being said, I think we can still make good progress if we can catch Austria by surprise with our alliance, so I'd say it's more important to prioritize the fake aggression
And then in the spring, the army can fall back to Syria/Smyrna to block up a Lepanto if it comes to that That scans to me, yeah. It certainly is shaping up to be a pretty standard Lepanto right now. What's the plan for Spring? Do we spring the trap now? I think we probably should -- do we want to attack ser right away or just focus on holding what we have while we bring our other units into position? Attacking Serbia without support moving into Bulgaria risks leaving it empty with an enemy fleet in the Aegean if the Austrians attack with the fleet in Greece, and would likely just bounce if they tried to attack with the army in Serbia. Maybe wait a turn to get fleets into better positions? Alrighty, I'd be on board with that Would it be possible to get your support in holding onto Bul then, or do you think we should keep up our pretending? (if possible, id like to be able to move my fleet to aeg) I can do that yeah. Things would be easier and more fluid defensively if I moved into the Black Sea, but I get if that would be trusting me a little farther than you're willing to. I was just about to suggest that myself actually -- tho the support in Bul would still be appreciated for this turn Alright, just didn't want to overstep the lines, you know how it is. I can probably even use it to keep up the subterfuge even with supporting you, since it would be really easy to misclick supporting Bulgaria to stay put rather than supporting Serbia to Bulgaria. Do you think you'll move both fleets out or support one into the Aegean? I was thinking of moving both out but I'm not 100% decided yet Well a standard Lapanto requires that Italy move into Eastern Mediterranean, so at worst if the Austrians try to move into the Aegean you'd have both bounced. I can talk to both of them and ensure that the Austrians don't do that though, so you can bounce the Italians *and* succeed at moving into the Aegean. That would be the ideal, if you supported into the Aegean the Italians would succeed at moving into the Eastern Med and then you'd have problems. That's what I was hoping for yea -- though I'm also not really sure whats up with the Austrian fleet build Yeah, the Italians are on edge about that as well. The Austrians are opaque though since they only speak in a single 10 minute period on any given day. ain't that the truth rip lol Hey, I think I can get the Italians on our side against Austria, are you willing to let them have Greece? I'd be ok with it in the short term maybe, but if they get too big, itll be kinda hard for me to make any sorta progress in the med ya Yeah, obviously it's temporary, but in the short term having them on our side helps us speed Austria's demise significantly, and their position will be absurdly weak. Thanks for the backup in Rumania btw, didn't suspect that the Austrians would catch on before we'd gotten started. I'll likely need that support again I'm afraid. Alright, thats fair yea; and especially with France in the west, we should be ok to take out Italy after Yeah, so the usefulness of getting Italy Greece is significant since it gets them a build to use on Austria's second front, and puts more friendly units on our very own front line. I take it you and they have started speaking? Yep Good good, we'll have the Austrians on the ropes by the end of next year hopefully. 👍 BTW I'm feeding Austria a heaping helping of bullshit right now to try and get them to back up off of me so that I can be in better position to attack, just in case they try to snitch and show you the bullshit I'm telling them. I'm still playing them as if I'm their friend who wants to regain their trust and attack you. But yeah, just to be clear before nightfall, you're going to support an Italian convoy to Greece right? Just want to make sure that things don't go wrong for want of communication. Yea that's the plan Just to be clear, you're also supporting Bul right Of course, if Austria got squirrely and took Bulgaria it'd be a disaster for both of us. I could also have Rumania support an attack on Bulgaria to cut support if he sees an attack coming from there (And even possibly take it) if you like, but that has some risks attached I think. An attack on Serbia, sorry. Yea, Greece just retreats to bul then, and it gets messy for me Oh yeah they would, wouldn't they? I didn't even think of the retreat tbh. I'll support you to hold then. If you want to get fancy, we could both tap ser, and with tun hitting Greece, Bul would be safe -- that does put rum at risk tho so it's a bit dicey Yeah, I'd rather keep Rumania in place just in case the Austrians decide to throw all their force behind it. Alright, that's fair, just putting the option out there Yeah. So then, we've got Black Sea and Bulgaria supporting Rumania then? Possibly Ukraine if the Italians get Austria to tell them their plans and it turns out that they intends to throw all of their forces behind an attack there. Depending on what the Italians can tell us, we might also need Bla to support bul, (in case Bud taps rum), but pretty much that yea Of course, the intelligence we get defines our strategy. I just hope that the Austrians didn't go AFK for the rest of the night until the orders hit like they normally do. Speaking of going afk, I have to go take a final exam now, but I'm pretty sure my orders are set anyways ? Unless the Italians deliver something earth shattering, I think so yes. Good luck on your test! Thanks :p Are you alright if I build an army in Sevastopol? I'd rather see it in Moscow to be honest, but if you feel like it's necessary I won't object too much I just want to keep the Austrians guessing about what I intend to do with that. Plus, I already convinced them again that I'm on their side despite having supported you for two turns now, so it might be important to speed things up to keep up the pretense that I might think about going toward you. Keep them confused, y'know? Alright, that's fair, just as long as they're the one getting tricked :p Think the Italians and I are supporting you into Serbia first turn, and then me to Budapest the second, that scan as far as what you know? That sounds like what the Italians proposed to me yea Excellent, that'll leave the Austrians on the ropes, we can think about moving on the Italians after that depending on the situation Sorry for the deception -- I only decided at the last minute and I also didn't want any leaks getting to Italy I understand, but it's not like I'm gonna leak to them anyways As long as you'll help Galicia move into Budapest I don't mind Meaning that you'll poke Serbia to break any possible support of course. Alright, will do, thanks for understanding -- oof -- Yeah, sorry. For what its worth I fuckin' hate doing this whole 'betrayal' thing to people. It's the worst part of this game. >.>