Greetings, Russia!

We don't have too much to discuss early on, but I was curious on whether or not you were planning to move A Moscow - St Petersburg, where you could make a play for Norway.

And likewise, was curious whether you planned to order F Sevestapol - Black Sea, or else allow Turkey to occupy it.

It's early, but we might have room to cooperate against England or Germany in the future. Let's keep in touch. Good luck. I'd be very interested in organizing a group effort against Britain right now. I likely won't move to Saint Petersburg the first turn in case the Germans try something but I'm definitely bouncing in the Black sea. Understood, what's your plan then? 

You might consider Moscow to Livonia, which would still improve your situation in the north (since you could convoy to Sweden and then build in StP), while also helping to cover Warsaw.

Or else you could just commit both of your armies to the south. I've spoken with the Germans, and a group effort against the British is likely. I'm still considering various ways to secure my position better, but I think keeping one army put in Moscow offers the best stability for the time being; If the Germans are telling the truth it will likely move to secure a spot in Finland in the second year. I would advise against staying put. Both Ukraine and Livonia can defend 3/4 of your centers. St Petersburg  can't be attacked year 1 and the risk to Sevestapol is nominal in year 1, since even if he goes all out you bounce him out of Black Sea and he can only make an unsupported attempt from Armenia Going to Livonia is just as good for defending against Germany but gives you more options in the North Perhaps you're right, but an emergency is more likely to materialize in the south, in the rare case that Austria might deploy full strength against me, and the utility of remaining in Moscow in that case is much greater. I prefer the overall flexibility to the ability to deploy quickly to Scandinavia personally. If you are concerned about the worst case on defense, I would order A Warsaw - Galicia and A Moscow - Ukraine The absolute worst case is: 
A Berlin - Prussia or Silesia
A Smyrna - Armenia
F Ankara - Black Sea
A Vienna - Galicia
A Budapest S A Vienna - Galicia or - Rumania Even in that nightmare scenario, you can defend all your centers with A Ukraine S Sev H (if Austria went to Rumania) or support Warsaw (if they went to Galicia with support) I have to be careful not to provoke a worst case through concern for it. Remaining in Moscow on the first turn only marginally reduces my ability on the second turn in the north, while it retains the ability to support/ go south quickly if all goes wrong. I'm greatly tempted to take that army to Finland in any case. Have you talked to Italy? Even if you're not going for an Austrian offensive, they could provide a hedge against an Eastward move by Austria. You can also deny working together in the event that Austria is offended by this. The Italians have been relatively tight lipped, they haven't spoken much more than the Austrians and the Austrians haven't spoken at all, which is concerning to say the least. That's... Interesting. In my experience with Italy, Russia is the one country you can rely on, since they're a potential ally against either Austria or Turkey. It's strange that they haven't been recruiting your alliance I haven't heard from Austria either. They're the one player I haven't heard from Well that's reassuring at least. Are the Germans on board for a sea lion in your opinion? They haven't responded to my counter-proposal after they requested they get Norway. Hard to tell if they are unsatisfied or if they simply haven't had time to respond. My conversation with Germany was very brief. All I know is that they agreed to a bounce on Burgundy, which is kind of a no brainer for them if they believe that I am going to Burgundy. Which I am, and I told them so. Alright, they probably spoke to you in the same window of time that they did to me. Did you talk about which of you gets Belgium? We did not. Since I am expecting to get bounced in Burgundy and am not planning to enter the Channel in year 1, I will likely have no say in the Belgian question. I am happy to let England and Germany fight for it Well that reinforces my wish to disallow the Germans the use of Norway, if he's likely to get Belgium then he certainly doesn't need it. Indeed. Seems like a rather greedy fellow. If I was less concerned about the British I'd not consider them as highly for alliance, temporary or otherwise. Interesting sentiment! What makes you so so concerned about the British? I've seen too many Russias undone by British armies in St. Petersburg; their advantage in navy can easily push you out of Scandinavia and your only means to create fleets in the north. Of all Russia's existential threats, they're the worst one because they're Britain's easiest target. At the risk of harping on the same points, this is part of why I find it's important to maintain a strong presence in the north With an army in St Petersburg (ideally), and a fleet in Sweden, not only can you pretty comfortably keep the English out of St Petersburg, you have pretty good odds of evicting them from Norway You could even bounce them in Norway, where they would end up without a build I get that, I just don't see Livonia as having any particular utility that Moscow doesn't have aside from the ability to convoy to Sweden or Finland; but Sweden is a position better served by a fleet anyways. Finland though, is a place built for armies, but I could get there easier via St. Petersburg. I'd like to bounce the Brits in Norway but it's imperative to keep St. Petersburg free for the 1902 build so that I can get a fleet there. I do think that Livonia strengthens your position in the North, but it's more helpful if your target enemy is Germany than England. It allows you to convoy into Sweden in Fall 1901, build in St Petersburg, and then use A St Petersburg and A Sweden to pressure Norway while F Gulf of Bothnia goes to the Baltic If you commit three units to the south or stay in Moscow, you'll have at most one fleet and one army in the north. If you go to St Petersburg, you'll have that number at minimum, and if you convoy to Sweden you can realistically get to two fleets and an army I admit that the concept is warming on me. It also doesn't telegraph to the British that you don't trust them. St Petersburg is vaguely unfriendly, but one which England may not feel pressured to take action on, especially if they are under pressure elsewhere. However, they will most likely see a move to Livonia as an anti-German or a defensive move than one against them. True. Though the German perception of the move is a concern, as much as I don't relish them as allies, I especially don't need them as enemies. I personally think you can probably spin it as a defensive move, but I will acknowledge that it's hard to be sure when Germany has been so tight lipped Right, I just need more communication all around me honestly. I've only really come to a decisive conclusion with the Turks. Yeah, other than yourself, Turkey and Italy have been the only other powers who have been really talkative I've spoken to England and Germany enough to get the key points of alignments across, but not enough to build a relationship. Austria has been totally silent The Italians have only talked to me briefly and the Turks and I just about talked enough to agree to stay out of each other's way and to organize a bounce in the Black Sea. That's the same level as my discussion with Germany - to align to stay out of each other's way. Maybe it's a time zone issue. See if they talk overnight. Perhaps, I just hope the Austrians aren't dead-on-arrival I mean, if they are, you are likely to be one of the beneficiaries. I should be the one saying that! You're right, it's just a much less interesting situation if I just get to walk into Budapest and/or Vienna! Yeah, fair enough! Although it's only marginally worse than Austria just rolling over in the face of a Juggernaut alliance, as happens far too often. That's true; Austria really bums people out but tbh it's my favorite to play. The Germans are really stuck on Norway for some reason. Those cheeky sons of bitches the Germans had me so goddamn worried about getting bounced in Sweden and they didn't even go to Denmark turn one. Sorry for not responding sooner, I got a little drunk last night. But yeah, Austria isn't the strongest country, but playing Austria is kind of exciting in a way. Seems like in this game, both you and Germany are in good terms with them, so they'll probably be alright at least for now. Yeah, so long as they don't make any terrible mistakes Fixating on Norway and then not even going to Denmark is really strange. Not sure they can even get to Norway any time soon. Their move to HOlland instead is a little annoying for me and England, but shouldn't be the end of the world Yeah, I might just take Norway myself. Not any time soon mind, I need to get things relatively resolved in the south far before that. Yeah, it's hard for England to set up a strong defensive position in Norway, and if they were in such a position they'd probably push onwards to StP. So as long as you sort things out defensively you can probably evict England later. The English are getting rather unorthodox aren't they? To be fair, that's partly because they successfully anticipated an unorthodox move by Germany to vacate HOlland And you? I see you decided not to convoy to Sweden Army wouldn't do much good up there, still want to be able to pivot away if other issues arise. Better to potentially get the fleet out of the Baltic. If you convoy, you could get to the Baltic anyways, while having A Sweden which pressures both Denmark and Norway, as opposed to the passive A Livonia No I mean out of the Baltic, the whole body of water, to the Skagerrak (Potentially) Oh, that's more interesting You would definitely need to get through England to get anywhere in that direction. Does that mean you're thinking of building in StP nc? Indeed, it's all a future thing though, I've got no plans as yet for anything like that, gotta resolve the south a bit better first. And yeah, I'm definitely building a fleet in StP NC, can't afford the Brits deciding that I look like an easy target. Words to live by! And I assume the second build will be an army in Warsaw? Where do you stand regarding Turkey and Austria? Warsaw's neutral ground, as agreed with the Germans, so the second comes in Moscow. As far as Turkey and Austria goes, I'm inconclusive. Austria doesn't talk much but then again, neither does Turkey. I feel like if you build in Moscow and already have a unit standing by in Livonia, you could very easily end up being very passive. Also, I just noticed Turkey's move to Armenia Yeah, Turkey and I are having a nice talk about that, as much as can be, but they don't seem particularly determined to come after me considering they didn't touch the Black Sea. That definitely contributes to the south being "Inconclusive" as I said. They can though, at least if they're not afraid of the Austrians. They would just build a fleet in Ankara and support themsleves in That would be intensely concerning, but I very seriously doubt that Austria would be on board, and even if they are I don't feel as though the Italians would be interested. That's true. I guess if you feel comfortable with Austria and Italy, it's a reasonable position Right, barring a worst case scenario the situation in the south is stable at least. But not especially looking to go on the offensive? Oh I will be, just depends on which one ends up being more convincing in the next half-day. Odd choice to build the fleet in Brest. Without any fleets in the north I will be too vulnerable to a potential English stab Well we're of the same mind on that front at the very least. They certainly didn't appreciate when I did that though and I warned them in advance, did you at least clear it with them? I warned then in advance, but I'm not sure they saw it and they were unhappy either way However, I think Germany's moves have locked England and Germany into conflict, and I'm sure he'll forget about it after some success on the German front I wouldn't be so sure of that if I was you, the Italians tell me that the English are angrily blabbing about your plans to attack Italy with the forces you have in the south. There are no such plans... Time to do some damage control I guess Yeah, I figured it seemed fishy since if you planned to attack the Italians surely you'd have built another fleet in Marseilles. You know, I hate to sound like a broken clock, but you could be in Liverpool before the British could even do anything to stop you, if you started now and were sufficiently sneaky about it. I'll definitely take that under advisement. Of course, it would be a lot more tempting if a foreign fleet were in the Norwegian Sea or something I'm sure the British will be sufficiently distracted with trying to keep me from being tempted to take Norway and continuing the German campaign. Any pertinent information on the British plan that you know and/or are willing to give out by the way? Since they're being so imaginative with your plans and all. Nothing concrete, but they've indicated to me that they feel like they are on good terms with you, which might mean that they plan to prioritize defending Belgium over defending Norway Sorry, Holland Excellent, they'll definitely need to do that if they intend to keep that foothold and expand it. That does leave them vulnerable to an attack on Norway, however They're either vulnerable to one or vulnerable to the other, they can't have a guaranteed hold on both until Fall, and that's only assuming that their positioning relative to Germany doesn't worsen significantly. Yeah, and the other complication is that they can only go to Norwegian Sea to shore up their position . Indeed, if they move to the Helgoland Bight or Skagerrak to try and make room for more fleets to use against Germany they risk losing Netherlands and the foothold that they had established, with no more means of gaining ground against the Germans. If they had built in London they could move to the Channel to try and strongarm Belgium, but they built an army there instead. Of course if they felt comfortable with you, F Norway could go to Skagerrak to shore things up If they felt comfortable I doubt they'd have bothered to build a fleet that can go directly to the Norwegian Sea rather than one that can almost immediately deploy to harass and/or support Belgium. To be honest I"m not sure I get the A London build at all. Liverpool is better placed for convoying since you could go to Clyde if you wanted to convoy through the North Sea I understand and appreciate that, if he intended to respect our demilitarization of the English Channel and expected me to do the same, F Edinburgh is better than F London But why A London then? Yeah, it's not a terribly competent build order all things considered. The fact that in one turn Liverpool can move to be convoyed through any sea zone around Britain means that it's significantly better for that, London only makes sense as a sedentary defensive move. I'm not sure it makes sense even as a defensive move. IN the event that I stab and go to the channel, they would likely be reluctant to use A London to bounce the convoy in Wales While it can obviously cover London itself, in that sense it is little better than Liverpool -> Yorkshire That's very true. Even in the context of pure defense it doesn't make a great deal of sense, especially given the likelihood of an attack originating around Liverpool and Wales. I suspect the thought process was more on the lines of initially wanting to build a fleet in London, deciding I would likely see that as an act of aggression, and changing it to an army Perhaps? Seems like an error of not enough foresight if that's the case. It still scans as a move to try and counter your influence or serve as a jumping off point for a surprise attack. Even for a surprise attack, F Nth - Eng, A Liverpool - York would make more sense Yeah, I'm not sure what they're doing, or if they even know what they're doing. Well, I feel pretty vindicated in taking Norway. Indeed. You should be able to hold both it and StP without much trouble now. Very aggressive attack by England Just wish the Austrians hadn't decided to ruin literally everything. Look on the bright side. Turkey seems firmly in your camp now. With their help Austria should be easy to manage Not without losses unfortunately. You know it might be more easy for me to put a fleet in the Norwegian sea if you didn't put so much pressure on the Germans. What assistance would you need from Germany? A Denmark is probably at your disposal - it can do nothing useful in the west. I've discussed with Germany a deal in which they take the North Sea but yield Belgium to me. They seemed receptive but it might just be saving face - you should approach them with a similar offer. You can no more help them take the North Sea than they can prevent you from taking Belgium, I think that the deal needs to be a bit better than that. And I mostly just need Germany's fleets to be free and clear to operate without possibly being harassed by French troops, because with German fleets I can free myself from Scandinavia, free an army for use in the south, and just over-all better my position on the board. It'd be pretty nice. I think the point is less that I would help them take the North Sea, and more that they should accept the loss of Belgium as a fait accompli and focus on the north sea Less a real alliance and more being a thought partner - I'm happy to talk to anyone, after all Here's a proposal for you: We'll all trick the British together yes? You have their trust, you can convince them that because I'm going to use all my resources to clamp down Norway, meaning that they cannot possibly take it, and that since the Germans are obviously going to support Munich with the army in Kiel that they cannot take it. Furthermore, "you got the Germans to admit" That they will only be coming to Netherlands with the fleet in Belgium + the fleet in the Helgoland Bight.

Thus you suggest that they do a supported move to the Netherlands using F North Sea and A Ruhr to block that, while you take Belgium.

This will fool them sufficiently that the Germans can use the army in Kiel to support the fleet in Belgium into the Netherlands as well as the fleet in the Bight, ceding Belgium to you in the process, while also freeing me of one necessary support so that I can move from Sweden to Skagerrak, and the British lose two of their units this build phase. Questions? In this scenario, you could propose something on the lines of:
A Kiel S F Belgium - Holland
A StP S F Sweden - Norway
F HEL S F Norway - Nth This would secure Norway and Holland while also having good odds of catching England by surprise and seizing the North Sea That would bounce in Netherlands if they decided to use the North sea to move, but I'm assuming that you would be convincing them to do the opposite? Well, that depends on what's in it for me. I'm happy to talk, but if you want concrete action there's a few more points that need to be ironed out. Firstly, I already have Belgium in the bag, and similarly you have secured Norway. Further action rests on the premise that we would like to help Germany at England's expense. I've yet to be convinced of this If you secure the north sea while controlling Scandinavia, you are likely to capture the lion's share of England's centers, after all. You misunderstand me, I want to crush the British for our mutual gain/security. Helping the Germans has nothing to do with it materially, it's about eliminating a mutually existential threat. All I'd realistically ever want is Edinburgh If you send even one fleet to harass the English I could break out of their cordon and we could split them in two, once they're dead I don't give a toss about the Germans, you can do with them what you will. I think it would better serve my interests to crack Germany first, and then help you fight England. You and Germany actually have reasonably robust defensive positions against England, after all If you like you could accelerate that process by occupying the Baltic I can't occupy the Baltic until the English are gone. Full stop. I have had no opportunity to attack the Germans at all with the English riding my ass like they are, and won't for the foreseeable future if they keep those fleets hovering around me. I think it'd be far better for both of our peace of minds if we went for the one directly between us last. That's reasonable, I suppose. I think at this point my inclination is to seize Belgium and see how things play out from there I don't feel like I'm at risk of being attacked by a English-German alliance, which also means I'm not under a lot of pressure to commit to a side now Well hopefully the British lose Netherlands, destroying two of their units would be nice; Hopefully that'd help convince you to take the side with the upper hand as well. At least until the Germans lose their utility. Okay, my attack on England went nowhere, probably time to pivot You sure you didn't mean Italy? I actually meant Germany, but my attack on Italy didn't go anywhere either Probably pivot and attack England like you and Germany wanted That'd be pretty cool of you. I think in practice, that means F Picardy - ENG, and A Burgundy - Picardy It would be really helpful if you and Germany could evict England from the north sea as possible, which should be possible with
F Nwy & F Hol S F HEL - NTH
A Kie S F Hol H I'll relay to the Germans It's kind of a bummer that the English went idle. Indeed.... These things happen, but it's always frustrating Great turn for you it seems though! Oh definitely, I'm on fire over here. Should we pull the trigger on a stab on Germany? England is as good as done