Good evening. I think it's important that we get our affairs in order regarding Sweden; I'm sure you know that you can easily bounce me to keep me out, but I'd like to convince you otherwise. Let me know if there's anything specific you'd like in return, otherwise I think that assistance against possible English attack and an agreement to leave Warsaw, Silesia, and Prussia alone is good. Hi Russia! Thanks for reaching out. I’m open to an arrangement similar to those terms (neutrality in Pru, Sil, War, Boh if that comes up, as well as and really especially potential assistance against England). I would also like your support into Nwy down the road. I think splitting Scandinavia is reasonable and that takes pressure off of me to look to War as a future build. How does that sound to you? Looking forward to a fun and exciting game! I'd prefer for us to cooperate to take the British down completely; I get Norway, you get as many British home territories as you can convince the French to let you have. Aside from that, those neutral zones sound good to me. I’m not sure I’m ready to just hand over Norway and Sweden, unfortunately:/ You'll get Norway then. Sounds good to me! Thank you so much for being agreeable. I view Norway as a gesture of goodwill and I will definitely remember it. Hopefully, I will find another way to help you in the future 😃 Hey what’s up Russia Not much, Austria moving toward Vienna's a little weird right? Think that's because they're going to make a second fleet or something? Oh damn I didn't even see the Brits moving into Holland, was that planned? Yeah obviously not, which is why I reached out. It looks like you’re going to have a fight on your hands in Scandinavia and I am very willing to help you however I can. Well, seeing as it'd be pretty difficult for me to let you have Norway at this point, we should probably talk about that first. I was already building a fleet on the North Coast of St. Petersburg just for insurance against the Brits, but that can easily become an offensive. If you broke any possible support from the North Sea, I could walk into Norway in spring. Count me in! Alright, from there I can try to push them out of the North/Norwegian Seas and you can move into the Netherlands and beyond. Have you talked with the French? We don't necessarily need them, but for a proper Sealion their help would definitely be a good thing to have. Yeah agreed. My theory/fear is that they may be in negotiations with England. France was asking me to take denmark and holland and then all of the sudden changed course and supported my incursion into Belgium. That is awfully suspicious. Agreed. I'll probe them for information, let me see what I can get out of them; even if they were involved with that they'll probably play their cards pretty close to the chest though. Agreed. I will reach out to Austria to see what’s going on there Don't expect much, the Austrians aren't exactly what I'd call chatty. Part of me wants to take the Chanel to keep England on the defensive haha That'd be a hell of a move if it worked, but I guarantee they're going to be trying to move there to attempt to put themselves in Belgium, so you'd only end up bouncing them. I'll talk with the Brits too to see if they'll flash their plans at me, I'm on decent terms with them. That would be great! The British are immensely cocky about their chances against you, I wouldn't be even slightly surprised to find that they have the French in their pocket for the time being. Thank you for the intel. What would you advise for me moving forward, particularly with my two incoming builds? Considering what we're up against, I'd build a fleet in Kiel and an army in Berlin, but you need to switch the army in Denmark for a fleet as soon as possible and get that down to the French border. If France and Britain are determined to, they can ensure that the fleet in Belgium is destroyed, unfortunately. But they can't do that while also holding both Norway and the Netherlands. The English and French both made some odd choices with their builds. I think the British anticipate me coming for them. Not great Either way, I think I'll be able to outmaneuver them long enough to force a disband. Have you spoken with the French recently? They haven't done anything overtly aggressive toward you so maybe you can still flip them; I've got reliable intelligence that apparently the English don't approve of that fleet build in Brest so we might be able to break that alliance up with a determined effort. That’s wonderful news. We’ve spoken a bit. He doesn’t seem particularly committed to england, but the two of them have been speaking. They're savvy, I think they're playing both sides of the table until it becomes clear who has the upper hand. Agreed. We need to be in sync with our moves to play the advantage. Let me know what you think would be good next steps for me. The near term goal in my mind is breaking england to persuade France to complete the sea lion I'm trying to sow distrust among them at the moment but I don't know if I'll have much luck with England. They're being very cagey. But anyways, the survival of your fleet in Belgium, at this point, depends on you either convincing the French not to block you out of either the English Channel or Piedmont, OR, using the fleet in Kiel to support an attack against the army in the Netherlands; the first isn't ideal because it's relying on the French, but the second isn't ideal because it's keeping Kiel stationary and thus blocking the exit of the Danish army, which is practically dead-weight where it is since it can't support to any of the sea-zones around it. 

I'd move Munich to Ruhr and Berlin to Munich. Additionally, I would do the second option with your fleets whether or not you get an agreement from the French. It leaves you in a much better strategic position even though it effectively ensures the loss of Belgium. Current orders: F Bel H, A Den H, A Ber - Kie, F Kie - HEL, A Mun S Ber - Kie I’ve been have good conversations with France If you're going to have Belgium hold you might as well have it bounce off of the North Sea to break any possible support that it can give, either to Holland or Norway. I have as well, I'm doing everything I can to convince them that attacking the British is a great idea. Nice! Good call. Any other suggestions? I’m pretty open to anything Italy says that France and England are allies They are, but I've been working to break it up. I've not got any suggestions for the time being other than what you have; you should be able to guarantee that you have Holland by the end of the year, though you may lose Belgium in the process. Cool as long as your on board with my current moveset plus the bounce into the North Sea I absolutely am. Hopefully the French either stay uncommitted to the attack or join our side. I ran those other moves by France, with the except of the North Sea move you suggested. Should I tell france to build trust, or would the potential of it getting back to england be risky I think that it's almost guaranteed that it would get back to the English. I wouldn't tell them much more about your plans at all, if you can help it. Sounds good! Let me know if you have any other thoughts, if not, my moves are submitted. If something crosses my mind I'll let you know ASAP. Great call with the North Sea What are you thinking for my next steps? I don’t like france’s moves. France is definitely coming for you, but how's this for a tricksy little solution to the issue: 

Currently you are at serious risk of losing Belgium; that sucks, but if you move yourself to Holland you can avoid the destruction of that fleet. Even better though, if you make another move toward the North Sea, I can now *support* that move with Norway, meaning that unless the British successfully predict that, you are in position to take Edinburgh and threaten London unless they pull fleets back; if they pull fleets back, it takes pressure off of me and allows me to forward-deploy my own fleets, which are currently pinned down by British blockade.

Furthermore, you can move your fleet from the Helgoland Bight into Holland to take it, and use Kiel to support Munich to ensure Munich holds for long enough that the British have to disband. There are risks involved in the maneuver of course. The British could not only move themselves to Belgium, but they could move their fleet from the North Sea into Holland, bouncing you out and keeping all of their forces intact despite the loss of the North Sea. Word I actually love that strategy. I’m in. We need to think strategically about what information we deliver to England/France and how. So I'll be supporting from Belgium to the North Sea then? There's a further significant risk that the British will use one of their fleets in the north to defeat Norway's support and thus keep the North Sea AND Netherlands AND take Belgium.

Personally, I actually am not a fan of the move. Too many risks to be realistically successful this turn, better saved until next year I think. You're better off using the Helgoland Bight to support Belgium in a retreat to Holland for the time being, and then perform this maneuver next year when your position is more solid and the British have lost a unit. If Munich weren't under enough risk that you could use Kiel to support into Holland as well it would be much more viable.

Sorry to be doing all these thought problems in full view, I'm just trying to work out how best to break Britain and get ourselves on the offensive. This turn ain't it though I think. Doesn't help that the Austrians are actively betraying me. No no I trust your judgement. If we’re going to win this fight against England, we need to be lock step. I couldn't agree more. No, it does not. I have minimal communication with them, we basically exchanged a half dozen messages keeping the neutral territories neutral. Just so you know in advance, given my newfound conflict with them, I may have to occupy Warsaw indefinitely. Thanks for bringing that up! Totally fine with me. I have bigger problems for the foreseeable future . Fighting with my one reliable ally is the last thing I want. Yeah, it's a real touch-and-go situation but I really think that reducing the British for the time being was good progress. Yeah for sure What full moveset would you recommend for me? A Kie S Mun
A Mun H
F Bel - Hol
F HEL S Bel - Hol
A Den H

This moveset still leaves some risk if they anticipate it unfortunately, but I doubt that they'd risk me being able to move to SKA for it. We can only hope though, your position is still extremely unstable. Where is that London army going? That’s my question. France is telling me that I need to cede Belgium to him for any further cooperation. While I crave France coming on board for the sea lion, I don’t trust anything he says. Well it tried to go to Norway, if the British anticipate me being conservatively defensive in Norway (Which is my current plan) then there's the possibility that they will attempt to convoy it to Holland with Ruhr's support. Which wouldn't succeed, but would bounce you enough that they'd keep it.

Either way you can't stop the French from taking Belgium anyways, you might as well agree for the time being. Yeah that’s fair. How are your conversations with France going? I've got a tricky plan to either reverse psychology them into putting us in an advantageous position, or find out if they're trustworthy. Standby. Dope Don't tell France anything even remotely specific for the time being, they might just be feigning this willingness to cooperate in order to get strategically useful information to plan their next attack to ideally counter whatever you tell them. Yeah that’s a good read. By the way, I'm currently buttering them up with some nonsense about not giving a toss about you. If they come to you as if delivering that as a world shattering revelation, don't be fooled. I'm playing them. Okay!!! Word. Yup yup, just didn't want you to be alarmed if the French tried to get you to come after me over some bullshit I said to them. Word, sounds good. Don't think I accomplished much honestly. That’s unfortunate but not unexpected Yeah, hopefully everything goes well this season. Hopefully I can at least help you beat them in the future lol Well if I can break this Blockade the British have me in then I'll be out there in a flash to defeat them with you. Heck yeah Let me know how I can help F Bel - Hol
A Den H
F HEL S Bel - Hol
A Kie S Mun
A Mun H My current moves FYI Yep, that looks solid to me. News from the front, the English just blabbed off-hand to me that the French are going to support themselves into Belgium, which means Munich isn't at risk. I don't know if I trust that intelligence, but it would mean you could use Kiel to ensure entry into the Netherlands. The English are either far more gullible and temperamental than the English, or they're trying to play me. I think I might have them duped; they just said that they're going to come talk to you, please relay back what they told you. Maintain the original order set. (Again, my duping them effectively was me agreeing to fuck you over so be aware if they come to you with that nonsense.) Cheers, I could hardly have imagined better results! Thanks so much!!! Hopefully English occupation of Belgium will weaken their alliance. england accidentally sent me a message “Germany doesn’t have to disband.” You can tell he’s annoyed lol Well of course he is; the French supported him into Belgium though so it was probably just so that they wouldn't have to disband *two* units. I honestly wish the French would have taken it instead, you probably wouldn't have the army in the Ruhr sitting around in your business. Yeah it’s frustrating I’m worried about holding Munich and holland I would also love to see us dislodge England from the North Sea. Hey!!! France is asking me to attack North Sea, he said he wants to turn on england He told me the same, I don't believe him for a second. He says: 

F Pic - Eng
A Brit - Pic
F Hol & F Nwy SF HEL - NTH
A Kie S F Hol H Yeah, he wants to get you out of position. What moves do you suggest? I would take a defensive stance for now, support Netherlands and Munich while I move into the Norwegian Sea A Den S Kie
F HEL S Hol
F Hol H
A Kie S Mun
A Mun H Works as far as I can see. Looks like France is sincere That's rare Norway will support Helgoland Bight to the North Sea, if you use Netherlands to support as well they may have a hard time stopping us. Kiel needs to move into Ruhr yesterday though, use Munich to support if you can. I’m in. A Den - Kie
F HEL - NTH
F Hol S HEL - NTH
A Kie - Ruh
A Mun S Kie - Ruh Actually,     A Den H So I can convoy it to the island in the spring Sounds solid to me. What’s your long term thinking once we get the leg up on england? Well, once you're in Ruhr and the North Sea, you can easily muscle your way through the French with Italy's help, the Italians and I take out the Austrians and Turks, we end this with a three way draw if we all stay cordial. I’m down. I’ve been getting a long great with Italy. Literally nothing would make me happier than that plan. Yeah, the time limit on this game isn't nearly enough to seek out a solo win anyways so might as well have a ni e draw with the folks I've been trusting the whole game. Yeah I agree. Honestly makes it more fun as well. Yep! Looks like the French had the same general idea as you. Should I support your convoy to Yorkshire with the fleet in Edinburgh? That would be great! Thanks! What full move set do you advise? Ruhr supports Netherlands to Belgium, North Sea convoys Denmark to Yorkshire, Munich holds What are your thoughts on Ruhr to Belgium supported by Netherlands? Would mean the fleet in the Netherlands isn't accomplishing anything in the future and would leave Ruhr open to a possible sneak by the French, wouldn't recommend. Makes sense. Can the English Navy retreat to the Netherlands? No, you can't retreat to where the attack originated. Dope. Hey Russia! What do you suggest for my next moveset? I don’t want France to get two English supply centers haha. Make a move on Liverpool alone; at worst you'll bounce and I'll be moving to Clyde to help you next season. You should push into the English Channel and try to sneak into Burgundy at the same time. So what specific moves? I was actually thinking of supporting my army into London with the North Sea to lock in another build. Then A Ruh - Bur supported by Mun F Bel H More long-term gain in taking the Channel How so? With the North Sea fleet? So the moves would be:

A Yorkshire to Liverpool
A Ruhr to Burgundy
A Munich S the above
F North Sea to English Channel
F Belgium S the above With the English channel you can practically walk across France while they panic and shit themselves trying to stop you. My fear is the fleet in London taking the North Sea You want my fleet in Norway to follow up? F Bel H
A Mun S Ruh - Bur
F NTH S Yor - Lon
A Ruh - Bur
A Yor - Lon This is my moveset rn I’m okay with that but I want to hold the North Sea long term Sounds good to me. I’m really happy with the Russia-Germany-Italy alliance 3 way victory game plan. Things are looking really good right now and I think it’s important that the three of us make sure we’re on the same page as to what that map looks like Agreed, need to make sure we're all relatively equal. Exactly. I think eating up most of the French and English supply centers should bring me up to parity. What do you think the balkans look like for you and Italy? Everything I don't have right now is going to Italy. Nice!!!! Here’s my updated moves based on your recommendations F Bel S NTH - ENG
A Mun S Ruh - Bur
F NTH - ENG
A Ruh - Bur
A Yor - Lvp What time is it for you? Seems legit; it's about six, why? Same! Wanted to see if you were on the east coast as well. I’m based in DC Indianapolis here Things are looking good! Sorry for occupying Warsaw, the army in Galicia makes me nervous of a spiteful Austria checking in and sending some spiteful orders Hey Russia don’t worry about it at all! I’m thinking about sending my fleet in Belgium to the North Sea. Would you support me there? I can certainly do that. Actually here’s my move set F Bel - Pic
A Ber - Mun
A Bur - Gas
F ENG S Bel - Pic
F Kie - HEL
A Lvp H
A Mun - Bur Maybe you could bounce France in the North Sea this turn and then support HEL - North Sea in the fall. My only concern with that order set is the possibility of losing the Channel What would you advise? F Bel S Bre - ENG
A Ber - Mun
A Bur - Gas
F ENG H
F Kie - HEL
A Lvp H
A Mun - Bur I say go for your original anyways, I doubt the French will go for it and you'll be able to take it back anyways Sounds good. Are you okay with bouncing the north sea with France (my guess, who knows what he’ll actually do) and then supporting HEL in during the Fall? Sure, I can do that. Thanks for the help there! What do you think for next steps? I’m a bit concerned about Belgium with France holding bur The Italians have me somewhat concerned, they definitely don't need to be moving troops this direction anymore. From my communication with him, he seems totally supportive of the alliance. So long as you don’t stab him, I don’t see him stabbing you. But we haven’t talked a ton. I could chat him up to get a better feel for where his headspace is at. Go ahead, I would hate for this to fall apart at the last moment. Yeah for sure. What do you think my moves are? I’m a little worried about France and figuring out where to get my next build. Have Picardy withdraw to Belgium, have Munich move to Ruhr, have Berlin move to Munich, and have Gascony move to Spain. I'll support you into the North Sea and I'll poke them in the Mid-Atlantic to keep them from supporting anything with it. Nice!!! Thanks so much. I shot Italy a note and I’ll let you know when I hear back. Dope, thanks! A Ber - Mun
F ENG S HEL - NTH
A Gas - Spa
F HEL - NTH
A Lvp H
A Mun - Ruh
F Pic - Bel Look good? Looks good! Here’s what I got F Bel S ENG
A Bre H
F ENG S Bre
A Lvp H
A Mun S Ruh - Bur
F NTH - Lon
A Ruh - Bur Let me know if you have any feedback And HAPPY NEW YEAR! Cheers to the Russia-Germany-Italy alliance! Happy New Year to you too! Sorry for the delayed response, was drunk as heeeeeeeeeell last night. Your order set seems good! I'm going to force my way into the Mid-Atlantic, that'll be a death sentence for the French. Amen! Glad you had a blast Hey Russia! Things are looking good against France. What do you recommend for my next move set. Picardy to Paris, supported by Burgundy; Munich Hold; Belgium to Picardy; English Channel to London, supported by North Sea; Liverpool to Wales, Irish Sea supports. Liverpool is safe, because Wales can just move straight back, and so is Edinburgh, because I can just bounce them out there as well. Paris is occupied and safe, Picardy is primed to take Brest. Paris can't hold, because I'll be using North Atlantic to poke Brest. Excellent! Thanks for all the help Russia! Move into Brest with the fleet in Picardie, and set yourself to three-way draw and we'll have it. Sounds great man! Thanks for everything!