03-22-2003, 11:50 PM
I don't know about maintaining France's trust. It takes quite a gullible France to believe that England is only clearing the docks with F Lon-Wal, as opposed to, say F Lon-NTS, which clears the docks and provides far superior position against Germany.
The German army supported? Then, it's either schizophrenic defence again (conceding Warsaw while covering Munich, meaning the German can't decide whether Austria is stabbing him or not) or just tactical deficiency. He may not realize it, but he doesn't want to be in Munich. If the Austrian's unsupported unit jumps for Munich the best result is a bounce. It lets him keep Mun AND have an A Kie to defend against you.
Hmmm. I wouldn't exhort for Austria to keep up pressure on Germany so much. Do that and you kick the doors open for Turkey, who, by virtue of Russia's collapse, has one of the better positions on the board right now. F Smy, and the Turkish horde suddenly wheels westward and hammers Austria. If I was Austria, I'd have resubmitted orders stabbing Turkey the moment I heard that Russia was out. But your concern is Turkey, who becomes a one-man Juggernaut as soon as he finishes taking Moscow, Warsaw and the Balkans. I'd keep Austria's A Tyl poking at Munich, if Austria's foolish enough to do it, but suggest that he get into a scrap with Turkey sooner rather than later, because delaying the war has no benefit for Austria in this case.
As for Italy, I'd encourage an attack against France and send him a false transmission or two about Austria keeping the pressure up on Germany. He'll leak it to Germany, who'll stay south just long enough for you to take him. Whether Austria actually keeps the pressure up on Germany doesn't matter quite as much as Germany believing that Austria will attack. I'd point out to Italy, as well, the French army in Piedmont. It isn't really that aggressive of a move, but I'd pretend it is. After all, if a more experienced player seems to think it's a big deal, Italy will come to think it's a big deal as well. Exploit his lack of experience and wax at length about "aggressive intentions", "first step toward an all-out offensive" and so on and so forth. Hopefully France builds F Mar to panic him further.
If France was prepping for an English attack, that boat has quite literally sailed with your builds of F Lvp and F Lon. Even if he builds F Bre you outnumber him 3-2. It will, however, stall your German offensive. You can't go anywhere until you have F NTS to avoid the Den-> NTS retreat when you dislodge F Den. But France won't be able to hurt you. France had his chance to kill you completely (or at least take you out of the game) in Spring '02; he didn't build right and he lost it.
As for your builds, I wouldn't have gone for France quite yet, because your reasoning is sound - he has only one fleet and so you don't need to worry about him right now. F Lvp and F Lon, though, is likely to warn him off the Italian venture, and seeing how Italy feels about Germany and Austria... Your builds may cause France and Italy to abort their barely started war, and that would be no good. Italy would attack Austria, paving the way for Turkey, and France and Germany would be allowed to concentrate on you. I hope you're extremely confident about how France will react, because if I were France, warning bells would be going off in my head.
I don't agree that the failure to order was deliberate; or, if it was, it was poorly timed. Austria needs to attack Turkey now that Russia's out. Austria's only hope is to attack Turkey. There's no way to negotiate it. Turkey would never agree to direct an offensive around Austria, funnelling armies up through Sev and out through Lvn and War. It's profoundly silly to run an attack that way and anyone should realize it. So Turkey will attack Austria, and vice versa - it's a done deal. The only thing that remains to be seen is who takes the initiative, and Austria forfeited it.
The German army supported? Then, it's either schizophrenic defence again (conceding Warsaw while covering Munich, meaning the German can't decide whether Austria is stabbing him or not) or just tactical deficiency. He may not realize it, but he doesn't want to be in Munich. If the Austrian's unsupported unit jumps for Munich the best result is a bounce. It lets him keep Mun AND have an A Kie to defend against you.
Hmmm. I wouldn't exhort for Austria to keep up pressure on Germany so much. Do that and you kick the doors open for Turkey, who, by virtue of Russia's collapse, has one of the better positions on the board right now. F Smy, and the Turkish horde suddenly wheels westward and hammers Austria. If I was Austria, I'd have resubmitted orders stabbing Turkey the moment I heard that Russia was out. But your concern is Turkey, who becomes a one-man Juggernaut as soon as he finishes taking Moscow, Warsaw and the Balkans. I'd keep Austria's A Tyl poking at Munich, if Austria's foolish enough to do it, but suggest that he get into a scrap with Turkey sooner rather than later, because delaying the war has no benefit for Austria in this case.
As for Italy, I'd encourage an attack against France and send him a false transmission or two about Austria keeping the pressure up on Germany. He'll leak it to Germany, who'll stay south just long enough for you to take him. Whether Austria actually keeps the pressure up on Germany doesn't matter quite as much as Germany believing that Austria will attack. I'd point out to Italy, as well, the French army in Piedmont. It isn't really that aggressive of a move, but I'd pretend it is. After all, if a more experienced player seems to think it's a big deal, Italy will come to think it's a big deal as well. Exploit his lack of experience and wax at length about "aggressive intentions", "first step toward an all-out offensive" and so on and so forth. Hopefully France builds F Mar to panic him further.
If France was prepping for an English attack, that boat has quite literally sailed with your builds of F Lvp and F Lon. Even if he builds F Bre you outnumber him 3-2. It will, however, stall your German offensive. You can't go anywhere until you have F NTS to avoid the Den-> NTS retreat when you dislodge F Den. But France won't be able to hurt you. France had his chance to kill you completely (or at least take you out of the game) in Spring '02; he didn't build right and he lost it.
As for your builds, I wouldn't have gone for France quite yet, because your reasoning is sound - he has only one fleet and so you don't need to worry about him right now. F Lvp and F Lon, though, is likely to warn him off the Italian venture, and seeing how Italy feels about Germany and Austria... Your builds may cause France and Italy to abort their barely started war, and that would be no good. Italy would attack Austria, paving the way for Turkey, and France and Germany would be allowed to concentrate on you. I hope you're extremely confident about how France will react, because if I were France, warning bells would be going off in my head.
I don't agree that the failure to order was deliberate; or, if it was, it was poorly timed. Austria needs to attack Turkey now that Russia's out. Austria's only hope is to attack Turkey. There's no way to negotiate it. Turkey would never agree to direct an offensive around Austria, funnelling armies up through Sev and out through Lvn and War. It's profoundly silly to run an attack that way and anyone should realize it. So Turkey will attack Austria, and vice versa - it's a done deal. The only thing that remains to be seen is who takes the initiative, and Austria forfeited it.