England - I applaud your diplomacy, but disapprove of your tactics. It's a great feat getting Germany to trust you, but you've squandered that away by moving into Kiel (attacking Germany!) and Brest (attacking France!) on top of your war with Russia. You're strong, but you're not I CAN TAKE THE WHOLE FUCKING WORLD strong. You should have attacked one and allied with the other if this was your strategy.

Germany would have been a viable ally as his weakness means you'd always be on top. France because his lack of fleets means whether you stab him now or in 3 years, he's always going to be at your mercy.

Now though? If all 3 of your neighbors attack you, you cannot hold Brest. You cannot hold Kiel, Belgium, or Holland. You might hold on to Scandinavia. It seems like you've pisses away all your gains this turn in a short sighted and incredibly greedy attack. As it stands, if you only stabbed France, and held in Kiel, you'd still have 3 builds and an ally. Now you have 3 builds and no allies.

I also dislike your move of NTH to NWY. The bounce is fine, but you should be convoying your army from Yorkshire instead. As England on offense, you want as many armies on the mainland as quickly as you can reasonably do. You failed to do so in 1901 with the army holding, you've failed again this year. Each turn you delay, your chances of soloing goes down dramatically. After all, your fleets can't capture Munich, or Paris, or Warsaw or Moscow, and will have difficulty in Iberia and Marseilles without land support - centers which usually contribute to your 18 centers.

You get a D- from me, because while you did amazingly well on a surface view, you've also forgotten several key points of earlier advice: 1) Long term goals over short term gains, and 2) Convoy your armies England. These will end up hurting you quite a bit. If you're lucky, maybe Russia abandons Scandinavia (which he really should), and it will be a 2 v 1. You might still win over time, but it'll be a long, difficult slog whereas having some patience would have let you eliminate one country and quickly overwhelm the other with your superior numbers.

Just because you can stab someone, doesn't mean you should.

Germany - I can only assume you thought England was working with you. In such a case, dislodging the Burgundy army was good and leaving Kiel undefended slightly excusable. Move to Baltic I assume is to position to take Sweden, but that opportunity has passed. England is going after you as well as France and while I give you and France better odds of surviving than him outright winning, it won't be easy. C+

Russia - I can't fathom why you thought Turkey wasn't betraying you. He moved into Black Sea after you demilitarized it. After you disbanded his fleet in a show of goodwill and removed his excuse of going "I was afraid you'd move there". He also moved into Armenia. The fact that you still think he's working with you (by not covering Sevastopol, and moving UKR to Warsaw) is just incredibly naive. Diplomacy is nice, Trust is nice, but there are certain realities on the board no amount of Diplomacy can overcome.

This is one of them. You cannot honestly believe a nation to proclaim peace and eternal friendship when they're marching down in your cities and mowing down your people?

I would recommend abandoning the north and focusing your efforts in one theatre. As russia, the key to success has always been secure one front with force, and the other front with peace. You instead tried to use force on both fronts and are now failing quite spectacularly as a result.

D-

Austria - You did good this turn. Nothing really to comment, was the obvious moves given everything A-

Turkey - My Jewel of the East. You continue to exceed my expectations (and I already expected much from you). You secured the alliance with Austria, you convinced Russia you were still with him and got 3 builds (which I thought possible, but unlikely), you took over Ionian with help from Austria. Italy's NMR helped, but in general your moves are solid and I have no complaints or suggestions. These are exactly what I would have done. A+


THE TRIBUTARY STRATEGY

There comes a certain point in time that a nation realizes their death is not a question of If but When. The goal then is to try and survive as long as possible. More time playing means more potential opportunity to make a comeback.

Thus, some players use the Tributary Strategy. In essence, you become a "Vassal" to a greater power. This is usually more possible with Germany / Austria / Italy/ France / Russia, while England and Turkey are less likely able to pull this off.

The idea is thus: "Hey Country X, you looking mighty powerful. Listen, you could kill me now, and spend 3 years hunting down my last units. How about instead, you let me work for you, and WE can spend that time marching on the other side of the board before they can even react?"

Time, as I've mentioned previously, is one of the most powerful elements of the game. This strategy is an appeal to trading force for time. In essence, as tributary, you get to live.

The suzerain nation is able to save time, is able to utilize the tributary's units as their own and dictate orders (there is a risk, of course, that the tributary might leak orders to the enemy, but this can be mitigated by telling them only what they need to do rather than everything you plan to do), and is able to enforce trust because they will usually leave the tributary with only a few units (between 1 and 3). The tributary's units are often forced to be on the extreme front lines, unable to defend their centers which a suzerain would have units in place to quickly take out in the event of any betrayal or disobedience. Whenever the tributary gains a center, it's short lived, and the suzerain rarely allows their tributary to grow any stronger.

I've used this strategy many times before to secure crushing victories as the additional time saved takes my far enemies completely off guard, allowing me to break traditional stalemate lines before they can form.

 

Are we still posting builds in thread?

 

I feel like that would be a conflict of interest as I still do want to continue my commentary for this game.

 

I'll take everything France has. or split it amongst us. Whatever.

 

@Arthellion uh I didn't build three fleets bud.

 

Germany is playing the waiting game. Likely heading his bets between England and France. Hard to score this, but I'd tentatively go with a B here. This isn't a horrible choice to make right now.

England went as expected. Eyeing Sweden and will take over Mao. Loss of Kiel expected, Belgium is a toss-up, but can be compensated with Holland. England will break even next turn but gain valuable positioning while likely denying France any fleet builds. A

France, moved about as expected. The capture with Paris instead of picardy is smart as it leaves open bargaining choice to support Germanys army in burgundy to belgium. A

Russia has continued to ignore the Turkish threat and appears to be trying to migrate westwards. This is highly unlikely to succeed as Germany can block the first attack and will have enough builds to fend off Russian aggression. Russia is also likely to lose Sweden and Moscow. Elimination within two years certain. F

Turkey continues to be the dominant player in Eastern politics and has become likely winner for this turn. He is well positioned to take Moscow, and units in the Austrian front ensure italy will lose one for sure. A+

Austrias moves are expected and likely forced. Turkeys growing influence should be a concern as Russia has given up and Italy will soon lose builds. After this year ends, any hopes of the Eastern bloc to be able to check Turkey vanishes so Austria and Italy are in a now or never moment. Even if they were to unite now, they'd still be facing a slight disadvantage. B

Italy continued insistence on aggression with Austria has weakened his own position. Turkeys growth is unchecked. The gamble last turn had a 50/50 chance and its failure means the end of any Italian hopes to get back in the game by continuing to attack Austria. C-