Turkey's In-Game Journal

[Zvi Mowshowitz]

This was what I was really thinking at the time. Enjoy!

Spring 1901 (Pre-Move)

 

Austria chose Romania over Greece, I assume because he doesn’t understand the strategic implications but I’m not about to say no to a gift of the fifth center without a fight. It also means he has to declare himself first, since a move to Albania is a clear indication he’s not going to let me in. If he doesn’t, he’s telling the truth. Russia is willing to let me have the Black Sea, but I’m hoping I can bounce Austria off Galicia so I don’t have to show my true colors for at least another turn. I think Austria is the better ally by default in this spot but it could go either way. Tactics will mean a lot, as will what Italy does. Austria is also concerned about the Germany-Turkey defensive pact against Russia. I’m obviously trying to aim him at Austria (or England) and keep him out of my way, but why wouldn’t I want to do that? Also, Germany denying him Sweden is a potential sweet bonus, and I give that 50/50 to happen if he goes to Denmark first.

The best part about Turkey’s initial move is that both Austria and Russia know what it is and think it’s part of the plan… and as long as Austria doesn’t have a clean shot at Romania with a unit other than Serbia, I’ll be able to pull that same trick again in the Fall while getting Greece. Then I’ll be able to pick my ally in Spring 1902, or maybe even Fall 1902, depending on which war would be easier.

 In the North, Russia thinks England is headed his way. I suspect England/Germany because France was so slow to get the ball rolling and Germany is headed somewhere other than Russia first by plan.

Summer 1901

Gang up on France makes sense. Austria did go to Albania and Italy played it safe, which points to an A/I. I can probably get R/T, but that’s not a good place to be as Turkey especially if you don’t open straight to the Aegean. It’s an interesting choice to semi-stab Turkey right away, since he could have got the same effect without showing his hand. Early turns are always nerve wracking. If I can convince Italy to head west (or even better to Trieste) things get much better.

Fall 1901

I made a deal with Russia to take over Romania for a turn to get rid of his fleet, and his response was to use it to know which territory to defend. It’s not all that bad a fake-out play and presumably Austria is convinced I’m headed north but it cost him Galicia. If he does as I ask and doesn’t build in Sevastopol it’ll look really weird but I’ll be able to relax. Meanwhile, Austria is presumably convinced I’m with him as I did what I said I would do and attacked Romania in a way that, if he’d supported with Serbia, would have worked and agreed to switch it with Greece. However, he claims he had a computer error that prevented the support. Do I believe him? Not entirely of course but I think there’s maybe a 70% chance he’s telling the truth. He won’t reveal until the spring, but his moving the fleet back to Trieste severely weakens his position and Russia’s build will tell us all which side he’s on. A fleet in Sevastopol means we’re at war and Austria gets to choose a side, which Russia knows. He builds nothing in Sevastopol then it means he’s my ally and I can trust him. If he builds an army there that’s ambiguous since it could go to Armenia and cause no end of trouble but it also could be support for Romania or a general keep your options open and don’t signal anything openly kind of build. Building a fleet in Smyrna is important if Austria is hostile to fight Greece, and it doesn’t hurt that much if Russia is hostile since the fleet can take Greece and free up the armies; building a fleet in Ankara would commit me to going north and be very awkward positioning of my units. A third army is definitely an option to go into Armenia, but not a good one.

Winter 1901

Russia told me he wouldn’t build the fleet, then built it, then apologized for it. I’m more disgusted by the apology and the needless lie than I was by anything else. I offered peace anyway, and since Austria hasn’t entered orders after a day we might get an Austrian civil disorder that would make a war silly, but it looks like war is inevitable. Assuming he’s still with us (he claimed to be very pissed about his mis-orders, and at this point I believe him on that front) he now has to choose between me and Russia and this decision largely determines my fate along with Italy possibly running a Lepanto. I suspect he’s on Russia’s side, but I’m a small dog at worst. If it’s the bad scenario, I’m an underdog to be in the REALLY bad scenario but it wouldn’t shock me (10% chance?), but if it happens it will have been an interesting experiment and the game will go on without me. In the meantime, I’m working the phones with England and Germany. If Italy’s with us, I make four even without Austria. There’s also some chance Austria is actually super pissed about the mistake and slips into Civil Disorder.

Spring 1902

Austria didn’t play ball with anyone. He let us standoff against each other, which due to the tactical situation involved wasn’t that hard for me to do. Austria claimed that Russia expected his support (not that it would have done anything) and Austria didn’t provide it, plus they’re still clashing over Galicia every turn, so I think I have a better than even chance that Austria is on my side and his promised support into Romania is legitimate. The flip side of that is that without Austria’s being on his side (or so he thought) Italy would never have risked a Lepanto and an exposed Venice. That means Austria was working him from the start to get him to go east, which is an odd choice if he’s in my camp so I’m suspicious that the fleet in Venice is a decoy. That’s pretty cool, but very hard to pull off and I’m not sure what the payoff is. He played last turn super greedy and selfish, but he pulled off a situation where it’s hard to strike back at him even if we all work together. Kudos to him on that! The flip side of that is that no one can trust him. Italy doesn’t know that Austria will leave, and if he convoys east he’s way, way out of position and on the wrong side of Austria/Turkey/Germany/England, or possibly France swapped in for England. I would have gone west for sure as Italy, whether or not I covered Venice, and signaled it in advance. Instead Austria is trying to maximize every option. Russia proposed a three-way alliance with Italy, which is an alliance of crippled powers but will still work if we have at least one more on our team and that only doesn’t happen if there’s a western triple formed, which could happen. I’ll negotiate with everyone, but my default assumption is Austria/Turkey/Germany against Russia/Italy with France and England fighting. That’s a war I can win. A large plurality of the time however (30%) I’m facing a strong A/I alliance and a separately pissed off Russia, who has moved so far out of place and is under so much pressure that we’d lose badly.

Fall 1902

Austria clearly doesn’t value having friends. He told me he ‘doesn’t benefit from the immediate collapse of RU’ which is basically saying he doesn’t want to be my ally when Russia is breathing down both our necks. As a result he withdrew too late to change my orders (I was on a train) and I didn’t get Romania. He clearly stabbed Italy and Russia is at war with him, so I now have my choice of sides and haven’t stabbed anyone yet. Austria owes me Greece now. If he gives it to me voluntarily that’s great and I’ll choose a side later, but Austria’s side doesn’t look promising to me. If he doesn’t give it to me, I’ll take it by force; I don’t think he can afford to defend it and if I have Italy’s help it won’t matter. Italy has no reason not to help me unless he thinks I’m going to be bitter, which I won’t be now that he’s withdrawn even though he took a stab at Smyrna. Sure, he’s that guy, but that guy is a guy I can work with. The question is now whether Russia will trust me enough to disband. Considering I don’t actually build or disband next turn, if he lied to me again over this after I threatened the diplomatic death penalty, I’d be shocked. I think I’m now in a R/T/I temporary alliance, with a probable long term R/T. Meanwhile Germany is becoming a threat to take over the north due to England being an idiot, so I may have to tactically assist the other side but Russia stabilizing should help. If we collapse Austria quickly we can make it E/F/R/T against I/G next.

Winter 1902

Russia is on board. Italy pretty much has to be on board. Now all that’s left to do is fool Austria as much as possible in order to make this go quickly. There’s also the possibility of cooperating with Austria, since I could do that pretty effectively as well especially since we can slip me into the Ionian Sea to take Tunis this year, but Austria is being completely intransigent and not willing to make a reasonable offer. He’s clearly not willing to play this game as part of an alliance, so the only reason I’m even considering using him as an ally is how badly I’d crush him in a war.

Pre-Spring 1903

Sent Austria a truly delicious note as the culmination of several long emails trying to get him to give me Greece this turn, for which I was prepared to openly backstab him if necessary given that his proposed alternatives don’t actually work, with an outright announcement that I’m attacking Greece and that he needs to either surrender it voluntarily or I’ll attack him and take both Greece and Serbia, which is my share of the spoils anyway unless I can beat Italy to Trieste. He may or may not understand the tactics that make Greece impossible to defend even without Italian help, but they’re pretty clear. The good news is that if he gives it to me, he’ll think I’m on his side and I can script and/or know his Fall orders, and potentially even side with him if I have a reason to do that. I also get to have been honest with him the whole way if he refuses, which gives me a prime negotiating position if I want to make a deal later. The bad news is that he might not give it to me, in which case I lose time and relative position. As I told him, he doesn’t actually have a choice in the matter unless he can turn either Italy or Russia. He is welcome to try, but I don’t like his chances.

Summer 1903

The trap is set. If Austria plays along he’s going to be wiped out (assuming Russia confirms the move; if Russia doesn’t confirm then I might as well actually play along – it’s a good plan which is why he’s going to believe it). I’ll get Serbia and Greece, Russia gets Vienna, then he gets Budapest in the spring and I get Trieste in the fall. Italy gets Venice back. After that we’ll see how the north is going. I don’t mind France getting into Italy a bit, because we can force him out or we can use him to break Italy after we break Austria and get Russia/Turkey in control of the game. France’s intervention wasn’t expected, and it makes things much more complex; without it I wouldn’t have tried to set Austria up at all and would have simply assured myself Greece and made Austria choose Vienna or Venice, then mop up the four remaining units next year, and saved my lie for later in case Austria became useful in 1904 somehow as a rump state.

Now it looks like France thinks Austria is supporting him into Munich! Austria now claims to not know what France is going to do. There’s no way this is fake. France wants me to side with Austria to destroy Italy; I’d reveal to him and sell him Tunis (without Italy’s consent) if I thought I could trust him to do something this complex. It’s possible I should, plus it would be awesome and it’s not like Italy has been nice to me. France says he thinks he’s getting Bur-Mun supported. Obviously this makes me less inclined to switch sides, so why would he say that if it wasn’t true? The only reason is if Tyrolia is doing something else, and he wants me to think it isn’t, which means it’s covering Vienna. I can’t see Austria doing that for a single cover, since we’d have to be insane to attack it with one unit (then again, we are exactly that insane) so it means a double-cover of Vienna. If he’s doing that, then that means  Budapest is helping which means Serbia falls… and if Budapest is moving in, Budapest falls! In short, not a scary scenario. I hope France understands why I had to use Exact Words with him, but either way I expect he’ll be in Tunis and that’s what he wants.

Fall 1903

That worked. Austria turns out to be Scott, which is very surprising, but his explanation of not wanting to be in on a takedown of the best player for the sole reason that he’s the best player in a nominally anonymous game and knowing Austria/Turkey doesn’t work makes sense. Now the question becomes how to transition into the Italian campaign and keep Russia pointed elsewhere. That’s obviously the best case, and France seems willing to hand over at least half of Italy to me as long as I make sure the green menace doesn’t come back. I was annoyed by the initial attack, but if it takes Italy down then it’s all good especially since France is clearly not interested in control of the Med. I get Trieste right away if the move goes as planned, which then lets me start heading west and build a third fleet to use in the Med. I only built one and an army to make sure Russia didn’t see me as weak and consider trying to keep Trieste or otherwise head south. Germany is being warned to keep on his toes, since I don’t want him to collapse too fast if Russia stabs him in the back as is likely inevitable. I don’t know whether I’ll be playing the game out as a Russia/Turkey alliance or if I’ll turn on him, and I don’t know if I need to be on the same side of the coming Germany/Russia conflict as I would be in the France/Italy fight. It would be kind of cool to get Russia/Germany/Turkey/Italy to stick together for a while, but that’s probably not going to happen.

Spring 1904

Russia moved on Germany, which I both suggested to Russia to make sure he went somewhere else and warned Germany about so he wouldn’t be caught unawares. I also told Germany that France was going to Tyrolia. Unfortunately, while Germany is confident he can outplay England and France he didn’t trust my intel and now the fatherland is under a rather brutal assault from all sides from the Allies. Italy is a weird situation. Ideally I will move my fleets west while the place is still in disarray, and France won’t care about fighting me for it since he’ll be busy in the north, and I’ll absorb the whole thing before anyone knows what happened. That could get me from 7 to 11, and leave Russia/Turkey with overwhelming forces. If Austria had given up and disbanded in retreat I could turn on Russia should be get careless, but with Austria’s forces live I don’t feel the stab makes sense this turn. I’d rather head west anyway.

I have fed true and useful information to five of the six other players in advance of Fall 1904, the only exception being England (and I didn’t lie to him or anything).

Fall 1906

Apologies for forgetting to update this for a while. In the meantime, the game was mostly on autopilot for me. The important turn was Fall 1905; I made a deal with France to split Italy, ally with Germany and move on Russia, but France made moves that didn’t make sense in context and it was clear he had no intention of keeping it. If he had, I would have had an interesting decision to make although I was leaning towards keeping the deal with Russia for stalemate line reasons and because he’s a far easier ally to work with. As it was, my decision was made easy.

Italy has agreed to be a puppet, and I’m going to make him a one-center puppet, which he pretty much knows, but I think he’ll go for it. The alternative is to cooperate with France and he knows that if he does that he’s no longer of any use to me. Still a little worried about him trying to turn around and keep me out of Mid-Atlantic, but again I think he’ll be happy with survival. Trying to set up Russia for the stab in the Spring or Fall; he’s getting pesky about the whole Black Sea issue (exact words, my friend!) but more importantly the moment I can get to Mid-Atlantic the time has come to make the move. Enemy coordination will be weak and I’ll have the upper hand even if I nominally am at 10 supply centers (current+Venice+Rome). Naples is effectively 11, then Budapest and Romania are 13. Vienna and Sevastopol will hopefully also fall, leaving me 15 centers to take on 19 opposing ones, and I’m convinced I can win that.

Spring 1907

Russia stabbed me and it didn’t work. Either his attempt to pretend it didn’t happen is serious or it isn’t. If it isn’t, I have to go to war. If it is, I can go to war and win easily. Either way, it’s on to Moscow. Hopefully I can sneak into the Mid-Atlantic before anyone notices, which will secure the victory. Russia has promised to be non-hostile this turn while I do what I would do anyway, which may well buy me a full two turns on him and could put me in Rumania, Budapest and Vienna in 1907 with a walk into Moscow for 16. If I can get two of Portugal, Spain, Marseilles and Warsaw then that’s game, boys.