Much obliged I’m sure 
Do you wish to set the clock back a season and try and take Ska again? Or should I support you into Denmark instead?
[Russia]
@Germany/Austria
Sirs, the time to make a counter-offer is now. Agreements with your enemies can be broken (and probably will be, given enough time) if it is to our mutual benefit. I await your reply(s)…
@Turkey/Italy
Run me through the plan for this season, I’m not sure I’m up to speed. If I’m to take Rumania, I assume that unit will need assistance to take Budapest?? Will Turkey’s Constantine troops get restless, stuck behind the Bulgars as they are??
@France
Yoo-hoo!! I can see you…
[Germany]
[Russia], it seems clear your predecessor has seen the benefit to having a German wall dug in and stable against the allied forces of the North slowing their expansion and largely keeping you in a one front war. I hope you share and/or respect this wish.
I have cooperated to ensure Russia makes gains in the north and I have advocated on your behalf in the south. Our peace treaty obviously holds strong to the benefit of us both. In light of this I hope you choose to respect the will of the absent Russian Tsar in the year of 1902 and continue on your path to claim rightful ownership of Norway and it’s waters.
I cannot offer any grand plans or promises as my defense will require my complete and total dedication. However my resisting England’s position on the mainland will pay you significant long term dividends. Between the two of us it should be a short time before we are able to control the North Sea and begin plans to parcel out the Isles so long as his supply of units are strangled. It’s also possible that he will see the fruitlessness of his endeavors and end his alliance with the French.
In short it is clear that Norway will be yours should the support from Nth be cut, a task which I can complete on your behalf. I will cooperate in our mutual defense to ensure that Skag remains vacant and Sweden remains in your hands.
[/Germany]
[Italy]
@ Russia:
I would be much obliged if your troops in Gal. would march on Vie. to distract the Austrian units there.
@ Turkey:
I will need a lot of help from you this Fall. If you order the armies in Rum. to Bud. and Bul. to Ser. we can cripple Austria’s ability to support his unit in Tri., which I will capture. Finally, if your fleet in Aeg. supports my fleet from Ion. to Gre., I believe we will have put paid to the Archduke (for the most part).
[E] to [F] & [G]:
Busy two days at work lately-sorry for the silence (and at my work posting from there is completely out of the question):
I am just tossing this feeler out. I admit, Omniscient, that, with a sure build coming up, our offensive against you is likely doomed to be stalled. I’ll thus raise the prospect of a Triple Alliance. I am (naturally) worried about the looming prospect of a Turkish/Russian Juggernaut. Issues:
-
You’ll both need to disentangle yourselves from the Western front; neutralizing Burgundy would be the logical first step.
-
I would go after Russia in the north, while Germany moves towards Moscow (and perhaps Bohemia to help Austria) and France moves (will take a few turns) into the Med.
-
Likewise both Hel and Ska would be neutralized, and no fleet builds in Kie. Unfortunately France may not have the luxury of vacating Mar, so I’ll allow him to build a fleet in Brest if he wishes, which may only move to the MAO or points farther south.
In other words I am willing to put past acrimony behind us in the interests of stopping a growing threat elsewhere on the board, when infighting between us will only strengthen said R-T alliance.
Deutschland
England, I’m not close minded on the idea of rethinking the conflict that we are in. However it’s a pretty tall order considering the current circumstances we are in.
First and foremost, I agree that a R-T Juggernaut is a concern for everyone, however to date Russia and I have been allies. I’ve not been entirely confident is his moves in the north and his repeated shifts of tact but currently he appears to be operating in my best interest. I’m not entirely convinced a Juggernaut is in the offing since Turkey has pretty well out played Russia so far. It’s unclear that the R-T is rock solid. If Italy makes faster gains than Turkey or if Austria holds tight that alliance could still get screwed up, and Turkey seems to be above all an opportunist. Also, if an R-T begins it’s clear that Russia will be the lesser partner in it. I’m not sure how opposed I am to a strong Turkey, a strong Turkey is better than a strong Russia or Italy for Germany unless I establish a active alliance with them soon.
More practically, you have been pretty eager to fight me from the outset. You’ve denied this but your words and actions contradict it at every turn. You courted France from the beginning (strange in that F-E alliances almost always favor France in the midgame) and even after he moved aggressively against you you still were eager to bury the hatchet there instead of allying with me who had not acted against you at all. Even if I were to believe you what confidence can I have that you won’t rethink this once you get into a stronger position, if you do rethink it past history indicates you’ll not be stabbing France before you stab me.
France is the other issue. He’s been pretty aggressive from the first series of moves. He’s attacked me and you and has been intent on pressuring me and being a wholly land-based force. I’m not very confident in his willingness to rethink that and steer his units to the south in a slow methodical way. If a Triple were offed he’s essentially looking at no builds from now until he can get Tunis or Italy (Tunis could happen pretty quickly though if he fully commits to it).
In short, I’d need to see a lot of action on your and France’s part to disengage before I lessen my defenses and turn East. Right now I’m locked in and sturdy, I’ll weather this Juggernaut longer than you will. If you can persuade France to get out of my belly and shift his tact with a Fleet build and a move out of Burgundy I’ll be all ears. But I won’t even think about doing anything to aggravate Russia until that happens.
If this is a plan you feel confident in and if a R-T really looks like it has legs I’m more than willing to hear you out. But I’m not the one you need to get on board, that’s France.
Deutschland
Turkey is going after Greece this turn and there’s nothing I can do to stop it. The moves will be A Rum-Ser, A Bul-Gre, F Aeg [s] A Bul-Gre, and A Con-Bul. Unless you want him to have Greece I’d suggest supporting my fleet there.
[Russia]
I have to agree - the army in Bul has to move somewhere to free the bottle neck, and as there is no guarantee of taking Serbia, Greece is the obvious choice. It comes down to how comfortable you feel with Turkey’s expansion into the Med as to how you respond.
As for me, I have been promised Rum back, and fully expect Turkey to make that happen, although I am not yet sure how…
[/Russia]
I fully expect you to make it happen this turn. I’d just say that if I were you I’d use all three units instead of just two. No use in us bouncing and letting Turkey pick up another free unit.
[E]
Well, Tristan hasn’t chimed in once since the spring results came in, so until he does we’ll assume status quo then, Omniscient.
[F]
Like many others, my time has been busy, as my offices have been moved at work, which is where I do the majority of my websurfing.
I am, I suppose, open to the idea of a Triple Alliance. I have fears that Germany will use this as an opportunity for revenge against either England or myself for the earlier mistreatment he believes he suffered.
I am also, I fully admit, a bit puzzled by the agreement that I would support a move against Holland that ended up not happening at all. This was a waste of my movements, when I could have been putting more pressure on Germany.
Ah well… no use crying over spilled wine.
For what it’s worth, I don’t see the Russian/Italian/Turkish alliance lasting much longer. It’s clear that there is some serious trust issues there.
But the effort to break Germany, especially given Englands possiblities of having to fight both the Bear and the Kaiser, may be almost insurmountable. We can spend our time dashing ourselves against each others defenses, get nowhere, and wake up being forced to learn RussoTurkTalian.
As for moving against Italy, I am always open to hear plans, but I can make no promises yet. He is the one person I have dealt with so far that hasn’t made me waste my time, nor attempted to rally forces against me.
[/F]
[ITALY]
Funny… I don’t remember Sultan Malacandra appointing you his ambassador plenipotentiary. I’ll wait until we can hear from the man himself. If you want to offer me a better deal, I’ll listen, but it doesn’t seem like you’ve got much to bargain with.
I’m not offering you anything. I’m simply making sure you are aware of what likely will happen. If you would rather Turkey have Greece, then let him take it. If you would rather I have it, you need to support my fleet there. It doesn’t really matter to me because I am not going to win. I’m just giving an honest effort to keep the game balanced.
[Dropping the silly colored tags-we know who each other is by now]
I’ll try to justify my moves, which in retrospect didn’t work of course (in retrospect). I assumed that Russia, uncertain about Turkey’s intentions, would jump at the possibility of a rented build, with my help. At the very least I assumed he would maintain a neutral stance in the West (as our dealings had been cordial at worst), to gain a sense of long-term trust with me for the later stages of the game.* I thus assumed that Norway-Skag was a mortal lock. In such a case it becomes a 50-50 guessing game as to whether I, or Russia got a build at Germany’s expense in the fall (he couldn’t defend both Holland and Denmark simultaneously, and in fact if I did get Skag, Denmark was in the bag in the fall, given Germany’s actual moves).
I knew that a bounce was upcoming in Holland in the spring anyway (note the cut support Tristan), so I figured I was better off setting things up for the Fall (which the only time holding a center really counts). I had a hunch that Germany would take a chance with his fleet, ensuring that he got Holland in the fall even if he lost Denmark (which as it turned out was correct, he just moved a different unit 'tis all), and move it to Hel, thinking I was going to make a move for Holland like you and I discussed. I wish I had moved to Hel, even if it meant a temporarily vacant North Sea. He who is predictable loses, and in open press I may even tell an ally one thing and then do another, just so the enemy isn’t privy to my actual plans.
That is a rather longwinded explanation I admit-long story short I knew the spring had no mortal locks anywhere, but figured I could secure one for the fall turn one way or another. The (former*) Tsar f###ed all that up with his petty bounce, and that’s where we stand. Not sure what else I can say.
[*If I knew wevets was about to abandon his position, in which case he wouldn’t have given a crap about any sort of long-term trust issues, I likely would have gone with the original plan.]
Touche!!
@Germany (I’m still not sure who is who)
Rest assured that I have no intention of engaging with you on the mainland of Europe. Scandinavia and the Balkans are quite enough to deal with at one time.
@Turkey
I still await your plans for Romania…
@England
Since the bounce was orchestrated by my predecessor, are you willing to trust me again?
Sure. What do you have in mind? Do you plan to stick to a policy of pure neutrality, or will you be pro- (or anti-) German? I don’t think Turkey is going to be in any mood to be giving you Rumania back any time soon (judging from his spring support of same); let me toss the offer I made to wevets back on the table: as long as Rumania is not yours (or you don’t gain any other centers), I’ll let you rent Denmark (or Norway if I am able to gain Denmark myself). Any such build cannot be in St. Pete however.
I think a repeat of last turns planned moves i.e. you move Nor-Ska which I support, would be best. You can take Denmark next year and I will hold Norway in the name of the crown. No builds for me in StP…
Turkey is back in da house…
I’m not due to make any gains this year as the map lies, so I need to keep Rum for myself. Once we have kicked the door in and can get on with partitioning the Hapsburgs as previously discussed, I’ll be happy to move out. Meanwhile I’m happy for Rum to support RUSSIAN A. Gal-Bud and Austria can either prevent it or not, his choice depending what he wants to keep instead.
Thank you for that. I will happily support ITALIAN F. Ion - Gre this Fall, which will guarantee you a build. As mentioned before, we agree that this centre will revert to Turkish control once you are assured of gains elsewhere. Should you be lucky enough to pick up Trieste, for instance, I would expect Greece next year.
It is possible that I could welsh on both the above details, take Greece for myself and keep Rumania. Then in exchange for having antagonised all three neighbours, I would gain a whole supply centre. :smack: I trust it is patently obvious why I will not do so.
We have another 24 hours and my ears are wide open to any counter-proposals.
[Aside]
Someone asked upthread about the syntax of supporting a convoyed attack. It is enough to support merely the move of the army itself - the fact that the attacking army arrives by convoy is no concern of the supporting unit. But remember that you must support the move of the army - not merely the army. For instance:
FRANCE: A Spa - Pie; F Lyo C Spa - Pie
ITALY: A Tus S Spa - Pie
would be fine, but
FRANCE: A Spa - Pie; F Lyo C Spa - Pie
ITALY: A Tus S Spa
would not.
[/Aside]
[ITALY]
Welcome back, Malacandra. I appreciate your support and will be happy to hold to our previous agreement regarding the division of territory.
About 9 1/2 hours left to get all the moves in.