Tsar Regoarrarr of Russia

[regoarrarr]

Email to France

So.... that didn't go too well for you :-( I guess you thought that you had worked something out with Scooter and then he backstabbed you pretty hard? Unfortunately between him and uberfish it looks like he got you pretty good. Assuming builds of A Lon and A Mun (and obviously A Par for you), the obvious move for them would be A Bre S A Bur-Par, and you can't cut the support from A Bre.

What you CAN do is order A Mar S A Par-Bur, which would be an equally supported attack the other way (2 strength attack Bur-Par and 2 strength attack Par-Bur), so it would all bounce. Coupled with Mao-Por and Spa-Gas, then you might have some options in the fall. Of course if Italy cuts your support by ordering Pie-Mar, you're in trouble, but if 3 folks all come after you, ther's only so much you can do anyways :-D

Speaking of Italy, is there anything specific you'd like me to tell him / try to get him to do? I'm not clear at this point whether it's EGI or just EG so it's a little shaky as to what if anything to tell him.

Nevertheless, your and my interests are intertwined here - I don't want to see you go down either so if there's something that you'd like me to try and encourage Italy to do or not do, let me know

[regoarrarr]

Chat with Scooter

scooter: you around?
me: hi
scooter: guess so! got your email
wanted to let you know that i meant what i said in that i'm not planning to go after st petersburg
me: ok
are you sure? last chance for forgiveness ;-)
scooter: that said, i cant speak for germany yet. i really don tknow what they're doing yet
yes
and i'm pretty strongly prefer that you not build in st petersburg for that exact reason...
though given the unrest in the a/r/t region, i imagine building south makes more sense anyways
me: i can safely say that i'm not building in stp
want to support me to swe this spring?
scooter: okay
probably not...
not sure i want to piss off germany by doing something like that
me: so you think he'll be gunning for swe?
scooter: especially when he may very well supporthiimself into sweden
me: build f kie / a mun?
scooter: he might but i don't know
i havnet talked to uberfish since the turns got processed
barely missed him on chat earlier i think
me: ok
scooter: i got the imperssion he wanted 2 armies rather than army/fleet. but i honestly cant say for sure
i am very open to your idea of starting at the top and working down. i've said all along i'd like to avoid hostilities to keep from distracting us
and just genreally avoiding conflict in the north. again, i cant speak for germany really, but just figured i'd make you aware of that much
me: ok

He claims he's not going for Stp though I'm not so sure that we can trust him at this point. Given that we're unlikely to get Sweden, Bot-Stp in spring and/or fall probably makes sense anyways....

[regoarrarr]

So we're in some trouble here. At least Italy didn't do anything stupid and built a fleet, but Germany's builds, which were 2 armies, and even more importantly for us included A Ber are definite trouble.

I don't know if somebody (Austria or Italy) tipped him off that we might be coming for him, or if he just decided that now is the time to open off the 2nd front (it very well may be), but at least one of those armies is coming east.

[Zed-F]

I'm really not sure what you're thinking our objective for our forces should be at this point. We didn't build in Sev, but are the forces we have down there enough to grab our share of T, with I and A presumably also doing likewise? It looks like we just have 1 army and 1 fleet in position unless Ukr moves south. Or is the plan to go after T no longer in effect?

I thought we were trying to convince I and A to be worried about G, more than to try and deal with G all by ourselves. It doesn't sound like we are that confident that I and A are ready to sign on against G yet though. If we don't get positive signs from them that a real alliance is in the works, are we going with a defensive posture?

[regoarrarr]

I'm really not sure what you're thinking our objective for our forces should be at this point. We didn't build in Sev, but are the forces we have down there enough to grab our share of T, with I and A presumably also doing likewise? It looks like we just have 1 army and 1 fleet in position unless Ukr moves south. Or is the plan to go after T no longer in effect?

I thought we were trying to convince I and A to be worried about G, more than to try and deal with G all by ourselves. It doesn't sound like we are that confident that I and A are ready to sign on against G yet though. If we don't get positive signs from them that a real alliance is in the works, are we going with a defensive posture?

To answer your first question, yes, I think our forces in Turkey lands are sufficient. Either Amelia is a Dip noob, or really trusts us, or isn't really "into" this game, or some combination of the three, but my plan is for us to convoy Rum-Arm in spring, which should be enough to ensure Ank and Con (next year if not this one)

You are correct that the plan was to get A and I on board, but I'm wondering if one of them isn't secretly in with E/G.

I would not be surprised to see something like Mun-Sil, Ber-Pru out of Germany this spring.

[regoarrarr]

Okay Turkey didn't know what to do so I replied

Well Greece is probably doomed, right? I could use F Bla to support Con-Bul if you want? That would stop him if he tries to order Ser-Bul (and Tri-Ser) to pick up both Bul in Spring and Gre in fall.

Obviously Smy-Aeg and Ank you can either hold or cover Con (to keep me honest).

If you'd prefer I move F Bla out of the way I can do that but I just figured it's already there so might as well make some use out of it

let me know

If she agrees to that she is going to be down to 2 centers by the end of 1902 and out of the game by 1903.

[regoarrarr]

Email to Austria

Okay,

It's back to moving - orders are probably due in a day or so?

Germany built an army in Berlin and I don't know what his plans are with it. Last time we talked you were a little nervous about moving on to Germany, but I really think that it's imperative to act now.

Turkey is hosed. She's not even bothering to put up any semblance of diplomacy. She will be down to 2 centers this year, and out of the game in 1903. This requires only your army in Serbia and fleet in Albania (and my units not including A War). There's literally nothing (okay, very little) she can do about it.

So that leaves the rest of our units to try and make sure E/G don't steamroll france too quickly as well as provide some security between ourselves as well as Italy.

I still think the best idea is to move to Tyl/Boh/Sil, though even that might not be enough if Germany moves Ber-Sil. But obviously I need your help to do it. I see the alternative is E/G finishing off France quickly and heading southeast. I don't know if you already have some sort of deal with them or not - maybe you do in which case there's probably not much I can do about it....

What do you think?

[regoarrarr]

Okay, I haven't updated much (in here or in other games either). I've been working the phones, so to speak, and here's a brief summary of what I expect to see for Spring 02 orders

Turkey:
Holding in Greece and moving Con-Bul, Ank-Con (with my support). Greece is doomed and she knows that

Italy:
Tun-Wes, Nap-Ion

Austria:
Gal H, Tri H, Ser S Alb-Gre

Germany:
Bouncing us in Silesia
Mun-Bur
Bur-Par

England:
Eng-Mao, Lvp-Nao/Iri
Bre S Bur-Par
Nwy-Stp?

So I'm not sure on E/G's orders in France, but that seems like the most likely orders. They have asked Italy to order Pie-Mar, which would ensure that the attack on Paris succeeds. So, since it is in MY best interests (and arguably Italy's) to not have France go down that quickly, I asked Italy what it would take to not order Pie-Mar.

I offered to let him Greece in the fall (as Austria takes Bulgaria) if he doesn't order Pie-Mar. It is not clear whether Austria and I will actually go THROUGH with this, but even if we don't, we've at least bought ourselves another year in the west.

I THINK that we are tight with Lewyyn / Austria. I offered to let him stay in Galicia, so that we could move on Germany in the fall if we need to. That does have some risk to me - she could just as easily stab me with it in the fall. The option exists too that Germany could let me in Silesia and have Austria order Gal-War.

I've got some things up my sleeve but I'm going to leave you hanging for a few hours

[Mardoc]

I've got some things up my sleeve but I'm going to leave you hanging for a few hours

Hey, I'm just glad to see that something's happening, even if it's below the surface. I was starting to think the game was dead!

[Zed-F]

Thought we were bouncing Ger in Sil? Or was that one of the things up your sleeve?