That's excellent. You take bot-Italy's center, and he responds by (1) disbanding the adjacent center and (2) moving other units away from the region!DougJoe wrote: ↑Thu Oct 13, 2022 8:50 pmIn my game, in the fall of 1912 I decided to leave Greece to the fates and play Bul S Con, Con S Syr-Smy, Arm-Ank. I didn't want Con to move, but didn't want it to be destroyed either as I probably couldn't rebuild it. Also, I played the already mentioned tricky defense of the Austrian homeland. Italy attacked Tri with 2 and Vie with two (support from Tyo, as expected). Italy also attacked Greece so I ended up losing Greece but gained Smy. I was not able to build, but Italy was -1 and pulled Ank which now leaves it wide open for Arm to move into if needed. In other news, it looks like England is setting up to take StP with an army, though, which I'm not sure I like.
In the spring, I kept things defensive in Turkey. Same tactics in Tri/Vie. Tried to take Greece back. England did take StP from Russia, and Italy switch to a 3 on Tri attack, which failed. The interesting thing was that he moved EAS-ION (I'm not sure what that's about) which means that Arm can walk into Ank and not have to defend Smy. I still don't see a good way to open up a home center for a build and I'm a little nervous about what England is up to, but I *think* I can move Arm-Ank and still get back if needed. Not sure yet.
The main thing you need to focus on now is finding a way to clear at least one home SC for builds. You probably need at least 1 more army in the area to do that safely. In other words, to acquire more units, you'll need more units. A bit of a Catch-22. (Or maybe just a Catch-2?) Perhaps you can spare a unit from Turkey?
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In my game, I'm going ahead with the Autumn '12 moves, with one minor alteration: Naples and Ionian will each attack TYS, instead of Naples supporting Ionian's attack. The attack from Naples cuts support for a potential English attack on Ionian, and vice versa. So, the moves are:
NAP-->TYS
ION-->TYS
AEG-->ION
VEN-->ROM
APU supports VEN-->ROM
ADR-->VEN
Support-holds in the East. Here goes:
https://webdiplomacy.net/board.php?gameID=439208
Phase II successfully completed! England made the most predictable moves possible: TYS support-hold ROM, ROM support PIE-->VEN. Any of my alternative options would have worked. I could have advanced the fleets. Still, I'm satisfied with the analysis and decision. (The result's not bad, either.)
Also, England pushed his GoL fleet forward to Tuscany. As a result, his dislodged Rome army had no retreat and was destroyed. An excellent turn of events! Phase III of my project would have been to destroy that Tuscany army. England has done it for me. Phase III successfully completed! On to Phase IV, advancing the fleets along the west coast of Italy.
Germany went back to the supported attack on SEV, after only 1 turn of MOS-->SEV, UKR-->RUM. Is he trying to lure me into attacking Ukraine?
Time for builds next. I'm +1. I now have enough fleets. Probably an army to backstop SEV or RUM, to open up some attack possibilities in the East.