I don't know if it's the case of changing the class of my opponents or the increasing awareness over time, but seem to remember a time when playing Key Lepanto wasn't obvious af. You could actaully fool Russia and Turkey into thinking there's war. Now it's just useless, and playing as Austria, just dangerous.

Are we talking only A-I openings, or all openings?

Oh man, I want to try that reverse key lepanto in my next F2F game.

My favourite opening is the classic Sealion. But I worry that it, too, has become too easy to spot.

I think if you're playing Russia you absolutely 100% need to slingshot every time. Its basically a foolproof opening that gives you dominating power in the north while getting a solid ally in Austria in the south. Every slingshot I've ever seen run has resulted in a solo for Russia.

You've done the slingshot with Austria and not Turkey?

The "slingshot" I refer to is a R/A. Austria opens A Bud - Rum, which is disbanded in the fall by Russia. Austria then builds a second fleet to take out Italy.

What is turkey doing at this time, twiddling his thumbs?

I like some of these, but my favourite Austrian opening is the following:

In spring, you chat to Germany. Tell him Italy is planning to open to Tyrolia; supposedly to snipe Munich, but you think it is to attack you, so you'll be moving Vie -> Tyrolia to bounce it and protect the pair of you, as you're "natural allies". Convince Italy to open with an Alpine Lepanto (shouldn't be too hard). Germany, always worried about the Italian snipe of Munich, should be greatly relieved.

So then in Autumn, you snipe Munich yourself, whilst taking Serbia and Greece for 3 builds, with Italy getting Tunis and maybe Marseilles too, allowing for you to go on a full invasion of Germany with the Vienna army you just built following up in 1902, and maybe a Trieste army too.

The benefit of this is that you never have to scrabble around taking Iberia to solo as Austria - which is always hard due to your natural lack of fleets. Instead, you just power over the stalemate line in 1902 and take all of Germany for yourself, possibly getting into Holland or Denmark soon after.

Every time this is played, I've seen it end in an Austrian solo, usually by the end of 1907.

Never heard of alpine lepanto

The best openings usually net Italy and Austria 3 builds each.

If i am russia or turkey I like to try avoiding a bounce in black sea in the spring before committing to war in the fall, just to confuse literally everyone.

That's a good move tvrocks. You can also try moving F Ank - Con in the spring and then Con - Bul EC in the fall.

The Bulgarian Gambit is solid if executed correctly

Sometimes when I slingshot as Russia I like to just rebuild my fleet in Sev.

If i'm france my favorite opening is lon york, lvp york, edi york.

To clarify, S01:

AUSTRIA: Balkan Gambit (Galicia)
RUSSIA: War - Gal, Mos - Sev, Sev - Rum
---
Russia then moves SEV - ARM and supports Austria to Bulgaria

Some of my favorites:

England - Lon >> EC, Lvp >> Yor, Edi >> Nth. If you can negotiate a supported convoy into Belgium and still afford to attack France, do it. If you can't, move your fleet to Belgium and take Norway. In gunboat, support yourself into Belgium and let France either block Brest or vacate the MAO; either way, he can't hurt you in S02. You get an army on the mainland and avoid the mess known as Scandinavia for the time being. It's always there later but the mainland will close up quick, especially if one of them attacks you first.

France - Bre >> MAO, Par >> Bur, Mar S Par >> Bur; MAO >> Por, Bur >> Bel, Mar >> Pie. Negotiate this shit with Italy and rip Germany to shreds. Get English support into Belgium and then build a fleet in Brest anyway if you have two. Two birds one stone. If you only have one, build an army and then take Spain whenever you feel like it. Nobody else is going to take it so you might as well save it for when you need it. The I/F is the most underrated alliance in Diplomacy.

Italy - Ven >> Pie, Rom >> Apu, Nap >> Ion; convoy to Tunis, support France back to Marseilles. Fuck with France, keep them on edge. Take Marseilles in the spring, and if you can't, make sure France has to cover it in the fall. Work with Austria, tear Turkey up, and then pick your next target. Nobody can touch you once Turkey goes down.

Also Italy - Ven >> Tyr, Rom >> Ven, Nap >> Ion; option 1: Ven >> Tri, Tyr S Ven >> Tri, Ion >> Tun; option 2: Tyr >> Boh, Ven >> Tri, Ion >> Tun. Option 1 is an attack on Austria, option 2 is negotiated. Typically, option 2 will have been negotiated from the start, but it's rare that you'll find an Austrian player who will go with it. Another option is to move to Tyrolia alone, follow to Bohemia, and convoy to Tunis, leaving open a lepanto and an indirect attack on Russia simultaneously. With a friendly France, option 2 and 3 are both damn near guaranteed successful.

Austria - Tri >> Alb, Bud >> Ser, Vie >> Bud; Alb >> Ion (Italy moves to Aegean), Bud >> Ser, Ser >> Gre (or Bud >> Rum with Ser support). Takes a lot of negotiation with Italy but absolutely devastates Turkey, particularly if he bounces the Black Sea in S01. It opens the door for a move into the later stages of a key without an Italian army having to move through, though a fun way to play it is to have an Italian army keying as a mutual trust arrangement with Austria in the Ionian and Italy in Serbia.

Oh, Turkey - Con >> Bul, Smy >> Arm, Ank >> Con; Con >> Aeg, Bul do something, Arm >> Ank. Russia won't appreciate the move to Armenia but hopefully it will get him back out of the Black Sea. You can control the Med this way because Italy can't successfully convoy against you without Austrian support into the Aegean, and with a second fleet build and a little bit of confusion in the spring, you can prevent them from doing anything without getting a fleet all the way to Bulgaria.

https://gfycat.com/SlowQuerulousAngora

Any opening that doesn't leave you with that "I'm screwed" feeling is a good opening.

That's my favorite Turkish opening too! You can also turn it against Russia in a pinch: Con-Ank, Arm-Ank, Bul-Rum in the fall + build F Ank. In Spring 1902, you get the Black Sea, and there's a pretty good chance Russia's fleet will have no retreat options, so it's disbanded.

Or you can use it for a super-jugg: Russia moves Sev-Bla in the spring and Bla-Con in the fall. Turkey moves Smy-Arm in the Spring and Arm-Sev in the fall. The Turkish army can go to Rum later, while the Russian fleet will go to Bul (sc) or Aeg.