Honestly, my thought process was that I could grow as much as possible at Austria's expense while y'all fought it out, and then move in on whoever was left in a turn or two. Maybe that was too slow a game?

I never aligned against you... Maybe after France was out I would've reluctantly (;D) seized St. Petersburg, but I was never after you--was I? :P

A sad tale of a Russia getting beaten up...

Relationship with Turkey:

Spring 01
let's DMZ the Black Sea... he moves into the Black Sea
Fall 01
we need to battle Austria and Italy... he leaves the Black Sea, and we re'DMZ it
Spring 02
He removes against me....

With Germany:

I get Sweden in 1901, yay! Oh wait, he builds F Berlin. Crap
1902: i lose Sweden... damnit

There wasn't really a anti-Russia alliance. Bothe Germany and I kept egging each other on to be the first to seriously attack you.

@Vexx

Turkey said you started his Anti-Russia movement

@CapnPlatypus, you could've given my Vienna :(

I could have, yeah, but I didn't see any reason that getting in your good graces at the expense of my own expansion was remotely worth it. :D

My alliances changed every single year... it was horrible. I was willing to do just about anything to get in a draw :)

Well, you yourself believed Turkey was a liar, sooooooooo... there you have it. :P

I did not start. The. Anti-Russia. Alliance. ;D

well, it could've helped me restrain Turkey. You said you wanted me and Turkey to right. But with my peace with Germany being unstalble at best, it would've been a slaughter

:P. You were just waiting for your membership invitatition...

I think Italy was in part in it... and France didn't like me. My only thing near a faifthful ally was Austria :P

Hey! I never attacked you! :(

I was too hungry for France to pay your land any mind. >.>

you would've taken out France very quickly...

glad France wouldn't have survived until the mid-game. He really hated my guts...

Vexx didn't start the antiRussian alliance. He was just a convenient party to blame. If it was anyone, it would probably be Germany, given that he seemed to be talking more with England than me. I just joined in because EGT is too damn easy to maintain.

I bore you no ill will - and, in fact, had no serious alliances with or against anyone, with the exception of my obvious hostility towards Austria. Lots of non-aggression pacts, but nothing else.

I really did have a bad choice of neighbors... i did not like Bob's style at all (if Austria was any better, i would've moved on you) and Austria just sent me two posts repeated again anda gain

France was gone no matter what he did. I had originally planned to go along with France (hence why I didn't move to Burgundy until autumn 1901) but England displayed that he was going to go all out against France, and hey, I'm not going to get anything on the British Isles, am I? I like to reward guts, and it takes guts to demonstrate that kind of willingness right off the bat. Good move, Vexx..

In terms of me coming your way, FD, like I said in game, juggernauts scare the hell out of me because they are so overrated but if they sneak by they are so effective. Austria and Italy had already begun fighting (I don't know why), so it was really up to me to do something about it. Sure, it turned out to be a false alarm, but Sweden was right there for the taking and I needed a build. Anyway, I could stalemate Turkey so much more easily than I could you if you got powerful.

That's my explanation. Disagree if you like; we drew because a 32% CD rate got into the game. Check my other thread.

You heard from Austria?

@Bo

I know you reasoning... i just disagree completely with it :P

yes i did, Bob, but only because i messaged him first

As far as I'm concerned, Austria and I started fighting because he moved Tri-Ven without explanation or any contact at all. Act of war. It was that simple.

Not too quickly though 2-3 years, maybe even 4.

09:11 PM Spring, 1901: how do you want to play this game?
09:13 PM Spring, 1901: take rumania, then alliance against turkey. sound fair? I'm looking at servia, bulgaria, and greece.
09:14 PM Spring, 1901: sounds fair to me
09:16 PM Autumn, 1901: take rumania, then alliance against turkey. sound fair? I'm looking at servia, bulgaria, and greece.
09:17 PM Autumn, 1901: take rumania, then alliance against turkey. sound fair? I'm looking at servia, bulgaria, and greece.
09:18 PM Autumn, 1901: dude....
09:21 PM Autumn, 1901: yeah? thanks for not moving into budapest you scared the hell out of me.
09:21 PM Autumn, 1901: why did you keep sending me the same thing?
09:23 PM Autumn, 1901: yeah? thanks for not moving into budapest you scared the hell out of me.

chat log with Austria...

Austria is on my mental black list now. Maybe i should list them on my profile...

That's fair, Italy. Austria was without a doubt a really incompetent player, and for him to show up with Austria was unfortunate because he broke the game. He, without saying a word, directly influenced my moves, and certainly yours too. If we had a competent Austria, I'm sure the game would be different.

I wouldn't have been in this situtation, most likely. I am sure I could've gotten a different Austria on my side, so bo wouldn't have been screaming "OMG A JUGGERNAUT!!!!"

oh, and this game only strengths by mental image of bo as Germany :P

Yeah, though it certainly worked out in my favor. Without an incompetent Austria, I would have had to settle for going after Turkey, and I was frankly a little scared of Turkey.

If we had a competent Austria, I know my gameplay would have been much different.

Nah, you wouldn't have had to settle for Turkey. If Austria and Russia had allied, which FD supposedly would have gone for, you and Turkey could have worked together. If I play as Turkey, I consider the I/T the strongest alliance in the game as long as Italy can trust me. I tend to do my best to ignore SC count for the first few years and gain trust though, so for me, that's not too hard.

well, it would have depended on the player. But I did not like Bob's style from the very beginning

I can't say as I blame you. I was pretty much consistently a dick to you throughout the game.

That's an extremely accurate statement. And yeah, bo_sox, that's a good point. See what I mean about being rusty?