Yep the Yorkshire Pudding is definitely an opening. And arguably the Sea Lion is, although I would also argue that the Sea Lion opening can lead to an alliance. So ignore the Yorkshire Pudding, at least :)

So (trying to recover gracefully) alliances...?

I'm not sure about most or least effective, but I've always been partial to the Orient Express, although I don't think I've ever had the chance to play it.

What is the orient express? The Juggernaut? For me, nothing is better than running a Key-Lepanto out of a weak sisters alliance. Feels so good! I will also say the sea lion is quite effective.

The Orient Express is like the Key, but better.
http://www.diplom.org/Zine/S2001M/Livnat/Orient.html

You guys are going to have a great discussion...but more players will participate, as well as be educated, if you would briefly define the named alliances in parenthesis when they are initially named. I have found England/France to be the most effective alliance for me, though there is some tension there and it has to be closely managed against a stab.

Haha I'm still thinking of openings . . .
A summary: the Orient Express is a variation of the Lepanto opening, in which Italy and Austria open with the fairly innocuous
ven-pie
rom-tus
nap-ion
vie-gal
bud-ser
tri-alb
in the spring, followed by
ven-tri
pie h
ion-aeg!
alb-gre
The basic idea is that Italy borrows tri in the fall while eschewing tun, basically trading material for tempo. There's a lot more to it -- that's why I linked to the article!

This is indeed an amazing opening, as the Italian army in Tuscany slips to Venice between the spring and fall moves, in order to move to Trieste as a surprise in the fall! In chess notation, this is at least a !!

hahahaha! mistype. That sounds pretty interesting. I ran a Key variant once that was sort of like that, but Italy didn't have to borrow Trieste.

http://webdiplomacy.net/board.php?gameID=15404#gamePanel

Here's the hear of it in 1901: Ven-Tri-Ser while Austria moves Bud-Ser-Gre. This gets us a build a piece. Meanwhile, Austria is free to move Vie-Gal or what have you for a possible second build. Like the orient express, we trade material for tempo by moving Nap-ION-AEG or EMS! while Austria moves Tri-Alb-ION!. Finally Rom-Ven-Apu as part of a double move, set up for convoy.

It requires the most iron clad of trust, but why not... You're the weakest two powers on the board. Don't kill each other.

I am going back to the alliances.

I like the France/Germany alliance. I strongly dislike the Juggernaut, it's just too unstable.
R/I is good, and I am very fond of the A/I/G alliance.

When I get to play one of A/I/G, I know I am in for some INTENSE diplomacy, this is why they are my favorite countries to play.

I tried the Sea Lion in one of my other games and it was an epic failure. I tried convoying into clyde but England broke the convoy and...it just went horribly wrong, probably my fault. I would be interested in doing an Orient Express though...

@goldfinger
I've seen so many Sealions as England that I've gotten really good at defending it . . . it can be hilarious to watch FG try for three years to get an army unto my island. Unfortunately, I usually end up going out eventually when they just overwhelm me with numbers, but not before I've frustrated them and set Russia or Italy up very nicely.

@Paulsalomon
That's just the classic Key Lepanto. I played it as Italy in my first ever game of online Diplomacy. Since then, I've discovered some nasty things you can do with it as Italy . . . like getting the Turks to bounce you out of ser. It's a great opening for Italy, but from Austria's perspective, it's very risky because Italy has complete control.

I also like the Axis, A/I/G, especially if Germany will go with the Munich Gambit. It's probably the only triple that Germany can work in without worrying about her allies behind her back. The Juggernaut can be formidable, although it's so well known that most people shout it as soon as Fall 1901 anyway (whether it's on or not). But there needs to be some variation of it for it to work for Turkey. The Key is possibly too risky for Austria, but at least it's potentially faster than the classic Lepanto.

Back to pure alliances. Italy/Russia could be one of the most effective in that, the false third partner can be blinded to it quite easily. But the one I like to try and pull off is the unlikely Italy/Turkey. A lot of opponents just don't think it's stable enough. Why would two powers who SHOULD be fighting for the Med ally? Because if they can hold the alliance together, it takes England and France to be in at least as tight an alliance to stop them rushing fleets through the Med and into MAO (providing the early game has gone well). Again, though, Turkey has to be trustworthy as it is too easy to stab Italy to early. Wait until Italy is in the MAO and needs Turkish fleets to hold it.

@peterwiggin - its the classic key in the north, but the typical lepanto in any form uses the convoy from tunis to Turkey in 1902, usually in the fall. This is absent.

There are 3-4 high level games going on right now with an unusual A-T alliance

I've played more A-T alliances in 30some games on this site than I did in 100+ games on BOUNCED . . .

I always hated the A/T, but it just works really well at getting both into midgame.

@peter: I agree with you about Sealion. It's a huge pain for France and Germany to take out England. It's easier with Russian help, but having Russian units in Nwg and Edi isn't great down the road.

First, let me state this for the newbs:
http://www.diplom.org/Online/Openings/

My personal fav strategy is for france and requires a nice germany and an unknowning england. The lisbon leap->slingshot.
Basically, you need the channel open and either bur open or a mars-bur bounce in the spring. The moves:
spring 1901:
bre-mao
par-gas
mars h (or mars-bur for a bounce with germany)

fall 1901:
mars-spa
bre convoy gas-por

build:
Fleet bre
(you have another build, but can be anything)

Here's the slingshot part. The key is that MAO is still occupied, and most english players focus heavily east so the build will be in lon or edi and hopefully no army exists in mainland england.

Spring 1902:
mao-irish
bre-mao

Now you can convoy por or spa to wales or liverpool. Devastating when executed properly. Really tears england apart.

If I'm England, and I see France convoy to Portugal, it's a pretty large giveaway that something is on wrt France, no? Stuffing Iberia full of armies is seldom good for England.

there's always the option to move mars-spa in spring, then gas-spa, spa-por... but stuffing iberia is normal, you are just using armies instead of the MAO fleet.

Yep. It's the retention of the fleet in MAO that's the giveaway of hostile intent.