Since the thread made a comeback, I will post some things that I feel others should do. When I'm playing Russia or Austria, it doesn't really matter to me how well Turkey is doing unless he's doing better than I am. As a general rule when playing Italy, on the other hand, things are different. It's been my experience that Italy thrives in a 2v2 battle. Thus, my suggestions to all Italian players is to become the detective of the board and determine who wants to fight who and side with the underdog. The reason for this is that in the eastern conflict, you're the odd man out. No one has any means by which to affect you directly for at least the first whole year and that's assuming that you absolutely suck. If you're a decent player, then you have nothing to fear for the first 2 full years and sometimes beyond. When R/T is fighting A, ally with A. When A/T is fighting R, ally with R and when A/R is fighting T, ally with T. The reason for this is simple. Everyone wants an ally and when a player is faced with a heavy assault from 2 players, they desperately want someone to be on their side. When you ally with the underdog, you gain that 'friend' that is far less likely to stab you than anyone else on the board, even in later years (not to say they won't but simply that they're less likely to do so when compared to someone who didn't have the stress in the early years and have someone pull them out of a jam). Second, by allying with the weaker guy, you stand a higher chance of gaining a 5th center someplace because you actually have someone willing to support you in. If you have a 3-way against 1 country, Italy is always going to get the small share of the cake and it usually comes after everyone else had their piece. If Italy plays this way, then Turkey will always have an ally somewhere and Italy is usually a place I like to start.
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How the hell does one succeed as Turkey?
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