Maybe it should have been Just TRY to kill France.
That sums it up, "just TRY to kill France", or "good luck buddy".
I have found that with France, if you don't get jumped on early, that you will definitely not get knocked out, and you can end up soloing a great percentage of the time. Sort of depends on where the CD's happen for the soloing part.
So from that logic, it seems like it would be in everybody's best interests for England and Germany to gang up on France as often as possible, with Italy tossing in army Piedmont for good measure (it's not doing anything anyway, right?). And even then, it's hard as hell to knock France out. This never seems to happen though. The usual progression if E or G dive into France is that the other sits back and enjoys the fun, or maybe even joins in with France. If the latter, it is almost always to the longterm detriment of the helper of France. And if the helper stays aloof, it will usually just mean that Turkey ends up winning!
Diplomacy is often trumpeted as being (besides Italy) a very well-balanced game. In gunboat I think you get great advantages as France, and often Turkey. Let's get a little more balance here and start recognizing that France's need to get a trial by fire as often as possible. If you are England or Germany, and the other has taken the bold step of diving into the Channel/Burgundy, if Germany has built all armies or England has built F Liverpool, then, for the good of the board, for the good of balance, FOR YOUR OWN GOOD, I posit that you should join in on the France attack. It may pay off. But if you don't then it almost certainly will mean eventually getting a nasty case of the blues over all your provinces.
Discuss?
(and BTW I feel almost as strongly about Turkey, but I can save that for another DAMMIT episode)
Looking For Fill In For Full Disclosure Game
, buy in, 36-hr phase
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