Sigh ... here goes.
@Abge ... the fuck man, really? I would have hit France harder if it weren't for a dumb internet blackout NMR, but when France got piled on by E/G, it was clear that it was me and only me he'd defend against. Basically, he'd throw everything to them, so I backed out and gave him a fighting chance because it serves us all better if the west is fighting. Moreover, Turkey had NO FLEETS! Well, one, but in the Black Sea, so irrelevant to me. How, speaking objectively, could you justify turning down that opportunity?
Even after I went after Turkey, I was still worried because you were basically lending out your home centers to Russia and berating me in press for wanting my piece of Turkey (as you said, a perfectly reasonable offer, and I don't know why that made you panic - maybe if you hadn't given Vienna away you wouldn't have been so desperate for territory). Then comes word of this crazy attack (thank you Ogion) which at first I thought was too crazy to be true but after awhile it dawned on me that maybe it was too crazy to be false, so I defended, and with Ogion's help, we stopped the attack.
Again, objectively speaking - I gave up a shot at France, notoriously the one responsible for Italy's downfall, to go after Turkey, my second arch nemesis, and I - no, we - have excellent position on him. We have his home centers surrounded and there's nowhere he can go, plus Russia was preparing to fight with Germany. It's game on, absolutely perfect delayed lepanto. How lucky is that? We hit the jackpot. Still objectively speaking (loudly and in a higher pitch, but objectively nonetheless), why wouldn't you want to take that opportunity to tear Turkey to pieces since he'd been tormenting you the entire game at that point?
Regardless, Germany helps me stop your attack, and Russia heads you way. Good news, I've got my old buddy back, he's fighting Russia and I'm prepping to fight France. We were both going to come out in decent shape through all of this. NOPE! You'd rather put yourself in an incredibly perilous sandwich situation between Turkey and France, the two strongest nations on the board, who were undoubtedly talking three-way endgame with Germany. I don't get it. Frankly (no longer speaking objectively), I never will because I tried so hard to simply build a functional relationship with you and you kept on playing the most greedy game I think I've seen anyone play as Austria.
P.S. - Now back to objectively speaking... if Turkey hadn't misordered his Black Sea fleet back to Constantinople (and done whatever he tried to do with Albania - gamble gone wrong I guess), there's no way you would have survived his stab, and it all would have been over before France became a serious thread. All in all, I'm amazed how lucky you got to pull out of this one alive.
@Ogion … I think you played the best of anyone, but I think it was your three build 1901 that made the biggest difference. I wish we could have pulled off that stunt we planned against France because this game would have been a lot different on both sides of the board if that had worked out.
@Ssorenn … It was gracious of you to offer to keep me in the draw and I would have happily accepted if I'd known you were gonna get your ass whooped right after I was defeated. Oops o_O
Otherwise, it wasn't a good game from my personal perspective, but it definitely had some action and flair and I'd love to play with this group again.
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May it stay forever strong
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