1) Syria (as Italy I want this territory often)
2) Albania (as Italy I like this little thorn in Austria's back, as Austria I want to move my fleet there to get Greece)
3) Livonia (as Germany, I want to convoy there)
4) Tuscany (as France, I want to convoy there)
5) Finland (as England, once I get my army into Scandinavia, this is the logical next move)

6) Moscow (needed to complete most winning 18s)
7) Tunis (also needed to complete most winning 18s)

1)North Sea
2)Burgundy
3)Norway
4)BlackSea
5)Rumania
6)Greece

1) Mid-Atlantic Ocean (as England its necessary to hold against any Med power coming through)
2) Munich (its vital in many stalemate lines)
3) Black Sea (a must for Russia)
4) St Petersburg (as England its the surest way of expansion. As Russia you have to hold it or you're done)
5) Ionian Sea (as Italy I have to keep out Turkey/Russia)
6) Syria (as Italy I want to convoy there)

What criteria should be used to determine importance?

Whichever criteria you deem most fit

1. Mun
2. MAO
3. Bur
4. stp

" I don't think Syria or Albania are likely to be contenders, so it certainly needn't be all 74 territories. 10 or so would probably include all likely winners.
ava2790 (1442 ) 11:26 AM
1) Syria (as Italy I want this territory often)
2) Albania (as Italy I like this little thorn in Austria's back, as Austria I want to move my fleet there to get Greece)
"
What a troll :)

1) North Sea
2) Ionian Sea
3) Munich
4) MAO
5) Burgundy
6) Black Sea
7) Greece
8) Belgium
9) Sweden
10) Warsaw

1. Arctic Circle
2. West Atlantic Ocean
3. Northeast Pacific
4. Norwegian Dependency
5. Northeast Indian
6. Barents Sea
7. Lanzhou
8. Iran
9. Byzantium
10. Punic Sea

I'm surprised no one has voted for Galicia!

1. Munich
2. MAO
3. Galicia
4. North Sea
5. Ionian Sea
6. St Pete
7. Burgundy
8. Tunis
9. Black Sea

1. Munich
2. Galicia
3. Ionian Sea
4. Mid-Atlantic
5. Black Sea

Part of me wants to include as no. 6 Switzerland. It's obviously not a territory one can move into but it makes up a very important part of many defenses as the end of a solid line.

1. Ionian Sea
2. Burgundy
3. North Sea
4. Romania
5. Serbia
6. MAO
7. Bulgaria
8. Ruhr
9. Warsaw

1) Munich
2) Ionian
3) St. P
4) Serbia
5) MAO
6) Black
6) Bel

Nobody said Tyrolia, I think it is an important place though.

1) North Sea
2) Ionian Sea
3) Mid-Atlantic
4) Galicia
5) Ruhr

1) Munich
2) Burgundy
3) Ionian Sea
4) Belgium
5) Bulgaria
6) Ukraine
6)

I consider Tyrolia to be the single most important territory.

1. Galicia (affects A and R right off the bat, affects how A, R, and T deal, and all this indirectly affects how G and E will deal with R, given how powerful or not it is and where it concentrates its forces, and how I might deal with A and R...really on F is a bit of a stretch here, so with 6/7 affected, I'd say it's #1)

1. English Channel (a move there by either E or F and the West erupts into war, if it's successfully DMZed E and F and, for a while, perhaps even G are free to go Eastward in a Western Triple or at least an E/F Alliance; this really effects the West, and can have a great impact on the East.)

3. Venice/Trieste (I'll cheat here and go two for the price of one for the obvious reason that they're so linked in the game in terms of importance and who likely owns them that really they almost can count as one...DMZed and a likely-strong A/I Alliance can really hit both sides of the board, one side could take Venice/Trieste from the other and that one power, then, can quickly take the other and itself become a power in its region, if not a Board Power, or there could be many turns of bounces and wars there, effectively making for a weak middle and giving the corner powers a greater chance at power.)

4. Black Sea (I'm surprised this hasn't gotten more fanfare...either there's a war there and the whole East from R to T could become weakened and vulnerable, one side takes it and weakens the other until they're out or a non-factor, thus affecting plenty of other nations, or, of course, the always-trumped-up possibility of a true--at least fpr a while--Jugernaut.)

5. Belgium (My highest-rated nuetral here, and as its a center G, F, and E all want desperately and can decide so much on who in the West will emerge as the power in that region speaks to its place here...)



Honorable Mention: Munich (Important, and you arguably can't win with most nations without it.)

Underrated Center: Greece (I think this center is short-changed in this sort of a debate, hasn't made hardly any lists so far...and yet it's BIG for I, T, and A, possibly for R if he's gotten that far, and, interestingly enough, in my experience E and F can really care about that center, as though they might not have it their ENEMY out of the east with a large armada--usually T, sometimes I--can have that center and they tell the other power, I or T, sometimes I to take it, to cut the flow to the Ionian Sea, which DOES get a lot of reputation here, and not unduly, but Greece to a great extend dictates who can hold not only the Ionian Sea, but the Mediterranean Sea Spaces as well.)

*That should be Galicia #` and EC #2 (though I guess you could think of the EC as #1 in the West...)

1 Munich
2 Ionian Sea
3Mid Atlantic Ocean
4 North Sea
5 Tyrolia
6 Black Sea
7 Belgium
8 Baltic Sea!!!!
9 Sweden
10 St Petersburg
11 Galicia

"Whichever criteria you deem most fit"

Then this list really doesn't say anything of significance. There is no objective standard for determining why something is more important than another.

@Eden Then ask Tolstoy for an answer. Since he didn't mention anything specifically in the original post, I just assumed that it was by whichever criteria you made for yourself

@goldfinger: Your assumption seems valid, which is why I addressed your response. I think that's exactly the criteria used.

@Tolstoy: Any specific criteria?

How about "the territory whose control is most likely to be decisive in determining who wins the game"?

1. Munich
2. North Sea
3. Ionian Sea
4. MAO
5. Tyrolia
6. Denmark
7. Burgundy
8. Galicia
9. Trieste
10. English Channel

1) Munich (ultimate late-game pivot point)
2) Ionian/North Seas (must control to win region)
3) Tyrolia (vital from start to finish, actions here affect whole board early-game, essential for leveraging stalemate line late-game)
4) English Channel/Galicia (huge influence on early-game regional dynamics)
5) MAO/Skagerrak/Black/Aegean Seas (stepping stones, assert huge control of adjacent territory)
6) Belgium/Greece (most contested neutrals, often determine regional dynamics)
7) Warsaw/Piedmont/Moscow (control of these often determines leverage mid-game)

Let me see...
If you'r England, MAO would allow you destroy France easily while stopping southern powers there. Then you have to options: if you managed to get Moscow, then Prussia is important to defend the drawline, or you can go for Tyrrhenian Sea, and then you only need to defend Munich.
If you'r Russia and you ally Turkey, North Sea is essential to destroy England-Germany, but Galicia and Tyrolia can also be important to defend your southern positions, and Black Sea is important both to defend and attack a weaker south.
For France it can also be North Sea, but Munich can be of bigger importance at the end, also Tyrrhenian Sea can be important, specially if you want to avoid naval expansionism of southern powers.
For Italy, once he has destroyed both Austra and Turkey, plus Moscow and Warsaw, Spain is the winning point and then MAO can be the key, but not necessarily, since he can also go for Munich.
For Austria and Turkey the situation is actually very similar.
Finally, Germany, usually will go west first, and if he manages to destroy France and England then the central drawline will be essential; Tyrolia can play an important role, but maybe Galicia is the key.

Conclusions:
1.Munich
2.MAO
3.Tyrrhenian Sea!!!!! (don't understand why nobody had mentioned it, I think it's definately more important than Ionian Sea.)
4. Galicia better than North Sea!!!!! (it's important for more players: Germany, Russia, Austria, Turkey, Italy vs. Russia, France, Germany, England)
5.North Sea
6.Tyrolia
7.Black Sea
8.Baltic Sea (hadn't mentioned it but Thucy is right there)
9.St Petersburgh (hadn't mentioned it, but is a usual winning point)
10.Prussia

well, thinking about it, Ionian Sea is certainly very important too, to dicide among Turkey, Austria and Italy, I'd put it after North Sea, again for the number of power for whom it's important.
So it gives
1.Munich
2.MAO
3.Tyrrhenian Sea.
4.Galicia
5.North Sea
6.Ionian Sea
etc.

1 Brest – who doesn’t like a bit of brest? I ask you.
2 Pie – sustenance on long campaigns
3 Turkey – ditto
4 Mars – helps me work, rest and play
5 Nap – particularly in the middle of the day after a long night
6 Edi – I like Edi – a true genius
7 Ankara – immortalised in the game of the same name
8 Gas – for my car
9 Bur – It’s cold
10 Den – we all need to hide away

73 Con – particularly now the have joined the lib-dems
74 Hel – no one really wants to go there, but we all visit from time to time

If the voting is closed, then Munich wins without a runoff with 10 of 18 votes.

Sorry, 9 of 17. But still.

When does voting close? I think I can work with Tolstoy's criterion, but if it's already closed, well...

I count Munich with 10 of 17 votes (discarding all the prank ballots). It wins with no runoff. Democracy has spoken!

Eden - you can still vote I suppose, but unless a few more join you, I don't think it would make a difference. Interesting to note though that Munich was a second choice for only one of the seven who had Munich as something other than the first choice.

Munich
Constantinople
MAO
North Sea
Ionian Sea
Belgium
Kiel
Tunis
Tyrrhenian Sea
Tyrolia
Galicia

Mun
War

Tyrolia
Munich
Ionian Sea
Sweden
North Sea
Serbia
MAO
Belgium
Galicia

North Sea
Munich
Mid-Atlantic
Bulgaria
St Petersburg
Ionian Sea
Belgium
Denmark
Warsaw
Venice

Yeah, Munich is not being topped. GG Munich.

Munich
Galicia
North Sea
Ionian Sea
Gascony (you laugh)