Russia would be helping against Germany, however: with no southern fighting, Army Warsaw would be moving into Silesia. As far as neutrals: Turkey would probably get Bulgaria. Austria would get Greece and Serbia, Russia would get Rumania, but obviously get bounced in Sweden. Norway would go to England (though it would have to be supported: Army Moscow would be going to St. Petersburg.), Spain and Portugal would go to France, obviously. If Germany went for Holland and Denmark, he would probably lose Munich.

It would be a far more interesting battle if you could change the starting allotments. Turkey with more fleets, or at least moving his fleet to Smyrna, would make a huge difference. In the end, whatever team I'm on would win.

I did this once FtF and the east won. Anyone wanna set this up?

Well, if we're seriously playing the AIR vra EFG, fleet Brest is heading to Wes and F Eng is in MAO. Austria better be in Ionian to contest Tunis/Tyr for a year, and Turkey should be right behind. Honestly this stalemates out dang quickly, no one can break past Italy from the West, and past Iberia/Munich in the East. And good luck to Russia in the North, that's going to be painful.

ATR, my bad.

I'd play in one if it was set up. Count me in!

If nobody has made one yet, I'll set one up.

England
Lon-NS
Lvp-York
Edin-Norw Sea

France-
Paris-Picardy
Brest-Mao
Mars-Spain

Germany
Kiel-Den
Munich-Silesia
Berlin-Kiel

Those moves are very obvious. Munich-Sil would be to simply block the move from Russia early on.

Austria:
Trieste-Adriatic
Vienna-Tyrolia
Budapest-Serbia

Russia:
St.P-GoB
Mos-Sil
War-Mos
Sev-Rum

Turkey:
Con-Bulg
Ank-Con
Smy-Holds.

That would be the spring 01 turnout. And only France would have a shot at a lot of builds. Turkey would presumably get Greece and Bulgaria to get the 2 fleets out as Austria and fleets don't mix too well. England would then have to slip into the Norwegian, and convoy to Norway (Even if it fails he can do it the next move with support.)

This just ends in a stalemate. England and Germany win the battle for Scandinavia, Austria and Turkey win the battle for Italy, France and Germany hold the lines in the Mediterranean and Germany.

Why not make it more interesting then, by asking who would win between EGR and FIT?

I think the North vs south idea is quite good. There's actually more than one option for most powers as to what they should do. I would say FIT would win, because Germany would have a lockdown in Munich and wouldn't be able to stop Italy from advancing into Austria.

E/F/G hands down:

1) Germany builds directly along the stalemate line and can push units directly to it quicker than any other country in the game and can limit Russian progress in the north right out of the gate with 1901 builds in Munich and Berlin to compliment
2) France can hit the southern seas quicker than Italy can get fleets into the MAO meaning France has also crossed the stalemate line in the south. If France is given 3 builds, that's an additional 2 fleets and an army coming into play at critical junctures, and the fleet has instant access to areas across the stalemate line in S02 while the Italian fleet is way too far away to even make the difference. France would take Tunis or make headway into Italy before the Italian could defend and a French convoy could seal the deal.
3) England has the clear fleet advantage in the north ensuring that France has backup in the south and can take St Petersburg without problems and Russia is near powerless to stop him from advancing since Russian units have to face the dual threat of Germany and England in a quick start.
4) Turkey is so far from the action it takes 2 full game years to get into a reasonable position to begin to do anything.

And that's saying that Italy is helping the east and not merely CD'd.

What about AFT and R I E

AFT and RIE are a little more complex because they share players on both sides of the stalemate line. If I were to guess, however, it would be the AFT simply because Italy is pinned between a very secure France and an Austrian who could devote his full attention to taking down Italy quickly while Turkey gained a fair share of the Balkan builds. Italy would lose Venice in 01 while being able to maintain with a Tunis build but then, with a unit (or two) heavily out of place, the remanider of his centers would fall to a French fleet build in Mar and the increasing Austrian forces.

Germany is really needed to make positive gains against the French and England can't do it alone, and so France would stalemate England in the north for at least a second year. The biggest benefit for the other alliance is definitely Russia having the potential to see up to 3 builds in 1901.

I could ultimately see it going either way but I would lean toward the AFT.