I can see Trieste being a tempting target in gunboats for Italy, being a lot closer and more likely to succeed if you get into Tyrolia in 1901 than setting up to go for Turkey in 1902. Basically, it takes more diplomacy for Italy to attack anyone else.

I don't know if Italy often works with Austria or not in full press games (maybe the lepanto is going out of style), but I would guess in any game where Russia and Turkey both attack Austria, Italy doesn't have any power to defend Austria and would rather get a center or two out of it than not.

If Italy attacks Austria, Austria will not survive. That is my theory.

I have to say, bo is correct...

If the juggernaut attacks Austria, it takes skill and competency, but Austria can survive.

On the other hand, if Turkey is wise, he will attack Russia in 1901 and ally with Austria, and then Austria really survives. Survives well. With Italy. I speak of a Med triple.

I have found that Austria's best move is to just go south and sacrifice Trieste, hoping to get it back with 2 builds in the Fall. Typically, even if Italy is going for Austria, it goes to Tyrolia first. Meanwhile, Russia/Austria bumping on Galacia seems to happen 75% of the time. If Austria can make it to 5 centers and have Turkey/Russia fighting, it can have a shot. (A lot of ifs, I know). The other issue is that It is extremely hard to make fleets with Trieste presumably always needing to be fortified. As far as negotiations go, an Austria/Italy truce is much more beneficial for Austria, no? Italy to France sucks unless there is clear cut German/English support

I'm a big fan of attacking Russia right away with Turkey. But then, I have not played many games as russia...

I freaking hate Austria. Even when I get out to a good start eventually my neighbors gang up on me. Ive been defeated 6 / 8 draws with Austria.

Russia also doesn't survive if Turkey attacks him. That's another theory of mine.

I can usually open ultra aggressive as Austria, starting with an opening to Rumania. If Russia moves to protect his interests in Norway and Scandinavia, which most do, then he can't reclaim it. Then you attack Sevastopol, Turkey gets the Black Sea, and you have a silent alliance going. You can then turn to attack Italy, by now well engaged with France and vulnerable, and later move back to Turkey. I can't get past the stalemate around 10-12 SCs doing that though. Maybe you could move on Germany next, but that's usually French land and hard to get Munich. Better than losing.

If an alliance with Italy isn't possible, then Turkey and France together can give Austria enough flexibility to be able to start building fleets, I think. But obviously getting past 10-12 centers means attacking one of them in most cases...

I don't think it is possible to solo without a bit of help.

gameID=99736

As this might suggest.. not even SD can do it without help.

Looks like a willingness to sacrifice Trieste for gains elsewhere can really help Austria's chances.

It can, yeah, as long as Italy doesn't look to advance further and force you to defend. Rare.

I think in GB the Tri -> Alb, Vienna -> Tri, Buda -> Serb opening is pretty solid and safe and will get you two builds most of the time. Even if Russia takes Galicia, which they will quite a bit, it's easier to overcome that then overcome an overzealous Italy. The thing you don't ever want to do is the 3 build opening as then everyone in the area will make it their mission to knock you back as you become a threat to every one of your neighbors.

How about this? Austria attacked by FOUR powers in 1902: gameID=99494

The German move is definitely unusual, but Austria *did* open by hitting Venice and Galicia -- what did they expect?

No clue what he was going for out of that game, Zmaj.

I have never seen Germany open south before... curious to see how that game ends.

Not to comment on that game because it is ongoing, but Germany screwed up their move to take Vienna -- it might be a n00b.

I am thinking that that Germany is either a multi, player on a smartphone or just a really bad player.

Before some wannabemod/admin (or real one <_<)comes in, I'm going to stop talking about ongoing games in the forums :)

Stop talking about ongoing games in the forum. Abge is back so the mods have teeth again. The banhammer will be falling (to be clear, not on you guys).

If you guys are talking gunboat, then that's a foreign language to me. Bobby, if you're playing full press games, all I have to say is talk talk talk. I hardly have played any gunboats, so my press/game ratio is fairly accurate, sitting at a little over 200 messages sent per game. If you look at other players who have posted here with good win/draw ratios, such as bo_sox (not to slight everyone else on the thread. He's just the first one I clicked on his profile) you'll see that, factoring their gunboats into account, the amount of press they send is well over 100 messages a game. The amount of press you send significantly correlates with how well you do, no matter the country.

tl;dr if you're playing full press, talk to everyone and there's no reason you shouldn't do well as Austria. If you're gunboating, just move to Tyrolia S01 I suppose.

Roll two dice. If you get double 6 you win, any other double you draw, and anything else you lose. This is almost as exciting as playing as Austria in a gunboat, and just as skillful. The major difference is that losing with the dice takes slightly less time.

In real diplomacy Austria is all about good communication the pre-game and early stages. It's quite intense and very rewarding if it goes well. Still a fair amount of luck in it though ;)

Just a small commentary: Opening to Gal and Ven is defensive. An offensive anti-Italian opening puts the fleet in the water, and an offensive anti-Russian one... well, dies. But probably denies Rumania.

If Austria-Italy maintain a solid alliance, Austria can quite easily take out Turkey and Russia by either taking large amounts of time, one of them misses a turn or they turn on eachother and you just pick the underdog, help them out and stab at the right time.

In gunboat, if Italy attacks a competent Austria before any kind of resolution has happened with respect to Turkey and Russia, both of them will lose the game. This is clear and simple and has been proven again and again.

I am not sure why italy is so willing to take the gamble that Austria is incompetent and attack. How many wins does it lead to? Few. Other options, such as hitting France or Turkey are far more lucrative and open Austria up to later stabs that are actually productive.

+1 for Lando