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Board Game Late Summer Diplomacy - GAME OVER - UncleSam (Turkey) wins
- Thread starter Agape
- Start date
On a typical board maybe Bass but the standard game is so horribly imbalanced that as Austria I'd gladly accept a Turkish ally if I felt they weren't going to just stab me immediately. In this variant, an Austrian-Turkish alliance makes a lot more sense. This is because Russia and Austria are much worse enemies, Austria has more interest on land and less on the sea, and has significantly more reason to attack Germany than in a typical game. Sure, Turkey wins the 1v1 in most cases but honestly this game isn't about who can win a 1v1 war, it's about getting to 18 centers. Turkey gets stalemated super hard if it goes to war with Austria, and the race to 18 definitely favors Austria. Additionally, it's nearly impossible for Turkey to make any progress with all those fleets because Austria can easily get a stranglehold on the Balkans once Russia falls and that Bul-Con bottleneck which protects Turkey can then also act as a bottleneck the other way, through which Turkish armies cannot pass.
In other words, attacking Austria (or any neighboring ally) before you're across the stalemate line as Turkey is pure lunacy, and frankly Austria just needs to find one person to ally with regardless, it couldn't matter less who it is. Italy wants to ally against Turkey? Great. Russia willing to stab Turkey? Wonderful.
If Turkey approaches me as Austria proposing a joint attack on Russia and I feel they mean it, then I would sure as hell go for that alliance, particularly in a variant where Austria will most likely never build a fleet the entire game. Additionally, stabbing would be silly because once you stab you can never be counted on again and you've already made enemies of everyone else; the only time you should ever stab an ally in this game is if you feel that you can win as a direct result.
In other words, attacking Austria (or any neighboring ally) before you're across the stalemate line as Turkey is pure lunacy, and frankly Austria just needs to find one person to ally with regardless, it couldn't matter less who it is. Italy wants to ally against Turkey? Great. Russia willing to stab Turkey? Wonderful.
If Turkey approaches me as Austria proposing a joint attack on Russia and I feel they mean it, then I would sure as hell go for that alliance, particularly in a variant where Austria will most likely never build a fleet the entire game. Additionally, stabbing would be silly because once you stab you can never be counted on again and you've already made enemies of everyone else; the only time you should ever stab an ally in this game is if you feel that you can win as a direct result.
I really enjoyed watching this game as a newbie and appreciate everyone's exhaustive explanations, especially compared to vanilla. Hopefully I'll have the chance to participate one day! Thanks to those who explained stuff to me personally in particular or posted links :3
Also I thought the endgame was rather entertaining with regard to England. I was surprised everything fell apart quite as fast as it did though, but Brest
eta: I do agree the Turkey victory was predictable but I didn't know Kiritsugu was probably not ever going to move against US, and temporarily it did look as if Walrein would just speedrun. I suppose the speed shouldn't be alarming given how many SCs they both accumulated from NMRs/being the dominant alliances
Also I thought the endgame was rather entertaining with regard to England. I was surprised everything fell apart quite as fast as it did though, but Brest
eta: I do agree the Turkey victory was predictable but I didn't know Kiritsugu was probably not ever going to move against US, and temporarily it did look as if Walrein would just speedrun. I suppose the speed shouldn't be alarming given how many SCs they both accumulated from NMRs/being the dominant alliances
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Uh it is entirely dependent on the state of the map.
The main question is how easily can you get stalemated by the remaining players. If you're playing Turkey, the answer is incredibly easily. As such, stabbing Austria before I was across the stalemate line was completely out of the question. Not that I'd have truly stabbed under any circumstances, since that's always a losing play; the only stab I would've considered (and was contemplating) was a 1-2 center grab to hit 18 first.
The only stabs that are good are ones which either eliminate an opponent entirely or which win you the game outright.
The main question is how easily can you get stalemated by the remaining players. If you're playing Turkey, the answer is incredibly easily. As such, stabbing Austria before I was across the stalemate line was completely out of the question. Not that I'd have truly stabbed under any circumstances, since that's always a losing play; the only stab I would've considered (and was contemplating) was a 1-2 center grab to hit 18 first.
The only stabs that are good are ones which either eliminate an opponent entirely or which win you the game outright.