They say the art of playing Austria is making sure you make it to the midgame, after which the chances of winning the game with that country are very high.

If you make Austria tougher, that makes Italy relatively weaker. Then you'd have to beef up Italy, which would make France relatively weaker. Then you'd have to ...

Austria is indeed harder to play, but I think a game with seven competent and equally-skilled players, the difference isn't that much. A capable diplomat in Austria has four good options for building alliances. Plus, a good Italy or Germany might not want to see Austria go out too quickly, because that means they are perhaps next.

if make for the midgame, and even than in galician variation there were only 9% of won and 41% of lost by Austria. For this state usually 1904 means end of the game.

Austria is my second favorite to play, after France. As ckroberts alludes to, it does require a bit more press to succeed, and thus it's probably one of the worst to play in a gunboat game (if you're into that sort of bastardizatiin of the real game), though I've also found that some great powers that others love to play are ones that just don't mesh we'll with my play style / personality... Suppose in that case the challenge is for each of us to figure out a different approach until we stumble across an approach or two that works with our particular skill set...

I like Austria most of all nations, because of the range of options you get at the beginning. A good Austrian player can have a good alliance with Italy, Russia or even Turkey (despite the appearance that that last one is impossible, it can be powerful if played correctly). It's considered a terrible country because too many people use the Hedgehog and declare war on everyone at the beginning, not thinking of the consequences.

The only real reason that Austria is a bad country is that if Italy attacks you at the start, you're not going to do well, but with diplomacy this can be avoided fairly easily.

I've only drawn the big A once, but it was one of my favorite games. IA early at Turkey's expense, but after a foolish early stab by what I thought was a strong Italian ally (I was really supportive of his best interests), I was able to talk Turkey into supporting me - italy fell soon after. Turkey stabbed me next with German support, and I was able to convince Germany that it was in his best interests to shift against Turkey instead.

It was PPSC, and I took a strong survive - I wanted to fight for the draw but Turkey wouldn't accept peace on my terms so we could turn the corner on Germany.... why risk elimination when the survive is worth more? I supported G to the solo and got what I could.

This was also the game that made me realize why PPSC isn't my preferred variant - I didn't like just helping the victor along, even though maximizing my potential gain made it the correct choice.

I think Austria is a very fun country to play. Having so many neighbors creates some vulnerability in the early game, but that's more than offset by the mid to late game advantage of being centrally located and able to influence and expand into many directions. Thought, Getting a strong foothold to survive the early game is key to success.

However, which countries you'll personally do well with depends a lot on your personal style.

I played Austria only once as well in a game with the by now legendary Tasnica. We split the cake in 1922. We'd both been screwed over by other players and were fed up, revenging ourselves. A memorable game. I later learned how to fight for the win even in such circumstances.
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Austria is a nation with a wealth of possibilities. The combinations of nations that can kick your arse cannot be bettered!

In all seriousness it's not too bad in high quality games as you often find yourself with real options. In lesser games it's more of a lottery with a good chance of you being killed off no matter what you do. A fun exercise in rearguard defensive play, even so.

The best advice there is for this game is to enjoy exploring whatever situation you find yourself in. You're more likely to find yourself neck deep in the slurry pit with Austria, but the struggle to drag yourself out can be hugely entertaining.

Austria is a very fun country. Yes, you are weak, but everyone knows it. Play that to your advantage. Why take out the weakest country if they are willing to help you take on a stronger enemy? Austria needs to work with Italy to take on Turkey, or work with Russia to take on Turkey. Or, they need to work with Turkey to go after Russia or Italy. Austria is a great country to play because it really separates the great diplomats from the decent ones.

Also, for whatever reason, Austria is the country most likely to make up with former foes. You fight with Russia a while until you both need to work together and tamp down Turkey, then stab Russia in the middle and help Turkey against Italy, it's so fun.

The worst thing about Austria is that poor play by allies and neighbors (especially Italy) can leave you in a very bad position more than any other country.

captainmeme got this exactly right - its only bad if Italy just wails on you immediately. a good austria should be able to convince italy that he can't get away with this. if gunboat, a good austria can convince italy not to do it again.

to me, an austria who opens tri-ven in 01 for whatever reason has already lost the game, unless they follow it with TYR and a strong eastern ally.

I couldn't disagree more. If Italy attacks Austria or Austria Italy it frees up Turkey and Russia to get creative and beat merry hell out of each other. I really dislike the idea that certain openings should never be attempted.

I'm also amazed by what people think a good Austria should be able to do. Austria's chief ally is Lady Luck. If she's not on your side the best player in the world is dead in a few years.

^

But Octavious, don't you think there are better ways to stab Austria than by moving to TYR in S01 or stabbing for TRI in F01?

That would depend entirely on your first impressions of Austria, Turkey and Russia. I'll admit it would be unusual for me to start a game that way, but there are certain circumstances where I'd opt for it.

If I can get the Turk to open to Armenia, I may opt for Trieste in the fall... the crusher is too dangerous in press to do it without some kind of assurance of a non-immediate juggernaut.

If I play Italy, I usually try to get Austria to move out of Trieste at the start, and take it in S 1901. After that its only a matter of time...

Till turkey and or Russia destroy you? ^

There's nothing I hate more than an Italy that attacks Austria. It's like suicide.

That is a good point Tyran.

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Not.....

Lol ^

My favorite game as Austria was at the Boston F2F final table (Austria quite a bit worse in tournament games, since everyone wants to grow quickly, knowing the game will be much shorter due to time constraints). Just before Spring 1901 orders were due, and after Italy initially swore up and down to me that he would be the best ally I could ever dream of until the end of time, I figured out that there was an I/R/T triple converging on me immediately. After shitting my pants, and quickly running to the bathroom to wipe, I managed to top the final table / board (and with more than one person talking about being willing to help me solo, though that fell through in the end). Good times.

I played Austria in my first ever Diplomacy game when I was in eleventh grade. Opened Vie-Tri, Bud-Ser, Tri-Alb. Was promptly blasted in the ass by a bunch of seniors. It's still one of the more fun countries to play though, IMO.

Wish I could play more F2F. I only ever played one FTF in high school and it was a lot of fun. A long time ago, though. We need to set up another G+ game!

@MadMarx: Haha, I remember that game. I was one of the players willing to help you solo, mainly because I was on my way out of that game, wanted revenge on the other 5 and would have done better in the standings had that happened.

Yellowjacket you point whore!! Ghost ranking and win/draw percentage mean more than points, even in ppsc!

Also Austria is my favourite country, as said with good diplomacy you survive the initial danger and can do well. Moreover you're not considered a real threat by many others because of this undervaluation of the country...

Socrates, sir, ghost ratings in PPSC are calculated based on end game point total for survives, so it means the same thing. From a purely gain-maximization in ghost rating perspective, I stand by my decision. Unlike WTA, in PPSC, you'd be silly to try to maximize both GR and win/draw because they can be somewhat at odds (this game was a perfect example of that) - many times you would have to choose one or the other. You have to customize your decisions based on the game being played.

IMHO*, Austria only does terrible in games with NOOBS. Austria's problem is that Austria is vulnerable to what is called a "fool's mate", a term I am borrowing from chess. It is certainly true that if Italy flanks Trieste, Russia gains Galicia and Turkey opens west one can usually count on Austria dropping in the next few seasons, but this dilemma is somewhat simple to prevent. This situation is in no one's best interests except Italy's, so none of the other powers will encourage it.**

I actually like playing Austria. No one ever suspects Austria.

*Admit I'm basing this mostly on memory and not statistical analysis.
**Admit I'm not really the strongest player on the game.

Ghostrating, points, and win/draw ratios are all mostly worthtless. The only thing that matters is the quality and enjoyment of the games you play, and you can only judge that when you're in it. I don't get defeated much, but I have a couple of defeats that I rank as being far more worthwhile games that some of my wins, and the most enjoyable game I ever played was a draw.

Ghostrating is the only rating with any real use, and that is as a passport into certain games. Using it as a yardstick to see who is better than whom, and going to great lengths to maximise it, is a tad desperate. It is a very rough measure.