I'm going camping so this will be my last commentary until Friday. Very exciting phase. I wish I hadn't lost my first draft.
England- Quite a talented new player. With France and Germany going at it he has the third party leverage, and he sneaks into Belgium. He's got an anti-Russian arrangement with Germany, who signals his willingness by not challenging English ownership of Belgium. He will no doubt keep Belgium. England should be wary of Germany because his two fleets will soon feel obsolete if they aren't turned against England. Any more fleets would be nothing short of a declaration of war. That said, I'm impressed that England has maintained peace with his neighbours up until now, having chosen Russia as his target.
France- Trusts England apparently. This trust could be misplaced as clearly England and Germany have something going on. His fleet move to the Mediterranean indicates he might want to take Italy down a notch or at least get some involvement in the other hemisphere. I have a feeling that Austria might have been behind this move because I don't see the benefit of this move for France. It's not an effective attack on Italy because only Austria is an ally, and it's only one unit. I'm not a fan of France's moves, and his earlier mistakes are still costing him as A-Por has completely lost momentum and will take a long time before getting into play. France is quite forgiving to mistakes as far as countries go, so it's not so bad.
Germany- Has an alliance with England against Russia. Will get a build from Sweden, short of complete betrayal, as Russia is unlikely to sacrifice StP just to bounce him out. His two fleets will soon be useless unless turned against England so there might be friction in a year. I can't help but think a land assault on Russia would have been more effective, and I think Germany knows this but is being more reserved.
Russia- Well her DJ senses let her save StP temporarily. Though England's build in Edi, the army in Norway, and press should have tipped her off to this. She lends a helping hand to the division of Austria and will no doubt be expecting to be repaid by getting help into Budapest. I don't like the hold in Warsaw considering the advantages in moves to Livonia, Galicia, or Silesia, but then I was looking for a build in StP.
Turkey- Currently aligned with Italy and Russia, but this can't last for much longer as Austria will soon be gone. I don't like the army move to Smyrna at all. It's too friendly in it's impotence. I would have preferred to see it go to Bulgaria where it's useful. Even if he was convinced a Lepanto is coming, he probably has a build on the way, and fleets not too far. This move is really just a crowd pleaser because everyone can see how useless it is. He shouldn't rely on Italy or Russia's benevolence with such gestures. Especially with two fleets, he very much represents a threat to Italy. Turkey will have to align himself with either Italy or Russia soon so as to not be the odd-man out since I-R is the logical diagonal alliance.
Austria- It's a shame that our vet is out so early, but such is the curse of Austria. At the slightest sniff of weakness, in this case Italy's stab, Austria is divided quickly. He really got the short end if it was a spontaneous stab on Italy's part. I have no doubt that he would be more of a force if Italy had gone through with the Key. I have to say, I'm critical of his latest orders because I think a concerted attack on Serbia with cut support on Trieste would have been more effective. It wouldn't have made a difference because of Russia's support cutting, but I feel like taking Serbia would have been more prudent. It leaves Greece open, but it concentrates his forces and gives him some good anti-Italian momentum and a better position to take Trieste with the forced disband (unless Turkey went to Greece and Serbia retreated to Bul). It wouldn't have made a difference, but I think that before the orders came in, they would have been a better set of orders.
Italy- Good job! You got both Russia and Turkey to help you out. However, his build prospects don't look that great. I have a feeling he is supposed to support Russia into Budapest. If he think he has something solid with Turkey, it might be a good idea to take it instead. France is coming down, I'm interested to see how Italy deals with that. I'm not sure what he's trying to do with that little shuffle he's doing on the end of the Italian boot. If he doesn't get a build, occupying Naples won't be a big deal, but it's generally good to keep Naples open for builds. Is he looking to set up for a convoy? A Lepanto manoeuvre is a possibility if he can get peace with France, but inadvisable as an Autumn move if Turkey gets a build.
For reference, a Lepanto manoeuvre would consist of Ionian to Eastern Med, Apulia to Ionian, and likely Naples to Apulia. Then it would involve trying to sneak a convoy to Syria from Apulia. Devastating when successful.
I hope my post is grammatically consistent because I found myself switching between second and third person a lot, and while I corrected to third person, there might be some relics.
beginner questions
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