Errr...not sure how to put this other then you're wrong. :) There's really no tactical advantage that can come from any surprise alliance that would outweigh the negative of not taking 2 builds and then making an army. Plus there's the whole France admitting it was a misorder in global press.goldfinger0303 wrote: ↑Fri Jul 05, 2019 6:18 amI have my own theory on the French builds, but I'll refrain from elaborating until after the spring moves. I don't want to give anything away.
Question for the professors - why didn't Germany hit Sweden in the fall? If your hypothesis is correct that Germany is the mastermind of the moves in the West (which I think is unlikely, but I digress), why would he ever want to allow Russia into Sweden? Of all of last fall's moves, that's the one that's ringing alarm bells with me.
I'm also beyond convinced that Germany was the mastermind of the setup of England. Now what I obviously do not know is if England or Germany suggested the MAO move and the convoy to Belgium, what I do know without question from the moves is that Germany knew about it, told France, France only partially trusted it, and covered himself with the most defensive move possible, most likely in lieu of whatever Germany had suggested.
It really doesn't matter if Germany suggested the moves or took advantage of the suggestion, because either way he clearly played England like a fiddle into a 0 build turn.
Now onto your question about why let Russia into Sweden. I disagree that this is a consequential move. The question Germany was posed with was a simple one. Now that I am in a position to block Russia, do I? Now lets consider the two options. Allow Russia into Sweden and possibly gain an alliance with him, or at least his goodwill enough that he'll leave you alone for the time being. The other option, block Russia from Sweden. What happens then? Russia either continues trying for Sweden and Germany is stuck guarding against that for years on end OR an annoyed Russia moves to the Baltic Sea and then Germany is stuck guarding 3 of his centers while trying to keep Sweden free from Russian influence; which is, in a word, impossible.
Now here's the important part, neither of these options are good for Germany with a 3 center England because then Russia is going to be more inclined to build north and either take some of England's centers or help England out unless he's so busy in the south that he cannot interfere.
It's possible that Germany had spoken to Turkey and was aware that Turkey was planning an attempt on Rumania but it's more likely that at this point Germany simply realized that the 3 center England was worth the risk of having Russia at his back when (in theory) England should have fallen extremely quickly with a fleet in Brest.
Short answer: terrified. Why? Because of my answer to Gold about Sweden. Russia is likely not a friendly entity now that England is down to 3 centers and Russia is free in the south. Russian interference is now assured with the build in StP N, and the German/French alliance has just lost all momentum due to the critical misorder. Earlier in my lectures I mentioned how players should never be entering orders at the start of a turn because they need to be discussing any unexpected moves with their mentors before deciding on a course of action. This is exactly what I was talking about. A misorder like this has game shifting impacts. It weakens Germany's position drastically, it strengthens England immensely, it places France in a terribly difficult spot of now possibly needing to reconsider their alliances to adjust to their new unit placement and it ensures that Russia's interference will now be in time and impactful enough to have serious impacts in the west. Any plan previously in place before this misorder in the west needs to be thrown in the trash and new plans adjusting to the new reality of the board need to be made.
This move would normally be the most consequential on the board, but was overshadowed by a misorder. This should be highly concerning to both Austria and Italy. Italy is now in a lot of danger, and Austria isn't far behind. It looks like Russia and Turkey have set their differences (if there ever were any real differences and that wasn't just a facade to disguise an alliance) aside. And with Russia hitting 6 centers with a 7th ensured this turn from the north alone, this could be the start of a massive powerhouse alliance in the east.
Before the builds F/G was the alliance to beat on the board and no other alliances really even appeared to exist. Now their combination's potency is negligible and the eastern R/T has emerged as the power on the map.
And final question that I received over pm.
The lecturer's location was hit by a tornado and they just got power back. Lecture is therefore delayed.What happened to the guest lecture on global press?