Conversely you could not suicide attack Italy when Italy is trying to attack Germany.

Last time I drew Austria in a GB, I supported Ven to hold. You probably only get 1 build, but show them from the start they ain't getting shit if they come your way.

Italies that move into Trieste in Spring 1901 will have a special place in hell.

Never spring. Only fall

Yes. This is the best strategy for Austria. Fuck Italians that attack Austria.

Pretty much that's my approach

I find that as Austria you don't give Italy the chance to begin with. And you may have a side benefit of pissing off England to boot!
gameID=186323

Haha you wrecked that Italy! Nice!

Yes. Just hope that Turkey and Russia have competent players who will take advantage

Capt Brad's example is the exact opposite of what I am talking about here. Italy was actually good to him as Austria and then he stabbed Italy. Different topic. Please post this in the, "hey guys look I soloed!" thread.

Turkey hasn't played that game. Not a helpful example.

@Brad you're horribly rated so none of your advice really means anything.

Agreed. If Italy attacks Austria at the beginning of the game, Austria has to take Italy with him. We see more and more the opening : Ven > Tyr and Rom > Ven... F***.

Everyone seems to understand the anschluss dynamic - there is pretty clearly a A/I anschluss as well.

Condescension @Brad you're horribly rated so none of your advice really means anything.

I beat your sorry ass

Touchė

Tit-for-tat until people start learning. Tit-for-tat. Eventually maybe we get some better behavior.

Is nobody going to mention a brilliant article by Richard Sharp about strategy and tactics for Austria-Hungary? It pretty much talks exclusively about preventing an early Italian attack and fending off your eager southern neighbors long enough to survive past 1905.

Basically, Austria-Hungary from the start has to make it clear to everyone that he is going to do everything it takes to survive, regardless of how friendly his neighbors might seem. He cannot be convinced to play anything other than a Southern Hedgehog, which establishes a secure gain by the end of 1901 without easily succumbing to early attacks.

He must also keep Germany by his side constantly, which is up to him to do. It is in Germany's interests to protect Austria-Hungary, so he should exert pressure on Russia and Italy--"Do not threaten Austria-Hungary, or there will be consequences," he should say.

The German army in Munich holds until 1902 to discourage Italy from attacking Austria-Hungary, and the fleet in Kiel threatens a bounce in Sweden to discourage Russia from attacking Austria-Hungary.

You know sssssooooorrrrrennnn, I am beginning to like you; at least your posts. I gave you a plus 1 for the touché.

The answer to dealing with Italy as Austria is simply to set up for an AR or AT.
Take a look at this recent-ish game with some pretty high up there gunboat players. Italy attacked me straight from the get go, so I had no choice but to just wait things out. Eventually the board sorts itself in a way that helps Austria if they are being cornered from all sides.

http://webdiplomacy.net/board.php?gameID=186462

The most common thing that helps Austria is a Western Triple. France beelines to Italy, while Germany and England head into Russia, buying Austria some time to recover. But most games eventually end up allowing Austria to live on, as long as it survives long enough. This game, it happened to be Germany doing a land blitz on Russia. once that happened, I was able to start rebuilding. Apparently the anti-italy Turkey wasn't enough for Italy to want to stop attacking me, so I decided to pair with Turkey to taking Italy out. By that Time, France has already been growing to the point of being a threat so would finished the job after stalemating.

I'll also throw another game in there for discussion, but it's not finished yet. So it'll have to wait.

@Yoyoyozo: he didn't really attacked you. If he had played Tyr s Ven > Tri in Autumn, you was out of the game. I think that's what we talk about here. Everybody can withstand to an alliance against him 'but' in a standard game (with War > Gal) and (Con > Bul), if Italy attacks Austria, he is out. And with frustration (or for educational purposes) he has no other choice than taking Italy with him...

@Cpt Mike

That's inaccurate. He did attack me. He expected me to either support vienna into Trieste or attempt to bounce myself in Trieste with vienna and and serbia.

If you take a look at the orders, you can see Italy support vienna into trieste, while Italy attempted to slide into vienna. With really high level gunboat, Italy knows that it's actually quite easy to counter certain moves.

If I thought Italy would support themself into trieste, I would have just supported myself into trieste.

Sometimes. going all out against Italy is not a smart idea. That game demonstrates that. I was correct in staying central and not actually attacking Italy while Russia and Turkey took my centers, because if that happened, I would have been eliminated at the end like Italy did.

I once tried Mario's suggestion in a live game. In fact, in S01 I told Russia that he had to choose between moving to Gal in S01 and getting Sweden in A01.

Russia opened Sev-Rum, War-Ukr, Mos-Sev. It would've been even better for Austria if Turkey had moved to Bla instead of Ank-Con..
I'd like to try it again some day. This one ended with me eliminated early by ER and Austria vassaled by Russia, so not too great.