1)france-england
2)italy-russia
3)germany-russia
4)italy-austria
5)france-germany

I think almost any combination of 2 can work.

What is the argument for Italy/Turkey...

they can gather the most centres the fastest together, there is really only one constraint in that France does not open south. If France does not open south I/T can grow faster than any other pair.

Russia-Austria, France-Germany, Russia-Italy are in my top three (no particular order). Not sure how to round this out.

If it is an unbreakable alliance then the most powerful is Germany-England.

Why, though? They are on the same side of almost all stalemate lines.

My top 5:

1.) France/England
2.) Turkey/Italy
3.) Italy/Austria
4.) Russia/Austria
5.) Russia/Italy

Runner up: France/Germany

I/T is amazing, but it takes an enormous amount of trust on both ends (because so much territory is left available in the Austrian mainland - I don't try this often). E/F is very good but I find that England tends to stab France, some earlier than others. I like this one to run it all the way to the end in a 17/17. I/A is very good, we all understand the lepanto. R/A and R/I are both equally effective, but I put R/A higher on the list because it's better for Russia to have an immediate ally, even with Turkey, assuming that northern pressure is coming.

I also like the Mediterranean Triple. I/A/T.. Italy take the western seas, Austria the midland, and Turkey carve up Russia, waiting for Italy's assistance to complete the game in Scandinavia. It's very secure and hard to stab, but many people don't like the early resolution of a three-way draw, which often scares people off quickly.

How in the world are England and Turkey powerful?

Okay, read up. But I don't think that is enough, just grabbing things. I think you have to help each other to truly be an alliance.

If the map develops properly, meaning they both go over Russia and stalemate at Moscow, they can be extremely powerful going west together.

@lando Oh wait. Duh. (Why can't we delete these posts that make us look stupid.) Okay, you explained Italy Turkey. I want an explanation of England Turkey. thanks!

ah. I see. nice.

I'm surprised that no one has mentioned R/E. If Russia and England can avoid fighting over Scandinavia, it frees up their units in a huge way. The bonus is the rarity of it is such that it really catches all of the other powers by surprise.

I thought about R/E but too hard to maintain to make it terribly powerful. When it does work it's great.

R/E works great, what are you talking about? Long term, England will give Russia Norway, destroy the Russian fleet and it is the perfect situation for England to grow fast with no threat to his rear.

The best alliance though has to be E/F Germany is fucked almost immediately by it, unless R and I come rushing to aid it immediately. And the nature of the attack is such that France can start moving on Italy at the same time and England can start moving on Russia. Both sides can easily stalemate the other, so long as France holds MAO. Probably the best alliance on the board.

The other has to be T/A. Nothing can beat this one. Russia can be denied Rum in 1901, Italy stabbed in 1902, and by 1904 Turkey is into Tyrrhenian Sea.

weird but no one mentioned jugernaut

Italy / Austria - especially if you're Italy.

Juggernaut sucks anymore. People stab too quickly and people on the map panic when it shows up and try to stop it, ending up drawing 5 ways without Russia and Turkey.

I like the A/T as well… Med triple is great for the T/A/I trio though. I wish that would gain some popularity… See my post above.