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[Culise]

I highly doubt that I could have pulled any "double-agent [stuff]", especially since my country's (EDIT: sorry, this should refer to Turkey rather than me as a player) antipathy towards Austria predated my control of the country; the previous player for Turkey left precisely because they were facing an Italo-Austrian joint alliance.  Any double-agent stuff would have been to help Austria to the detriment of everyone else. 

At any rate, AAR stuff.  When I took over Turkey, Austria had just backstabbed Italy, which opened an opportunity for a joint alliance with Italy against a common enemy.  Unfortunately, after initial discussions proved favorable, Italy proceeded to completely ignore me.  This left me more or less completely locked in my corner; without Italian support, I couldn't move my fleet forward into a position to help them.  By the same token, Austria couldn't push past Constantinople or Armenia without fleets in the Mediterranean.  While I could warn Germany about the imminent Austrian betrayal, it was likely already too late by that point; while Rolepgeek was cautiously amenable at the point I sent my message (Turn 8; Fall 1904), he made no firm commitments.  Unfortunately, Britain moved against Germany in Spring 1905 (the "half-hearted stab on both sides" I mentioned), and that was the end of that.  I do not know if this was before or after the "communication breakdown" Shonus mentioned in his post, but I'm not certain how it could possibly have fooled Austria into any serious misstep; Britain was simply too far away to capitalize on any Austrian errors.  While it does make a bit more sense than the idea of Britain playing the loyal lackey all the way into Austria's victory (as I originally thought) insofar as it could have worked, however partially, towards a British victory, I can't really see how it would have managed to get from the "fake war" step to the "stab Austria" step. 

[Kashyyk]

Here's how it went down from my point of view:

From turn 1 I was politicking my ass off to avoid being caught as the filling in any sort of Italo-Russo-Turkish sandwich. Thankfully Russia was in for isolationism, so I didn't have to worry about aggression from him, but I still played up a Russo-Turkish war as much as possible between the two of them, whilst I tried to acquire as much of the Balkans as possible. The whole time, I was relying on Italy choosing to not murder me brutally, because there would be nothing I could do.

Thankfully, that was not the case, and I'd managed to secure the half the Balkans by the time Turkey realised what he was facing. Conveniently for me, he then bailed, allowing Italy and I to make some serious gains into Turkish Territory. Meanwhile, I started moving in on Russia, relying on gains in Turkey and a lack of gains for Russia to fuel my success.

Russia being absent allowed me to gain another pair of supply centers. By this point, I'd basically met Germany in the middle, and his war with France was at an end. Germany and I then proceeded to discuss a set of fake border disputes to confuse England so he could be focused on, whilst I offered an Alliance with England to attack Germany. This probably held cause the master fuster cluck that arose in the West.

Then, whilst I stabbed Italy, Italy and Turkey ganged up on me. Completely logical, and if I hadn't moved when I did ,things would have been very different. From then, communication basically broke down entirely for me whilst I locked Turkey in and slowly ground through Italy and Germany.

[Tawa]

I fumbled early on when I trusted Austria. I was going to take on Russia and then either use their territory to launch a German invasion or overpower Austria through a deal proposed to Italy, but by the time I realized Kashyyk wasn't just setting up supporting armies and was in a deal with Italy it was too late.

GG and I hope to get my Backstabbing skill up to 19% this time.

Also, the first Bay12 Diplomacy game ends in a win for what is widely considered the lowest-tier country in the game? I sense a storm coming.

[Lermfish]

Lowest-tier country? Huh?

[Culise]

Lowest-tier country? Huh?

Austria is sometimes the second-least-likely nation to win games of Diplomacy, ahead of only Italy.  F'rex, though other such listings may put Austria ahead of various other countries such as Britain, Germany, or Turkey (for instance), depending on the play styles of the sample involved.  Some people do lump Austria and Italy together due to that, though.  Austria's biggest problem is a ridiculously poor early game; if any country on the board is eliminated by the end of 1902, it's typically Austria.  If it survives that and develops its position, though, its central position turns from a liability into a huge asset. 

[Tawa]

Austria is surrounded on all sides by Turkey, Russia, and Germany (and Italy to some extent) with no compensation; ergo, it wins demonstratably fewer games on average than others (particularly Russia.)

That said, a lot of the point of Diplomacy is player skill at judging everybody else and evaluating potential diplomatic moves, so Austria is arguably just one that requires more skillful play. But the point stands that it's at an initial tactical disadvantage.

FAKEDIT: Ninja'd by Culise. Also I totally spaced on Italy. Eheh, whoops. :v

[My Name is Immaterial]

Round Two Thread up! Help choose the variant we'll be using!