Line #9 Characters/Diplomacy


1	!!Austria-Hungary
2	* ButtMonkey: Austria is trapped between Germany, Russia, Italy and Turkey, right next to contested Supply Points, and has a poor defensive geography. Austria tends to die early.
3	* CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass: Austria's terrible survival rate leads to jokes in the community, but if Austria can survive the first few years, it can become a potent force (even more likely with a competent player).
4	* TheDividual: Traditionally, if there so happens to be eight people who want to play a face-to-face game Austria gets two people assigned to it as a historical nod to the Dual Monarchy nature of the Austro-Hungarian Empire during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Both players represent the country in negotiations with other powers and discuss each season's moves between themselves.
5	* GlassCannon: With all those supplies centers in the Balkans and having only one home province on a coast (Trieste) making a strong naval challenge from Italy or Turkey not that big of a threat combined with its central location on the board, Austria can grow into a formidable force -- if it doesn't die early.
6
7	!!England
8	* FlauntingYourFleets: England tends to be geared toward a naval strategy in order to survive. Britannia not ruling the Atlantic waves is generally a portend of its doom.
9	* IslandBase: As dictated by its starting geography, with its home centers on Great Britain physically separated from the rest of the continent.
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11	!!France
12	* FrenchJerk: To anyone not playing as France
13	* JackOfAllStats: A strong land power with excellent naval capabilities, with a position that allows for both strongly offensive and defensive play and the ability to go north or south of the Alps with relative ease. It's statistically the strongest power on the board (Russia wins more often, but very rarely survives if it doesn't win).
14	* TheRepublic: The only Great Power whose head of state is not royalty, as the video game version points out.
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16	!!Germany
17	* TheChessmaster: Because Germany is so surrounded, you are also the center of early game diplomatic intrigue, allowing more options for this.
18	* GlassCannon: If Germany can team up with England or France, he's got a solid chance of victory. However, everyone but Turkey can attack him in 1901.
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20	!!Italy
21	* ButtMonkey: Italy is the least likely power to win. While survival isn't uncommon, it's usually as TheRemnant while someone else takes the win.
22	* FlauntingYourFleets: Italy being a peninsula and its northern land connection through the Alps hampered by [[TheNeutralZone impassable Switzerland]] means armies often get bogged down into stalemates without much progress, in or out. This encourages Italy to focus on ships and become the dominant Mediterranean naval power, at least to start.
23	* SpannerInTheWorks: Italy's position allows for it to set the tempo of the game, since most players tend to assume Italy will play it safe and wait to see how other theaters develop first. Unexpected aggressive moves either towards France or Austria have a way of sending everyone scrambling to update their plans and alliances.
24	* StoneWall: Italy is a difficult country to eliminate, thanks to it being a peninsula with a strong naval position in the Mediterranean, and impassible Switzerland making the only land route in difficult. These same features also make Italy the most difficult country to expand with.
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26	!!Russia
27	* DifficultButAwesome: Russia's a powerful country, but any gain it attempts in the opening can be challenged by another power and it has more enemies on its borders than it can defend against. It takes an adept diplomat to guard those borders and throw its power against its target, but a successful Russia is on track to win the game because it's very difficult to truly stalemate Russia.
28	* GlassCannon: Russia is feast or famine in tournament play. It is statistically the most likely power to win outright, but also the second-most likely country to be eliminated.
29	* HeterosexualLifePartners: with Turkey, referring to the eastern "Juggernaut".
30	* RussianGuySuffersMost: Surprisingly, Russia is statistically the second-most likely country to be eliminated after Austria. Possible reasons include being near four other great powers (England, Germany, Austria, Turkey), its fourth piece (the second fleet) being unable to cross theaters (between Scandinavia and the Balkans) and so cannot support an all out effort, and psychological pressure from being by far the largest country on the board physically (Moscow, St. Petersburg, and Sevastopol especially are much larger land territories than average but they still only count as one space) which can scare others into ganging up on it.
31	* WeHaveReserves: Russia starts with one piece more then others.
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33	!!Turkey
34	* FlauntingYourFleets: Not quite to the extent of England or even Italy, but the plentiful sea spaces around Turkey can encourage them to go for a naval strategy to try to get around the Bulgaria chokepoint issue early on. This becomes more likely if the "Juggernaut" alliance with Russia is formed, as using fleets in the Mediterranean means it's less likely Turkey can backstab Russia.
35	* HeterosexualLifePartners: with Russia, referring to the eastern "Juggernaut"

Context Characters / Diplomacy